The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has moved to address the rising cases of online sexual exploitation and sextortion in the country.
The information is contained in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday by Mr Vincent Adekoye, the NAPTIP Press Officer.
The statement quoted the Director-General (DG) of the agency, Prof Fatima Waziri-Azi, as cautioning Nigerians against indiscriminate sharing of intimate content and private information, with friends and strangers, while speaking before the inauguration of the Cybersecurity Response Team.
The NAPTIP Cybersecurity Response Team was set up to handle all issues relating to online exploitation.
The statement also said Waziri-Azi also expressed concern over the careless attitude of some persons who give out inappropriate information of themselves based on their emotion and love.
“We all know that the advent of technology has brought about unprecedented opportunities for communication and access to information which has also created new avenues for criminals to exploit people, especially vulnerable women, and children.
“We have seen incremental cases of Child Sexual Assault Materials on the internet, child pornography; sextortion, and revenge porn, and these are all forms of sexual exploitation.
“This is why as an agency we must take a proactive and collaborative approach to tackle online threats. So, NAPTIP in partnership with some organisations have trained 20 Officers from the HQ to guide against this menace.
“NAPTIP in partnership with International Justice Mission (IJM), Meta, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau (INL), National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and UNODC, trained the officers on Child Sexual Exploitation Materials, Open Source & Social Media Intelligence as well as Online Investigation.
“The Cybersecurity Response Team from different units and departments, is coordinated by the Head of the National Monitoring Center and will leverage on cutting-edge technology and expertise to identify perpetrators of cybercrimes within our remit.
“In addition, the unit is expected to work closely with other stakeholders in this space to enhance our collective response to cybersecurity and online exploitation challenges,” she stressed.
She said that giving the constant presence of threat actors, cyberattacks against private and public organizations are inevitable and that attackers face relatively little risk compared to the potential losses that the organizations they target could suffer.
According to her, hackers have an advantage over those targeted and that this is why the Cybersecurity Task Team is charged with the responsibility of preventing and responding to cyber-attacks on the agency’s cyber infrastructure through an Embedded Endurance strategy.
Waziri-Azi said that it is on record that NAPTIP had continued to be on top of its game through proactive operations and the bustling of several organized human trafficking-related syndicates across the country.
According to her, attendant results of several arrests, rescue, and prosecution of traffickers have shown the the level of NAPTIP proactiveness to the issues of trafficking.
She said that it is believed that the setting up of the NAPTIP’s Cybersecurity Task Response Team was timely and thoughtful, and a strategic step signalling a dead end to activities of human traffickers and other related syndicates in the Country.
She disclosed that NAPTIP is a member of the National Technical Committee for the Development of the National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategy and a Member of the Global Action on Cybercrime Extended (GLACY+) National Coordination Team. (NAN)
