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Nigeria: Heaven for Terrorist Internet Communication

Femi Oyesanya

The recent capture of Al Qaeda's operative, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, provided the Pakistani and American Intelligence authority with some of Al Qaeda's Internet Communications Strategy. It also identified that Nigerian Websites and Email Systems were used by Al Qaeda to disseminate Internet Information.

The revelation that Nigeria was a preferred Internet Communication path for the terrorist group, was not surprising. The choice of using Nigerian Email Systems and Websites, shows how careful and thorough Al Qaeda's Computer operatives are. It is notan act of coincidence, but a case of choosing the perfect environment for passing undetected terrorist Internet Information.

Nigeria 's Information Technology Infrastructure offers terrorists one of the best paths for transmitting Email and Web based information largely because most Nigeria 's Internet System do not provide the minimum level of Information Assurance.

Nigerian ISP's and Cybercafe, operate in a highly deregulated Telecommunications Industry, the Country does not have a Cybecrime Policy, and there are no legislative controls whatsoever. Nigeria is a place where you can use the Computer to commit various forms of Internet crimes and evade prosecution, because there is no national legaljurisdiction on Cybercrime.

The Country is the Wild Wild West of Internet Crime, accounting for one of the highest percentage of outgoing Cybercrime in the world. It is the heaven for Suspicious Internet Activity. Domain Name registration in Nigeria is free, and the registration process only requires you provide a Nigerian address, which by the way, may not be verifiable by the National Postal Service Authority. Nigeria is a type of place that any Al Qaeda operative can secure an Internet Domain Name, without leaving a trace, transmit his messages undetected, under the nose of Local Law enforcement Agencies. The Nigerian Policy simply lack Internet policing capability.

Self regulation and corporation between Nigerian Internet Service Providers, Cybercafe Operator, and local Law Enforcement Agencies, is also non-existence. Nigerian Law Enforcement Agencies are basically technology illiterate, they lack computer forensics training, and often result to conducting police raids on Internet Service sites, mainly for the purpose of extortion. It is very common for the police to demand bride from Cybercafe sites where suspicious activities are taking place, and look the other way. Also, Cybercafe operators and ISP's, due to a reliance on Income from Email Fraud sending clients, do not have the motivation for self regulation like we have seen in the rest of the world. International Law Enforcement Agencies can forget log retention forensics evidence in Nigerian, it is not required. It is highly unlikely that if there was ever a Muhammad Khan court case, that the American authorities will be relying on forensic evidence material from Nigeria .

The Nigeria Lawmakers and Federal government share the biggest part of the blame. The Legislature failed to pass a National IT Bill, and the National government thinks Cybercrime problems will go away by forming numerous committees. Several months after it's inception, the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group has failed to produce one meaningful Cybercrime Policy. The Economic and Financial Crimes commission arrested hundreds, and has not been able to win a single Cybercrime case in court, the Minister of Finance pays lip service at global conferences about a proactive Cybercrime Policy that never gets implemented. The USA Homeland Security Department might want to take note. The next terrorist plan on America, might once again be delivered using Nigerian Email Systems and Web Services.