WhoGoHost assures local data hosting enhances cybersecurity

The cyber space is plagued by increased cyber-attacks,  which according to Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd., recently published latest Threat Index 2016, revealed that the number of active global malware families increased by 15 percent in May 2016.

The May Threat Index presents a mixed view of Africa, Nigeria inclusive with several countries making quite strong moves up and down the index – the higher their relative ranking in the index, the greater the threat of cyber-attack.

However, WhoGoHost, Nigeria’s leading web hosting and domain registration company, providing SME and reseller web hosting with WordPress and Joomla, revealed that hosting data locally has become critical in cyber-attacks mitigation.

It was gathered from the latest threat index, that in both Nigeria and Kenya, Hummingbad ranks as the fifth most common malware form. Malawi currently sits at third, improving by one position from the previous month.

Even though it was only discovered by Check Point researchers in February, it has rapidly become commonly used; indicating hackers view Android mobile devices as weak spots in enterprise security and as potentially high reward targets.

Oluwatoba Obaniyi, chief executive officer of WhoGoHost, explained that the launch of several data centers in the country will boost economic growth and basically serve as platforms to rescue large, medium and small scale enterprises from the strategies of cyber traitors.

“Definitely, in terms of cyber security, organisations that host locally have an edge.  The truth is that the world has been working very hard to make the internet safe and secured. No matter how you look at it, at some point, you would have to travel out of the country to access Google, Facebook, and the likes, even though that data is encrypted, there is still a risk of compromise, because the number of routes you have to go through before accessing the server means there is a room for compromise,” he added.

It will be recalled that MainOne, WhoGoHost and Intel Corporation, recently unveiled a platform to provide cloud hosted Servers for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Nigeria, with the view bringing the advantages of in-country cloud services to Nigerian businesses. ‎

Obaniyi opined that although localization of data does not imply hundred percent cyber securities bulletproof, however, “if your data is hosted locally, that means the risk is reduced dramatically.

“Yes, security might be an issue some times, but let us pretend the internet access between Africa and the rest of the world is blocked. It implies that every server outside the Continent will not be accessible. Compare that to when you are hosted locally, even when there is fiber cut, you don’t need to have any issues with that, because you are still hosted locally,” he remarked.