Nigeria’s Small Businesses Emerge as Major Cybersecurity Risk – FoubsLabs Founder

By Benson Daniel

Nigeria’s small and medium sized businesses could represent one of the country’s biggest cybersecurity vulnerabilities as criminals increasingly target smaller companies with weaker digital protection, the founder of FoubsLabs, Jephte Ioudom, has warned.

Ioudom, an artificial intelligence expert, said the growing interconnectedness of Nigeria’s economy means that a cyberattack on a small business can potentially expose larger organisations, financial institutions and other companies connected to it.

He pointed to the 2013 cyberattack on US retailer Target as a major example of how attackers can exploit a smaller third party to gain access to a much larger organisation. In that case, hackers compromised the credentials of an external contractor that had legitimate access to Target’s systems before using them to penetrate the retailer’s network.

According to Ioudom, the lesson is particularly relevant to Nigeria because large banks, telecommunications companies and fintech firms increasingly depend on networks of smaller suppliers, contractors, technology providers and other business partners.

He cautioned against treating African businesses as having the same level of cybersecurity exposure, noting that there is a wide difference between the security capabilities of large institutions and smaller enterprises.

Large banks, telecommunications companies and major fintech firms generally have more resources to invest in cybersecurity, employee training, monitoring systems and incident response. Many small businesses, however, operate with limited budgets and may lack dedicated cybersecurity personnel.

This creates an attractive target for criminals who understand that smaller companies can provide an easier route into larger networks.

The threat is becoming more serious as Nigerian businesses increasingly depend on digital platforms for payments, customer management, cloud services, communication and business operations.

Cybercriminals can exploit weak passwords, outdated software, phishing attacks, unsecured devices and poorly protected third party systems to gain access to sensitive information.

For small businesses, the consequences of a successful attack can be severe. A company may lose money directly through fraud, suffer operational disruption, have customer information stolen or face reputational damage that affects its ability to retain clients.

The wider impact can be even greater when the affected business provides services to a larger institution.

Ioudom therefore stressed the need for businesses to treat cybersecurity as a fundamental part of their operations rather than an issue that can be addressed only after an attack occurs.

He said smaller businesses should prioritise basic security measures such as strong authentication, regular software updates, employee awareness training, secure backups and appropriate access controls.

Larger organisations, meanwhile, need to pay closer attention to the cybersecurity practices of their suppliers and partners.

The growing use of artificial intelligence could further complicate the threat landscape. Cybercriminals can use emerging technologies to automate attacks, create convincing phishing messages and identify potential vulnerabilities more quickly.

This means businesses may need to improve their ability to detect unusual behaviour rather than relying exclusively on traditional security measures.

For Nigeria, strengthening cybersecurity among small businesses is also important to the wider development of the digital economy. As more businesses migrate their operations online, weaknesses in one part of the ecosystem can have consequences across multiple sectors.

The government, financial institutions, technology companies and business associations therefore have a role to play in helping smaller enterprises improve their cyber resilience.

Providing affordable cybersecurity tools, training and awareness programmes could help close the gap between large corporations and smaller businesses.

The challenge is particularly important as Nigeria continues to expand digital payments, e-commerce, fintech and other technology driven services.

Ioudom’s warning highlights a fundamental shift in cybersecurity thinking: protecting a major institution increasingly requires protecting the smaller businesses connected to it.

For Nigerian companies, cybersecurity is therefore becoming not just a technology issue but a business continuity, customer trust and economic resilience issue.