Digital forensics and judicial cybercrime training and training material – Improving the prosecution of cybercrime in Nigeria

Summary

This project is part of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) commitment to build national cyber security capacity and resilience to cybersecurity threats in five middle-income countries. The UK Government’s Digital Access Programme provides support through: Government-to-Government technical assistance; cyber hygiene training; public awareness-raising; and research. It aims to reduce the impact of cyber harms on their governments, economies and citizens – particularly amongst groups vulnerable to online exploitation.

Details

Aim

To improve, with the Office of the National Security Advisor (ONSA), Nigerian law enforcement agencies digital forensics skills and processes in order to keep pace with the ever-shifting nature of cybercrime and to increase the number of judges and prosecutors with sufficient knowledge of cybercrime in order to increase the likelihood of a successful prosecution of cases that make it to court. Beneficiaries include Nigerian law enforcement agencies and the National Judicial Institute.

Context

Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act was introduced in 2015 and was their first piece of legislation designed specifically to tackle cybercrime. Despite this, levels of cybercrime remained high. The Nigerian government subsequently highlighted a need to improve law enforcement agencies’ capability for combating cybercrime.

Outcomes

• Improved knowledge and skills relevant to digital forensics and digital evidence handling,
• 15 staff from seven different law enforcement organisations trained in digital forensics, trained also in cyber awareness, digital privacy and online gender-based violence,
• Increased awareness by law enforcement of the challenges vulnerable groups face and better understanding of online gender-based violence in the community,
• Increased understanding of the challenges that the community face and an increased awareness of digital rights.

Outputs

• A cybercrime training needs analysis, which was used to inform the subsequent design of training materials for cybercrime and digital forensics.
• An international best practice guide for digital evidence handling.
• Training courses, modules and workshops for Nigeria’s specialist cybercrime unit, judges and prosecutors, covering topics such as digital data sources and exploitation, data integrity, chain of custody and attribution.
• A report outlining further available training resources and a roadmap for implementing a future training strategy.

Activities

Activities include an analysis to explore Nigeria’s ability to investigate cybercrime including a training needs analysis across law enforcement and the judiciary. These fed into the development of tailored training materials a UK Digital Forensics SME. Further, digital forensics training to law enforcement organisations including a session on digital privacy and gender-based violence were provided. Sessions were also held with the government to help define a vision for future training in this area.