Cybercrime and Terrorism Financing: Nigeria’s Potential Vulnerabilities and Policy Options

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Cybercrime and Terrorism Financing: Nigeria’s Potential Vulnerabilities and Policy Options

Plangshak Musa Suchi and Peter Nungshak Wika
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos, Jos-Nigeria

Abstract
Terrorism financing and the ways in which it intersects with organised criminal activities including drug trafficking, arms trafficking, trafficking in persons/smuggling of migrants, and kidnapping-for-ransom is increasingly attracting the attention of scholars and the international community. What is less explored however are the ways by which cybercrime facilitates terrorism financing globally. This paper attempts to fill this gap by utilizing secondary data from international, regional and national organisations as well as scholarly articles on the subject through content analysis to explaining the nexus between cybercrime and terrorism financing with specific emphasis on Nigeria. Understanding the linkages between cybercrime and terrorism financing is important for developing effective policy measures aimed at preventing and mitigating the negative impacts of these innovative crimes. The analysis revealed the mysterious links between cybercrime and terrorism financing in terms of how the former is feeding the latter through multiple channels including supply of funds from proceeds of cybercrime, as well as by making funds transfer among terrorist groups easier. The paper also highlights potential vulnerabilities in Nigeria’s critical infrastructure including computer systems and networks, computer programmes, and communication systems; defence, banking, energy, and oil and gas, as well as potential vulnerabilities among individual internet users and the private sector which may be exploited by cybercriminals in conjunction with terrorist groups in the country. It concludes by proffering some policy options including boosting partnerships between law enforcement, the academic community and the private sector towards understanding and reducing cybercrime and terrorism financing in Nigeria.

Keywords: cybercrime, terrorism, terrorism financing, potential vulnerabilities, Nigeria

The convergence of transformations in information and communications technology (ICT) with increased access and dependence on the internet for education, business, commerce and governance on a global scale, has opened up new opportunities for cyber criminal groups as well as terrorist groups to carry out their nefarious activities without being detected or identified, let alone prosecuted. Cornish (2009) notes, “The 21st century economy, and much of society itself, is dependent upon a broadband-enabled, cyber-knowledge complex” which creates vulnerabilities by opening up “an ever widening array of opportunities for the unscrupulous to exploit” (p.6).
Europol (2018b) notes that, “The sheer range of opportunities that cybercriminals have sought to exploit” due to the above development “is impressive ”. Criminal groups are more and more utilizing new and sophisticated cybercrime tools to conceal their identity and location in order to evade detection while carrying out cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure including economic and financial systems in ways that appear to be blurring the boundaries between cyber warfare, cybercrime and cyber terrorism (Wilson, 2008). According to INTERPOL (2018):

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