Domain Name Issues, National Security And Nigeria

December 5th, 2002
By Lagos

The revelation recently that most national assembly members use either Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN to communicate with colleagues or other top government officials is sending serious concern to Nigerians both at home and abroad. Tayo Ajakaye reports

Imagine Nigeria in a state of war like it nearly did on the Bakassi issue with Cameroun. Granted that the decision to go into war lies with the executive arm; Imagine also the ministers communicating with each other by mail on how they will vote at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Note also that explanations and reasons for decisions taken by the executive had to be explained to the National Assembly which has the power to appropriate money for the war effort; Imagine that the issue was tabled at the Senate or the House of Reps; Imagine further that the distinguished senators and honourable members of the House had to communicate with each other through e-mail, how they see the debate and how they might likely vote on the issue; Imagine for a last time that such suggestions would have to go through either Yahoo and Hotmail are easily visible to others who have the technical expertise and are curious enough to look in. Then the world will know what is going to be before it actually came to be.

The issue of the use by top policy makers in the country of the Yahoo, Hotmail and MSN web based e-mail services for communications has been something that many IT experts in the country have not known how to handle for sometime now. It has remained a peculiar problem. On the one hand, the need was expressed for our leaders to be computer literate and to be able to communicate in a modern way. Yet here is the danger that the means of communication may be one that could endanger the nation.

To be sure, Nigerians wanted leaders who are not afraid of the keyboard. They wanted ministers and legislators who are also be able to make presentations to local and international investors and audience using presentation applications. Nigerians want that a minister at home should be able to intimate the one in Britain or US, for instance, of the events at home and Nigerians want the minister who had gone out of the station to be able to give a written directive via e-mail to the permanent secretary to take some actions.

Yet Nigerians are afraid of the repercussions if each time a minister or top government functionary makes such a decision online, it is open to curious onlookers who may cash in on this knowledge and use it to blackmail or embarrass the government. They are afraid of the danger such leaks in government portends. The reason is because our government officials, despite the huge resources at their disposal, still depend on free web based e-mail applications.

Commenting on the implications of using unsecured mail addresses, a member of the Nigerian Information Technology Professionals in the Americas (NITPA), who is also the CEO Eze Solutions Inc., Engr. Chuka Eze said "Security wise, some online e-mail providers do not offer secure e-mail access and in the past many providers have found large security holes in which e-mail accounts could be easily read by others."

Another NITPA member and President/CEO, Coure Technologies Inc., Uche Onwudiwe pointed out that "the fact that most of our political representatives use yahoo and other free e-mail services, should be of major concern to both our political representatives and the Nigerian population. Those particular services were setup almost exclusively for personal non-private or pertinent information use. Its use for top level government operations is and should be a concern for all to the level of causing national security issues."

The President of Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Chief Chris Uwaje view the situation with a lot of depth. He said that foremost, the issue is like a coin with two sides. The one side is personal. And the other side is national. According to him, this makes it a very critical and challenging issue. The foundation of this challenge resides in how serious the nation takes the emerging challenges and impact of information society. Secondly, he says, the state and status of the dot.ng domain name saga represents a crucial variable to the problem and that ICT is not just a technology issues, indeed it has been recognised as a fundamental social and human rights issue.

He was baffled that "it is clear that we are experiencing alarming rates of ignorance in understanding their long-term impact and implications."

Taking a definite stand on the issue, Uwaje said, " the question is, should a government official be allowed to use unsecured e-mail address such as Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, etc.? And the answer is absolute No...if a government officer uses such channel to perform government functions - however minute. Such channels should not even be used to request or confirm appointment for meetings! All government information and related records should be protected at all times."

Advancing reasons for this stand, he stated that the Internet is like an open market and that no government official will like to display the contents of government files in open markets. In that case, it has become strategically imperative that all government officials in Nigeria should as a matter of policy be compelled to use secured e-mails channels on specially identified and approved servers. Preferably, according to Uwaje, such servers should be manned by Nigerians.

He went a step further by requesting that while in office, Nigerians should be barred from using unapproved network channels - even for their personal correspondence.

Giving more implications on the issue which has largely been ignored, Eze said "From any organisational aspect it shows unorganisation especially within the government of a large nation. Nigerian officials might find it harder to deal with other countries if they are corresponding with a hotmail account.

Security wise, some online e-mail providers do not offer secure e-mail access and in the past many providers have found large security holes in which e-mail accounts could be easily read by others."

Agreed the issue has gone the way it is, surely there must be a way out?

Uche Onwudiwe of Coure Technologies Inc. gave the example of the USA where he resides. He said each government agency has its own e-mail server. He explained that "granted they are much larger, it shows the level of importance that they put on their information and it's security."

He continued that although Yahoo and Hotmail are free, they have limits on how much e-mail can be stored and the types that can be sent. This restricts and limits the type of work that can be done on the network, and does not offer any security for the users against hackers or viruses.

Infact, Yahoo will be sincere enough to tell a user that "The information you view and send will be readable to others while in transit and it may not go to the intended party"

Eze while admitting that nothing is fool proof pointed out nonetheless that with the proper implementation of knowledge and technology, one can ward off most security issues and hackers.

"However that is not enough as constant maintenance and management of the secure e-mail system is the only way to guarantee its proper performance and capabilities. If the situation is potentially exposing Nigeria's information and their personal information to the public both in Nigeria and around the world."

Eze even said, "We would be interested in helping with the project of building out a Nigerian government website. It is ridiculous they are using yahoo and Hotmail accounts."

Uwaje too proposed a way out. He said there are solutions to the problem which can be delivered by Nigerians - locally or abroad. "It is frightening to note that a greater majority of our government officials subscribe and use very porous e-mail which are marketed as free e-mail. Nothing is free in cyberspace, he screamed. Government should therefore take all necessary steps to ensure that all relevant policy initiatives recognise Internet access - and access to future networks and bodies of information - as a fundamental right," the ITAN president said.

Prof. Lawrence Joseph also of the NITPA provided the conclusion after a brief historical background. In his exact words:

"Let me begin with some background history - already familiar with many of you. Many years ago, smart business men and women registered many popular domain names to themselves. Among such domain names included IBM.com, NFL.com, etc. I actually registered several domain names to myself. Unfortunately, I got into it at the tail end - it was already too late since all popular domain names were already taken and registered.

"Many young men and women got very rich - several millions of dollars rich - later as companies woke up to doing business on the Internet and discovered that their domain names had already been registered to someone else.

These company paid millions of dollars to redeem their domain names.

"Mr. Bush made a good business decision to manage the .ng domain.

"Currently, he allows Nigeria and Nigerians free branch domain names under the .ng root domain. However, the more branch domain names he creates for us for free under the .ng root, the better his position becomes down the road.

"With this background in mind, we should therefore understand why Mr. Bush will not easily turn the .ng domain management to us without some form of satisfactory pay back for him. How much? That depends on how badly we want the .ng domain.

"Should we continue to use the .ng domain under Mr. Bush's management? I do not recommend it. Who knows, perhaps, one day, in the very near future as our business use and applications of the .ng grows, Mr. Bush might justdecide to introduce another parameter to the equation.

"We should not blame Mr. Bush. He is a good guy. Because Nigeria has just fully awoken to the use of the Internet, we must now employ good politics as we negotiate." That way we would be both safe and secure.