Why Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Must Become Forensic-Ready

InnovationWhy Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Must Become Forensic-ReadyByRobinson Sibe,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 05, 2026, 07:00am EDTDr. R.T. Sibe is the CEO/Lead Forensic Examiner of Digital Footprints Nig. Limited. getty​In March 2026, a threat actor identified as ByteToBreach reportedly exploited a known vulnerability on a server belonging to one of Nigeria's tier-1 banks. The threat actor maintained undetected access for days, pivoted laterally into a Fintech company—a major gateway for private-public sector payments and remittances—and reportedly exfiltrated roughly three terabytes of data. Weeks later, a third institution, the Corporate Affairs Commission, reportedly fell to the same actor. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has since issued notifications of investigation for these breaches.Public-sector platforms, fintech systems and other critical national information infrastructure have all experienced significant cyber incidents in recent years, including attempted intrusions, service disruptions, unauthorized transfers and data exposure events. What unites these incidents is not necessarily the sophistication of the attacker, but the quality of response. In most cases, none of the institutions could attribute the attack in reasonable time. They are unable to produce a defensible evidentiary record on day one. And in the recent cases, only one—under regulatory pressure—eventually communicated to the public.Nigeria’s Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024, Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, sectoral cybersecurity frameworks and emerging critical infrastructure regulations increasingly emphasize breach reporting and first-level incident governance responsibilities. Yet, this approach is poorly implemented like a fireman’s truck: put out the fire, but leave the crime scene “wet...