May 12, 2025
3 min
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Cybersecurity remains one of the most important — and unpredictable — topics shaping today’s technology landscape.
At AFROTECH™ 2024, Nicole Dove, director of security engineering at Riot Games, led a session on how bad actors use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance cyberattacks and how defenders are evolving to stay ahead.
Moderated by Dr. Christine Izuakor, founder and CEO of Cyber Pop-up, the session also included Lola Obamehinti, founder of Nigerian Techie who has over a decade of experience at major tech companies including eBay. During the session, Dove and Obamehinti were presented with high-stakes real-world scenarios to respond to live.
“We’ve all heard a lot of the nightmare stories over the last year, especially when it comes to security,” Izuakor said. “Everything from unprecedented amounts of data being leaked to social media hacks to a global IT outage — and it’s important as leaders for us to be able to respond in ways that are efficient, to remain calm, to think critically while still acting and moving very quickly because time is of the essence. And that takes a lot of mental work to do. And so you all are getting a front-row seat with these very experienced leaders here into how that works.”
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Topics ranged from handling the latest threats — including Deepfakes, voice phishing (vishing), and AI-powered phishing kits — to building a better internal security culture and breaking into the industry. Izuakor’s questions provided practical, actionable advice while highlighting how much cybersecurity depends on people — not just tech.
With AI making deepfakes more realistic than ever, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell what’s real and what’s fake. Obamehinti emphasized the importance of fact-checking, noting that older deepfakes often had obvious flaws — like off-sync audio or stiff movement — but today’s versions can be nearly impossible to detect without special tools.
For example, an attacker urgently asking for money is counting on you to panic.
“[If] my executive or my peer’s asking me for an invoice, or they’re asking me for me to transfer money, I need to do it right now,” Obamehinti said. “And they’re trying to throw you off your game. So it’s always good to verify if you have their phone number or Slack or just another form of communication, and then also report it to your security team too so they can investigate.”
Dove added that while it’s one of the “unsexy” parts of cybersecurity, educating people about potential threats is essential to preventing serious incidents.
“Both the strongest and weakest links in your organization are your people, because the biggest threat to your organization is essentially the people who have rightful access to the data that we all work so hard to protect,” Dove said. “And so what happens is understanding that AI is evolving, deepfakes are becoming a bit more undetectable to the naked eye. This is where user education is so important. You have to educate your people on what to look out for.”
When it comes to career development and hiring, Obamehinti — who now focuses on building Cyber Culture Club, a growing talent community that aims to attract more people to cybersecurity — emphasized that companies struggling to fill roles often need to rethink outdated hiring practices. These include prioritizing misaligned job requirements, unrealistic certification demands, and overlooking transferable skills.
For those interested in cybersecurity, it’s important to note that many professionals started in other industries. However, there is always an opportunity for individuals eager to learn, as they can gain experience in creative ways and demonstrate how the industry can benefit from their skills.
Volunteering with nonprofits, completing internships, or helping a small business with security awareness, incident response, or strategy and policy development are all great ways to get started, Obamehinti noted. Most importantly, newcomers should explore the sub-disciplines within cybersecurity to better define their path and goals.
As the panel wrapped, one thing was clear: With AI on the rise, cybersecurity is expanding, and whether you’re a tech enthusiast or an aspiring professional, there’s always room for people ready to put in the work.
To explore more exclusive insights like this from top-tier AFROTECH™ events, click here to watch AFROTECH™ Labs.
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