Security
Top 10 Cybersecurity Misperceptions
Between more sophisticated cybercriminals and immense pressure to ensure governance on compliance, 2021 is already shaping up to be a minefield. And as such, cybersecurity has risen to the top of most organisations’ agendas. With this in mind, research from Sophos shows the top 10 cybersecurity misperceptions: Misperception 1: We are not a target; we are too small and/or have no assets of value to an adversary. Many cyberattack victims assume they are too small, in a sector of no interest or lacking the kind of lucrative assets that would attract an adversary. The truth is, it doesn’t matter: if you have the processing power and a digital presence, you are a target. Misperception 2: We don’t need advanced security technologies installed everywhere. Some IT teams still believe ...
Anambra election: PDP aspirant urges delegates to shun monetary inducement
Dr Godwin Maduka, a major contender for the gubernatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Nov. 6 election in Anambra has urged party delegates to shun financial inducement. Maduka, America-based medical practitioner-cum politician, made the call while addressing journalists on Sunday in Awka on the need for party delegates to cast their votes without fear or coercion. He advised delegates to shun monetary inducement and develop boldness to vote for a candidate who has the capacity to develop the state.a He said though he has enough money to buy delegates at any cost but saw an act as undemocratic and should be discouraged for the people to get a sound polity. “Our delegates should be political active and not be passive any more in affairs that concerns their generation ...
Russia calls U.S. decision to not rejoin Open Skies arms pact ‘a political mistake’
Russia on Friday called a U.S. decision to not rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, a political mistake that strikes a sour note ahead of a summit, Russian news agencies reported. The United States told Russia on Thursday it would not rejoin the pact, which Washington left in November, accusing Russia of violating it, something Moscow denied. The original decision to quit the pact was taken by the administration of then U.S. president Donald Trump and Moscow had hoped that Joe Biden would reverse that decision. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted by the RIA news agency on Friday as saying that Moscow was disappointed but not entirely surprised by Biden’s decision. “It certainly does not make us ha...
INEC to create 2,673 centres as continuous voter registration resumes
The Independent National Electoral Commission said it plans to create 2,673 registration centres and deploy 5,346 officials for the Continuous Voter Registration scheduled to resume June 28. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the commission’s emergency meeting with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security. Yakubu said that INEC was preparing for the resumption of the nationwide CVR to enable Nigerians who have attained the age 18 years and those who did not register previously to do so. He said: “Similarly, registered voters who wish to change their voting locations and those who wish to correct their names and other details on their Permanent Voters Cards can do so. “We plan to create 2,673 registration centre...
‘Patriots rule Hong Kong’ as sweeping pro-Beijing electoral rules passed
Hong Kong’s legislature approved the biggest overhaul of its political system in the quarter century since British rule on Thursday, in a decisive step to assert Beijing’s authority over the autonomous city. The changes will reduce the proportion of seats in the legislature that are filled by direct elections from half to less than a quarter. A new body will be empowered to vet candidates and bar those deemed insufficiently patriotic towards China from standing. “These 600-or-so pages of the legislation come down to just a few words: patriots ruling Hong Kong,” said Peter Shiu, a pro-Beijing lawmaker. Most of the changes were announced by China in March, though Hong Kong authorities later contributed further details, such as redrawing constituency boundaries and criminalising calls for bal...
President Buhari seeks international support for peaceful transition in Chad
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday called on the international community to support a peaceful transition from military to democratic government in Chad. He made this known at a summit put together to discuss recent developments in Chad after the death of President Idris Deby last April. At the summit, Mr Buhari called on: “development partners and countries particularly France, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia; the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union, as well as other friendly and partner nations to support the transition framework put in place by Chad’s Transition Military Council led by General Mahamat Idris Deby.” ‘‘The need to support the Chadian government to effectively carry out its planned 18-month transition is sacrosanc...
President Buhari: Peace to Libya equals peace to West Africa
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday received the Chairman, Presidential Council of Libya, H.E Mohammed Younis Menfi, at the State House, Abuja. Buhari, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stressed that a stable or unstable Libya held implications for countries in the Lake Chad Basin area, including Nigeria. “Republics of Chad, and Niger, have extensive borders with Libya, and they are our immediate neighbours. Whatever affects them affects us. The stability or instability of Libya will directly affect us,” he said. The President further stressed that the security of Nigeria was number one priority to him, noting that, “Unless a country or institution is secured, there’s no way you can efficiently manage it.” Buhari said he was happy that t...
Can You Hack-Proof the Cloud?
The cost and impact of cybercrime are climbing by around 15% every year, according to a 2020 report in Cybercrime Magazine, and is expected to cost $10,5 trillion globally by 2025. This makes cybercrime, they argue, more profitable than the global illegal drug trade. The real costs are far greater though, both broadly and to individual companies, as these funds represent lost investment and innovation, and companies increasingly face stringent fines for personal data losses under regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Act. The human layer All it takes is a chink in the armour, warns John Ward, SME of Cloud Business for Africa at Fortinet, and this can be through human error, misconfiguration, permissions-...
Unpacking Lessons from Ransomeware Attacks in 2021
It’s nearly impossible to read the news without seeing at least one headline blaring about a breach, hack or attack. In the USA, the Colonial Pipeline experienced a Darkside ransomware attack that affected more than 10, 000 gas stations. Virgin Active was hit by a hack in early May 2021 and took weeks to re-establish its systems. Vastaamo, a platform that provided therapy to thousands of patients, lost its data to hackers thanks to an unexpected security flaw. The hackers sent ransom demands to patients – pay up, or your personal information is public knowledge. As Stephen Osler, Co-Founder and Business Development Director at Nclose, points out, the criminal networks and masterminds behind digital attacks are doing their jobs and have every motivation to do these jobs extremely well. “The...
Vital Pandemic Industries Foster Unprecedented DDoS Attack Activity
Netscout today announced findings from its bi-annual Threat Intelligence Report, punctuated by a record-setting 10,089,687 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks observed during 2020. Cybercriminals exploited vulnerabilities exposed by massive internet usage shifts since many users were no longer protected by enterprise-grade security. Attackers paid particular attention to vital pandemic industries such as eCommerce, streaming services, online learning, and healthcare generating a 20% year-over-year increase in attack frequency over 2019 plus a 22% increase in the last six months of 2020. In August, a threat actor Netscout dubbed Lazarus Bear Armada (LBA) launched one of the most sustained and extensive DDoS extortion campaigns yet seen, taking down the New Zealand stock exchan...
Beware of this New SMS Phishing Scheme Spreading Worldwide
A new, and viral, phishing scheme has seen fraudsters putting mobile users’ financial information at risk, according to Kaspersky. The cybersecurity company revealed that attackers, typically under the guise of a postal service, request a small sum of money for the shipping costs of a package. Once a user clicks on an SMS authentication code for the money transfer, the device is compromised thereby enabling increasingly larger amounts of money to be stolen. “Because it is not a complex phishing attack, it has already gained traction in other parts of the world with fraudsters able to pose as virtually any service provider from prepaid electricity to airtime, naming just a few examples,” says Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa. Phishing, regardless of the scheme u...
Should West African Businesses Embrace Mobile Authentication for Security?
Sourced from International IDEA Digital technology has not only profoundly altered the way we live our lives, but also changed the pace of communication and commerce, allowing us to do everything, immediately. While this has effectively impacted every aspect of our lives, it also inevitably changed the way we are targeted by fraudsters. Along with the world transforming to digital, so has crime. According to an Accenture report published in 2019, the total value at risk of cybercrime over the next five years is an estimated $5.2 trillion. The average cyberattack costs $13 million, according to the same report, with phishing, social engineering and stolen device crime making up $2.4 million of the cost of an average attack. In West Africa, cybercrime is on the increase, with a recent analys...
