China takes over closed US consulate in Chengdu
The American flag was lowered at the US consulate in China’s Chengdu city on Monday and Chinese authorities entered the building, as Beijing carried out a Cold War-style retaliatory closure of the mission. Earlier in the morning state broadcaster, CCTV showed footage of the flag being lowered, after diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security. Beijing later confirmed the consulate had closed at 10am (0200 GMT). “Afterwards, Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance and took it over,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Relations have deteriorated in recent weeks in an intensifying standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of Beijing’s consulate in Hou...
NIDCOM: More Nigerians stranded in Europe set to return home
The Federal Government has revealed that more Nigerians stranded in France and other European countries, due to the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world, are being evacuated to the country. This was disclosed on Sunday by the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa via Twitter. Dabiri-Erewa explained that the citizens, who have departed Citizen Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, are expected back soon and will arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The evacuation exercise was coordinated by the Nigerian Mission in France under Ambassador Modupe Irele and monitored by the commission. Upon arrival, the Nigerian returnees are expected to proceed on a 14-day self-isolation as mandated by the Presidential Task Force on C...
Twitter Sheds New Light on Unprecedented Hack
Image sourced from Mission Statement Academy Twitter has revealed that the hackers who accessed 130 high-profile accounts – belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, former US President Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos and Apple, amongst others – were also able to access a number of DM inboxes. In an official tweet, the social media platform says that up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands, were affected. We believe that for up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the DM inbox, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands. To date, we have no indication that any other former or current elected official had their DMs accessed. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 22, 2020 According to The Verge, hackers were able to...
Zimbabwe journalist arrested amid storm over $60m Covid-19 supplies scandal
Zimbabwean police on Monday arrested an investigative journalist who exposed alleged corruption in the procurement of Covid-19 medical supplies, a matter that involves the first family. Hopewell Chin’ono’s lawyers said he was “abducted” by eight state security agents who did not produce a search warrant. One of the lawyers, Beatrice Mtetwa, said she went to Mr Chin’ono’s residence after getting an “SOS that his home was surrounded by state security agents”. Ms Mtetwa described the arrest as an abduction, saying the state agents broke into the house. Via Twitter, the Committee to Protect Journalists called Mr Chin’ono’s immediate release, saying he was “abducted from his home by police”. It added, “Authorities must stop harassing Hopewell Chin’ono and focus on the real criminals. Do the the...
NCDC: Coronavirus presents malaria symptoms but it’s not
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says though Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents symptoms similar to malaria such as fever, both diseases are caused by different organisms and differ in mode of transmission. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle, while warning Nigerians against taking COVID-19 and malaria as the same infection. The health agency also identified 12 symptoms that could point to the existence of COVID-19 in the human body. According to NCDC, the listed symptoms will help Nigerians “take responsibility” by quickly calling the available holtines if they experienced a combination of this symptoms. The NCDC urged Nigerians to alert its officials, “If you have COUGH or FEVER and one of these symptoms: Loss of Taste; Loss of Smell, Difficulty Breathing, D...
130 Twitter Accounts were Affected by Unprecedented Hack
Sourced from Wired. Twitter fell victim to a major hack that saw 130 high-profile accounts – belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, former US President Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos and Apple, amongst others – targetted, although it’s reported that no passwords were stolen. Hackers used these accounts to promote a bitcoin scam where users were urged to send $1000 worth of the crypto to a specific account that was listed in the tweet, they would then receive double their payment in return. Image sourced from The Hacker News The unprecedented attack is ‘one of the most widespread and confounding hacks the platform has ever seen’, according to The Verge. Twitter has since confirmed that they are working on the issue and have “locked accounts that were compromised and will ...
Twitter says passwords spared in yesterday’s attack
Twitter says it has “no evidence” user passwords were accessed as part of yesterday’s massive attack targeting the company’s internal tools, but it is still working to restore access to locked accounts. The updates were shared as part of a series of tweets posted Thursday afternoon. Yesterday, attackers hijacked the accounts of some of the most-followed people on Twitter, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Kanye West, to post bitcoin scams. The company made the decision to lock many accounts last night as a precaution to reduce further damage from the attacks, and it provided more detail about why accounts were locked in this afternoon’s tweets. “Out of an abundance of caution, and as part of our incident response yesterday to protect peo...
Numerous High-profile Accounts were Hacked on Twitter
Image sourced from Mission Statement Academy Twitter fell victim to a major hack that saw verified high-profile accounts – belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, former US President Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos and Apple, amongst others – taken over. Hackers used these accounts to promote a bitcoin scam where users were urged to send $1000 worth of the crypto to a specific account that was listed in the tweet, they would then receive double their payment in return. Image sourced from The Hacker News The unprecedented attack is ‘one of the most widespread and confounding hacks the platform has ever seen’, according to The Verge. Twitter has since confirmed that they are working on the issue and have “locked accounts that were compromised and will restore access to the original account...
Twitter Accounts for Barack Obama, Kanye West, Elon Musk Hacked in Massive Security Breach
Twitter accounts for a number of high-profile individuals including former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, Kanye West, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, and others were hacked on Wednesday as part of an apparent cryptocurrency scam. The massive security breach also targeted major companies including Apple, Amazon, Uber, and Cash App, as well as cryptocurrency exchange sites such as Binance and Coinbase. Once the accounts were hacked, they transformed into crypto Nigerian Princes. That’s right, the cyber attackers utilized the oldest grift on the internet: the advance-fee scam. The zombie Twitter accounts advised their respective followers to send bitcoins to a secure address, promising that the money would be returned double the amount. This...
Former Ekiti governor wants Ibrahim Magu placed on watch list so he won’t flee
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked security agencies in the country to place suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, on watch list. Fayose took to his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday to call on the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service, amongst others. According to the former governor, Magu should be placed on the country’s watch list so that he won’t disappear into thin air. He wrote, “Just as Magu directed that I be placed on “watch-list” even when I had immunity as a sitting governor, Magu too must be placed on watch-list so that he won’t run away. EFCC, DSS, Customs, Police, Immigration, Army, Navy, Air Force, oth...
ICPC declares former staff wanted over fraudulent practices
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has declared one Gloria Obioma Elih, a former staff wanted for allegedly demanding and receiving gratification from officials of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources who were being investigated. The ICPC disclosed this in a statement released on Tuesday via its official Twitter account stating that Criminal charges were filed against Elih, who was also a former staff of the commission before an FCT High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Adeniyi. According to the commission, Elih allegedly demanded and received gratification from officials of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources who were being investigated and all efforts to serve her and procure her attendance in court have proved abortive. The commissio...
Brazil education minister resigns over plagiarism, CV ‘lies’
Brazil’s education minister resigned Tuesday only five days after he was appointed, amid accusations that he lied over his academic record. Carlos Alberto Decotelli was the first black person to be appointed to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Decotelli handed in his resignation to Bolsonaro in Brasilia, said a spokesman, Paulo Roberto, capping several days of controversy. Bolsonaro named Decotelli last week as replacement for Abraham Weintraub, who resigned in mid-June after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies, including making racist anti-Chinese comments on Twitter. Decotelli had claimed he held a Master’s degree from Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation, a doctorate from Argentina’s University of Rosario and a post-doctorate from Germany’s Wuppertal Unive...