Tag Archive for: Nigerian

Nigerian Businesses Face Growing Ransomware-as-a-Service Trade

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Ransomware-as-a-service looks set to fuel an increase in cyberattacks in Nigeria in the coming year, even as operational disruptions and recovery efforts already cost billions of Nigerian naira, or millions of US dollars, in 2023.

The National Cyber Threat Forecast 2024 from the Cyber Security Experts of Nigeria (CSEAN), a nonprofit championing cybersecurity awareness in Nigeria, reports that ransomware groups and other malware variants — such as ALPHV, 0XXX Virus, DJVU, and the Cobalt Strike exploit toolkit — affected big swathes of both public- and private-sector organizations in the African country in 2023.

For example, one “notable regulatory agency” fell victim to the Mallox ransomware, “exploiting a Microsoft vulnerability in their public-facing digital systems,” the study noted, although there was no detail on which agency it was.

Ransomware-as-a-Service

Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) is a business model where ransomware developers sell or lease their variants to other cybercriminals, known as affiliates, who do the grunt work of planting malware by either exploiting software vulnerabilities or phishing.

RaaS allows would-be cybercriminals to launch sophisticated cyberattacks, according to the report. “Factors like the use of outdated or unpatched software and systems, reliance on cracked software, insufficient proactive monitoring, and unaddressed security vulnerabilities contributed to the success of these attacks,” CSEAN noted. “The accessibility of ransomware-as-a-service and the success of previous campaigns suggest a persistent and growing threat.”

Potential mitigations in the face of an increased threat of ransomware attacks include prompt patching, avoiding unauthorized software and rolling out stronger monitoring practices through intrusion detection systems.

“Adopting these proactive cybersecurity measures is essential to lessen the anticipated impact of the expected surge in ransomware attacks,” according to CSEAN.

CSEAN is not the first cybersecurity organization to report that Nigeria has become a hub of ransomware attacks. During the first half of 2023, Nigeria saw a 7% increase in ransomware attack attempts on individual and corporate users compared with the…

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Nigerian govt indicts hospital’s Chief Medical Director for job racketeering

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An investigative panel set up by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on Sunday revealed why some health workers at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, Osun State, have been unpaid for months.

The investigative panel led by Aderemi Azeez found that the former Acting Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Afolabi Owojuyigbe, carried out over-employment in the hospital, without provision in the personnel budget. Mr Owojuyigbe and his accomplices are also culpable of job racketeering, according to the panel.

The ministry confirmed the development in a statement signed by its Director of Press, Patricia Deworitshe, noting that the government waded into the matter to set the record straight.

According to the statement, the panel disclosed that Mr Owojuyigbe, a Consultant Anaesthetist, employed over 1,973 staff as against the waiver for 450 vacancies granted to the hospital in the 2022 employment process by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

FIRS

Protests

There were reports that some health workers accused the management of OAUTH of subjecting them to penury over unpaid salaries for 10 months.

The accusers lamented that they resorted to begging to feed their families “due to the hardship the non-payment of their salaries subjected them to.”

Many had also accused the hospital management of commercialising the job opportunities by allegedly selling the slots for as high as N500,000.

In response to the allegations, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, on his verified X handle @muhammadpate on 13 October, confirmed that an investigation had been completed on the matter.

“We are addressing the OAUTH situation. The investigation has just been completed on this unfortunate situation. We understand the difficulties being faced by numerous innocent health workers and will do our best to resolve it equitably,” the minister posted at the time.

Findings

In a statement on Sunday by the ministry, which is titled, ‘OAUTH Ife and the Unrest,’ it noted that the unrest was attributed to the alleged job racketeering, and over-employment saga under Mr Owojuyigbe.

The statement termed the…

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A Green Energy Giant Was Defrauded Of $800,000–The Hackers Sent $50,000 To A Nigerian Oil Official, FBI Says

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This is the web version of this week’s edition of The Wiretap newsletter, which every Tuesday brings exclusives and other news about surveillance, privacy and cybercrime, straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!

In June last year, hackers took control of an email account belonging to an employee at heavy machinery manufacturer Mountain Crane. The hackers used their access to send an invoice totalling $1.75 million to one of the company’s customers, wind turbine giant Nordex, which then unwittingly paid the hackers over $800,000. A month later, Nordex realized it had been defrauded and contacted the FBI.

The fraud, outlined in a search warrant obtained by Forbes, was a classic case of what’s known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), one of the most common and financially devastating cyberattacks, costing the U.S. $2.7 billion in 2022 alone. But something strange caught the FBI’s attention: $50,000 of the stolen funds were sent to the bank account of Dr. Kelechi Ofoegbu, a Nigerian government official and regulator of the oil and gas industry. Ofoegbu is currently an executive commissioner at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and previously worked at energy giants Shell and Eland Oil & Gas.

Ofoegbu has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said funds from his bank account were wrongly seized. “I am completely innocent and would crave an opportunity to prove this,” he told Forbes. He said he has been banned from travelling to the U.S. and was only made aware of the Nordex fraud after Forbes contacted him about the allegations.

The Department of Justice declined to comment any further on the case. Mountain Crane didn’t respond to requests for comment. Nordex spokesperson Antje Eckert said the company was working with law enforcement on the case, adding that the company had been told the FBI recovered the full amount paid.

Why Ofoegbu allegedly had the money in his account remains a mystery, however. You can read the court document on the case

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Tinubu and Nigerian Army’s glorious era – The Sun Nigeria

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It is becoming all too glaring that President Bola Tinubu is determined to turn around the fortunes of the Nigerian military for the better, in particular its most dominant force, the Nigerian Army.

In doing so, however, he must take copious notes from the different periods that can be termed as the Nigerian Army’s glorious eras.  The President should disregard the naysayers and pay full regard to physical achievements that have helped in shaping the army to the strong institution it has become today.

According to defence.gov.ng, “the history of the Nigerian Army dates to 1863, when Lt. Glover of the Royal Navy selected 18 indigenes from the northern part of the country and organized them into a local force, known as the ‘Glover Hausas’. The small force was used by Glover as governor of Lagos to mount punitive expedition in the Lagos hinterland and to protect British trade routes around Lagos. In 1865, the ‘Glover Hausa’ became a regular force with the name ‘Hausa Constabulary’. It performed both police and military duties for the Lagos colonial government. It later became ‘Lagos Constabulary’.

“On incorporation into the West Africa Frontier Force (WAFF) in 1901, it became ‘Lagos Battalion’. In addition to this force, the British government included the Royal Niger Company (RNC) Constabulary Force in Northern Nigeria.”

But narrowing this down to our contemporary history as a nation, no matter what anyone might say, the reality is that the era when General Tukur Yusufu Buratai held sway as Army Chief is the most glorious, given the unprecedented challenges of the time and the achievements made.

A well-researched piece published by ireporteronline.com, entitled “Promoting Professionalism: Major Reorganization and Modernization Under General Buratai’s Tenure,” captures that era as follows:

Preceding his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, the military was losing its officers and men in large numbers. Thus, Buratai’s drive was to improve on the military’s operational achievementsWithin three months of his appointment, Buratai verified his leadership capability by…

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