The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and embrace of social distancing to reduce its spread has led to the concept of people working from home (WfH). Experts say the pandemic has created a ‘perfect storm’ for cybercriminals to exploit people working from home. They have also noticed a significant increase in security threats or attacks,   LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

 

Employees unfamiliar with remote work can be particularly   vulnerable.

As the country grapples with the burgeoning coronavirus pandemic, cybersecurity experts are warning that employees working from home are increasingly being targeted by aggressive cybercriminals trying to capitalise on their unfamiliarity with remote work.

The dark web is buzzing with coronavirus-related activity, experts said, with hackers selling other hackers COVID-19 scam “kits” complete with fraudulent email templates to target workers at home.

“Hackers are trying to exploit this moment in a time when everyone’s forced online,” said Dave Baggett, CEO of cybersecurity firm INKY, which is using artificial intelligence to track a “massive explosion” in corporate email attacks that began in late February and skyrocketed this week.

In recent days, federal law enforcement officials have warned the public about several coronavirus-related schemes that have emerged since the advent of the public health crisis, both online and offline.

According to iTWebAfrica, the most prevalent online attack is called a phishing scam, in which emails that appear to be sent from an employer or another official organisation attempt to get recipients to click on a link and input credentials and personal information.

Hackers can use that information to access the corporate network, an individual’s personal accounts, or download ransomware on a device requiring users or businesses to pay sometimes staggering amounts of ransom in order to regain access.

According to Diana Burley, a Cybersecurity professor at George Washington University, employees working from home simply don’t have the same protections they had while working in an office.

“That is coupled with the fact that people are very nervous, and they have a lot of distractions at home and are multi-tasking. It’s become the perfect storm for cybercriminals to exploit the situation and do harm,” Burley said.

Cybersecurity firm RedMarlin is also using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor phishing attacks, detecting thousands in recent weeks trying to penetrate office networks and steal corporate data, an increase of 72 per cent from January to March.

The group debuted a “threat intel feed” in an attempt to bring the cybersecurity community together to collect and share data on coronavirus scams proliferating online.

According to RedMarlin chief scientist Shashi Prakash, bad online actors are “creating fear” in fake emails that often use terms such as “reset password” or “business continuity” to spark urgency. Scammers are also targeting home workers with fake sites that replicate popular teleconferencing platforms, he said, with domain names that may be off by only one letter.

“We might not understand the implications of people that were phished until months down the line,” said Jason Alafgani, marketing director for RedMarlin.

Experts recommend that individual email users use different passwords for different accounts, change passwords regularly, log out of accounts when they are not in use, back-up data on a hard drive, and have up-to-date virus protection software.

And for workers suddenly adjusting to working from a home office, one expert said “a general paranoia of email is healthy”.

“If an email is asking you to do something sensitive, be very skeptical of that and, if possible, use another way in,” said INKY’s Baggett. “Go directly to the website, try not to use email as the only channel to that source.”

Also, 71 per cent of security professionals have noticed an increase in security threats or attacks since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, with the leading threat being phishing (55per cent) followed by malicious websites purporting to offer information or advice about the pandemic (32per cent).

Increases in malware (28 per cent) and ransomware attacks (19 per cent) have also been noticed.

This is, according to research by cyber security firm Check Point, in collaboration with Dimensional Research.

The companies have released key findings of their study, according to which 95 per cent of security professionals say they are facing added IT security challenges due to the spread of coronavirus.

The three leading challenges were the provision of secure remote access for employees, mentioned by 56 per cent of respondents; the need for remote access scalable solutions (55per cent) and employees working from home were finding and using untested software, tools and services (47per cent).

According to research, on average 2600 Coronavirus-related cyber attacks occur each day.

Check Point says the survey results reinforce its recent findings regarding Coronavirus-related domains.

These are 50 per cent more likely to be malicious than other domains registered since January 2020, and the average number of new domains registered in the three weeks from the end of February was almost ten times more than the average number found in previous weeks.

“Furthermore, Check Point can confirm that it sees roughly 2600 coronavirus-related cyber attacks per day, on average; with a peak of 5,000 on March 28, 2020. Over 30,103 new coronavirus-related domains have been (dsicovered),” the group said.

 

 

The founder/Chief Executive Officer, Migo, a technology firm, Ekechi Nwokah, has said over two billion adults across the world lack access to credit.

He said the firm which is a cloud-based platform that partners with banks, mobile operators, retailers and payment processors in emerging markets to provide credit to underserved consumers, will continue to push beyond the frontiers to offer services to customers.

The CEO said Migo’s innovative business model is seizing the opportunity to close a gap in the digital financial services industry and reach a large, underserved customer base.

Nwokah, who spoke on his selection into the global network of Endeavor Entrepreneur in Lagos, expressed delight about the honour, stressing that the firm, formerly known as Mines, aligns with Endeavor’s mission is to build strong entrepreneurship ecosystems in growth markets, including Nigeria, by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs to drive economic growth and job creation.

The Managing Director & CEO of Endeavor in Nigeria, Eloho Gihan-Mbelu, said Migo continued to relentlessly strives to improve financial access across the country.

Read Also: Nigeria will defeat COVID-19, SGF assures

 

Gihan-Mbelu said: “Migo is an exciting high-growth company that is improving financial access for millions in Nigeria. As the company expands beyond Nigeria, starting with Brazil, which is one of Endeavor’s largest markets, we look forward to supporting Ekechi and his team on their mission to bring retail credit to billions of underserved people all over the world. Ekechi is a dedicated, technical founder and a strong role model for high-impact entrepreneurs in Nigeria.”

Gihan-Mbelu explained that to become an Endeavor Entrepreneur, candidates go through a rigorous selection process which culminates in an International Selection Panel by vetted and trusted mentors, drawn from Endeavor’s extensive network of over 4,000 mentors across the world. Ekechi was successfully selected along with seven entrepreneurs leading six companies from six countries.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Endeavor leveraged technology to bring together candidates from all over the world and host its first-ever virtual International Selection Panel. Over a three-day period, Ekechi was interviewed by a panel of eight experienced business leaders.

As Ekechi Nwokah leads his team at Migo to new heights, he hopes to leverage Endeavor’s extensive network globally. “Endeavor will be a significant value add for the company as we expand,” he said.

Pop music star, Wizkid has emerged the brand ambassador of Tecno.

The deal was unveiled during the launch of its new camera phone,  Tecno Camon 15 series done online,  which became a milestone in the smartphone industry as the first online product launch in Africa.

The online launch with theme: Magic of unseen was short with rich content.

On why he accepted to be the firm’s ambassador, Wizkid said:  “My team and I had series of meetings where we looked at the history of Tecno and we saw something undeniable.

Read Also: TECNO celebrates women

 

There were similarities in both of our personalities. Tecno has relentlessly risen through the ranks over the years, just as I have.

We both have risen beyond obstacles and are now global; creating opportunities for others and reminding Nigerians that they are capable of achieving and becoming whatever they desire to be. Tecno and I are indeed for Nigerians.”

Highlight of the event was  the presentation of 1.1m Wizkid portrait poster photographed by  Tecno Camon 15  Premier which was clear despite being scaled up to almost two meters in height because of the smartphone’s high definition and its Sony camera, and 8x zoom, every detail was perfectly captured and vividly displayed.

 

 

 

She was at home with her kids ob-serving the stay-at-home direc-tive of both the federal and Lagos State governments to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Then a call came to her purportedly from officials of the government extending palliatives by way of social gesture to her for the lockdown.

A resident of Aina Street, Ojodu Berger, Lagos, the lady who is a mother of three, who preferred to narrate her ordeal on conditon of anonymity, hurriedly swallowed the bait.

The caller demanded for her bank details, including her name, contact address and bank account number and Bank Verification Number (BVN).

The caller promised that the government will credit her account number with N10,000 before the close of work that day.

“About 15 minutes after the end of the call, I received an alert from my bank. I hurriedly picked my phone to see if the government had indeed sent the N10,000 paliative garnt.

“To my utmost disappointment, the crooks had moved  N105,000 out of account, leaving the balance of N5,000,” she said.

The fraudsaters are also sharing links to unsuspecting customers to unleash Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

Most of the links end up being malware or malicious software which  are computer programmes designed to infiltrate and damage computers without the users consent. They constitute threats to the safety smartphone/computer, such as viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, and rootkits.

A California-based provider of mobile phishing solutions, Lookout, has found two new COVID-19 phishing scams.

On Twitter, Lookout’s Phishing AI detailed its findings of live phishing sites targeting the website of the French General Directorate of Public Finance, the branch of the French government responsible for handing out support to micro-businesses and independent workers in the COVID-19 crisis. The site asks potential victims to enter their address, name and credit card information.

Domains hosted on the same infrastructure fitting the same pattern include: imptgouv[.]com; gouvimpt [.]com; confirme-fr-enligne[.]com

The resolving IP address (62.4.13 [.]122) also hosts a number of other French language phishing URLs for Paypal, says Lookout. After analysing the aspect ratio, they appear specific to mobile devices:

verifauthenacesscloud[.]com; verifmyaccpp[.]com; busnow[.]net

Another live phishing site using COVID-19 lure, which has been live since January 2020, is masquerading as a new “beta” service by the UK HMRC: hmrc-govupdate-covid-19[.]com; covid-19-gov[.]claims

The credit card number validation is “spot on,” but the language change to Welsh doesn’t work, notes Lookout.

Lookout also noted a pattern between the two phishing scams: both were live and also hosted on the same mobile PayPal phishing infrastructure .

As seen before, this IP also hosts sites relating to the French General Directorate of Public Finance. Lookout concludes that it is perhaps the same actor or same phishing kit set.

More recently, active sites contain the keyword “covid-19” in their domain name. Alex Gladd, Principal Product Manager at Lookout, says that each of these phishing attacks is meant to take advantage of the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read Also: Unite to defeat COVID-19, NIMN urges

 

Gladd said: “They’re replicating government websites related to providing citizens with financial relief in response to the pandemic.

These sites make it appear as though victims will be receiving some amount of relief money, then ask victims to provide their personal and financial information, like a credit card number or PayPal credentials, to receive it.

In reality, the sites are simply stealing the victim’s data. Data like this often gets sold on the dark web and later used to make fraudulent purchases.”

“During times like these, it’s more important than ever for people to be hyper-vigilant about links they receive via email, messaging, and social media.

Whenever it’s something claiming to be related to government, financial, or personal information, it’s always best to ignore the link in the email, message, or post and go directly to the institution or company’s website yourself by typing its known URL into the browser.

“this guidance is particularly important for people using mobile devices, where small form factors can make it especially difficult to notice suspicious links.”

 

Warning

A cyber security expert has warned people to be careful about the information they give out to people either online or on their mobile phones.

“There is no free money, no free credit or recharge cards and no free data any where. No company is giving out any free money, recharge cards or data for any anniversary. No celebrity or politician is sharing money to all his or her fans on Facebook.

“Any site or promo that asks you to share any information to your contacts or groups is fake. Such has been designed by fraudsters to generate traffic or to hack into your accounts.

“Your phone numbers, email address (and sometimes password), bank account details etc. you have supplied are in great danger of being hacked and you are at risk of losing money or valuable information to the internet fraudsters,” the expert warned.

 

 

LUCAS AJANAKU

 

4G LTE broadband service provider, Smile Nigeria, has enjoined Nigerians to strive to be safe by observing safety precautions against COVID-19.

To this end, the company has created data free access to websites for everyone, on its network, to have easy access to up-to-date information on the pandemic. The websites are: http://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/ and https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

In a statement at the weekend, the firm said: “Appreciative of the restriction of movement, aimed at combatting the ravages of Coronavirus in Nigeria, Smile has taken steps to remain fully operational and serve the best interest of its customers in this challenging time.

Read Also: COVID-19: FG prepares fiscal stimulus package

 

Consequently, it has created many online platforms to enable its teeming customers to recharge, make enquiries and seek assistance.

Smile customers can henceforth utilise these platforms: Instagram @smilecomsng; Twitter @smilecomsng; and Facebook Smile Communications Nigeria.”

The firm also advised customers to visit the Smile website on smile.com.ng to chat with a representative via web chat or send an email to customercare@smile.com.ng or call the Smile help line on 0702 044 4444 for assistance and enquiries.

 

By Busola Aro

 

An original equipment manufacturer (OEM), itel Mobile has unveiled its A56 smartphone whihc it dsecribed as a vivid description of what a big capacity smartphone should offer to a user.

Although in the entry-level segment, the device is eyeing to be the first among its peers in the marketplace with some amazing benefits.

Speaking on its value proposition of Bigger is Better, its Marketing Director,Yan Yu said: “The new itel A56 from itel Mobile will find a special spot in the hearts of customers.

Its bigger memory, battery, appealing screen and other features carves an edge for the smartphone among competing devices from other brands. The customer gets to enjoy all of these features at a pocket-friendly price.”

According to him, the new device is a gift from the OEM as the first quarter of the year races to a close. It reaffirms its culture of providing trendy, affordable, and durable smartphones for everyone.

He said the device delivers on value and making users happy with a bigger capacity non-removable 4000mAh battery.“This equips the user with the means to watch more videos, play music, games, and get more important stuff done.

Read Also: A smartphone with class

 

“The device is fitted with an eight-function fingerprint sensor. With this feature, you can unlock apps, customise shortcuts, and record calls and videos. You can also explore taking a photo, stopping your alarm clock, and unlocking the phone.

itel A56 assures better security for the user. With a new bio-detection feature, the Liveness Mode prevents others from unlocking and having access to the device. The Face Unlock also guarantees safety and puts the user in charge of unlocking the phone anytime, anywhere.

He said with the device’s memory capacity – 1GB RAM + 16GB ROM and a 32GB expansion option – the user is at liberty to create and save memories with more space for videos and photos. Fewer light apps on the device gives the user the means to enjoy this benefit.

The smartphone’s bigger screen feature offers immersive entertainment experience to the user. With its 6.0” in-phone switching (IPS) screen, itel A56 serves as a mini pad and pocket cinema.

“One more thing you should know- itel Mobile has partnered with Easy Buy to make purchase of the itel A56 easier, and you can do this without stress.

Simply locate an itel branded phone store around you, talk to any Easy Buy representative and make an initial 30 per cent down payment.

You will also be required to take along a valid means of identification, your Bank Verification Number (BVN), and your ATM card. The scheme runs till March 31, 2020,” Yu said.

 

LUCAS AJANAKU

 

Regulator of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the weekend, unveiled measures to support initiatives by other stakeholders to curtail the scourge of COVID-19, better known as coronavirus.

The Commission, in conjunction with industry players and all other government agencies, has agreed to reduce the frequency of physical meetings all through the period of the coronavirus outbreak and consider alternative electronic meeting platforms, in order to reduce person to person contact that may arise from travels or meetings.

Departments within the Commission that interface with customers have developed e-platforms where all licensing requests, consumer complaints and base station (BTS) investigation requests could be channeled  or provide designated e-mail addresses to be used for such requests throughout the pandemic period.

The Commission has also approved resource sharing by operators throughout the period of coronavirus. These include fibre optics cables and other resources in the event of cable cuts and other unforeseen developments during the period of coronavirus outbreak.

Read Also: COVID-19: Commercial activities paralysed in Imo

 

It said it has also directed Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to ensure that their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes are in tandem with government initiatives to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic in order to provide safety and support aid materials that will protect the public against coronavirus.

“All social and official visits to the Commission have been cancelled immediately and visitors advised to use relevant online platforms and or telephone services in accessing the Commission’s services.

“For those who may be affected, we implore them to take advantage of the Emergency Communications Centres (ECC) by dialing the toll free number 112,” it said.

The NCC supports Right of Passage (RoP) for telecoms members for easy movement during a total lockdown and or restriction of movement.

The regulator is also in support of RoP for suppliers that are involved in supplies of fuels, foods and other support services to telecom operators, to allow for free movement in the event of partial or total lockdown as a result of the coronavirus.

 

 

“Since we are in this together, no effort would be spared to bring this deadly disease to an end,” the NCC said.