The roll out of services on the fifth generation (5G) network dominated the tech space in the country. But so many things happened within the local and international tech space that defined the direction of the entire ecosystem LUCAS AJANAKU reports.
The year started with the great expectation of the roll out of services on the fifth generation (5G) network in the country by MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Limited, the two operators that had won the licences to do so.
In line with the information memorandum (IM) for the award of the 5G spectrum licence, MTN, indeed, rolled out services in some cities, including Lagos.
The second winner, Mafab Communications, was, however, granted a five-month extension to roll out over delays in obtaining its unified operational licence (USAL) and Numbering Plan from the Commission. It only secured the two vital documents at the end of July.
MTN and Mafab Communication had won the two slots put on offer during the auction that had $197.4million as reserve price. They had paid the balance of the bid price of $253.86 million before February 24, 2022. While MTN beat the deadline, Mafab paid at the expiration of the deadline.
“We are ready. We won the licence through a transparent auction and we congratulate the NCC on this. We paid the full licence fee a month ahead of schedule. Within the information memorandum of the NCC issued, there was a timeline which indicated that we can launch in H2. We are prepared to launch on the day the IM allows us to do so and we will explore with the NCC if they allow … So we are ready, even before that timeline,” Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Karl Toriola, had said in Lagos.
Chairman of Mafab Communications, Dr. Mushabu Bashir, had said in a statement that the company remained resolutely committed to the deployment of the technology.
“We are fully committed to bringing the benefits of 5G services to Nigerians and deploying a network that will drive economic development with increased broadband capabilities nationwide. I have no doubt that the service will help deliver improvements in the fields of education, business, smart cities and entertainment.
“The goal remains to launch before the five-month extension period and we will be sharing more information in the near future,” he had said.
The 5G will offer Nigerians higher data speed, improved reliability and availability. The benefits are far reaching as the service will enable Nigerians to achieve more with broadband and increase the nation’s broadband penetration, quality of service and capabilities, he added.
Mafab Communications is a telecom company incorporated on July 8, 2020, and licensed by the NCC to provide and operate local interconnect and international carrier services.
According to the roll-out timetable prepared by the Commission, the operators are expected to complete band clearance and commence operation while by June 2023, they are expected to roll-out in at least two states in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
By June 2024, they were expected to roll-out service in at least six states in each of the geo-political zones of the country while by June the following year, MTN and Mafab are expected to have completed the roll-out of services in all the geopolitical zones of the country.
As part of the auction put in place by the Commission in the IM, the two winners and Airtel Networks had submitted bids with an initial bid deposit (IBD) of $19.74 million, representing 10 per cent of the Reserve Price of the 3.5GHz spectrum by the close of the bid submission date of November 29, last year
The NCC had issued the final letters of awards of 5G spectrum and in line with the 5G auction’s Information Memorandum (IM), the two licensees are now expected to accelerate deployment of 5G network that will usher Nigeria into a more robust Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and a more digitised Nigerian economy among the comity of nations.
As at the time of going to press, Mafab Communications had yet to roll out as Dr Bashir had promised.
Economic pillar
The telecom sector continued to be the pillar of the nation’s economic growth as the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.25 per cent in the third quarter of this year with its strong support.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which released the figure said the economic growth rate however, declined when compared to 4.03 per cent growth achieved in this period of last year.
It attributed the reduction in growth to the base effects of the recession and the challenging economic conditions that have impeded productive activities.
Statistician-General, National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said data for the analysis were obtained from the quarterly establishment survey conducted by the NBS.
He said the third quarter economic growth was driven by the non-oil sector which grew by 4.27 per cent in real terms.
He explained that the rate was lower by 1.18 per cent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of last year and 0.50 per cent points lower than the second quarter of the year.
“This sector was driven in the third quarter of 2022 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication), Trade, Transportation (Road Transport), Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions), Agriculture (Crop Production) and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the report said.
According to the report, in real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.34 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2022, higher than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2021 which was 92.51 per cent and higher than the second quarter of 2022 recorded as 93.67 per cent.
The real growth of the oil sector was –22.67 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter of 2022, indicating a decrease of 11.94 percentage points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Growth also decreased by 10.91 per cent points when compared to the second quarter of 2022, which was –11.77 per cent.
“Quarter-on-quarter, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of -1.80 per cent in the third quarter of 2022. The oil sector contributed 5.66 per cent to the total real GDP in third quarter of 2022, down from the figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.49 per cent and 6.33 per cent,” the report said.
However, quarterly, real GDP grew at 9.68 per cent in third quarter, reflecting a higher economic activity than the preceding quarter. In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N52.25 trillion in nominal terms.
This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of last year, which recorded aggregate GDP of N45.11 trillion, indicating a yearly nominal growth rate of 15.83 per cent.
“The nominal GDP growth rate in third quarter 2022 was higher relative to the 15.41 per cent growth recorded in the third quarter of 2021 and higher compared to the 15.03 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter,” it added.
Boost in mobile lines
The number of connected lines across the mobile networks of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile continued to grow, rising to 319.6 million in October, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
However, only 244.3 million of these lines were active. The implication is that a total of 104.9 million lines on the networks have become inactive.
MTN sustained its dominance accounting for 38.85per cent with a total of 83.2 million active subscriptions.
Globacom maintained its second position with a market share of 27.82 per cent, having recorded 59.6 million active lines in the period under review.
Airtel’s market share stood at 27.37per cent with 58.6 million active subscriptions.
9mobile, on the other hand, had only a 5.96per cent share of the mobile market with 12.7 million subscriptions.
MTN, Airtel differ over 5G spectrum
During the period under review, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria clashed over the propriety or otherwise of allowing former to participate in the fresh bid round to offer two lots of 100 megahertz (MHz) Time Division Duplexing (TDD) in the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) band proposed for auctioning.
An official of Airtel, who spoke during Stakeholders’ Engagement Forum on IM for the planned auction of 5G spectrum licence in Lagos, questioned why the NCC should allow MTN to participate in the fresh bid round.
Responding earlier to the draft IM for the bid round, MTN had, among others, said: “We note with concern the provision that “the Commission places a cap of 100MHz as the maximum amount of Spectrum a licencee can acquire in the 3.5GHz band”. It, therefore, said: “MTN respectfully reiterates its prior recommendation that to ensure that the spectrum can be assigned and used efficiently, it will be appropriate to allow successful bidders in the prior auctions of spectrum in the 3.5GHz (or indeed any other spectrum band) to participate in future awards. It is MTN’s considered view that cumulative cap of 200MHz in the 3.5GHz band would appropriate across all awards in the band.”
Airtel questioned the propriety of MTN’s participation in the new bid round, noting that it was capable of breeding a monopoly.
Responding, General Manager, Regulatory Affairs at MTN, Ikenna Ikeme, said Airtel has no right to stop any investor ready to invest in the economy. He said if MTN is denied the right to participate in the bid round, the huge cash it spent on preferred Lot at the last bid round would have gone to ruins.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof Garba Dambatta, at the last bid round, MTN Communications had made an offer of $15,900,000 for the assignment of a preferred Lot, while Mafab Communications made an offer of $11,120,000 for a preferred lot. MTN Communications, having made the highest offer was given the right to select its most preferred Lot and it selected Lot 1 (3500-3600 MHz), while Lot 2 (3700-3800 MHz) was consequentially assigned to Mafab Communication at no extra cost.
Ikeme explained that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) produce equipment that are compatible with contiguous spectrums, adding that denying the operator the opportunity to participate will inevitably make nonsense of its huge investment on the preferred lot.
Responding, Executive Commissioner (Technical Services), NCC, Ubale Maska, said the Commission had taken note of the observations and comments of stakeholders on the issue. He said the essence of the forum was also to get the buy-in of stakeholders in the industry to coming up with a robust policy framework.
Earlier on, in its response to the draft IM, Airtel had sought an administrative grant of 5G spectrum licence and paying the spectrum bid price of last year.
According to the operator, its participation in the last bid round in the 3.5GHz spectrum led to boosting the Federal Government’s revenue.
It therefore urged the Commission to grant it the licence without going through the process of auctioning.
It argued that the companies that didn’t participate in the process of last year should be made to go through the crucible of bidding.
The NCC, however, said it will only assign spectrum through open, transparent and competitive bidding.
The NCC had placed the reserve price of about N75billion ($197.4million) for each slot of the spectrum. Airtel had listed an exit bid of $270million, while MTN had posted an exit bid of $273million, thus making it and Mafab Communications the winners of the bid round.
For the proposed auction bid round, the Commission has fixed $273.6 million or its equivalent in Naira at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rate at the time of the auction as its reserve price.
An Initial Bid Deposit (IBD) equal to 10 per cent of the reserve price is adopted in line with the previous auction.
Airtel for 5G spectrum licence
The NCC announced that by the close of business on December 5, 2022, only Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel) and Standard Network & Connections Limited (Standard Network) had expressed interest in the auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum band.
However, only Airtel paid the Intention to Bid Deposit (IBD) as stipulated in the IM whereas, Standard Network sent an email appeal for the deadline to be extended by 12 working days, which was not acceptable in view of the auction timetable.
Having met the provisions in the IM, Airtel has, therefore, emerged as the sole bidder.
Consequently, there shall be no further bidding and the Commission will proceed to the Assignment Stage in line with the published Information Memorandum guiding the licensing process.
Twitter twists
On April 25, this year, Twitter’s Board of Directors agreed to founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tesla, Elon Musk’s buyout offer of $44 billion, which effectively made the company private. Musk had stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-sourced, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech. He also said jobs must be cut.
Job cuts gale
The order for immediate workers’ sack activated the panic button signposting the chaos that became the lot of Twitter after Musk’s take over.
Twitter’s Chief Executive, Parag Agrawal, and the Chief Financial Officer, Ned Segal, were sent emails, saying they had been fired. Twitter’s top Legal and Policy Executive, Vijaya Gadde, and the General Counsel, Sean Edgett, were also kicked out. But the departures of two New York-based Twitter executives — Ms. Berland and JP Maheu, the Vice President, Advertising, hit Musk because they were well known in the advertising community.
Those Twitter executives “had great relationships with the senior-most people at the Fortune 500 — they were incredibly transparent and inclusive. Those things engender tremendous trust, and those things are in question,” said Lou Paskalis, a longtime advertising executive.
Just over a week after closing the deal, he eliminated nearly half of Twitter’s work force, or about 3,700 jobs. The job cuts affected many divisions across the company, including the engineering and machine learning units, the teams that manage content moderation, and the sales and advertising departments.
Then came the verification subscriptions. Twitter said it would begin charging customers $7.99 monthly to receive a coveted verification check mark on their profiles. But the rollout was delayed until after the mid-term elections after Twitter users and employees raised concerns that the new pay-for-play badges could be misused to sow seeds of discord.
Shortly after closing the Twitter deal, he said the company would form a content moderation council to decide what kinds of posts to keep up and what to take down. This backfired as advertisers halted spending over fears that the new owner will loosen content rules on the platform.
In his search for ways to generate more revenue, Musk toyed with the idea of adding paid direct messages, which would let users send private messages to high-profile users.The company has also filed registration paperwork to pave the way for it to process payments.
The scope of layoffs was a moving train. Twitter managers were initially told to cut 25 per cent of the workforce, three people said. But Tesla engineers who reviewed Twitter’s code proposed deeper cuts to the engineering teams. Executives overseeing other parts of Twitter were told to expand their layoff lists.
Ghana takes hit
Three days after opening its only African office in Accra, Ghana, Twitter laid off almost all the workers.
Since taking ownership of Twitter on October 27, Musk started a sweeping programme of job cuts, making thousands of roles redundant. Some workers were laid off by email, while others found out the news after being locked out of company accounts.
Twitter has been slammed for the abrupt and impersonal nature of the layoffs. Musk has tweeted that affected employees were offered three months of severance.
But that isn’t the case for Twitter’s staff in Accra, where they were told that they were being laid off without information on their exit packet or next steps.
After spending around a year operating remotely, Twitter’s office in Accra had opened on November 1. Then, on Friday, just three days later, workers got locked out of their email accounts and their work laptops no longer functioned, according to an agency report.
Shortly afterwards, staff received emails on their personal email accounts saying they were being terminated.
“The company is reorganizing its operations as a result of a need to reduce costs. It is with regret that we’re writing to inform you that your employment is terminating as a result of this exercise,” Twitter’s director of people services in Dublin, Ireland told its staff in Africa in the email.
Workers were told in the email that they’d be placed on garden leave until December 4, their last day of employment. They were told they are not allowed to communicate with colleagues during this time period, but should remain available in case Twitter needs them for a handover.
Koo’s downloads surge
While the future of Twitter hung on the balance, its rival, Koo, crossed the 50 million downloads
Koo is available in 10 languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, Bengali and English. According to the platform, there are more than 7,500 high-profile people, millions of students, teachers, entrepreneurs, poets, leaders, writers, artists, actors, etc. actively posting in their native languages.
“This validates the demand for a multilingual social network built with an Indian-first product mindset of seamlessly including language speaking Indians in daily thoughts sharing. Our rapid growth and adoption is a testimony to the fact that we are solving a problem faced by a billion Indians,” CEO and Co-founder, Koo app, Aprameya Radhakrishna, said.
Meta axes 11,000 workers
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, also sacked about 11,000 employees, an equivalent of 13 per cent of its global workforce, including Nigerian employees in diaspora and in Africa.
The gale of sack came a few days after micro-blogging platform, Twitter, sacked about 50 per cent of its workforce.
The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, said the company was taking a number of additional steps to become leaner and more efficient by cutting discretionary spending and extending hiring freeze through Q1.
Zuckerberg sent an email to employees and also posted on its website details of compensation packages to employees.
“Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13per cent and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go.
“We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.
“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted,” Zuckerberg said.
The American tech company gave a brief breakdown of the severance package for the affected workers which include payment of 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap.
“PTO-We’ll pay for all remaining PTO time; RSU vesting- Everyone impacted will receive their November 15, 2022 vesting; Health insurance- We’ll cover the cost of healthcare for people and their families for six months; Career Services-We’ll provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads,” Meta said.
About those on Immigration visas, Meta said it can’t do much about that as those affected might have to leave the country when their visa expires. “However, they will give you a specialist who can support you through the process.
“Immigration support- I know this is especially difficult if you’re here on a visa. There’s a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need,” Meta said.
According to Meta, the international workers will also get a similar compensation to those in the US in accordance with local laws.
“Outside the US, support will be similar, and we’ll follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws.”
Explaining the circumstances that culminated in the job cut, Zuckerberg said: “At the start of COVID, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth. Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.
“In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient. We’ve shifted more of our resources onto a smaller number of high-priority growth areas — like our AI discovery engine, our ads and business platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go.”
While noting that the layoffs came as a last resort, Zuckerberg said the company has also decided to rein in other sources of the cost before letting teammates go. Overall, he said this will add up to a meaningful cultural shift in how the company operates.
Year of malwares
During the year, the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) was kept on its toes by a myriad of malware vulnerability reports.
From Somnia Ransomware, Xenomorph Malware, Schoolyard bully malware, Invisible Challenge on short-form video hosting service, TokTok, QBot malware and many others, it was indeed a year of massive malware attacks.
In response to the discovery of a new attack that compromises victims’ Virtual Private Network (VPN) accounts to compromise messaging app, Telegram, NCC-CSIRT advised users to adopt two-factor authentication to protect their Telegram accounts and not to download unknown Advanced IP Scanner Software.
Ukrainian cyber experts discovered the attack, which uses Vidar Malware (Vidar Stealer) to steal Telegram session data, which in the absence of configured two-factor authentication and a passcode, allows unauthorized access to the victim’s telegram account and corporate account or network.
The malware, which exploits unauthorized access to users’ Telegram accounts and corporate accounts to steal data, targets platforms across iOS, Android, Linux, Mac and Windows Operating Systems.
“The Ukrainian CERT alleged that a Somnia Ransomware was created to be used on Telegram that tricks users to download an installer that mimics ‘Advanced IP Scanner’ software, which contains Vidar Malware. The installer infects the system with the Vidar stealer, which steals the victim’s Telegram session data to take control of their account.
“The threat actors abuse the victim’s Telegram account in some unspecified manner to steal VPN connection data (authentication and certificates). If the VPN account is not protected by two-factor authentication passcode, the hackers use it to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s employer’s corporate network,” the alert and advisory stated.
“Once inside, the intruders conduct reconnaissance work using tools like Netscan, Rclone, Anydesk, and Ngrok, to perform various surveillance and remote access activities, and then deploy a Cobalt Strike beacon, exfiltrating data using the Rclone program,” the report stated.
The CSIRT is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector and as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large. The CSIRT also works collaboratively with ngCERT, established by the Federal Government to reduce the volume of future computer risk incidents by preparing, protecting, and securing Nigerian cyberspace to forestall attacks, and problems or related events.
Another was XENOMORPH that installs Trojan in banking apps on the Android platform to steal login details, raid bank accounts, and read the users SMS. It was flagged by the NCC-CSIRT. The Team suggests that owners of compromised devices take the extreme measure of doing factory resetting of infected devices.
NCC-CSIRT, citing Zscaler ThreatLabz, said: “The Todo: Day Manager hijacks your login info from banking apps, and can even read your SMS messages. It installs a banking trojan malware called Xenomorph that allows the app to intercept your two-factor verification codes (typically delivered over text) to raid your logins – and bank account.
“Xenomorph performs overlay attacks by exploiting accessibility permissions in Android, resulting in the overlaying of fraudulent login screens on banking apps aimed at exfiltrating credentials. The Android app makes itself intentionally difficult to delete. You need to search your phone for it immediately and uninstall it.
“It starts with asking users to enable access permission. Once provided, it adds itself as a device admin and prevents users from disabling Device Admin, making it un-installable from the phone. If you haven’t given permission to the app, then you should be able to uninstall it safely. Otherwise, you may have to back up your files and then factory-reset your phone to clear the app completely,” it advised.
In terms of potential solutions to the malware, NCC-CSIRT said: “Search your phone for the app and uninstall immediately or backup your files and factory reset your phone.
“Only search for an app in the Google Play Store, pay close attention to the search results, look at the apps icons, note that fake apps almost always use the icon from the app they’re faking, then look at the developer’s name and make sure it’s from the right developer.
“Also, look at the app’s download count. If the app has a lot of downloads going into millions to hundreds of thousand that’s a clue that it’s the right app. Then, finally, look at the app’s description and screenshots to ensure that it doesn’t contain multiple spelling or grammar mistakes or otherwise broken English.
“Make use of Google Play Protect, which regularly scans your apps for malware and will alert you to uninstall rogue apps.”
Then came the “Schoolyard Bully” malware attack on over 300,000 Android devices.
Schoolyard Bully steals Facebook account credentials prompting the NCC-CSIRT to issue an advisory reminding users to only download applications from official sites and application stores.
The NCC-CSIRT further recommended that users double-check each application and uncheck boxes that request extra third-party downloads when installing apps downloaded from the Google Play Store and to use anti-malware applications to routinely scan their devices for malware.
Researchers from mobile security firm, Zimperium, found several apps that transmit the “Schoolyard Bully” malware while disguising themselves as reading and educational apps with a variety of books and topics for their victims to study.
The malicious apps were available on Google Play, yet they have already been taken down. However, they still spread via third-party Android app shops.
The primary objective of the malware, which affects all versions of Facebook Apps for Android, is to steal Facebook account information, including the email address and password, account ID, username, device name, device RAM (Random Access Memory), and device API (Application Programming Interface).
According to NCC-CSIRT, “The (Zimperium) research stated that the malware employs JavaScript injection to steal the Facebook login information. The malware loads a legitimate URL (web address) inside a WebView (a WebView maps website elements that enables user interaction through Android View objects and their extensions) with malicious JavaScript injected to obtain the user’s contact information (phone number, email address, and password), then send it to the command-and-control server.
Furthermore, malware uses native libraries to evade detection and analysis by security software and machine learning technologies.”
NCC-CSIRT also warned about the potential harm of taking part in the Invisible Challenge on short-form video hosting service, TokTok, revealing that it exposed devices to Information-Stealing Malware.
The advisory said threat actors have taken advantage of a viral TikTok challenge, known as the Invisible Challenge, to disseminate an information-stealing malware known as the WASP (or W4SP) stealer.
The WASP stealer, which is high in probability with critical damage potential, is a persistent malware hosted on discord that its developer claims is undetectable.
The advisory had said: “The Invisible Challenge involves wrapping a somewhat transparent body contouring filter around a presumed naked individual. Attackers are uploading videos to TikTok with a link to software that they claim can reverse the filter’s effects.
“Those who click on the link and attempt to download the software, known as “unfilter,” are infected with the WASP stealer. Suspended accounts had amassed over a million views after initially posting the videos with a link. Following the link leads to the “Space Unfilter” Discord server, which had 32,000 members at its peak but has since been removed by its creators.
“Successful installation will allow the malware to harvest keystrokes, screenshots, network activity, and other information from devices where it is installed. It may also covertly monitor user behaviour and harvest Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including names and passwords, keystrokes from emails, chat programs, websites visited, and financial activity. This malware may be capable of covertly collecting screenshots, video recordings, or the ability to activate any connected camera or microphone,” it explained.
The Team said some ways to forestall such an attack include avoiding clicking on suspicious links, using anti-malware software on your devices, checking app tray and removing any apps that you do not remember installing or that are dormant and embracing healthy password hygiene practices such as using a password manager.
Again, NCC-CSIRT warned that a new phishing, attacks exploit Windows Zero-Day Vulnerability, can load a malicious QBot malware on the compromised device without triggering any Windows security alerts.
NCC-CSIRT had said the vulnerability, which is present in all versions of Windows-based products, presents as Phishing Attacks and Malware threats.
NCC-CSIRT reports that ProxyLife security researcher discovered the new phishing exploit on Windows zero-day vulnerability to drop a Qbot malware without displaying Mark of the Web (MoTW) security warnings.
“To take advantage of the Windows Mark of the Web zero-day vulnerability, threat actors have switched to a new phishing strategy that involves propagating JS files (plain text files that include JavaScript code) signed with forged signatures. The newest phishing attempt begins with an email that contains a password for the file along with a link to an allegedly important document.
“When the link is clicked, a password-protected ZIP folder that includes another zip file and an IMG file is downloaded. Normally, launching the JS file in Windows would result in a Mark of the Web security warning because it is an Internet-based file. However, the forged signature permits the JS script to function and load the malicious QBot program without triggering any Windows security alerts,” the advisory said.
Accordingly, NCC-CSIRT advised that users apply updates per vendor instructions.
Meta, credible polls
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, said since 2016, it has quadrupled the size of its global teams working on safety and security to about 40,000 people and has invested more than $16 billion in teams and technology ahead of Nigeria’s elections.
Speaking on the steps it is taking to protect the integrity of the elections, it said it is also combating the spread of misinformation and making political advertising more transparent.
Its Head of Public Policy for Anglophone West Africa, Adaora Ikenze, said the steps also included over 15,000 content reviewers, who are located across the globe, in every major time zone. Collectively, these reviewers are able to review content in more than 70 languages- including Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.
This work, she said will continue in the lead up to, during, and after voting and builds on Meta’s experience and learnings from supporting elections across sub-Saharan Africa and globally. Meta’s approach has also been informed by conversations with human rights groups, NGOs, local civil society organisations, regional experts and local election authorities – to help ensure the safety of people using Meta’s family of apps, customised election strategies for Nigeria, maintaining the integrity of its platforms and keeping users safe.
Adaora said: “We know we have an important responsibility when it comes to helping keep people safe during the elections. Using lessons from the past including input from experts and policymakers across the national spectrum; we’ve made substantial investments in people and technology to reduce misinformation, remove harmful content on our platforms, fight voter interference and promote civic engagement during the elections. We continue to work closely with election authorities and local partners in Nigeria to ensure we’re preparing for the specific challenges in Nigeria and taking appropriate steps to stay ahead of emerging threats.”
She added that some of the steps the company is taking to prepare for the Nigerian elections include creation of a dedicated cross functional team spread across the world as well as locally focused on the Nigerian elections. This includes a number of people from Nigeria and people who have spent significant time in the country, as it is recognised that local understanding is critical. The team also includes individuals with global expertise in misinformation, hate speech, elections and disinformation. These teams are working hard to prevent any abuse of our services before, during and after Nigeria’s 2023 general elections. Locally, Meta has workers that reside in Nigeria and work in the public policy, & public policy programmes and communications, she said.
Adaora said the company will continue to outline its Community Standards that publicly explain what is and isn’t allowed on the platforms to prioritise integrity during and after elections.
“On WhatsApp bulk or automated messaging is a violation of our terms of service. If we find instances of people misusing the service we remove those accounts. We continue to constrain forwarding and earlier in 2022 we announced that any message that has been forwarded once will now only be able to be forwarded to one group at a time, rather than five, which was the previous limit. When we introduced the same feature for highly forwarded messages, it reduced the number of these messages sent on WhatsApp by over 70per cent. We also label ‘forwarded’ and ‘highly forwarded’ messages to highlight when something has been shared multiple times. We’ve introduced forward limits to Messenger too, so messages can only be forwarded to five people or groups at a time.
“Taking aggressive steps to fight the spread of misinformation on our services in Nigeria, because we know it’s important for people to see accurate information on Facebook and Instagram. We’re removing misinformation which could lead to imminent violence or physical harm and working with our fact-checking partners in Nigeria – AFP, Africa Check and Dubawa – to review and rate potentially false content on our platforms, label it, and place it lower in our feed, so fewer people see it. To further educate Nigerians on how to spot false news and the actions to take, we’re partnering with local radio stations to create ‘#NoFalseNews’ radio dramas in English and Pidgin, executing a WhatsApp awareness campaign #YouSaid in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Pidgin to educate users to verify information before sharing and running online ads on Facebook and radio in Yoruba, Pidgin, Hausa and Igbo to educate people on how to spot false information,” Adaora said.
She said the company has made political adverts transparent in the country. According to her, anybody who wants to run political ads in Nigeria must go through a verification process to prove who they are and that they live in Nigeria. ‘These ads are labelled with a disclaimer, so you can see who paid for them and stored them in our public Ads Library for seven years, so that everyone can see what ads are running, what types of people saw them and how much was spent. We also offer controls so that people in Nigeria can choose not to see any of these political ads which run with a disclaimer.
“We are also promoting civic engagement; helping to build informed and civically engaged communities are central to our work around elections. Our dedicated teams have engaged in training and conversations with civil society organisations, academia, political parties and government to inform them of our election integrity efforts,” she said.
ITU Council membership
During the year, Nigeria was re-elected as a Council member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency that oversees global telecommunication operations. Nigeria will serve on the Council again from 2023-2026.
The election of Nigeria and other countries into different regional groups that constitute ITU Council, was the highpoint of the Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22) held in Bucharest, the capital city of the Republic of Romania.
The Nigerian delegation was led to the global event by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami. Other members of the delegation included Chairman, Board of Commissioners of NCC, Prof. Adeolu Akande, and the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta.
At the conference which was held between September 26 and October 14, 2022, member states voted on the composition of the next ITU Council and the 12 representatives to serve on the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) for the next four years.
The 21st Plenipotentiary Conference of the Council, also saw the election by member states, of Doreen Bogdan-Martin of the United States (US) as the organisation’s next Secretary-General.
Like Nigeria and the countries elected into the Council, Bogdan-Martin, as the first woman to lead ITU in its 157-year history, will begin her four-year term from January 2023, when Houlin Zhao would have completed his second final term of four years in office as ITU Secretary General.
The seats in ITU Council are divided into five regions, A to E. Nigeria was elected into the ITU Council Region D for Africa, which has 13 seats. Other 12 countries elected alongside Nigeria are Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda.
Elections of member states also took place into Region A for The Americas (nine seats); Region B for Western Europe (eight seats); Region C for Eastern Europe & Northern Asia (five seats); and Region E, for Asia and Australasia with 13 seats as Africa.
Commenting on Nigeria’s re-election as ITU Council member, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, thanked the ITU member states for the confidence it has in Nigeria, expressed by the re-elected into the ITU Council, in which the country has been playing critical role over the years.
“The re-election of Nigeria as a member of ITU Council for the next four years, again points to the globally-recognised leadership role Nigeria is playing in Africa and at the level of ITU Council in the area of telecommunications policy formulation and technical regulations development to drive ITU’s mission and vision,” the EVC said.
The ITU, originally established in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union and became a United Nations specialised agency in 1947, was set up to coordinate telecommunications operations and services throughout the world. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nigeria became a member of ITU on November 4, 1961. The USA joined on July 1, 1908; United Kingdom, February 24, 1871, and UAE on June 27, 1972.
The ITU is governed by the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Administrative Council. The Plenipotentiary Conference is the supreme organ of the Union. It is the decision-making body which determines the direction of the Union and its activities.
The Council, on the other hand, acts as the Union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences. Its role is to consider broad telecommunication policy issues to ensure that the Union’s activities, policies, and strategies fully respond to today’s dynamic, rapidly changing telecommunications environment.
ITU Council also prepares a report on the policy and strategic planning of the ITU, and it is responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the Union, coordinating work programmes, approving budgets, and controlling finances and expenditure.
The Council also takes all steps to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the ITU Constitution, the ITU Convention, the Administrative Regulations (International Telecommunications Regulations, and Radio Regulations), the decisions of Plenipotentiary Conferences, and where appropriate, the decisions of other conferences and meetings of the Union.
