In a bid to further create awareness on the need to practice healthy lifestyle particularly among the productive segment of the society, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Nigeria’s digital payment service bank, focused on financial inclusion, has advocated for a healthy lifestyle among staff members.

This was made known during a webinar session titled My Health, My Right, facilitated by a health expert, Dr Stephen from AXA Mansard Wellness Team. This was to commemorate this year’s Global Public Health Week, themed: Fostering Peace as a Prerequisite for Equitable Health.

The health week, marked with a series of activities, was designed to enlighten, and raise staff consciousness about healthy living and the factors that determine positive wellbeing.

This is expected to ensure quality of life to achieve high productivity through regular exercises, medical checks, eating healthy, attaining quality rest and the avoidance of toxins to attain improved life expectancy.

Commenting on this year’s theme, Branka Mracajac, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), noted that, “Good health is an important aspect of life that is non-negotiable.

Achieving a worthwhile life-work balance is of utmost importance and cannot be handled lightly. The wellbeing of every individual is determined by the kind of choices made daily and intentional efforts accelerated with a mission, actions, and decisions for desired outcome”.

Branka further added, ‘’There is always a price paid for every good outcome. Self-discipline should be inculcated into our daily lives and right steps taken to avoid poor lifestyle that impact negatively on our health.

As the saying goes ‘’health is wealth”. Therefore, we have no reason not to take our health seriously. “As an organisation, we have made provisions for Health Insurance for all staff as required by law and in partnership with our designated Health Management Organisation to ensure access to healthcare for all staff members. We will continue to thrive and take adequate care of our human capital as they are key to the success of our organization”.

The health week activities came to a climax with a well-organized 42-minute walk by all staff members from the Head Office at Adeola Odeku through Saka Tinubu in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The activities were organised to instill in staff the need to indulge in frequent exercises as it improves mental alertness, cardiovascular functions, weight control, reduce risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Global Public Health Week (GPHW) is an annual event, organised by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) to mark a pivotal moment for the global public health community.

It aims to bring together institutions, communities, and public health actors from around the world to recognise the contributions of public health and its workforce and to engender discussions on the best practices and gaps fundamental to disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellbeing around the world.

PalmPay has announced the first set of winners in its ongoing Eid campaign tagged PalmPay Eid Bonanza, which kicked off on April 10th and will run until April 30th, 2024.

Since the start of the bonanza on April 10th, 5 lucky winners have been emerging daily simply by performing tasks on the PalmPay App such as transferring funds, airtime and data purchases, bill payments, and savings.

Comfort Udoh from Lagos, one of the proud recipients of an iPhone 15 Pro, expressed her sheer delight. “I simply won by recharging my phone with airtime on the PalmPay app. I received the exciting news via a call from PalmPay Nigeria. I thank them for the generous reward of a brand new iPhone 15 pro”

Also, Mr. Abegurin Patrick Segun’s winning entry came about when he placed a N100 bet using his PalmPay app. It was a delightful surprise for him to receive a call from PalmPay Nigeria, informing him of his victory in the daily raffle draw, and he’s now the proud owner of an Infinix Hot 40i.

To participate in the remaining weeks of the campaign, download the PalmPay App from Google Play or App Store. Sign up for an account and include your BVN or NIN to complete the process and click on the  Eid Bonanza Feature.

There are still numerous phones to be won daily, along with the added bonus of daily free transfers to any bank via the PalmPay App.

Enakeno Umuteme, the Head of Marketing and Communications at PalmPay Nigeria, notes that “Our primary objective is to reward and acknowledge our loyal customers. This campaign stays true to its promise of appreciating Nigerians who are PalmPay users”

PalmPay offers an array of services including money transfers, bill payments, credit services, and savings on its app and via its mobile money agents. Since its inception in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, the platform has amassed over 30 million app users as part of its cashless payment ecosystem.

As the malware development market continues to flourish with new stealers such as Lumma, for the last three years Redline still remains the dominant data-stealing malware used by cybercriminals.

More than half of every device (55%) targeted by password-stealer attacks in 2023 has been infected with the Redline malware, Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence finds.

Infostealers infiltrate devices to illicitly obtain sensitive credentials such as logins and passwords, which are then peddled on the shadow market, posing significant cybersecurity threats to personal and corporate systems.

According to information gleaned from log-files traded or distributed freely on the dark web, Redline was used in 51% of infostealer infections from 2020 to 2023. Other notable malware families included Vidar (17%) and Raccoon (nearly 12%).

In total, around 100 distinct infostealer types were identified by Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence between 2020 and 2023 using metadata from log-files.

The underground market for data-stealing malware development is expanding, evident from the rising popularity of new stealers.

Between 2021 and 2023, the portion of infections caused by new stealers grew from 4% to 28%. Specifically, in 2023, the new “Lumma” stealer alone was responsible for more than 6% of all infections.

“Lumma emerged in 2022 and gained popularity in 2023, through a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) distribution model.

This means any criminal, even those without advanced technical skills, can purchase a subscription for a pre-made malicious solution and use this stealer to carry out cyberattacks.

“Lumma is primarily designed for stealing credentials and other information from cryptocurrency wallets, commonly spread through email, YouTube, and Discord spam campaigns,” says Sergey Shcherbel, expert at Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence.

To guard against data-stealing malware, individuals are advised to use a comprehensive security solution for any device. This will help prevent infections and alert them to dangers, such as suspicious sites or phishing emails that can be an initial vector for infection. Companies can help their users, employees and partners protect themselves from the threat by proactively monitoring leaks and prompting users to change leaked passwords immediately.