Telecom
Beware of New Ransomware- Sophos Warns

Sophos, a global leader in endpoint and network security, has released alert about a new ransomware that is threatening businesses.
SophosLabs Uncut released detailed malware analysis of the new ransomware called MegaCortex, On Friday, May 3, 2019, at 3:45 pm ET.
Sophos research team expatiating on the ransomeware writes:
“MegaCortex was a relatively little-seen malware that suddenly spiked in volume on May 1. Sophos has seen MegaCortex detections in the US, Canada, Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Australia.
“The ransomware has manual components similar to Ryuk and BitPaymer, but the adversaries behind MegaCortex use more automated tools to carry out the attack – this is unique.
“Up until now, Sophos has seen automated attacks, manual attacks and blended attacks, which typically lean more towards using manual hacking techniques to move laterally; with MegaCortex, Sophos is seeing heavier use of automation coupled with the manual component.
“This new formula is designed to spread the infection to more victims, more quickly.
As indicated in the SophosLabs Uncut article, MegaCortex Ransomware Wants to be TheOne, there is no explicit value for the ransom demand in the ransom note.
The attackers invite victims to email them on either of two free mail.com email addresses and send along a file that the ransomware drops on the victim’s hard drive to request decryption “services.”
The ransom note also promises the cybercriminals “will include a guarantee that your company will never be inconvenienced by us,” if the victims pay the ransom, and continues, “You will also receive a consultation on how to improve your companies cyber security.”
Sophos has also made the following protection recommendation to businesses:
“It appears that there’s a strong correlation between the presence of MegaCortex, and a pre-existing, ongoing infection on the victims’ networks with both Emotet and Qbot. If IT managers are seeing alerts about Emotet or Qbot infections, those should take a high priority. Both of those bots can be used to distribute other malware, and it’s possible that’s how the MegaCortex infections got their start.
“Sophos has not seen any indication so far that Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) has been abused to break into networks, but we know that holes in enterprise firewalls that allow people to connect to RDP remain relatively common. We strongly discourage this practice and suggest that any IT admin who wishes to do this put the RDP machine behind a VPN
“As the attack seems to indicate that an administrative password was abused by the criminals, we also recommend the widespread adoption of two-factor authentication wherever possible
“Keeping regular backups of your most important and current data on an offline storage device is the best way to avoid having to pay a ransom
“Use anti-ransomware protection, such as Sophos Intercept X, to block MegaCortex and future ransomware
Commenting on the study, Sophos Senior Security Advisor John Shier, said:
“We suspect this is your script kiddie/living-off-the-land ‘mega bundle’ and a good example of what we’ve lately been calling cybercriminal pen-testing.
“The MegaCortex attackers have taken the blended threat approach and turned it up to 11, by increasing the automated component to target more victims. Once they have your admin credentials, there’s no stopping them. Launching the attack from your own domain controller is a great way for the attackers to inherit all the authority they need to impact everything in an organization.
“Organizations need to pay attention to basic security controls and perform security assessments, before the criminals do, to prevent attackers like these from slipping through”.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Wins Award for Best Use of Data @MarkHack 4.0 Awards Night

MTN Nigeria’s commitment to digital innovation took center stage at MarkHack 4.0, the annual marketing and technology conference held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, May 23, 2025, with the theme ‘Experience Ignited: Fueling the Customer’s Journey’.

L-R: Akinbulejo Onabolu, Head, Enterprise Segment, MTN Nigeria; Eneyi Obi, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Rise; Tobi Olanisimi, Marketing Manager, AB InBev; Martha Kayode, Marketing Head, PZ Cussonz; Sulaiman Shaibu, CEO, BFT Consulting Service and Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor, Condia Business at the MarkHack 4.0 Conference held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, May 23, 2025.
In a celebration of innovation, technology, and storytelling, the company also took home the award for Best Use of Data in a Marketing Campaign at the Nigeria MarTech (MarkHack 4.0) Awards Night. This award recognizes brands that have successfully transformed data into compelling narratives and actionable insights to meaningfully engage their audiences.
Akinbulejo Onabolu, Senior Manager, Segment Management, Enterprise Business at MTN, joined a panel to discuss the power of immersive technologies on consumer behaviour. Drawing from MTN’s launch of its 5G Digital Experience Centre in Abuja last year, Onabolu highlighted the rapid evolution of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) stating “Our 5G centre is a sandbox for our customers to come and see how technology can shape things. At the launch event, we unveiled a smart city to customers, clients and dignitaries in attendance, with gaming and other tech experiences.”
On the intersection of data, AR and VR, he added: “Co-creating with MTN takes our minds to a platform where different partners, companies and creators can bring their buildings, products and businesses for people to see via augmented reality and connectivity, just swiping through and following through that journey.
“As a part of impacting our customer’s lives, a few years ago, we also played around with the Metaverse and we ended up creating some of our back-office processes with some of our customer journeys on augmented reality and virtual reality such that a customer somewhere can engage with a virtual agent to solve real life problems and integrating that back into our operating systems. As an organization, at a lot of our events, you will find a lot of AR and VR experiences.”
Speaking on how MTN is embedding immersive technology into its day-to-day operations, he explained that the company is prioritizing both internal capability development and external engagement. “85% of our organization has undergone extensive training on AI and that already is a great addition to our daily lives. We’re using it to do things differently, developing user journeys and brainstorming different things. In terms of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, we are working with organizations to develop training programs which we use internally.”
He described the bases for this tech as stable connectivity, high bandwidth, high speed and low latency. “Over the past year, we’ve doubled our 5G capacity across the entire country. Wherever you are, you’ll probably start to pick up 5G. With our FibreX service, we’re going way beyond connectivity to create the systems and platforms to support the ecosystem, AR and VR. In addition to this, we’re also engaging regulatory systems to start to tease this out and build the proper governance.”
The session, moderated by Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor at Condia Business, also featured insights from leaders in FMCG, consulting, and global marketing, all underscoring the transformative potential of immersive technologies for Africa’s future.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Invests ₦900Bn in 2025 to Boost Network Quality in Lagos & Abuja

MTN Nigeria has announced a massive capital expenditure (CAPEX) drive for 2025, nearly doubling its investment to almost 900 billion Naira, as it seeks to significantly enhance network service quality in major cities like Lagos and Abuja and extend improvements to other areas.

Karl Toriola
This financial commitment, up from a combined total of approximately 440 billion Naira spent in 2023 and 2024, was detailed by MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr. Karl Toriola, during a recent interview on Arise TV.
Toriola highlighted that a key focus of the increased CAPEX will be on “putting additional capacity in a city like Lagos, particularly in Abuja, where you have a lot of buildings coming up, you need additional sites because there are coverage issues.”
Beyond these critical urban centres, the investment aims to bolster network resilience and ensure power stability for its infrastructure nationwide. This includes proactively addressing site outages by ensuring timely payment for operational necessities such as diesel for generators, a persistent challenge in the Nigerian operating environment
The CEO outlined the comprehensive nature of the upgrade process, which involves “placing orders formally, opening letters of credit, and then the equipment gets shipped in and installed.” He added that where necessary, MTN will be “acquiring new sites” and “laying fiber to the base station to create better stability.”
While the immediate CAPEX is geared towards improving existing service quality and capacity, this investment aligns with MTN’s broader goals, which include enhancing financial inclusion in underserved rural areas, suggesting a long-term vision for network expansion and service improvement that extends beyond metropolitan areas.
Customers are expected to begin experiencing the positive impact of these investments with a “significant improvement in quality of service” anticipated by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2025, according to Toriola.
Telecom
Airtel’s AI Spam Alert Flags 9.6m Spam Attempts

Airtel Nigeria, telecom service provider, has announced that its AI-powered Spam Alert Service issued over 9.6 million spam alerts between March 13 and May 20, 2025.
As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting customers from unwanted and potentially fraudulent communications, Airtel designed the AI Spam Alert service to analyze traffic patterns and detect anomalies.
In the period since launch the AI pinpointed a total of 9,667,008 SMS as potential spam messages in the two months after its launch.
Of these, the system identified 528,080 on-net (Airtel-to-Airtel) and 9,138,928 off-net (from other networks) numbers as suspected spam messages, demonstrating the scale of the threat and Airtel’s advanced processing capability.
Airtel Nigeria is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa.
Commenting on this development, Dinesh Balsingh, CEO, Airtel Nigeria, restated Airtel`s commitment to protecting its customers.
“This milestone demonstrates the strength of our AI-driven infrastructure in combating the growing menace of spam and scam calls. At Airtel Nigeria, we are focused on connecting Nigerians and ensuring their safety and confidence while using our network.
“We understand that trust is the cornerstone of digital communication. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in intelligent systems that not only detect potential threats but also learn and evolve with data. As threats become more sophisticated, so will our solutions. As a company, we remain focused on leading the industry in innovation and customer satisfaction, ensuring that every Nigerian can enjoy a safer and smarter digital experience,” Mr. Balsingh said.
The Spam Alert Service is part of Airtel Nigeria’s broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence into its core offerings to deliver smarter and safer experiences for its customers across the country.
Recall that the Spam Alert Service was launched on March 13, 2025. A groundbreaking and free solution from Airtel, it notifies users in real-time of suspected spam SMS messages by analyzing over 250 parameters.
The Airtel AI Spam Alert Service is available to all Airtel subscribers on smartphones and feature phones.
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