Telecom
Cybercriminals Are Doubling Down on Credential Theft, Launching More Innovative Ransomware Attacks – Sophos 2023 Threat Report Reveals
Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, has on Monday published its 2023 Threat Report.
The report details how the cyberthreat landscape has reached a new level of commercialization and convenience for would-be attackers, with nearly all barriers to entry for committing cybercrime removed through the expansion of cybercrime-as-a-service.
The report also addresses how ransomware remains one of the greatest cybercrime threats to organizations with operators innovating their extortion tactics, as well as how demand for stolen credentials continues to grow.
Criminal underground marketplaces like Genesis have long made it possible to buy malware and malware deployment services (“malware-as-a-service”), as well as to sell stolen credentials and other data in bulk. Over the last decade, with the increasing popularity of ransomware, an entire “ransomware-as-a-service” economy sprung up.
Now, in 2022, this “as-a-service” model has expanded, and nearly every aspect of the cybercrime toolkit—from initial infection to ways to avoid detection—is available for purchase.
“This isn’t just the usual fare, such as malware, scamming and phishing kits for sale,” said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher, Sophos. “Higher rung cybercriminals are now selling tools and capabilities that once were solely in the hands of some of the most sophisticated attackers as services to other actors.
“For example, this past year, we saw advertisements for OPSEC-as-a-service where the sellers offered to help attackers hide Cobalt Strike infections, and we saw scanning-a-service, which gives buyers access to legitimate commercial tools like Metasploit, so that they can find and then exploit vulnerabilities.
“The commoditization of nearly every component of cybercrime is impacting the threat landscape and opening up opportunities for any type of attacker with any type of skill level.”
With the expansion of the “as-a-service” economy, underground cybercriminal marketplaces are also becoming increasingly commodified and are operating like mainstream businesses. Cybercrime sellers are not just advertising their services but are also listing job offers to recruit attackers with distinct skills. Some marketplaces now have dedicated help-wanted pages and recruiting staff, while job seekers are posting summaries of their skills and qualifications.
“Early ransomware operators were rather limited in how much they could do because their operations were centralized; group members were carrying out every aspect of an attack. But as ransomware became hugely profitable, they looked for ways to scale their productions. So, they began outsourcing parts of their operations, creating an entire infrastructure to support ransomware. Now, other cybercriminals have taken a cue from the success of this infrastructure and are following suit,” said Gallagher.
Indeed, as the cybercrime infrastructure has expanded, ransomware has remained highly popular—and highly profitable. Over the past year, ransomware operators have worked on expanding their potential attack service by targeting platforms other than Windows while also adopting new languages like Rust and Go to avoid detection. Some groups, most notably Lockbit 3.0, have been diversifying their operations and creating more “innovative” ways to extort victims.
“When we talk about the growing sophistication of the criminal underground, this extends to the world of ransomware. For example, Lockbit 3.0 is now offering bug bounty programs for its malware and ‘crowd-sourcing’ ideas to improve its operations from the criminal community. Other groups have moved to a ‘subscription model’ for access to their leak data and others are auctioning it off. Ransomware has become, first and foremost, a business,” said Gallagher.
The evolving economics of the underground has not only incentivized the growth of ransomware and the “as-a-service” industry, but also increased the demand for credential theft. With the expansion of web services, various types of credentials, especially cookies, can be used in numerous ways to gain a deeper foothold in networks, even bypassing MFA. Credential theft also remains one of the easiest ways for novice criminals to gain access to underground marketplaces and begin their “career.”
Sophos also analyzed the following trends:
·The war in Ukraine had global repercussions for the cyberthreat landscape. Immediately following the invasion, there was an explosion of financially motivated scams, while nationalism led to a shake-up of criminal alliances between Ukrainians and Russians, particularly among ransomware affiliates.
· Criminals continue to exploit legitimate executables and utilize “living off the land binaries” (LOLBins) to launch various types of attacks, including ransomware. In some cases, attackers deploy legitimate but vulnerable system drivers in“bring your own driver” attacks to attempt to shut down endpoint detection and response products to evade detection.
· Mobile devices are now at the center of new types of cybercrimes. Not only are attackers still using fake applications to deliver malware injectors, spyware and banking-associated malware, but newer forms of cyberfraud have been growing in popularity, such as “pig butchering” schemes. And this crime is no longer just affecting Android users, but iOS users as well.
· The devaluation of Monero, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies for cryptominers, led to a decrease in one of the oldest and most popular types of cryptocrime—cryptomining. But mining malware continues to spread through automated “bots” on both Windows and Linux systems.
To learn more about the changing threat landscape in 2022 and what it means for security teams in 2023, read the full Sophos 2023 Threat Report.
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.
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.
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.
Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains
Senate Passes Harmonised Report on Tax Reform Bills
FG to Provide High-fibre Internet in 12 Universities by Year End
The Silent Killer of Great Companies: A Guide To Why Your Processes Will Break (and How to Fix Them)
EFCC Witness Admits Writing Off Arik Air’s $2.3M Debt Amid N76Bn Fraud Trial
E-Financial2 days agoEFCC Recovers over N20Bn Stolen by Hackers from 6 Banks in Nigeria
Telecom2 days agoEngr. Ikechukwu Nnamani Receives Two Prestigious @ABoICT Awards
Telecom2 days agoFG to Deploy 80 Percent of 7000 Telecom Towers to North
E-Financial2 days agoUBA Launches *919# Advance Top-Up Feature for Instant Access to Customers
E-Financial2 days agoPonzi Scheme Operators Risk N10m Penalty, Others- IST Chair
News2 days agoEFCC Recovers Funds, Arrests Suspects in N1.3 Trillion CBEX Crypto Fraud
E-Financial2 days agoCourt to Deliver Judgment in NIBSS’ Suit against CBN, Others over BVN Database Management
E-Business1 day agoNigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa