E-Business
Experts Warn of Impending Global ‘Cyber Pandemic’
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global working culture. A recent survey by Checkpoint indicates that 95 per cent of security professionals are facing added IT security challenges due to the coronavirus. The shifts were global, rapid, and widespread.
Dr. Adewale Obadare
To this end that, Dr. Adewale Obadare, cofounder, Digital Encode, has likened the coronavirus pandemic facing the world to an impending global cyber-attack described as Cyber Pandemic.
According to him, “people and organizations have suffered greatly from the coronavirus pandemic. Many critical lessons are being learned, but none more important that another devastating crisis could be brewing. A catastrophic cyber event has long been envisioned, and with today’s digitally connected world, a global cyber pandemic is now a reality.
“The coronavirus that the world is facing is biological pandemic but the next global crisis is going to be called ‘Cyber pandemic’.
“Cyber pandemic just the same way as coronavirus which is biological in nature, there is going to be digital virus or cyber virus that is going to infiltrate a lot of computer systems globally.
“This is not to create fear for anyone. Don’t forget that as we gravitate through digital colonies using technology to drive our businesses and predominantly everything that we are involved in, there come so many risks. Just like during coronavirus pandemic, World Health Organisation comes out with best practices on what to do especially the issue of social distancing comes, the same way we have health best practices that we will have cyber hygiene. The same way you practice personal hygiene is how you will learn to practice cyber hygiene.
Obadare explained that to practice cyber hygiene starts with situation awareness that cyber security experts are creating, just like WHO is creating awareness about coronavirus.
“In cyber hygiene you try to prevent your system from been digitally evaded, we talk about asset distancing just like human beings are practising physical distancing now.
“Asset distancing in the cyber security world means to put measured that will separate and protect your system, one of those measures is network segmentation for the corporates. You need to segment your enterprises and network environment making sure that the way your system relate with public internet does not put your system at risk.
“The only way to achieve this is to make sure that you have good Patch management system this means that your system is up to date. Don’t use system that has been declared end of life.
“For instance, a lot of people are still using Windows XP and they are connected to the internet. Microsoft has declared end of life for Windows XP. If you are using Windows XP you are at risk and not practising cyber hygiene and with that, hackers can break into your system because you can’t practise Patch management with Windows XP. Depending on the platform that you are using,” he added.
Corroborating Obadare, Kenneth Okereafor, a Cybersecurity expert and Cyberspace defender, said that the “cyber pandemic” is already here with us.
“In every crisis including the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber-criminals are among the first to capitalize on fear, uncertainty, and doubt to exploit innocent victims. The cyberspace is currently hyperactive on account of increased patronage of online services occasioned by the COVID-19 restriction protocols.
“As a result, hackers and online fraudsters have taken advantage of the crisis to launch coordinated computer attacks using sophisticated combinations of social engineering and phishing emails to push ransomware and other exploits.
“This has resulted in identity theft, operational disruption, and revenue loss. In high profile cases such as the zoom-bombing episode in April and the 15th July Twitter hacks, the impacts could be scandalous,” he said.
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III Carrier and Cloud neutral data centre, has welcomed Olla Cloud Service, a new private cloud service by Olla Systems Limited, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions, to its facility.
Hosting at Rack Centre, Olla Cloud Service runs on a state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled infrastructure for enterprise applications across diverse platforms, including mission critical application, web applications as well as containerised applications using Kubernetes.
Lars Johannisson, CEO, Rack Centre, welcoming Olla Systems, noted that the partnership with Olla Systems Limited would reflect the company’s commitment to providing African businesses with high- quality cloud computing services.
He noted that Olla Systems would enjoy Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus facility, designed to meet the highest international standards and offering scalable solutions to Hyperscalers, Enterprises, and Cloud service providers.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the facility is equipped with energy-efficient systems, advanced cooling technologies to mitigate environmental impact and an optimally-designed feature to handle high-density workloads with precision.
According to Johannisson, “With Olla Cloud Service hosting at Rack Centre, clients will experience fast performance and low latency, enabling businesses in Africa to access world-class cloud computing services within a secure and compliant local infrastructure.”
Also speaking, Olusola Adenuga, chief executive officer, Olla Systems Limited, expressed enthusiasm about hosting at Rack Centre, noting that Olla Cloud remains a groundbreaking private cloud solution for businesses.
While highlighting the benefits of the partnership between Rack Centre and Olla Systems, Adenuga disclosed that “subscribing to Olla Cloud Service is cost-effective to customers because of its local currency payment advantage.”
She also noted that the partnership between the duo, provides businesses the opportunity to meet regulatory requirements of data residency, while enjoying world-class infrastructure as a service (IaaS) locally.
“Other benefits of hosting with Olla Cloud include: 24/7 support, unparalleled performance, scalability and agility.” she added.
A user’s messaging app account might be of interest not only to jealous spouses and nosy coworkers, but also to cybercriminals.
Stolen WhatsApp accounts are used for various types of criminal activity, ranging from spam distribution to sophisticated scam schemes.
Cybercriminals constantly look for WhatsApp accounts and use various methods to gain access to them.
There are two ways cybercriminals can gain control of a WhatsApp account: they can add another device to an existing account using the “Linked devices” feature, or they can re-register the account on their own device as if the user had bought a new phone.
“In the first case, the user continues to use WhatsApp as usual, but the criminals also have access to all recent conversations. In the second case, the user loses access to their personal account.
“When trying to log in, WhatsApp notifies him that the account is already in use on another device, and the attackers can then control the account but not the past conversations.
“Messengers are a private space, as they often contain personal information about our lives and relationships with family and friends. They can also contain information about work and, in some cases, confidential information.
“If you notice any unusual activity, such as receiving replies to messages that you didn’t send, or if your friends complain about strange messages coming from your account, it’s important to take steps to protect your privacy immediately,” comments Seifallah Jedidi, Head of Consumer Channel, META, at Kaspersky.
While you can check instruction on what to do in case a WhatsApp account was already compromised, here are the key steps on how to avoid a WhatsApp account to be hacked:
- Enable two-step verification in WhatsApp and memorise your PIN — it’s not a one-time code. To do this, go to Settings → Account → Two-step verification.
- Never, ever share your PIN or one-time registration codes with anyone. Only scammers ask for these details.
- WhatsApp recently introduced support for passkeys. If you enable this option (Settings → Account → Passkeys), logging in to your account will require biometric authentication, and instead of PIN codes, your smartphone will store a long cryptographic key. This is a very secure option, but it may not be convenient if you frequently change devices and switch between Android and iOS.
- Set up a backup email address for account recovery: Settings → Account → Email address.
- If you’ve already added an email address, log in to your email account and change your password to a strong, unique one. To store it securely, use a password manager, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.
- Enable two-factor authentication for your email account.
- Make sure you haven’t fallen victim to a SIM swap scam. Contact your mobile carrier — preferably in person — and verify that no duplicate SIM cards have recently been issued for your number. Also, make sure there’s no unauthorised call-forwarding set up on your number. Cancel any suspicious changes and ask the staff about additional security measures for your SIM card. These may include prohibiting SIM-related actions without your being present, an extra password required for authentication, or other protections. Available security measures vary significantly by country and mobile carrier.
Any security measures in WhatsApp will be of little use if your smartphone or computer is infected with malware. Therefore, be sure to install comprehensive protection like Kaspersky Premium on all your devices.
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