E-Business
Lamudi Clocks 1, Records 116% Growth In Last 6 Months
Fast-growing property portal, Lamudi, this week celebrates its first anniversary, with the global real estate network more than doubling in size in the last six months.
Lamudi as a leading property website focusing on the emerging markets, grew by 116 percent between April and September this year.
The number of listings on the website now totals more than 670,000 properties to buy or rent, spreading across 28 countries around the world.
As competition over the online property space within the emerging markets has intensified, Lamudi has maintained a leading position within key regions, including Africa.
In Nigeria, Lamudi has grown rapidly over the past year to be become the largest online property portal in terms of number of listings.
The company has also focused on education, launching a market leading real estate journal which is now most-read online source of property information in the country.
Lamudi was founded on October 13, 2013, by German startup incubator Rocket Internet.
The property platform was launched in 16 countries one year ago and has since grown to cover 28 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
Led by Paul Philipp Hermann, Kian Moini and Antonius Salis, co-founders, Lamudi now employs more than 400 staff split between its headquarters in Berlin and local teams in each market.
Paul Philipp Hermann, global Co-Founder and Managing Director, said: “Our goal from the very beginning has been to deliver a high-quality property portal in markets where searching for real estate online is a relatively new phenomenon. In all those markets we want to establish Lamudi as the market leader!”
Allie Morse, CEO Lamudi West and Central Africa said: “We are excited to be the number one portal for property in Africa, only one year after launch, and look forward to growing alongside the continent’s real estate sector.”
On his part, Obi Ejimofo, managing director of Lamudi Nigeria, added: “House-hunters in these regions should not be overlooked; as the internet becomes more widespread, they are seeking out the same services that are already commonplace in more established markets.
“Lamudi is innovative because we tackle markets that other property portals have so far ignored. We expect Lamudi’s growth spurt to continue for the remainder of 2014, and beyond.It is for this reason that we believe our product has resonated so strongly with property-seekers around the world.”
In the past year, Lamudi has undergone significant expansion in each of its markets.
In Latin America, Lamudi Mexico has seen the number of listings on its website increase six-fold over the past year.
The portal is already the leading real estate website in cities including Monterrey, Tijuana and Querétaro.
More than half the property listings from across the Lamudi network come from its Asian websites, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
In April, Lamudi received $US seven million in investment to grow its operations in Asia.
The company is now the leading property portal in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Growth in Pakistan has been particularly remarkable.
The Lamudi.pk website recently reached 130,000 property listings – up from 10,000 listings last December., as well as a country-wide magazine In the Middle East, Lamudi is already the leading real estate portal in Jordan, expanding to 13,000 property listings in six months.
Globally, Lamudi launched both Android and iOS apps during 2014, which have been downloaded close to 100,000 times since June.
E-Business
Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.
The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.
“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.
It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.
Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.
Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.
Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.
A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.
“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.
Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.
Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.
It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.
Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.
E-Business
NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.
NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”
The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.
E-Business
NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), has convened a one-day workshop in Abuja to advance dialogue on the draft Online Harm Protection (OHP) Bill to confront harmful online content.
The bill, a rights-based, locally rooted, and multi-stakeholder initiative, is aimed at addressing the challenges of the digital age.
The event, which held yesterday, brought together government officials, civil society, academics, digital platforms, and legal experts to shape a policy framework designed to combat online ills such as cyberbullying, disinformation, hate speech, digital exploitation, and gender-based violence, while safeguarding democratic freedoms and digital inclusion.
In his keynote remarks, Kashifu Inuwa, director general, NITDA urged a paradigm shift in the way society engages with digital technologies.
“For almost two decades, we have viewed digital technology through a consumer lens. But these technologies are not just products and services. They are transforming how we live, work, and interact. They shape our politics, our society, and our democracy,” he said.
Warning against unaccountable digital power in the hands of private corporations, the DG likened the digital journey to the tale of Alice in Wonderland, where initial fascination with innovation has given way to deeper concerns about privacy, autonomy, and manipulation by big tech platforms.
“We thought we were using Google, but now we realise Google is using us. Social media, once a tool of expression, has become a tool of surveillance and influence,” Inuwa noted.
He, therefore, emphasised the urgency of developing a democratic and accountable framework. He explained that following the 2021 Twitter ban, NITDA facilitated dialogue between the government and platform operators, leading to a Code of Practice that stressed Nigeria’s sovereignty and legal standards.
According to him, the same process birthed the multi-stakeholder steering committee and the OHP White Paper in December 2024, laying the foundation for the current legislative push.
Earlier in her opening remarks, Victoria Manya, co-founder, API, observed the moral and civic necessity of the bill.
Her words: “The internet did not break society, it merely revealed its unfiltered version. Every day, Nigerians are exposed to harassment, disinformation, exploitation, and even algorithmic violence. The OHP Bill is not a war on the Internet. It is a peace offering to its users, a social contract for a digital future that is safe, inclusive, and democratic.
“We cannot answer the question of algorithmic power with unchecked state control. We must answer it with shared, rights-based governance. This bill must not be written for the people, but with them.”
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