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E-Business

NDPB Investigates Banks, Others Over Alleged Data Breaches

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Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) is investigating four banks, one telecommunications firm, consulting firms and a large number of loan sharks for various alleged data breaches, according to Dr. Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner/chief executive officer, NDPB.

NDPB Investigates Banks, Others Over Alleged Data Breaches

Olatunji said investigations would continue as NDPB planned to beam searchlights on other sectors, which are heavy on data.

He was briefing journalists in Lagos about the activities of the bureau in the last one year and  said the need to investigate them became necessary because of the sensitivity of data at their disposal.

He particularly emphasised the activities of loan sharks, stressing that they have caused lots of pain to people.

According to him, most of these organisations have no formal business office

The NDPB boss, who said loan seekers most times fail to actually read the terms and conditions before embarking on the loan journey, disclosed that on the investigation, the bureau will work with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

“We are investigating over 110 data controllers and data processors for various degrees of data privacy and protection breaches. The most worrisome are those in the financial and the telecoms sectors. Four banks, online lending companies, one telecoms company and one gaming company are being investigated.

“The vulnerabilities in these sectors are high partly due to the capabilities of intrusive mobile apps. When you factor in lack of due diligence on the part of data controllers in engaging data processors or vendors who have access to personal data of customers, what you see in some cases is a pattern of abuses in violation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The position of the government is that those who deal with data have nothing to fear but the consequences of their acts and omissions which may constitute a civil or a criminal liability. We are particularly glad that the Nigeria Police Force are currently working with us in this regard,” he stressed.

Olatunji, who put the worth of Nigeria’s data industry at N5.5 billion, said within the last two years of the creation of NDPB, the bureau has added N94 million to government coffers.

He emphasised that NDPB is a revenue generation agency

 

According to him, NCC, NITDA and the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as directed by the presidency, are currently funding the bureau.

He said the Federal Executive Council on January 25, 2023, approved the Nigeria Data Protection Bill and will be transmitted to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill, adding that the Legislature has reiterated its preparedness to pass the Bill into law.

On the bureau’s strategic initiatives and outcomes, Olatunji said there is the development of NDPB Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (NDPB-SRAP 2023-2028). He said the resolve from day one was to follow a road map that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (SMART)

“Thus, we have put in place five guiding pillars, which are governance; ecosystem and technology; capacity development; cooperation and collaboration and funding and sustainability.

“In each of these pillars are time-bound goals, activities and outcomes which are carefully crafted to guide the Bureau in the discharge of its mandate.

“Full automation of the following processes: Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) Compliance Audit Returns Filing; NDPR Complaint Process and Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs) Registration and Licensing,” he stated.

According to him, there is also the National Data Protection Adequacy Programme. He said this has been designed to create a gradual pathway for organizations in implementing adequate technical and organizational measures of data privacy protection.

This, he said, brought about a 400 per cent increase in the enrollment of Data Protection Officers (DPOs) from data controllers and processors across Nigeria.

“Licensing of additional 48 Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs). With this number, we now have 138 DPCOs. This has boosted wealth and job creation in the ecosystem. The cumulative revenue of the sector is estimated at N5.5 billion and over 9, 500 jobs have been created so far. Similarly the rate of NDPR Compliance Audit Returns filing increased from 1229 in 2021 to 1,777 in 2022,” he added.


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E-Business

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.

In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.

“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.

The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.

The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.

To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.

NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.

 


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Report Reveals African Organizations Dangerously Overestimating Cyber defences

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Many businesses are overestimating their defence against cyber attacks, which creates a significant human risk blind spot. A new KnowBe4 report exposes a worrying disconnect between what leaders think about their cyber security readiness and what employees experience.

According to the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025, based on insights from cyber security decision-makers across 30 African countries, despite high awareness, a critical gap exists in turning that awareness into actual readiness and resilient behaviour.

Key findings from the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025:

Confidence vs awareness: While cyber security awareness is high, leaders express uncertainty about their workforce’s ability to act on that awareness. Many feel employees may overestimate their capabilities in recognising, reporting and mitigating threats.

The need for adaptive and personalised security awareness training: Many companies fail to personalise security awareness training to specific roles or risk exposures.

Widespread BYOD usage: A large percentage of employees (between 41% and 80%) use their personal devices for work.

AI policy development is lagging: Many companies (46%) are still in the process of developing policies for using AI tools in the workplace.

Regional variation: Southern Africa trains more, East Africa governs AI better and West/Central Africa sees the most human-related security incidents.

This gap is significant because Africa has become an attractive target to cyber criminals, especially those that launch AI-powered attacks. A LexisNexis Risk Solutions study found 60% of South African organisations have seen an increase in AI-facilitated financial crime – above the 56% global average.

Kehinde Popoola, regional manager and key representative for West and East Africa at Rubrik, said digital transformation is gaining momentum in Africa and companies are more exposed to cyber risk. The Rubrik executive adds that amid an increase in threats, it is crucial that organisations adopt an assumed breach mindset.

The KnowBe4 research shows that cyber security preparedness and the actual structures required to support secure behaviour seem misaligned.

The report highlights that just 10% of cyber security leaders are fully confident that staff would report a phishing attack or other cyber threat, despite rating employee security awareness of cyber threats at four out of five or higher.

There is also a significant perception gap between decision-makers and general employees in Africa regarding security awareness training, with 68% of leaders believing that training is tailored to roles, compared to only a third of employees feeling adequately trained.

KnowBe4 asserts that many organisations only conduct annual or biannual training that is too generic to effectively change behaviour, contributing to uncertainty about its effectiveness.

According to another report, the KnowBe4 African Cybersecurity and Awareness Report 2025, which focuses on end-user based responses, only 43% of African respondents felt confident in their ability to recognise a cyber threat, and just one in three believed their security awareness training was adequately tailored to their role. This comparison suggests the development of a dangerous perception gap in many organisations.

“There’s a disconnect here – between what leaders think is happening and what employees are actually experiencing,” says Anna Collard, SVP content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “The data shows that without procedural and cultural follow-through, awareness simply doesn’t translate into readiness.”

“The continent’s cyber security posture may be more confident than it is truly resilient,” Collard adds.

 


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Domain of Deception as Attackers Deploy Spyware Under Guise of Legal Threats

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Kaspersky has detected a rapidly escalating malicious campaign that has targeted over 1,100 corporate users since June 2025. The attackers pose as a legal firm and in their emails threaten recipients with lawsuits over alleged domain name patent violations, aiming to deploy malware.

Victims who opened and launched the attached files – that mimicked legal documents – had a Trojan installed on their devices, and the attackers could spy on the content of their screens. Organisations across healthcare, finance, and education sectors have been targeted.

The campaign began with 95 emails on June 11 and has since continued to escalate. Apart from claiming that the recipient’s domain name violates patented combinations of a major brand and threatening litigation, in the email the fake legal bureau also expresses the patent holders’ interest in acquiring the domain and offers getting acquainted with the details of the alleged violations by opening the attached archive with “documents”.

It is worth noting that the attackers, likely to avoid detection, attach an archive that is not password protected, and inside it includes another archive that is password protected and a file containing the password along with it.

After the user entered the archive password and clicked on the alleged legal document inside, a Trojan was installed on the device. The user saw a message displayed that read, “This document cannot be opened on this device. Try opening it on another windows device,” and simultaneously the Tor Browser was covertly downloaded and installed in the background.

Through it, the malware regularly sent snapshots of the user’s screen to the attackers over the Tor network. The malware also autostarts whenever the computer is restarted.

“This campaign is a sophisticated blend of psychological manipulation and technical deception, leveraging fear of legal action to coerce businesses into executing harmful files hidden in attached archives. Its rapid growth since June 11 underscores the urgency for organisations to bolster defenses.

Victims face the risk of losing their private data. Robust email security, employee training, and swift incident reporting are essential to counter this evolving threat,” comments Anna Lazaricheva, spam analyst at Kaspersky.

 


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