E-Business
Obaro, SystemSpecs Boss Reveals How He Left Banking to Start Remita

John Obaro, managing director, SystemSpecs, has revealed that he resigned as a banker to start the firm and build its HR technology solution, HumanManager and later its renowned financial technology product, Remita, which powers the Nigerian government’s Treasury Single Account.
The MD of SystemSpecs revealed this at the 2021 Kingdom Summit in Lagos State, tagged: “Reposition, Recover, Soar.”
The tech enterpreneur also shared some insights on his company’s origins and its emergence as a prominent African player in the financial and human resource technology solutions space.
“Some 29 years ago, I resigned from my job after about 10 years’ experience in the banking sector,” said Obaro. “Banking on God’s favour, and with limited funds, SystemSpecs, a wholly indigenous software house, launched in January 1992.”
The tech guru said some of the values driving the company included dependence on God for success, ethics and integrity, friendship with customers, family-based relationship at work, partnership with neighbours, and innovation and diligence in the pursuit of excellence.
According to Obaro, SystemSpecs launched human resource technology solution, HumanManager, one of its most successful products in 1995.
It instantly became a trailblazer in the use of web technology for HR/Payroll Management and is also one of the global pioneers of Employee Self-service in the HR/payroll management.
HumanManager was selected by the World Bank for the implementation of the Federal Government’s pilot Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, leading to a commendation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his book: “My Presidential Legacy.”
The story of SystemSpecs will not be complete without Remita, a household name in Nigeria.
According to Obaro, SystemSpecs developed Remita as a one-stop solution in 2005 to empower organisations to pay salaries across all banks, deliver tax schedules across all states, deliver contribution deduction schedules to cooperatives, and deliver pension contributions to Pension Fund Custodians of all the Pension Fund Administrators.
“We got an invitation for the almighty Treasury Single Account during a routine CBN visit,” Obaro continued.
Remita is perhaps more popular for its role as the technology solution powering the Treasury Single Account, a unified bank account policy recommended by the International Monetary Fund to improve fiscal management and reduce corruption.
The policy has had a profound impact on the Federal Government’s financial management despite several political constraints, saving the government about N45 billion monthly, according to Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Remita is also used by businesses and individuals for payments of everyday bills as well as funds collections, for managing accounts across multiple banks and managing individuals’ financial approval profiles across multiple organisations.
Advising the event’s attendees, Obaro said vision, diligence, good attitude, integrity, perseverance and team building are some of the necessary attributes for successful entrepreneurship.
Hosted by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, The King’s Court, the 2021 Kingdom Summit featured other prominent speakers, including Dr. Cosmas Maduka, CEO, Coscharis Group; Shola David-Borha, Director, Standard Bank Subsidiaries, Nigeria and Uganda; Poju Oyemade, Lead Pastor, Covenant Nation; Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-founder, Sahel Consulting; and Femi Adeyemo, CEO, Arnergy.
E-Business
Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains

Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
E-Business
NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
E-Business
Nigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa

Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.
Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.
“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.
Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.
“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin
The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.
Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.
“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin
Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.
To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.
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