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PetVini Breaking Records in Nigeria IT Innovation Space

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Peter Asolo is chief executive officer, PetVini Global Concept Limited
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The fact that a Nigerian is the richest black man in the world further proves that there is money to be made in Nigeria.

 Also, a reasonable proof that Nigeria presents huge potential for entrepreneurs and investors stems from the abundance of successful entrepreneurs who started from scratch and built massive business empires without leaving the shores of Nigeria, like Aliko Dangote, Cletus Ibeto, Femi Otedola, Orji Uzor Kalu, and so on.

They have moved on in spite challenges, especially the slow pace of the Federal Government to galvanize the economy in supporting them.

The most affected in the lukewarm attitude of the leaders are the “middle class” entrepreneurs or innovators, whom, from all indications; the Federal Government has no plan to better their worth.

The “upper-class” entrepreneurs or innovators have, succulently, endeared themselves to the hearts of the government. They have metamorphosed to become part of government convoys during international business trips.

The “lower-class” is made of up school leavers, start ups; a focus on ICT industry with iDEA centers as case study, shows they are made up of developers who are full of ideas but lack the marketing milieu to push forward.

Thus, the Federal Government in 2013, among other steps, set up the Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (IDEA) incubation centres in Lagos and Cross Rivers States.

The primary objective is to facilitate the development of the software industry in Nigeria through the provision of office space, mentoring, software development and testing tools and support grants, “to young entrepreneurs”.

So, what is left for the middle-class entrepreneurs?  Apparently, they feel the blunt of inadequate security, inconsistent government policies, inability to access funds, lack of governmental support, transportation challenges and the most horrible situation of intellectual property theft.

PetVini Global Concepts Limited has, apparently joined the league of companies like Zinox Computers, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Omatek, Brian, just to name a handful, by genuinely and steadily unleashing innovations aimed at salvaging the Nigerian market and Nigerians from the hands of unperturbed international bigwigs.

Today, PetVini, established by Mr. Peter Asolo and the winner of Beacon of ICT Technology Innovative Company Of The Year 2012 powered by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, recently upgraded the Nigeria’s mobile devices market and other household gadgets like tablets, two-way radios, energy saving and rechargeable bulbs, and others in the offing.

The Company has developed a number of innovations like Hot-selling GPS tracking watch phone PG66-G, Ordinary Wrist watch phone and Steel Wristwatch phones as far back as 2004.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek on the features of the innovations that meet needs of real-time GPS monitoring of positioning /timing positioning Tracking (SMS/GPRS/TCP/UDP), Asolo said that Hot-selling GPS tracking watch phone PG66-G, specifically, supports the mobile phone, touch screen, Camer, mp3/mp4 player; supports real-time monitoring of positioning/base station auxiliary positioning and supporting single location and continuous tracking support to achieve real-time positioning/ positioning/timing positioning.

“This is the kind of tool our security agencies need, especially in the present security challenges. For instance, this device offers real-time path tracking that can be corrected to seconds and supports GPS / SMS / PC / phone-client  queries, SMS and the Internet to check the location information, Google plane and satellite maps.

“It has emergency alarm/electronic Geophones alarm/remote monitoring/lower battery alarm and records playback history contrail, SOS function. With this device you can remote monitor the locations with high sensitive microphone, can monitor the person tracked who do not disturb, real-time tracking.

Meanwhile, the ordinary wrist watch phone and steel wristwatch phones are also recommended for industrial and household usage. He added that in-spite the ruggedness of the watches, PetVini products are covered by warantes.  

With its e-Governance solutions, for instance, PetVini has successfully automated the Akwa “Ibom State Judiciary System; a feat that has earned it many accolades. 

“With our long list of strategic partners-MoblPay, USA, Hodi Technologies, China, iWay Africa, Nigeria, KMYChina, LiQi Intelligent Technology, China, we are ready for more exploits in 2014,” Asolo told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek.

PetVini is widely known, particularly, outside the shores of Nigeria, for various value added services (solutions) which range from interactive TV to mobile information, mobile banking, revenue generation, bulk SMS, advertisement. 

They also develop, deploy and manage software applications such as: mobile payment support and deployment solutions; security and surveillance solutions; ecommerce solutions; educational portal and solutions; enterprise resource planner for hotels, hospitals, MDAS, and other organisations ; we sell and deploy IT/ICT hardware such as; Vsat equipments; networking equipments; systems units and computer parts and accessories.


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

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Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains

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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.


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NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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Data Breach
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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.

NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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.

 

 

 


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Nigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa

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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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