E-Business
Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks Surge by 241 Percent in 2020
Due to remote-work, employees started using Microsoft’s client software called remote desktop protocol (RDP), which is used to access corporate resources remotely.
Cybercriminals immediately saw this as an opportunity to hack into the company’s systems. Since the work-from-home shift happened almost overnight, it exposed many improperly configured and, in turn, unsafe RDP servers.
According to data presented by the Atlas VPN research team, RDP attacks rocketed by 241% in 2020. In 2019, RDP attacks stood at 969 million, but in the year 2020, threat actors carried out a staggering 3.3 billion attacks.
This data is provided by Kaspersky, one of the biggest antivirus companies globally that protects more than 400 million users and 250,000 corporate clients.
Data reveals that RDP attacks have been steadily increasing since the start of 2019, but the pandemic accelerated the growth dramatically, which led to 3.3 billion cyber attacks from January to November 2020.
A deeper dive into the data reveals that in 2019, hackers carried out an average of 88,180,802 attacks per month. However, in 2020, the average number of RDP attacks per month soared to 302,020,526.
Moreover, in 2019, threat actors executed most attacks in September, at 160,234,416. Yet, in November 2020, hackers pulled off 409,155,016 RDP cyber attacks, representing a 155% increase when comparing the maximum number of attacks per month in 2019 and 2020.
Analysis of the RDP attack landscape
Most of the RDP cyber attacks are brute-force attacks. Cybercriminals attempt to find the correct credential combination that will allow the attacker to access the company’s target computer.
Worth noting that they are not using random username and password combinations. Hackers have millions of username and password combinations that were leaked from other businesses.
As a matter of fact, Atlas VPN recently reported that there were 37 billion data records leaked in 2020, a growth of 140% year-over-year. Meaning, there is no shortage of credentials that hackers can try.
After stumbling upon the correct combination, a threat actor can move laterally within the organization’s infrastructure until they find what they are looking for, be it financial data, contact information, user data, or any other sensitive information.
Hackers usually have one of two goals in mind when they are carrying out these attacks.
First – they want to steal the data to sell it to an already existing buyer that ordered the attack or they will put it up for sale on the dark web. The targeted information might be an intellectual property that gives an organization it’s competitive edge in the industry or its customers’ data.
Second – after stealing the data, they will contact the company demanding a ransom payment. If the enterprise agrees to pay, then hackers will hand over the data back to the company and promise to hide the fact that the company was compromised, allowing the enterprise to preserve it’s reputation.
By putting all of this into place, we can see the full journey a hacker has to go through to reach his goal – which is usually financial profit. Let’s go over it step-by-step to get a clearer picture.
To start, hackers purchase millions of leaked credentials from their cybercriminal colleagues. Then, they use those username and password combinations to hack into the company’s computer that uses the remote desktop protocol (RDP). Now, they have access to sensitive information that they can use to turn into profit.
Many might know the dangers of data leaks and remote desktop attacks, but here, we wanted to explain how all of this falls into place to benefit the criminal.
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs urgent reforms to revive it, according to Isaac Kekemeke, board chairman of the service.
Kekemeke, who spoke at a workshop organised for NIPOST staff in Abuja yesterday, added that it is now time to go the whole hog to reform and make NIPOST fulfill its destiny to compare and compete favourably with multinational postal agencies.
“The approach may not be palatable at all times but we need to take the tough but necessary decisions to exit the intensive care unit. We are either out of ICU in good health or head for the morgue. NIPOST either functions effectively now as a commercialised state operator or gets privatised, so that myself, the PMG, and a good number of you risk the loss of our jobs,” the chairman said.
No doubt, he added, “Change is not always easy as many loathe change because of the uncertainty it brings but it is in my place to urge you all to embrace the change we advocate.”
The Internet Society’s six-month Fellowship Peering program continues to help make internet access affordable, dependable, and resilient. The program, according to the global charitable organisation, is targeted for fifteen professionals in the peering and interconnection sector.
“It offers a unique opportunity to build the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary to improve local Internet infrastructure and policy,” according to the site’s description.
The fellowship participants will participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes virtual training sessions, collaborative forums, and technical and advocacy-based instruction on routing, Internet Exchange Points, and policy.
The fellowship culminates in attendance at a global peering event, which provides direct experience and networking opportunities with important voices in the Internet community.
The fellowship enhances participants’ impact in their particular nations by developing engagement with seasoned professionals and boosting regional and global collaboration. The program invites fellows to return to their communities prepared to expand interconnectivity, improve policy conditions, and make a meaningful contribution to the development of the Internet ecosystem.
Applicants must have at least three years of Internet experience and be based in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Asia-Pacific.
Eligibility also required proper travel documentation and availability to attend important events such as African Peering and Interconnection Forum, Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Forum, or Peering Asia, as well as a commitment of roughly four hours per week over six months.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the withdrawal of the amendment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 because it seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.
The organisation in its letter urged Mr Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, and Mr Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to “immediately withdraw the repressive bill.”
The titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters among others intends to regulate bloggers, including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers.
Currently, the bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter signed its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It demanded an end to “the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and Internet-based content.”
In the letter dated April 12, 2025, the group said, “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.”
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill to regulate the activities of bloggers, and should any such bill be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” the organisation warned.
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