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Worrying IP Theft, Corruption in Nigeria

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The stark reality is that Nigeria wastes entirely too much money and time policing crimes like burglary, fraud, and bank-robbery when it should be doing something about intellectual piracy instead.

 

Intellectual piracy, that is stealing of the ideas of others and claiming them as your own is the commonest crime in Nigeria today and one that is threatening all the fabrics of the country’s life.

 

Majority of Nigerians are being be crushed under the merciless weight of poverty because the same government whose job it is to protect the intellectual property of its citizenry is usurping other people’s ideas; using same; and not giving credits to the originators of the ideas

 

And while much attention is placed around the legal aspects regarding intellectual property (IP), companies and individuals need to consider the security ramifications as well.

 

This is according to a technology executive ahead of World Intellectual Property Day recently.

 

“Intellectual property runs the gamut of trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents,” said Riaan Badenhorst, general manager of Kaspersky Lab Africa.

 

“Protecting these in an ultra-competitive digital world should be an imperative irrespective of if you are a multinational organisation or a start-up just getting off the ground,” Badenhorst added.

 

Words like “piracy or counterfeiting” are too benevolent that doesn’t even begin to adequately describe the toll that the theft takes on Nigerians.

 

Nigeria has continued to go in circles because even government officials steal from Nigerians, and they lack the important resources and skills to execute the projects.

 

Look at the white elephant projects that litter the country.

 

Government officials’ gluttony and corrupt practices are causing Nigerians thousands of jobs and companies’ profits.

 

Most companies and individuals who dare to contest their intellectual property rights are harassed; hounded and chased out by the officials who operate like organized crime groups, and terrorist organizations.

 

This is call to action on the Nigerian government of Muhammed Buhari to stop this senseless robbing people of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions.

 

The government should borrow from the United States of America which has made prevention of intellectual property theft a top priority.

 

That country’s key to success is linking the considerable resources and efforts of the private sector with law enforcement partners on local, state, federal, and international levels.

 


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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

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”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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.


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