Recently the digital space was abuzz with speculation about a potential legal battle brewing between Layi Wasabi’s comedic character, ‘The Law’, and MoMo PSB, a leading player in Nigeria’s digital financial services space.

Online speculation has been rife, as fans of Layi Wasabi, accustomed to seeing his character ‘The Law’ champion the underdog in his skits, were thrown a curveball. Whispers started swirling, suggesting that the tables might be turned this time. Could ‘The Law’ himself be facing the possibility of ‘doing jail’ – a phrase he often uses for comedic effect in his skits? Fans have been glued to their devices, anxiously awaiting updates on this bizarre, yet undeniably entertaining legal drama.

The gavel has fallen, and the outcome is unlike anything anyone anticipated! In a surprising turn of events, MoMo PSB and Layi Wasabi have announced a first-of-its-kind ‘no-loser’ legal partnership. Instead of facing off in court, ‘The Law’ has joined forces with MoMo PSB, leveraging his wit and legal expertise to champion financial inclusion for all Nigerians.

This innovative partnership marks a significant moment for both parties. MoMo PSB gains a powerful voice in Layi Wasabi, a digital content creator known for his ability to connect with audiences on a relatable level. His signature humor and knack for tackling serious issues are sure to resonate with Nigerians across the country, promoting financial literacy and the benefits of a cashless society.

For Layi Wasabi, this collaboration represents a unique opportunity to utilize his platform for positive social impact. ‘The Law’ has always been a champion of the underdog, and through this partnership, he can empower Nigerians with the knowledge and tools they need to take control of their financial futures.

Commenting on the partnership, Eli Hini, CEO, MoMo PSB, stated, ‘’We are excited to partner with Layi Wasabi, whose unique blend of humor and social commentary has captivated audiences across Nigeria. This partnership represents a dedicated effort towards enhancing financial literacy and inclusion. By combining Layi’s engaging storytelling with our innovative financial services, we aim to break down barriers and make financial empowerment accessible to every Nigerian.’’

This partnership, a strategic move by MoMo PSB to expand its reach, promises to be a win-win for all, especially the millions of unbanked or underbanked Nigerians. By leveraging Layi Wasabi’s immense popularity and relatable persona, MoMo PSB hopes to boost financial literacy and encourage the use of mobile banking solutions, ultimately promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria.

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global cybersecurity leader, has revealed that it blocked around 18 million email threats, almost two million malicious URLs and over four million malicious mobile apps targeted at Nigerian businesses and consumers between January and December 2023. This as threat actors deviate from big-batch attacks to focus on a narrower range of more lucrative targets.

These new patterns in the cybercrime landscape are highlighted in the Trend Micro 2023 Annual Cybersecurity Report, which presents highlights from the company’s telemetry covering the broadest attack surface view across millions of commercial and consumer clients.

“Our latest data shows that threat actors are fine-tuning their operations, shifting away from large-scale attacks, and instead focusing on a smaller range of targets but with higher victim profiles for maximum gain with minimum effort. As they continue to double down on tried and tested techniques, they are also delegating and streamlining operations — resulting in bolder, more effective strikes,” says Gareth Redelinghuys, Country Managing Director, African Cluster at Trend Micro.

Attacks focused on substance over quantity are more difficult to block

Though thousands of ransomware attacks were blocked by Trend Micro in Nigeria in 2023, year-on-year research shows that ransomware groups are working smarter instead of harder, prioritising high-value targets over volume.

There has been a general downward trend in ransomware detections, with worldwide detections from 2021 to 2023 averaging less than half of the recorded detections in 2020; however, this should not be misconstrued as a cue for security operations centres and decision-makers to lower their guards. Historically, ransomware attacks were launched in “bulk,” such as spam campaigns with malicious links, but attacks that focus on quantity can more easily be blocked.

What’s more, a continued increase in Trojan FRS threat detections globally could suggest that attackers are using more effective ways to evade preliminary detection by focusing on arrival and defense evasion techniques. Examples of this include Living-Off-The-Land Binaries and Scripts. Because these computer files are non-malicious in nature and local to the operating system, they can be used by threat actors to camouflage their attacks.

Last year, several ransomware families across the world were also observed maximising remote and intermittent encryption, as well as abusing unmonitored virtual machines to bypass Endpoint Detection and Response. Because there is less content used during intermittent encryption, for example, there is less chance of triggering detection.

Gangs are also launching bolder attacks: Prolific groups were some of the most active in 2023: Clop exploited major vulnerabilities, and BlackCat launched a new variant, while also making its extortion public by leveraging the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s four-day disclosure requirement to incentivise its victim to communicate more quickly with them.

Email threats – attackers are using more sophisticated ways to avoid detection

This trend towards threat actors opting for quality over quantity is equally present in the patterns observed around email threats. Though email threat detections in Nigeria decreased from more than 45 million in 2021 to 18 million in 2023, the increase in malware detection count over the same period suggests a shift in the threat landscape that finds attackers making use of more sophisticated ways to avoid detection.

Trend Micro’s data also shows a slight decrease in malicious URL detection in Nigeria from 2021 to 2023, indicating that instead of focusing on malicious links to randomly victimise users, criminals are using more targeted operations, such as BEC schemes, where emails are less likely to undergo scrutiny because of how legitimate they look.

Instead of launching attacks on a wider range of users and relying on victims clicking on malicious links in websites and emails, more sophisticated attacks are launched using specificity to trick a narrower field of high-profile victims. This also allows them to bypass early detection layers like network and email filters.

AI-powered phishing attempts are more convincing than ever

Over the course of 2023, AI showed great promise in social engineering attempts globally: its automation proved most useful in mining datasets for actionable information, while generative AI have made phishing on mass scale virtually effortless with error-free and convincing messages. The use of generative AI in phishing attempts is already branching beyond emails and texts to include persuasive audio and video ‘deepfakes’ for an even more business-affecting threat.

Imagine a company that requires live voice authorisation for purchases above a million dollars, for example. An attacker could send a real-seeming email request with a rigged phone number embedded and answer the confirmation call with a deepfaked voice to validate the transaction. These new tactics introduce the possibility of everything from stock market manipulations to democratic or wartime disinformation campaigns, or smear attacks on public figures.

The barriers to entry for techniques like these have fallen away radically with the rise of readily available app-style interfaces like HeyGen. Cybercriminals with no coding knowledge or special computing resources can produce customised high-resolution outputs that are humanly undetectable.

“Looking at the overall trend in decreasing ransomware threats, it might be tempting for local organisations to develop a false sense of security and lower their defenses. However, our research shows that these increasingly sophisticated attacks are going to become more and more difficult for businesses to detect and that they will be increasingly costly when they succeed. IT leaders must refine their processes and protocols to enable their defenses to combat persistence with efficiency,” concludes Zaheer Ebrahim, Solutions Architect, Middle East and Africa at Trend Micro.

The Lagos state government plans to lay an additional 3,300km of unified fibre ducts across the state, in the Phase II of the project, after it has implemented 2,700km of unified fibre ducts across the state in Phase I.

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State

This is even as the state has established a Cybersecurity Operations Centre (CSOC) to serve as the hub for monitoring, detecting, and responding to cyber threats in real-time in the state.

Mr. Olatunbosun Alake, commissioner for Science, Innovation and Technology who disclosed this at the Year 2024 Ministerial Press Briefing in Lagos, said the centre will employ advanced technologies and a team of cybersecurity experts to ensure the state’s digital infrastructure is safeguarded against potential attacks.

Alake noted that the state has also established a cyber-security council, made up of experts from both public and private sectors, charged with the responsibility of making recommendations to the government, planning, refinement, and implementation of policies, programs, and training initiatives regarding its cybersecurity endeavours.

To achieve a broader strategy to improve overall security and governance within the state, Alake said the government is also partnering with leading cybersecurity firms and international organisations to provide the state with access to cutting-edge technologies and expertise while enhancing its capacity to defend against sophisticated cyber threats.

According to a statement from the state, Alake also spoke on the Data Protection Compliance Project of the government, saying that Lagos has embarked on sensitization and awareness workshops for all Heads of Accounts, Procurement, Planning, Legal Officers, Medical Directors, Body of Permanent Secretaries, Cabinet members, Head of Cadres Statewide and for 43 MDAs; as well as the establishment of 70 Data Protection officers in various MDAs.

The commissioner averred that the objectives of the data protection compliance project are to safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy and foster safe conduct for transactions involving the exchange of personal data; prevent manipulation of personal data and ensure that Nigerian businesses remain competitive in international trade with best practice,” the statement read in part.

Speaking on the State’s MetroFibre, the commissioner said the project seeks to achieve a 24-hour driven economy that would allow companies to operate in a safe and secure environment, thereby creating a more conducive environment for business, jobs creation, and increasing the GDP of the state. He added that the state has implemented 2,700km of unified fibre ducts across the state in Phase I, while Phase II of the project comprises an additional 3,300km of unified fibre ducts across the State.

On the Safe City Project, Alake said, it also involved Building a digitised 24/7 city which would allow companies to operate in a safe and secure environment thereby creating a safer and more conducive environment for businesses, more jobs, and increasing the IGR of the State.

He said, the Safe City project involves the deployment of Intelligent Video Cameras in strategic locations in the State with the execution and completion spread over points in time, in Phases I, II, and III, respectively, adding that 450 surveillance Cameras have been deployed at strategic locations across the city.