News
Cybercriminals Turn to Deepfakes, Target Enterprise Networks

The year 2020 will see a new level of cyber-attacks – fake audio-visuals are forecast to be increasingly used by criminals as a social engineering tactic to extort money from companies and individuals.
This is according to security experts, who warn that deepfakes will transition from being predominantly used to create fake celebrity pornographic videos to the new threat used to sabotage enterprises for financial gains.
Anna Collard, founder and MD of KnowBe4 company Popcorn Training, says deepfakes are spilling beyond the world of celebrity cyber bullying and into company systems.
“Most deepfake technologies use existing media, video or audio typically to train an AI to create a virtual model of the item they want to change. While they can be used for entertainment in applications such as those on phones that swap faces, they can also be used for deception and fraud, to deceive employees into transferring funds or making critical decisions.
“Imagine getting a phone call or voicemail from an executive asking you to transfer money into a bank account. If you believe the person calling is the executive, why would you question the request?” Collard asks.
According to experts, only one social media profile picture is sufficient to create a deepfake video.
Deepfake can also be used for anything from traditional blackmail of politicians, to election influencing through releasing fake videos of candidates, to cyber bullying victims.
According to Forrester’s 2020 Predictions, deepfakes alone will cost businesses over a quarter of a billion dollars, as attackers use AI, machine learning and natural language tools to generate fake audio and video designed to deceive employees into releasing company funds.
Jonathan Miles, head of strategic intelligence and security research at Mimecast, says in the same ways as threat actors impersonate e-mail addresses, domains, subdomains, landing pages, Web sites, mobile apps, and social media profiles, deepfakes are emerging as a new threat, targeting enterprises.
“Deepfake attacks, or voice phishing attacks, are an extension of business e-mail compromise (BEC) and have introduced a new dimension to the attacker’s arsenal. This methodology is becoming more prevalent as an additional vector used for eliciting fraudulent fund transfers.
“Many people are aware of fake videos of politicians, carefully crafted to convey false messages and statements that call their integrity into question. But with companies becoming more vocal and visible on social media, and CEOs speaking out about purpose-driven brand strategies using videos and images, there is a risk that influential business leaders will provide source material for kicking off possible deepfake attacks,” he explains.
According to security firm Trend Micro, deepfake ransomware is among the top ten security trends to watch out for in 2020.
Deepfake audio fraud is a new cyber attack tool, further highlighting how AI can be abused by cyber criminals to make scams harder to detect, often used alongside BEC scams, notes the report.
“For years, email-based scams have been largely perpetrated by fraudsters in West Africa – and we do not expect this to change. We do foresee fraud advancing in 2020, with AI technology being used to create highly believable counterfeits in image, video, or audio format that depict individuals saying or doing things that did not occur.
“The rise of deepfakes raises concern. It inevitably moves from creating fake celebrity pornographic videos to manipulating company employees and procedures.”
This was exemplified when a fake, AI-generated voice of an energy firm’s CEO was used to defraud the company of $243 000.
Experts also believe newsrooms, journalists in particular, could also become a prime target for deepfake creators.
Preventing deepfakes
According to Reuters, China has introduced a new lawgoverning video and audio content online, banning the publishing and distribution of “fake news” created with technologies such as AI and virtual reality, effective from January 2020.
Google, in partnership with Jigsaw, has released a vast dataset of deepfake videos to help researchers in detecting forgeries. It includes 3 000 AI-generated videos that were made using various publicly available algorithms.
Collard believes as scammers constantly seek new ways of earning trust from their victims, the crime is expected to also be increasingly used as part of online dating scams.
News
Toll Collection on Lagos-Calabar Highway Begins December

Senator David Umahi, the Minister of Works, has announced that a section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled starting in December.
Umahi disclosed this during an interview for a forthcoming State House documentary marking the second anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He said: “By December, we will toll Section 1 of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. We project a 10-year return on investment.
“The road has solar-powered lighting and CCTV infrastructure, and offers carbon credit advantages.
“It is more than a road; it is an economic corridor and a catalyst for regional growth.”
According to the minister, 30 kilometres of Section 1 have already been completed, with an additional 10 kilometres in Section 2 nearing delivery. Both segments feature six-lane concrete-paved carriageways, designed to meet modern standards for safety and durability.
Umahi further revealed that construction had commenced on Sections 3 and 3B of the highway, spanning a total of 65 kilometres, covering 38 kilometres in Cross River State and 27 kilometres in Akwa Ibom.
He described the positive response from local communities as a clear indication of the project’s wide-reaching socioeconomic benefits.
“Just days ago, we flagged off Sections 3 and 3B—65 kilometres in total, covering 38 kilometres in Cross River State and 27 kilometres in Akwa Ibom. The host communities’ excitement speaks to these projects’ transformative impact,” he said.
Umahi also highlighted the administration’s renewed focus on the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, which he noted was part of a broader vision dating back to colonial-era trade plans.
“The Trans-Saharan trade route dates back to colonial-era planning. President Tinubu is now bringing these long-abandoned visions to life,” the minister explained.
News
Kaspersky Uncovers Dero Crypto Miner Spreading via Exposed Container Environments

Kaspersky Security Services experts have identified a sophisticated cyberattack campaign targeting containerized environments to deploy a miner for the Dero cryptocurrency.
The attackers abuse exposed Docker APIs — parts of Docker, an open-source container development platform. In 2025, there are a significant number of Docker API default ports that are insecurely published, accounting for almost 500 occurrences worldwide on average each month.
In the discovered campaign, cybercriminals inject two types of malwares into the compromised systems: one is the miner itself and the other is a propagation malware that can spread the campaign to other insecure container networks.
Kaspersky experts discovered this malicious campaign as part of a compromise assessment project. According to expert estimates, any organisation that operates containerized infrastructure — while exposing Docker APIs without robust security controls — can be a potential target. These may include technology companies, software development firms, hosting providers, cloud service providers and more enterprises.
According to Shodan, in 2025, there are 485 published Docker API default ports¹ worldwide each month on average. This figure illustrates the campaign’s potential attack surface by tallying the “entry points” — or insecurely exposed ports that attackers might target.
Once attackers identify an insecurely published Docker API, they either compromise existing containers or create new malicious ones based on a legitimate standard Ubuntu image. They then inject two malware types into the compromised containers: “nginx” and “cloud”.
The latter is a Dero cryptocurrency miner, while “nginx” is a malicious software that maintains persistence, ensures execution of the miner and scans for other exposed environments. This malware allows attackers to operate without traditional Command-and-Control (C2) servers; instead, each infected container independently scans the Internet and can spread the miner to new targets.
“The campaign has the potential for exponential growth of infections, with each compromised container acting as a new source of attack, if security measures are not immediately put in place in the potentially targeted networks,” explains Amged Wageh, an incident response and a compromise assessment expert at Kaspersky Security Services.
“Сontainers are foundational to software development, deployment, and scalability. Their widespread use across cloud-native environments, DevOps, and microservices architectures makes them an attractive target for cyber attackers. This growing reliance demands organisations adopt a 360-degree approach to security — combining robust security solutions with proactive threat hunting and regular compromise assessments”.
The attackers embedded the names “nginx” and “cloud” directly in the binary — an inflexible executable file composed of instructions and data for the processor, not for humans. This is a classic masquerading tactic that lets the payload pose as a legitimate tool, trying to deceive both analysts and automated defenses.
News
Manager, Others Arraigned for Allegedly Hacking into Premium Trust Bank’s Server

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, charged five defendants before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly hacking into the server of Premium Trust Bank.
The defendants are listed as the bank’s e-payment service manager, Matthew Adeniyi; Kehinde Odeyemi, a nursing mother; Samson Latshin, Bolaji Omotosho and Sunday Okunnola.
They were charged before Justice Alexander Owoeye, on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cybercrime and unlawful access to the bank’s database.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Mrs. Zeenat Atiku, prosecutor, alleged that they committed the offence between April and May this year, in collaboration with three others, now at large.
Those still at large are Isa Ismaila, Victor Joshua, also known as ‘Oracle’ as well as one other, simply identified as Humble.
According to the charge, the first defendant unlawfully disclosed sensitive credentials, including the bank’s server IP and domain details, to these parties.
She said this enabled an unauthorised access to the bank’s database and the consequent data breach allegedly resulted in financial gains of $10,000.
The prosecutor also alleged that the defendants attempted to intercept the bank’s network and procured a Hewlett-Packard ProBook 440 G9 laptop (serial No. SN#5CD2473N6G) configured to bypass the bank’s security systems.
The anti-graft agency said the alleged offences contravened the provisions of sections 12(1)(b), 27, 28(1)(b)(c) and 28(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024).
Following their pleas, the prosecutor, requested for a trial date and sought an order to remand the defendants in custody.
Meanwhile, the court declined an oral bail by the defence counsel and directed that a formal bail application be filed.
He adjourned the case until June 30, for trial and ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Nigerian correctional centre, pending bail.
The court, however, added that the defence may apply for an earlier trial date, upon filing their bail applications.
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