News
Cyberspace Turns Full-Blown War Zone-FireEye
Cyberspace has become a full-blown war zone as governments across the globe clash for digital supremacy in a new, mostly invisible theater of operations, according to an executive summary of a report released by FireEye at the weekend.
The report made available to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek said that, once limited to opportunistic criminals, cyber attacks are becoming a key weapon for governments seeking to defend national sovereignty and project national power.
From strategic cyber espionage campaigns, such as Moonlight Maze and Titan Rain, to the destructive, such as military cyber strikes on Georgia and Iran, human and international conflicts are entering a new phase in their long histories.
In this shadowy battlefield, victories are fought with bits instead of bullets, malware instead of militias, and botnets instead of bombs, the report contained.
A word of warning from the cyber security power house reiterated that the analytical waters surrounding cyber warfare are inherently murky, as these covert assaults are largely unseen by the public.
“Unlike the wars of yesteryear, this cyber war produces no dramatic images of exploding warheads, crumbled buildings, or fleeing civilians. But the list of casualties—which already includes some of the biggest names in technology, financial services, defense, and government —is growing larger by the day”.
A cyber attack is best understood not as an end in itself, but as a potentially powerful means to a wide variety of political, military, and economic goals.
“Serious cyber attacks are unlikely to be motiveless,” said Martin Libicki, Senior Scientist at RAND Corp. “Countries carry them out to achieve certain ends, which tend to reflect their broader strategic goals. The relationship between the means chosen and their goals will look rational and reasonable to them if not necessarily to us.”
Just as each country has a unique political system, history, and culture, state-sponsored attacks also have distinctive characteristics, which include everything from motivation to target to type of attack.
This report describes the unique characteristics of cyber attack campaigns waged by governments worldwide. We hope that, armed with this knowledge, security professionals can better identify their attackers and tailor their defenses accordingly.
A quick overview of the report painted Asia-Pacific as home to large, bureaucratic hacker groups such as the “Comment Crew” who pursue many goals and targets in high-frequency, brute-force attacks, while Russia/Eastern Europe, these cyber attacks are more technically advanced and highly effective at evading detection.
In the Middle East, the hackers are dynamic, often using creativity, deception, and social engineering to trick users into compromising their own computers and in the United States are the most complex, targeted, and rigorously engineered cyber attack campaigns to date.
FireEye noted that at the strategic level, governments desire to have a degree of plausible deniability.
“At the tactical level, military and intelligence organizations envelop such operations in layers of classification and secrecy. To be effective, information operations rely on deception—and the Internet offers an ideal venue for a spy’s smoke and mirrors.
“In practical terms, hackers often run their attacks through cyber terrain (such as compromised, third-party networks) that present investigators with technical and jurisdictional complications. And finally, cybercriminal tools, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) evolve so quickly that cyber defense, legislation, and law enforcement remain behind the attacker’s curve.
“The biggest challenge to deterring, defending against, or retaliating for cyber attacks is the problem of correctly identifying the perpetrator,” said Prof. John Arquilla, Naval Postgraduate School in an email interview with FireEye.®
“Ballistic missiles come with return addresses. But computer viruses, worms, and denial of service attacks often emanate from behind a veil of anonymity. The best chance to pierce this veil comes with the skillful blending of forensic back-hacking techniques with deep knowledge of others’ strategic cultures and their geopolitical aims.”
Cyber “attribution”—identifying a likely culprit, whether an individual, organization, or nation-state—is notoriously difficult, especially for any single attack. States are often mistakenly identified as non-state actors, and vice versa.
To make matters worse, ties between the two are increasing. First, a growing number of “patriotic cybercriminals” ostensibly wage cyber war on behalf of governments (examples include Chechnya and Kosovo in the 1990s, China in 2001, Estonia in 2007, Georgia in 2008, and every year in the Middle East).
“Second, cybercrime organizations offer anyone, including governments, cyber attack services to include denial-of-service attacks and access to previously compromised networks. FireEye researchers have even seen one nation-state develop and use a sophisticated Trojan, and later (after its own counter-Trojan defenses were in place) sell it to cybercriminals on the black market.
“Thus, some cyber attack campaigns may bear the hallmarks of both state and non-state actors, making positive attribution almost impossible. And finally, “false flag” cyber operations involve a hacker group behaving like another to mislead cyber defense researchers,” the report contained.
By Naeemah Junaid
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has held strategic discussions with representatives of Trust Stamp, a NASDAQ-listed global technology company, to explore potential areas of partnership aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s digital trust framework and advancing innovation within the digital economy.
The meeting, chaired by NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, focused on identifying collaborative opportunities aligned with Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda and the Agency’s strategic priorities for building a secure, inclusive, and innovation-driven digital ecosystem.
Inuwa emphasised that trust remains a critical foundation for the growth of the digital economy, noting that secure systems and strong cybersecurity frameworks are essential for driving innovation, economic growth, and national development. He stated that building trust in digital platforms and services is key to accelerating adoption and unlocking opportunities across sectors.
He reiterated NITDA’s mandate as a regulator to create an enabling environment through forward-looking policies and regulatory frameworks that support innovation rather than promote specific technologies. According to him, government interventions are designed to stimulate markets, create opportunities, and empower both businesses and citizens to participate fully in the digital economy.
The Director General further reaffirmed Nigeria’s openness to investments that strengthen digital infrastructure and enhance digital services, stressing that sustainable national development is best driven by private sector participation under supportive regulatory and policy frameworks. He called for continued engagement to ensure alignment with national priorities and effective integration into Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.
In his remarks, Trust Stamp Vice President, Jonathan Pasha, highlighted the company’s global experience in secure verification and trust technologies, describing its approach as partnership-oriented and focused on delivering long-term value within local ecosystems. He noted that the company prioritises collaboration with governments and private sector stakeholders to address local challenges and expand access to secure digital services.
Pasha referenced Trust Stamp’s ongoing operations in Nigeria, including its collaboration with a telecommunications provider to enhance SIM swap prevention and fraud detection capabilities. He also outlined the firm’s biometric tokenisation technology, which converts biometric data into secure, privacy-preserving representations, enabling verification processes without exposing sensitive information.
He explained that the technology supports secure verification, fraud prevention, financial inclusion initiatives, and the tokenisation of real-world assets, while being designed to function effectively in low-connectivity environments and on low-specification devices to expand access to digital services.
Both parties expressed interest in advancing technical-level discussions to identify specific areas of collaboration aligned with national priorities and Nigeria’s digital transformation objectives.
NITDA reaffirmed its commitment to fostering a secure and trusted digital economy through strategic partnerships, robust regulatory frameworks, and initiatives that promote innovation, inclusion, and sustainable growth.
Three youth-led startups — Geocycle, Ecobag Mart and Leovia Farms — have emerged top winners at the Greenlabs Cohort 2 “Powering Food Systems” Demo Day, securing pre-seed funding to scale solutions targeting Nigeria’s food insecurity, post-harvest losses and climate pressures.
CADEF
The Demo Day, hosted under the Greenlabs Incubation Programme powered by the Consumer Advocacy and Empowerment Foundation (CADEF) in partnership with Jacobs Ladder Africa (JLA), spotlighted 16 innovators selected through a nationwide call and intensive mentor-guided screening process.
Organisers said the winning solutions stood out for their scalability, environmental sustainability and potential to strengthen fragile agricultural value chains. The pre-seed support will fund prototype refinement, business registration, market validation and early commercial deployment.
Other finalists showcased at the event included Agricool and Dry Heat Solutions, with all participants advancing into a structured nine-month incubation programme focused on enterprise development, expert mentorship and access to growth resources aimed at transforming early-stage ideas into viable green businesses.
Delivering the keynote on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, Emmanuel Audu Fatai described the emergence of the winners as proof that youth innovation is becoming central to Africa’s food future.
According to him, the continent’s vast agricultural potential continues to coexist with food shortages, climate stress and weak value chains, making technology-driven and energy-efficient solutions critical to achieving sustainable food security.
Executive Director of CADEF, Prof. Chiso Ndukwe-Okafor, said the selection of the three winners reflects the programme’s shift from ideas to impact-driven enterprises capable of creating jobs and delivering measurable community value.
She added that beyond funding, the incubation framework is designed to instil financial discipline, integrity and long-term business sustainability among participating founders.
Chief Innovation Officer at Jacobs Ladder Africa, Karen Chelang’at, noted that the winning solutions directly address real food-system failures through renewable-energy integration, loss reduction and productivity improvement across sectors such as poultry, aquaculture and agricultural logistics.
She emphasised that the ultimate measure of success will be the ability of the startups to achieve market readiness, scale operations and generate tangible economic and environmental impact.
Organisers stressed that while policy support remains important, cross-sector collaboration and youth-driven enterprise will play a decisive role in building resilient food systems and advancing Nigeria’s transition to a green economy.
With incubation now underway and funding secured, the emergence of Geocycle, Ecobag Mart and Leovia Farms marks a significant step toward translating youth innovation into practical solutions for Nigeria’s food and climate challenges.
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding the nation’s financial system, announcing that its recent upward review of the maximum deposit insurance coverage now protects about 99% of depositors in the Country.
Kabir Katata, Executive Director (Operations), NDIC, stated this on Wednesday at the Corporation’s 2025 Stakeholders’ Town Hall Meeting held in Enugu.
Katata, while speaking on the theme, “Deepening Stakeholder Engagement,” said the policy to expand deposit insurance coverage was deliberately designed to protect small savers, promote financial inclusion and strengthen public confidence in the banking sector.
He explained that the town hall meeting was aimed at engaging stakeholders across various sectors, including academia, market associations and civil society groups.
“The essence of this town hall meeting is to interact with our stakeholders, tell them what we do and listen to their questions so they can better understand the role NDIC plays in society. We guarantee depositors’ funds and supervise banks to ensure that depositors are protected”, he said.
Katata noted that following the 2024 review of deposit insurance coverage, depositors in Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) and Non-Interest Banks (NIBs) are now insured up to N5 million per depositor.
Similarly, depositors in Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) and Payment Service Banks (PSBs) now enjoy insurance coverage of up to N2 million per depositor.
“This means that in the event of a bank failure, depositors are promptly paid up to the insured limit,” he said.
He added that depositors with balances exceeding the insured limit would receive the initial insured sum, while the outstanding balance would be paid as liquidation dividends upon realisation of the failed bank’s assets and recovery of debts.
Highlighting improvements in the payout process, Katata referenced the recent resolution of defunct institutions, including Heritage Bank Limited, Union Homes PLC and Aso Savings and Loans PLC.
He said that the Corporation successfully leveraged the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a unique identifier to trace depositors’ alternative accounts and transfer insured sums within days of bank closures.
“I urge all depositors to ensure that their BVN is properly linked to their bank accounts and identity records. This greatly facilitates seamless and timely access to insured deposits in the event of bank failure,” he advised.
Katata emphasised that although the NDIC works closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure sound corporate governance and regulatory compliance in banks, financial system stability remains a shared responsibility.
“While the CBN and NDIC continue to strengthen oversight, depositors also have a responsibility to remain vigilant and well-informed,” he said.
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