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eChurch Project Hits Lagos, Empowers More Ministries

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Technology no doubt is changing the way we do things and there has been several call for institutions and organisations to leverage on the use of emerging technologies to drive institutional/ business growth.

One of such platforms is the eChurch project geared towards engaging ministers of the gospel on proper and adequate use of emerging technologies to drive church growth across Africa; first launched in Ibadan the project is set to hit the 36 states of the federation with a vision to reach 5,000 churches in six months.

As eChurch project continues in her quest to train and equip more than five thousand ministers of the gospel in the next six months, eChurch project 2.0 was launched in Lagos.

This also saw the unveiling of eChurch Project Apps; a one stop shop for all church services, set of tools designed to help ministers grow their ministry in the 21st century.

The launch of eChurch project 2.0 ushers in more ministers to be empowered with emerging technologies required to build future church.

Seyi Olaleye, chief executive officer, Neo-Skill Consulting limited and convener of the project, while speaking at the launch tagged: ‘The future Church’ said that eChurch project platform is a conversational platform for ministers of the Gospel.

He added that it is not only a platform for engaging ministers of the gospel on how well to use emerging technologies, but also a platform that showcases simple technologies to help them grow their ministries.

He also said that as technology continues to shape our world and affect our congregation, ministers need to pay attention to its impact and leverage on it to take their gospel out of the four walls of the church.

According to Olaleye, “eChurch Project Apps is a must have for ministers of the gospel who want to reach the unreached and taking their ministry to next level.

Gbenga Sesan, CEO, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), speaking on the topic: “Building the future church”, said technology is at the front burner of every industry. So ministers need to recognise this and use it to their own advantage.

He added that in reaching new generation congregation, certain strategies have to be employed as ministers’ move towards building the future churches.  Gbenga however emphasised the need for ministers/pastors to automate their processes as to streamline ministry processes to increase productivity and effectiveness.

Speaking in the same vein, Stephen Akintayo, CEO GileadBalm, who spoke on “building quality digital contents to attract online converts and ministry growth”, stressed that ministers should link their storytelling with contemporary messages.

According to him, “If the congregation spends more time with their computer/mobile devices than pastors, who will they be loyal to? The point is that this kind of congregation requires great engagement and connection outside the four walls of the church.

“There is need for ministers/pastors to start creating value-driven contents and to package the gospel of Christ creatively and professionally to the unsaved in order to increase the kingdom of God”.

He added that ministers should digitalize and personalize their sermons using applications such as Auto compose to get their messages to the unreached.

Chukuemeka Fred Agbata, CFA, presenter Trends TV, while speaking on “internet evangelism” said that as content remains king, ministers/pastors should place premium on content creation and consumption within and outside the church.

“In this dynamic and content driven world, ministers should use contents about the gospel of Christ to woo and lead the unsaved to Christ using social media platforms; this is called evangelism,” he said.

In addition, Chimdi Chiezukwa, lead consultant, Generation Network, who spoke on “analytics for your church” said, “this platform is not all about pushing content on the internet, but measuring your impact is crucial. So having a measuring strategy plus tools is key to ministry success on the internet”.

He added that the more your data, the more intelligent decisions you can make about your ministry. The eChurch project project 2.0 launch was however supported by Evernote.

 

 


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

E-Business

Kaspersky Identifies New Stealthy Ransomware

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Kaspersky’s Global Emergency Response Team has identified a previously unseen ransomware strain in active use, deployed in an attack following the theft of employee credentials.

The ransomware, dubbed “Ymir”, employs advanced stealth and encryption methods. It also selectively targets files and attempts to evade detection.

Ymir ransomware introduces a unique combination of technical features and tactics that enhance its effectiveness.

Uncommon memory manipulation techniques for stealth. Threat actors leveraged an unconventional blend of memory management functions – malloc, memmove, and memcmp – to execute malicious code directly in the memory.

This approach deviates from the typical sequential execution flow seen in widespread ransomware types, enhancing its stealth capabilities. Furthermore, Ymir is flexible; by using the –path command, attackers can specify a directory where the ransomware should search for files.

If a file is on the whitelist, the ransomware will skip it and leave it unencrypted. This feature gives attackers more control over what is or isn’t encrypted.

Use of data-stealing malware. In the attack observed by Kaspersky experts, which took place on an organisation in Colombia, threat actors were observed using RustyStealer, a type of malware that steals information, to obtain corporate credentials from employees.

These were then utilised to gain access to the organisation’s systems and maintain control long enough to deploy ransomware. This type of attack is known as initial access brokerage, where attackers infiltrate systems and sustain access.

Typically, initial access brokers sell the access they gain on the dark web to other cybercriminals, but in this case, they appear to have continued the attack themselves by deploying ransomware.

“If the brokers are indeed the same actors who deployed the ransomware, this could signal a new trend, creating additional hijacking options without relying on traditional Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) groups,” explains Cristian Souza, Incident Response Specialist at Kaspersky Global Emergency Response Team.

Advanced encryption algorithm. The ransomware employs ChaCha20, a modern stream cipher known for its speed and security, even outperforming Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Although the threat actor behind this attack has not shared any stolen data publicly or made further demands, researchers are closely monitoring it for any new activity. “We haven’t observed any new ransomware groups emerging in the underground market yet.

Typically, attackers use shadow forums or portals to leak information as a way to pressure victims into paying the ransom, which is not the case with Ymir. Given this, the question of which group is behind the ransomware remains open, and we suspect this may be a new campaign,” elaborates Souza.

Looking for a name for the new threat, Kaspersky experts considered a Saturnian moon called Ymir. It is an “irregular” moon that travels in the opposite direction of the planet’s rotation – a trait that intriguingly resembles the unconventional blend of memory management functions used in the new ransomware.

 


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Nigeria, Ghana Africa’s Digital Hubs Hardest Hit by Cyber Attacks – Report

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Nigeria, a major digital hub in Africa, has one of the highest volume of cyberattacks in West Africa, coming in at 2,721 for the first half of 2024.

Nigeria, Ghana Africa’s Digital Hubs Hardest Hit by Cyber Attacks - Report

Attacks on the computer-related services field were prevalent, as in Ghana, with 867 incidents, but local beauty salons were second on the list for Nigeria, enduring 206 incidents, followed by data processing hosting companies at 116.

“The growing complexity of distributed denial of service (DDoS) threats seen worldwide, including a notable increase in both attack frequency and sophistication, is clearly reflected in Nigeria. The country experienced more complex attacks than others within the region, with 23 different attacks vendors seen in one single attack, from TCP and CLDAP (Connection-less Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) attacks to Domain Name System (DNS) amplification and many more,” Bryan Hamman, regional director for Africa at NETSCOUT, adding that the country stood out third on the list.

Ghana, however, led the region in both the frequency and diversity of cyber threats for the first half of 2024, facing a high volume of DDoS attacks directed at industries including computer services and telecommunications.

In fact, according to NETSCOUT’s 1H2024 DDoS Threat Intelligence Report (TIR), the country was subjected to a total of 4,753 attacks over the six months, of which 2,759 were aimed at computer-related services businesses. Wireless telecommunications carriers (except satellite) received the second highest number of attacks, at 110, with full-service restaurants also noted as another vertical industry under fire. Furthermore, Ghana experienced by far the highest volume attack in West Africa, with the maximum bandwidth of its largest DDoS attack measuring 314.25 Mbps.

Known for an economic resilience that is driven by agriculture and mining, Guinea surprisingly took second spot in the NETSCOUT results for West Africa in terms of attack frequency, with 2,918 incidents listed. Wireless telecommunications carriers bore the brunt of these strikes, which were mostly TCP-type attacks.

Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia both faced similar attack frequencies, with 1,598 and 1,515 incidents noted respectively. The two countries also experienced similarities in the types of attacks vectors used – mostly TCP-related – as well as the sector that was hardest hit, which was wireless telecommunications for both.

Again, wireless telecommunications carriers were identified as the prime targets for threat actors in Benin (196 incidents), Senegal (107), Mali (32) and Cameroon (16).

“This is in line with NETSCOUT’s global Threat Intelligence Report figures, which measured attacks on the sector at 834,471 for the first part of 2024, a substantial 34 per cent increase on the figures seen for 2H 2023, which was calculated at 622,295. We believe this points to an objective by cybercriminals to disrupt critical communication infrastructure,” Hamman said.

 

 


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NITDA Invites Public Input on Guidelines for IT Projects and Regulatory Instruments

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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is seeking public feedback on several draft documents related to Information Technology (IT) projects and regulations. This aligns with NITDA’s commitment to an open and collaborative rulemaking.

The legal Documents Open for Public Review are:

  1. Guidelines for Licensing IT Projects Clearance Compliance Assurance Firms 2024;
  2. Regulatory Guidelines for Electronic Invoicing in Nigeria;
  3. Guidelines for Software Development; and
  4. Guidelines for Software Testing.

NITDA is also proposing the amendment of the Guidelines for Clearance of IT Projects for Federal Public Institutions (FPIs). guidelines, initially issued in 2018.

The Guidelines for Licensing IT Projects Clearance Compliance Assurance Firms 2024 aims to ensure that IT projects within Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) are managed and implemented according to approved and established standards, regulations, and best practices.

The instrument will regulate and professionalise the clearance of IT projects, ensuring that FPIs IT projects and initiatives are effectively conceptualised, designed, evaluated, and compliant with relevant Federal Government extant rules and standards in line with the Federal Government’s digital infrastructure goals and the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The Regulatory Guidelines for Electronic Invoicing is designed to promote transparency and deepen the use of technology for e-government automation as well as support the fiscal development of Nigeria through prudent administration of government revenue.

The guidelines will improve tax compliance, enhance efficiency and enhance standardisation and interoperability, thereby ensuring that Nigeria is ready for international digital commerce.

The Guidelines for Software Development establishes the minimum requirements for the development of software to be used by Nigerian government entities. It ensures that all software meets quality, security, and operational standards, promotes the growth of the local software testing market, and enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of government services.

The objectives of the guideline are to ensure that software is fit-for-purpose, meeting functional and non-functional requirements, and protect government institutions from operational risks through security, reliability, and performance standards.

To Participate:

These draft documents have undergone internal review and stakeholder consultations. NITDA now invites the public to contribute their feedback by reviewing the documents available for download at: https://nitda.gov.ng/draft-regulatory-instruments/

Public participation is crucial for NITDA to develop comprehensive and effective regulatory instruments.

By considering diverse perspectives, NITDA can ensure these guidelines best serve the needs of the IT industry and promote the development of a thriving digital economy in Nigeria.

Stakeholders are advised to  send in their review to [email protected] on or before 26th November 2024.

 


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