E-Business
Experts at CyberXchange Say Security not Just about Banking Industry
Experts at the 2016 # CyberXchangeConference has warned that cyber security issues in Nigeria go beyond attacks on financial institutions; hence every internet user is vulnerable too.
Dipo Fatokun, director, Banking and Payment System, at the Central Bank of Nigeria, said though the banking sector is perceived as most vulnerable to cyber frauds, lack of awareness among customers is the major weakness that has enabled fraudsters perpetuate their acts.
He said that fraud is that globe, and does not recognise geographical boundaries, as such, banks and forums should be interconnected for the fight against fraud to be won.
Fatokun added that the fight against fraud cannot be won by a single-entity as the weakest link in any chain could prove to be disastrous, adding that organisations need to prepare regulations on how to tackle risks associated with frauds, and review their ethical processes annually with employees signing code of ethics.
According to him, while retired staff and family members also contribute to the issue of cyber threat, there is need for every organisation to develop specific and robust risk management policy.
Also, Hashim Zein, Sothes’s team leader, reminded the participants that Cybersecurity is not just about the banking industry. “If you have data, information or share connections with anyone that you care about online, you must want to protect them. That’s where our Banking, Oil and Gas, Telecoms, Digital and Social Media key speakers & workshop expert speakers came in”.
Day one of the conference offered a huge insight into securing the public’s money in banks, information with telcos and privacy on social media, while the day two focused on helping participants to seek to identify the key trends and technologies in Cyber Security — emerging from diverse industries – Finance, Payments, ecommerce, Banking, Telecommunications, Digital Media, Energy, as emerging start-up companies – that will reshape the West Africa in the years ahead.
In an interview with Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Olufemi Ake, country manager, Nigeria and Ghana, ESET, who participated at the conference, said that several studies conducted by the country support the experts view on the need for West African market, and Nigeria in particular to be more proactive on mitigating cyber related attacks.
Ake said that internet threats in West Africa are getting more diverse, “therefore users need more complex internet security suites with features based on individual preferences”.
He said that ESET recently alerted schools on the growing trends of Ransomware attacks targeted at such institutions, as “There are plenty of things that they can do now that will help them avoid a school ransomware problem entirely, and there are even a few things you can do that might help repair the damage so you don’t have to fork over ransom money. ESET is there to help out”.
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.
Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
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”.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
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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