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E-Business

Kaspersky Finds Users of Google, Facebook, and Amazon most Targeted for Credential Theft in 2024

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Google, Facebook, and Amazon are the most frequently targeted brands when it comes to phishing attacks, according to Kaspersky’s recent research among 25 popular global companies. Cybercriminals also heavily pursue the credentials and data of other brands, with the number of attacks increasing nearly 1.5 times year-on-year.

Kaspersky analysed a sample of 25 names from the Best Global Brands 2023 rating by Interbrand for phishing exploitation. In the first half of 2024, people around the world tried to access fake resources impersonating these brands nearly 26 million times, nearly 40 percent more frequently than in January-June 2023.

Kaspersky experts attribute this sharp rise to an increase in fraudulent activity rather than a decline in user vigilance: cybercriminals are becoming more aggressive in their pursuit of users’ data and money.

Among the brands studied, cybercriminals primarily targeted Google services in their attempts to steal credentials, such as usernames and passwords. Kaspersky solutions blocked over 4 million attempts worldwide to access phishing websites designed to trick users into providing their Google account information.

Following Google, there were around 3.7 million attempts on Facebook users, while Amazon ranked third with approximately 3 million. Microsoft and DHL rounded out the top five with 2.8 million and 2.6 million attempts, respectively. PayPal, Mastercard, Apple, Netflix, and Instagram turned out to be among the top 10 brands targeted by cybercriminals for credentials and money in 2024.

Some brands turned out to be increasingly targeted in phishing attack attempts compared to last year. Phishing for Google has more than tripled, demonstrating 243 percent growth in the first half of 2024 compared to last year. Mastercard has seen a 210 percent rise in attempts to steal sensitive data and money, followed by Facebook and Netflix, both of which experienced a doubling of attack attempts.

“This year has seen a significant increase in phishing attempts targeting Google. If a phisher gains access to a Gmail account, they can potentially access multiple services, making it a prime target.

“Phishing for Mastercard, typically aimed at stealing money, has likely risen alongside the proliferation of fake online shops pretending to sell goods and offering checkout options with allegedly Mastercard,” says Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky. “Interestingly, Microsoft experienced a decline in clicks on phishing resources.

“Since this brand is frequently targeted for corporate credentials phishing, the decrease may be attributed to improved cyber literacy in various organisations. DHL has also seen a decline, which is a common trend among several transport and logistics brands we analysed.”

Other brands that didn’t make it into the top 10, but have become increasingly targeted include HSBC, which experienced an eight-fold rise to 240,000 phishing attempts in 2024, and eBay, which saw a three-fold increase to more than 300,000 attacks. Airbnb, American Express, and LinkedIn recorded increases of 174%, 137%, and 122% in attempts, respectively.

 


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E-Business

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.

In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.

“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.

The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.

The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.

To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.

NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.

 


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Report Reveals African Organizations Dangerously Overestimating Cyber defences

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Many businesses are overestimating their defence against cyber attacks, which creates a significant human risk blind spot. A new KnowBe4 report exposes a worrying disconnect between what leaders think about their cyber security readiness and what employees experience.

According to the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025, based on insights from cyber security decision-makers across 30 African countries, despite high awareness, a critical gap exists in turning that awareness into actual readiness and resilient behaviour.

Key findings from the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025:

Confidence vs awareness: While cyber security awareness is high, leaders express uncertainty about their workforce’s ability to act on that awareness. Many feel employees may overestimate their capabilities in recognising, reporting and mitigating threats.

The need for adaptive and personalised security awareness training: Many companies fail to personalise security awareness training to specific roles or risk exposures.

Widespread BYOD usage: A large percentage of employees (between 41% and 80%) use their personal devices for work.

AI policy development is lagging: Many companies (46%) are still in the process of developing policies for using AI tools in the workplace.

Regional variation: Southern Africa trains more, East Africa governs AI better and West/Central Africa sees the most human-related security incidents.

This gap is significant because Africa has become an attractive target to cyber criminals, especially those that launch AI-powered attacks. A LexisNexis Risk Solutions study found 60% of South African organisations have seen an increase in AI-facilitated financial crime – above the 56% global average.

Kehinde Popoola, regional manager and key representative for West and East Africa at Rubrik, said digital transformation is gaining momentum in Africa and companies are more exposed to cyber risk. The Rubrik executive adds that amid an increase in threats, it is crucial that organisations adopt an assumed breach mindset.

The KnowBe4 research shows that cyber security preparedness and the actual structures required to support secure behaviour seem misaligned.

The report highlights that just 10% of cyber security leaders are fully confident that staff would report a phishing attack or other cyber threat, despite rating employee security awareness of cyber threats at four out of five or higher.

There is also a significant perception gap between decision-makers and general employees in Africa regarding security awareness training, with 68% of leaders believing that training is tailored to roles, compared to only a third of employees feeling adequately trained.

KnowBe4 asserts that many organisations only conduct annual or biannual training that is too generic to effectively change behaviour, contributing to uncertainty about its effectiveness.

According to another report, the KnowBe4 African Cybersecurity and Awareness Report 2025, which focuses on end-user based responses, only 43% of African respondents felt confident in their ability to recognise a cyber threat, and just one in three believed their security awareness training was adequately tailored to their role. This comparison suggests the development of a dangerous perception gap in many organisations.

“There’s a disconnect here – between what leaders think is happening and what employees are actually experiencing,” says Anna Collard, SVP content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “The data shows that without procedural and cultural follow-through, awareness simply doesn’t translate into readiness.”

“The continent’s cyber security posture may be more confident than it is truly resilient,” Collard adds.

 


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Domain of Deception as Attackers Deploy Spyware Under Guise of Legal Threats

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Kaspersky has detected a rapidly escalating malicious campaign that has targeted over 1,100 corporate users since June 2025. The attackers pose as a legal firm and in their emails threaten recipients with lawsuits over alleged domain name patent violations, aiming to deploy malware.

Victims who opened and launched the attached files – that mimicked legal documents – had a Trojan installed on their devices, and the attackers could spy on the content of their screens. Organisations across healthcare, finance, and education sectors have been targeted.

The campaign began with 95 emails on June 11 and has since continued to escalate. Apart from claiming that the recipient’s domain name violates patented combinations of a major brand and threatening litigation, in the email the fake legal bureau also expresses the patent holders’ interest in acquiring the domain and offers getting acquainted with the details of the alleged violations by opening the attached archive with “documents”.

It is worth noting that the attackers, likely to avoid detection, attach an archive that is not password protected, and inside it includes another archive that is password protected and a file containing the password along with it.

After the user entered the archive password and clicked on the alleged legal document inside, a Trojan was installed on the device. The user saw a message displayed that read, “This document cannot be opened on this device. Try opening it on another windows device,” and simultaneously the Tor Browser was covertly downloaded and installed in the background.

Through it, the malware regularly sent snapshots of the user’s screen to the attackers over the Tor network. The malware also autostarts whenever the computer is restarted.

“This campaign is a sophisticated blend of psychological manipulation and technical deception, leveraging fear of legal action to coerce businesses into executing harmful files hidden in attached archives. Its rapid growth since June 11 underscores the urgency for organisations to bolster defenses.

Victims face the risk of losing their private data. Robust email security, employee training, and swift incident reporting are essential to counter this evolving threat,” comments Anna Lazaricheva, spam analyst at Kaspersky.

 


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