E-Business
Nigerian Cyber crime Net Widens
Africa, as a continent, is vulnerable to a plethora of Internet threats, from financial fraud and malware distribution to terrorism, drugs and human trafficking.
With 67 million Internet users as of May, Nigeria is often in the spotlight when it comes to cyber crime.
This surge in Internet usage has brought with it multiple threats. Criminals are creative, have persuasive skills and are adaptive adversaries. They have easy access to the Web to cast their criminal nets wider than ever, said Abdulkarim Chukkol, head of the Advance Fee Fraud and Cybercrime Section Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria. He spoke at ITWeb Security Summit 2015, in Midrand.
The EFCC is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes, such as online fraud.
Who are the perpetrators in Nigeria? He asked. “They are all global citizens. They work individually or in small cells, they are highly mobile and loosely organised, and our field experience show they are repeat, unrepentant offenders.”
According to Chukkol, some of the biggest threats Nigeria faces include phishing – targeting mostly financial institutions – with infections usually occurring via a man-in-the-middle e-mail attack. He said his organisation has also seen an increase in data breaches and insider abuse by employees and contract staff, largely due to a lack of segregation of duties.
“I believe the volume of cyber crimes will continue to grow and the chances of catching the criminals will be much less.”
Chukkol said most attacks seen by the EFCC are not highly technical. “Businesses spend a fortune on hardening their systems, but all it takes is one piece of malware to get through their defences.”
In terms of the victims, he said most are Nigerians. “This includes individuals, both locals and foreigners, financial institutions that are 100% reliant on critical infrastructure, and small businesses, which don’t care as much about IT security. They take risks to become bigger players, and have a ‘this won’t happen to me’ mentality.”
According to Chukkol, the methods Nigerian cyber criminals use to launder the ill-gotten gains of cyber crime are advanced too, and the increased use of electronic banking systems and e-commerce have seen a rise in efforts to defraud both individuals and corporate organisations.
In Nigeria, each sector of the economy formulates its own policy to safeguard itself, and there are also policies and guidelines formulated for the industry by the appropriate regulatory agencies, he noted. These are aimed at improving knowledge, capabilities, decision-making and addressing priority areas.
“Even though government is taking steps to boost its cyber security and catch and prosecute cyber crooks, much more needs to be done,” said Chukkol. “There have been several mechanisms put in place to share information and facilitate co-operation between national authorities and the private industry, and Nigeria has successfully arrested and prosecuted several cyber criminals.”
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.
Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.
“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.
Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.
“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin
The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.
Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.
“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin
Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.
To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.
Nigeria recently launched a new joint case team to step up its response to cybercrimes that affect people and businesses at home and abroad.
The ‘Joint Case Team on Cybercrime’ brings together Nigeria’s key justice and security agencies to work as one, making it easier to detect, investigate, and prosecute digital offences.
It is supported by the UK National Crime Agency, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as part of a wider effort to promote international cooperation on cybercrime.
Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, minister of justice and attorney general of the federation described the initiative as “a bold and transformative stride in Nigeria’s justice system.”
He said that although Nigeria has a national legal framework to address cyber offences, laws alone are not enough.
Nigeria is among the countries most affected by cybercrime around the world, with increasing financial losses.
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