Security
6 Cybersecurity Threats to Watch Out for in 2021
Sourced from IDG Connect In 2020, there were many rapid changes on a global scale as organizations across the world attempted to adapt to a new normal caused by the pandemic. Amid this shift, there were significant developments seen across the cyberthreat landscape. As we near the end of 2020, here’s a closer look at six cybersecurity threats – from HP – to keep in minds going into 2021 and beyond: 1. Weakened organizational security will lead to more unintentional insider threats Home devices will be under increased pressure and we must expect home infrastructure will be targeted. The scale at which we operate from home increases the incentive for attackers to go after consumer IoT devices and pivot to business devices on the same networks. 2. Human-operated ransomware attacks will remain...
CAN: Nigeria almost becoming a failed nation
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned the abduction of 333 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State. CAN also said that the worsening security situation across the country shows that Nigeria is “almost becoming a failed nation.” The group’s statement by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, described the incident as another tragic chapter in the history of the country. Newsmen reported how 333 schoolboys of the school were abducted on Friday by the gunmen. A terrorist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the raid. The federal government said security operatives have already located where the abducted students were taken to and they “would soon be rescued”. CAN expressed its sadne...
Senators decry executive’s disregard for resolutions on insecurity
Federal lawmakers, on Tuesday, deplored the federal government’s continued disregard for Senate’s resolutions on the issue of national security. The Senators spoke while contributing to a motion on the recent kidnapping of students at the Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State. The Red Chamber had twice called for the replacement of the service chiefs. The lawmakers, in their various contributions to the motion, expressed deep frustration over the recurring issues of killings and kidnappings across the country and the inability of the security agencies to address the challenges. They insisted that the service chiefs had overstayed and should allow other officers with fresh ideas to take over. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger) said, “Every day, people are dying and nothing ...
Cybersecurity will Remain a Priority Despite Reduced IT Budgets, Research Shows
Cybersecurity remains a priority for investment among businesses, according to a Kaspersky report. Its share of IT spending has grown from 23% in 2019 to 26% in 2020 for SMBs, and from 26% to 29% for enterprises. 71% of organisations also expect their cybersecurity budget to grow further in the next three years. This is despite overall IT budgets decreasing in both segments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and cybersecurity cuts affecting the most economically hit SMBs. External conditions and events can influence IT priorities for businesses. As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, organisations have had to adjust plans to meet changing business needs – from emergency digitalisation to cost optimisation. The Kaspersky report, based on a survey of more than 5,000 IT and cybersecurity practitioner...
U.S. sanctions Turkey over purchase of Russian defense system
The United States imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey on Monday over Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense systems, further complicating already strained ties between the two NATO allies. Turkey condemned the sanctions as a “grave mistake” and urged Washington to revise its “unjust decision.” Senior U.S. officials said in a call with reporters that Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s and its refusal to reverse its decision left the United States with no other choice. The sanctions, first reported by Reuters last week, target Turkey’s top defence procurement and development body Presidency of Defence Industries, its chairman Ismail Demir and three other employees. While limited to one company, they are still likely to weigh on the Turkish economy, analysts said, at a ti...
Thugs invade northern coalition meeting in Kaduna, attack members
Armed thugs on Monday, invaded the Arewa House Kaduna, where officials of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), were holding a security summit. A statement by Spokesman of the CNG, Abdulaziz Suleiman, said “We regret to announce that armed thugs numbering hundreds were unleashed on the Arewa House venue of the security summit hosted by the Coalition of Northern Groups on Monday, December 14. “The Summit aimed to discuss ways to achieve synergy between communities and government security and design a uniform approach to the current security situation in the North. “Participants at the meeting included retired military officers, Retired Police officers, religious leaders, traditional rulers, various women, youth and trade associations.” The CNG said just as the meeting was about to “kick o...
President Buhari condemns bandits’ attack on Katsina school, orders reinforcement of security
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack carried out by bandits’ at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, charging the security agencies to go after the attackers to ensure that no student gets missing or harmed. The president made the remarks in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Saturday. He urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the population of the students following shootings in and around the school that sent hundreds of them fleeing and scrambling over perimeter walls. He also advised parents who rushed to evacuate their children and wards from the school to notify the school and police authorities in order to have a full account of the school population. “I strongly...
Managed Detection and Response Services – An Effective Defence to Knockout Sophisticated Cyberattacks
The accelerated adoption of cloud, digital transformation and remote working, in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, has expanded the attack surface for cybercriminals. Adversaries are also changing their tactics, techniques and procedures to increasingly launch cyberattacks that combine automation with active human interaction or “hands-on keyboard” hacking. In these types of attacks, adversaries attempt to manually circumvent preventive solutions, such as firewalls and endpoint security, and leverage administrator tools, pen test tool kits, and poorly designed or easily exploitable applications to escalate privileges and move laterally. Due to the increased use of these attack methods, IT leaders need to ensure their current cybersecurity defences can stand up against active cyberatt...
Osun monarch declares war on ritualists
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, has declared war against ritual killings in his domain, saying he would confiscate the ritualists’ den that was recently discovered in Iwo. Oba Akanbi, who condemned ritual killings, said no man of conscience would kill fellow human beings for monetary gain. In a statement made available to journalists through his press secretary, Alli Ibraheem, the monarch expressed shock that some elements in his domain engaged in ritual killings despite the regular campaigns against the ills. It described the perpetrators as “bastards” and urged security agencies to conduct full investigation into the development. The statement partly read, “As an ardent campaigner against ritual killings, I condemn in totality the recently discovered ritual den in Iyemoja, Iwo...
3 Cybersecurity Trends for 2021
Sourced from International IDEA In 2020, there were many rapid changes on a global scale as organizations across the world attempted to adapt to a new normal caused by the pandemic. Amid this shift, there were significant developments seen across the cyberthreat landscape. Going into 2021 and beyond, we face another significant shift with the rise of new intelligent edges, which is about more than just end-users and devices remotely connecting to the network. The intelligent edge is a target Over the past few years, the traditional network perimeter has been replaced with multiple edge environments, WAN, multi-cloud, data centre, remote worker, IoT, and more, each with its unique risks. One of the most significant advantages to cybercriminals in all of this is that while all of these edges...
How COVID-19 has Changed the Shape of African Cybersecurity
Sourced from IDG Connect The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed how people live, work and approach security. According to the 2020 KnowBe4 African Report – which collated insights from across South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritius and Botswana – found that attitudes and behaviours had shifted as a result of the pandemic, but problem pockets of risk remain that need to be addressed in order to ensure both business and individual security. “Nearly 50% of the respondents will continue to work from home; 24% indicated that they were affected by cybercrime while working from home, and only 30% believed that their governments prioritised cybersecurity in their policies,” says Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy at KnowBe4 Africa. “This year, respondents were ev...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...