Security
Edo election: FRSC deploys 1,500 personnel, 35 vehicles
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it had deployed no fewer than 1,500 of its personnel to provide security during the Sept. 19 Edo governorship election. FRSC Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement by the Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO), ACM Bisi Kazeem, on Tuesday in Abuja. Oyeyemi said the deployment of the personnel became neccessary because of the heightened concern of political violence during the Saturday’s election. He said the officers and men of the FRSC would assist in ensuring a hitch-free electoral process in Edo. He said that the FRSC team would be led by the Zonal Commanding Officer RS5, Benin, to be assisted by the Assistant Corps Marshal in charge of Federal Operations at its FRSC headquarters, including Sector Commander RS5.1 Benin. H...
ZACR Launches Domain Security Feature
The ZA Central Registry NPC (ZACR) has revealed that has launched Registry Lock, a new feature that prevents ownership and other details of domain names (under its management) from being fraudulently changed. “Registry Lock is a function that can now be activated at the Registry level to prevent the unauthorised transfer of domain names for the following domain name extensions: co.za| net.za |org.za|web.za as well as the four gTLDs of .africa |.capetown |.durban and .joburg,” says ZACR CEO, Lucky Masilela. “The process is quite seamless, as it requires our channel partners (EPP-accredited Registrars) to provide the Registry with a passphrase via a telephonic validation process to enable changes, such as updates, transfers and deletes to be processed on a selected domain name. Manual interv...
Nigeria’s position in global terrorism ranking disappointing, embarrassing – APC group
APC Consolidation Group, a group in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC-CG, has described Nigeria’s latest ranking as third in the Global Terrorism Index, GTI, as not only disappointing but also embarrassing. According to the group, the rating has confirmed its position that the nation’s service chiefs are not on top of the security situation in the country. It reiterated its call that President Muhammadu Buhari should relieve the security chiefs of their positions, saying anything contrary to that would portray the President as being insensitive to the security of lives and property of citizens which he swore to protect. Reacting to the global raking which placed Nigeria third in the world, National Coordinator of the group, Dr Usman Mohammed, insisted in a statement yesterday that ...
Kaduna to close down illegal motor parks – official
The Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), says the state government has concluded plans to shut down illegal motor parks across the state, as part of efforts to improve Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). The Executive Chairman of the service, Dr Zaid Abubakar, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna on Saturday. Abubakar noted with dismay the proliferation of illegal motor parks across the state, adding that the responsible agencies in charge of parks and transportation would begin clamp down the parks by next week. “All illegal motor parks are going to be closed by the responsible agencies by next week, and revenues from the parks will increase because there will be centralisation of collection. “At the moment; we are not getting the revenues we are supposed to g...
Southern-Kaduna Christian leaders boycott peace summit
File Photo A peace summit organized in Kafanchan to find an end to the conflict in Southern Kaduna, suffered set back as Christian leaders in the area who doubted the genuineness of the occasion, boycotted the summit. Nevertheless, the peace summit still went on as scheduled with over 100 participants across religious faiths. The Kaduna chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Christian leaders from the Southern part of Kaduna and the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, were earlier scheduled to attend the peace summit in Kafanchan, Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Tuesday. Friends of Southern Kaduna in collaboration with the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission organized the summit as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to the killings in Southern Kaduna. Explain...
Presidential elections in Ghana, others top agenda at ECOWAS meeting
The 44th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States has called attention to the ongoing insurgency in Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea Bissau as well as the political crisis in Mali. The Council at its meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Friday, also focused on forthcoming presidential elections in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger. The meeting was presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Mediation and Security Council, Kalla Ankourao. Ankourao recalled the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon the region coupled with the breakdown in democratic governance in Mali. He urged the ECOWAS body to take the necessary steps for the preparation and smooth conduct of the upcoming presidential electi...
Why Security Systems are Only as Successful as the People Who are Behind Them
In May 2020, the personal records of more than 24 million South Africans and nearly 794,000 companies were handed over to someone impersonating a client. The personal records, identity numbers and addresses of millions of people and thousands of businesses were given to this person because they had fooled the system. It’s a hard lesson in how important it is to embed security not just into the technology and the devices of a company, but into its people. According to Anna Collard, SVP of Content Strategy at KnowBe4 Africa, security is not just the responsibility of IT – it is the responsibility of every single person in an organisation. “It is critical that organisations create a culture of security in order to combat this increasingly hostile security environment,” she adds. “A successful...
Here’s what can cause Airtime Theft in South Africa
Sourced from Forbes Nearly 1.7 million mobile subscribers are infected with mobile malware in South Africa alone, reports 2019 data by mobile security company, Secure-D. According to the company, malware is the main culprit responsible for airtime theft and mobile ad fraud evident in the country, with 18,000 instances found on South African users’ devices. How malware highjacks mobile devices Mobile malware can either be downloaded on the device by the user via an app or come pre-installed. Once activated on the device, mobile malware becomes part of a “botnet” (short for robot network) of infected devices. These botnets, networks of malware-infused devices, are being remote-controlled at scale by a “bot-herder”. In the case of mobile ad fraud, the malicious application visits websites, cl...
Data Mining Company Founder is Accused of Experian Breach
Sourced from Republic Title Founder of a data-mining company, Karabo Phungula has been accused of gaining access to the personal data of nearly 24 million South Africans and 793 749 businesses from credit bureau, Experian. It is alleged that the information was handed over to Phungula after he ‘impersonated a legitimate Experian client’. However, Phungula says that he has been framed. He went on to tell MyBroadBand that he has “no idea what’s going on”. Phungula has since been issued with an Anton Piller order which grants the Sheriff the right to search and seize ‘evidence’ without giving any warning. “They came to my parents’ house which is the address they have as my business registered address and requested all devices, I further went with the Sherrif to where I stay to take my compute...
South Africans’ Data Allegedly Leaked Online Post Experian Breach
The personal data of nearly 24 million South Africans and 793 749 businesses were handed over to a fraudster last month. Now, reports suggest that some of this information has been leaked online. “Experian South Africa had tens of millions of personal records breached last month. Only 1.3 million contained e-mail addresses, with others including government-issued IDs, names, addresses and employment info. 66% were already in @haveibeenpwned,” says Have I Been Pwned, record exposure search engine, in a tweet. Experian says that it is still investigating the “isolated incident in South Africa involving fraudulent data inquiry.” And the credit bureau notes that it has “identified files which [it] believes contain Experian data relating to the incident on the Internet. We continue to investiga...
South Africa is Facing a “Massive” Mobile Fraud Problem, says Expert
Anti-fraud firm, Evina has determined that one out of every three mobile subscription attempts in South Africa is fraudulent. The company believes that South African cellular users are very often subscribed to mobile services without their consent. After Kenya, South Africa is the African country most affected by fraud that daily fleeces millions from the mobile accounts of cellular users around the globe. “As Africa’s most advanced economy, it is particularly tragic that South African mobile users are falling victim to subscription frauds that are well managed in many other countries,” says David Lotfi, CEO of Evina. This at a time when locals are under significant financial pressure following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fraud is not treated seriously enough by the various mobile ...
Why the Healthcare Industry must Adapt to the Cyberthreat Landscape
Sourced from Getty Images. While healthcare providers must accelerate their digital health maturity as it directly improves operational efficiencies, quality of patient care and improves the protection of personal and sensitive information, it also provides a greater platform and risk for cyberattacks. This is according to Shiraaz Joosub, Healthcare Sales Executive at T-Systems South Africa, who says that healthcare is a booming industry. It is fraught with strict regulations and high revenues that provide an environment for cybercriminals to target every aspect of its operations, especially where technology is optimally utilised. “Due to regulations related to the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, the need to use, manage and store sensitive patient data creates an increased r...
