Press spotlights Nigeria’s second position in cyberattacks in Africa, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Nigeria faces the second-highest number of cyberattacks in Africa and the request by lawmakers for a probe of the purported launching of Nigerian carrier, Air Nigeria, at the twilight of the administration of Muhammadu Buhari are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria faces the second-highest number of cyberattacks in Africa according to a report by Kaspersky.
Nigeria, which ranked 50th globally for online threats, was only behind Kenya which was ranked 35th globally. South Africa completed the top three, ranking 82nd globally.
According to Kaspersky Security Network, these countries were increasingly becoming focal points for cyber threats.
Expanding on the report, the Head of the Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) for META at Kaspersky, Dr Amin Hasbini, stated that businesses needed to be cautious of two primary forms of cyber-attacks.
Hasbini said, “Criminal attacks are mainly driven by the pursuit of financial profit, whereas advanced attacks indicate how cyber threat actors continually adapt their tactics and tools to breach security measures.
“A significant portion of the attacks witnessed across Africa are shaped by the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. However, a growing concern is that cybercriminals are learning from successful advanced attacks to refine their craft.”
The report further disclosed that in the first quarter of 2023, backdoor and spyware attacks were the most common threat types in South Africa, amassing to 106,000 attack attempts. In Nigeria, it totalled 46,000 and 143,000 in Kenya.
Kaspersky noted that there was a growing surge of zombie machines — a connected device that became part of a botnet.
The newspaper says that the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, declared the purported launching of Nigerian carrier, Air Nigeria, at the twilight of the administration of Muhammadu Buhari a fraud. The parliament asked President Bola Tinubu to suspend the process and probe those involved with the aim of prosecuting them.
The declaration followed the denials by the relevant agencies of the Federal Government and regulators in the aviation sector as well as private partners of being involved in the exercise.
At an investigative hearing organised by the House Committee on Aviation in Abuja, authorities such as Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission as well as an investor, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc, distanced themselves from the launching.
Chairman of the committee, Nnolim Nnaji, consequently declared the flag-off a fraud.
Nnaji said, “The committee, after careful evaluation of the issues on deliberation, is totally dissatisfied with the actions of the former Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirka, in going ahead to flag off the operations of Nigeria Air despite a standing court/injunction against such, and without any provision for sustaining the operations of the airline.
“We are equally irked by the role played by Ethiopian Airlines in this whole process. It does not speak well of the excellent brotherly relationship existing between our two nations.
“A careful review of the process indicates the exercise to be highly opaque, shrouded in secrecy, shoddy and capable of ridiculing and tarnishing the image of Nigeria before the international community. We want to put on record that the committee, and indeed the National Assembly, had no role in the purported launch of Nigeria Air or anything related thereof.”
The chairman added, “While the committee, and indeed the parliament, is not opposed to Nigeria having a national carrier, as a matter of fact having a national carrier is highly desirable to us as a people and Nigeria as a nation, however, such a process should be transparent and all embracing. We as a committee would not accept any attempt by any individual or group of individuals or organisation to hide under the project and siphon our commonwealths.”
The Guardian reports that the International Council of Nurses (ICN) has deplored poaching of professionals by rich nations such as the United Kingdom (UK) from poor countries, saying the development was becoming “out of control.”
The submission comes as Nigeria lost 2,998 trained nurses in 2021-2022 to British National Health Service (NHS).
ICN’s Chief Executive, Howard Catton, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): “My sense is that the situation currently is out of control.
“We have intense recruitment taking place mainly driven by six or seven high-income countries but with recruitment from countries which are some of the weakest and most vulnerable which can ill-afford to lose their nurses.”
According to a report first published by Daily Mail UK, the ICN said six or seven high-income countries are driving “intense recruitment” from places that “can ill-afford to lose their nurses.”
India and the Philippines account for the lion’s share of recruits for the period under review. But a fifth came from ‘red listed’ countries, where the NHS is banned from actively poaching nurses. They were Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal and Pakistan.
The data, from the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council, cover the period before Britain struck a special deal with Nepal to allow the NHS to recruit nurses from the country.
Ghana is one of the worst hit, with hospitals warning that their workforce had been slashed as staff rushed to fill NHS posts they found on social media.
Statistics from NHS England, which have 112,000 vacancies, suggest that approximately two-thirds of the increase in staff hired since 2019 were trained abroad.
Latest NHS, England data show that the service is recruiting more nurses abroad than ever before, with 44,000 joining the organisation since 2019, compared to the 22,000UK-trained attendants.
Most recruits were from India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Ghana.
IN a related development, The British government has committed £2 million to strengthen Nigeria’s health workforce.
The newspaper says that the Senate, yesterday, approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to appoint 20 special advisers (SAs).
A correspondence to that effect was read by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on the floor of the upper legislative chamber.
In the request to the Red Chamber, the President did not list who the 20 aides are.
But after Tinubu’s letter was read, the Senate gave a speedy approval.
Commenting on the request, Lawan said it is of “utmost urgency” that the President has his team to work with.
“Because there is no name for special advisers, we will just approve it from here. We feel that that this is something of utmost urgency,” he noted.
The development came days after Tinubu named outgoing Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, his Chief of Staff and former Minister of Special Duties, George Akume, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF).
GIK/APA