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The Place Of Technology In Edo State 2020 Gubernatorial Elections

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Governor Godwin Obaseki will continue another tenure after defeating his closest political rival Osagie size-Iyanu, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate at the Edo State 2020 Gubernatorial Election.

According to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Obaseki polled 307,955 while Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 223,619 votes.

It would be recalled that In 2016, Governor Obaseki won his first as a candidate of the APC, with strong support from his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of the APC. In 2020 they became the worst of political enemies after they both fell out.

The squabble between Obaseki and Oshiomhole generated divisions in Edo State and further heightened the political feud between APC and PDP. Obaseki was denied the flag bearer ticket at his time in APC on the grounds of divided interests with party leaders. But eventually decamped to PDP where he was given the ticket to represent the party.

The political saga was becoming alarming that an average Nigerian could easily deduce that Edo election seemed like a political battle between Governor Obaseki and APC godfathers – Adams Oshiomhole and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The battle got intensified to the extent that Governor Obaseki appeared to have been silenced despite being the Governor of the state.

Role Of Technology

Going into the election, the confidence level of Nigerians were abysmally low due to irregularities that have always crippled electioneering results in the country. While it’s easy for Nigerians to attribute the victory of Governor Obaseki to President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued reassurance and commitment towards a free and fair election. And the warning letters by the US and UK to the Nigerian government ahead of the Edo Election which may have lowered politicians to manipulate the election. However, one major factor that stands out is the technology that was deployed in the electioneering process.

It once again shows that technology has continued to prove beyond every doubt that it’s capable of making a significant impact. Almost all the sectors of the economy have been hugely affected by technology and Nigeria is beginning to feel that same result on elections.

Edo election would be regarded as one of the most successful elections when compared to Kogi election in 2019 where lives were reportedly lost, coupled with electoral manipulations. Elections without the deployment of technology has a potency of making aggrieved parties file a suit in court. However, with President Muhammadu Buhari already commending the INEC for conducting free and fair elections, the likelihood of going to seek redresss in court is undermined.

Transmission of Election Results Electronically

Some Nigerians who were not able to view the polling units result on television logged on to INEX portal (inecelectionresults.com) to monitor and view the results in real-time. With this electronic transmission of results, it becomes difficult for election results to be manipulated. On Saturday evening, Nigerians were already seeing the results and the announcement on Sunday. The timeliness of the results via electronic transmission is something that is quite different from what has been obtainable in the past.

Regardless, INEC has been at the forefront of deploying technological solutions during elections in Nigeria. The Commission deployed the Z-pad Technology to upload polling unit results to the Result Viewing Portal for the Edo State election.

A week before the election, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education, Information and Publicity, Festus Okoye had promised only deploy technological solutions it has tested with small bye-elections and is confident of their performance in bigger elections. ”A responsible Commission will not gamble with a big end of tenure election conducted in the shadow of a pandemic,”

Also, INEC deployed the Smart Card Reader, a veritable tool for verification and authentication in the accreditation process. As a fact, Smart Card Reader has brought credibility to the electoral process and the INEC has continued to deploy it. However, the Commission have a responsibility to make it smarter and more robust and we will continue to improve on it.

PDP Vs APC Strategy

Regardless of PDP electioneering campaigns for Governor Obaseki, the party believes that if Edo election was to have a credible election without unnecessary interference that it would win. The PDP understands that technology was the only way to put some excesses into check. The likes of former vice president Atiku Abubakar and PDP Chieftain Osita Udoka have been on the front burner.

Even during the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Election, one of Chidoka’s assertions against INEC’s dealings was the absence of promised online computing of votes, to which it’s reported that INEC said it has no server.

Particularly, Chidoka has been pushing a technology-driven agenda into Nigerian politics. Prior to the preparation of Edo 2020 Chidoka said he written to INEC asking about online computing of results online, to which they agreed and promised to provide.

Meanwhile, the APC had a different strategic direction. They resorted to media and publicity games against Obaseki. One of the notable media publicity was the sponsored television broadcast by Tinubu. The APC National Leader had urged the people of Edo State not to vote for Obaseki. ”He is not a democrat, ” Tinubu said. Oshiomhole on the other hand was vigorously campaigning for Ize-Iyamu in every nook and cranny of Edo State.

Obaseki appeared to almost becoming helpless due to the wide publicity pushed by the APC. The intensity was so much that over 35 aides working with Obaseki resigned and endorsed Ize-Iyamu. All hope was high that the APC Governorship candidate would have won.

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TechNews

inq.Digital Supports Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1.0]

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PAFOn 1.0
PAFON SPEAKERS

Inq. Digital Nigeria Limited has been announced as a sponsor of Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1.0] maiden edition holding this Thursday in Lagos.

inq. Digital Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of inq. Group is an emerging leading digital and cloud solutions provider that delivers simpler seamless solutions to complex business challenges.

With offices in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano, inq. provides reliable and affordable Intelligent Connectivity, SDN/NFV, Cloud and Digital services (including Edge –AI) for Nigerian businesses including those in the payment space.

Participation is FREE, however, pre-registration is required: https://bit.ly/4c4N19H.

Speaking ahead of Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1,0] scheduled to take place at Oriental Hotel, Lekki Road, Lagos on Thursday, March 21, 2024 by 9am under the theme: “Payments: Trust, Security and Privacy in AI Era”, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, the co-founder of TechCastle Foundation, the organisers, said the goal is to enable information exchange and knowledge sharing on key industry insights issues amongst key stakeholders, with the objective of ensuring a collaborative and proactive approach to push for policies that enable growth, tackling/mitigating fraud and limiting occurrences and losses.

Speakers

The following speakers are lined up for the Forum: Chibuzo Efobi, Director, Payments System Management, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Festus Amede, Chairman, Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial institutions (CCISONFI; Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, Chief Visionary Officer (CVO), Digital Encode Limited; Adetokunbo Omotosho, Chief Executive Officer, Cybervergent; Roosevelt Elias, Founder, Payble; Ikenna Ndugbu, chief compliance officer, Moniepoint MFB, and Peter Evbota, Sales Director at inq. Digital Nigeria Limited.

Payments Forum Nigeria is organised by TechCastle Foundation and sponsored by: inq. Digital Nigeria Limited, Cybervergent, Moniepoint, Digital Encode Limited, Payble with support from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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S Mobile Tech Hub Opens Registration to Entrepreneurs in Southeast

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Kingsely Adonu, founder and CEO, S Mobile Group

•⁠ ⁠500 successful candidates to get starter-packs

•⁠ ⁠Rolls our Free Data, Airtime to Civil Servants, Students, others

S Mobile Tech Hub, an offspring of S Mobile Group has open applications to technology entrepreneurs in the Southeast Nigeria.

S Mobile Tech Hub was recently conceived by Mr. Kingsley Adonu, a visionary entrepreneur and CEO/Founder S Mobile Group, who aims to manifest the Group’s deliberate programmes towards building a dynamic and vibrant startup ecosystem in eastern region of the country.

APPLY by visiting www.smobilegroup.com to register.

Speaking against this backdrop, Mr. Adonu, said that even against tremendous challenges faced by the youth in the Southeast, they must be actively engaged in digital skills development in order to eschew social vices and make positive contributions towards maintaining peace and progress in the region.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our young people are facing numerous barriers to participating in formal and informal sectors today. In December 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. The resolution was the first to recognise the important role young people can play in preventing conflicts, and sustaining peace.

“It is on this premise and more that S Mobile is thinking out of the box by extending digital skills programmes to empower the youth to be more economically relevant. This will also go a long way in supporting the efforts of the Governors in the Southeast who are not resting on their oars until we have crime-free society with less poverty index.

“S Mobile Tech Hub has been positioned as a platform for entrepreneurs to leverage trends to accelerate their skills and innovation especially in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, etc., which have become embedded in our daily lives.

“We are rolling out free data and airtime to civil servants, students, farmers and other entrepreneurs, for connecting with MTN Nigeria services.

Also during the cohort 1 of S Mobile Tech Hub programme 500 successful technology entrepreneurs across the Southeast region will be sponsored with the starter-tools to live their dreams.

“Together, let’s turn technology into your personal pathway to empowerment, growth, and societal well-being. Don’t just dream about a brighter tomorrow; let’s build it together today!”, the company said on Wednesday.

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GRTech

2024 Sophos Threat Report: Cybercrime on Main Street Details Cyberthreats Facing SMBs

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Sophos Launches Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
  • Data and Credential Theft Malware are Top Two Threats Against SMBs in 2023, Accounting for Nearly 50% of All Malware Sophos Detected Targeting this Market Segment
  • Ransomware Still the Biggest Threat to SMBs; Business Email Compromise on the Rise, Along with More Sophisticated Social Engineering Tactics

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today released its annual 2024 Sophos Threat Report, with this year’s report detailing “Cybercrime on Main Street” and the biggest threats facing small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs*).

According to the report, in 2023, nearly 50% of malware detections for SMBs were keyloggers, spyware and stealers, malware that attackers use to steal data and credentials.

Attackers subsequently use this stolen information to gain unauthorized remote access, extort victims, deploy ransomware, and more.

The Sophos report also analyses initial access brokers (IABs)—criminals who specialize in breaking into computer networks.

As seen in the report, IABs are using the dark web to advertise their ability and services to break specifically into SMB networks or sell ready-to-go-access to SMBs they’ve already cracked.

Sophos
Above: Discovered by Sophos X-Ops: a sample of a dark web forum post advertising access to a small U.S. accounting firm. Additional examples of cybercriminal forum ads targeting SMBs, by industry and country, are in the 2024 Sophos Threat Report.

“The value of ‘data,’ as currency has increased exponentially among cybercriminals, and this is particularly true for SMBs, which tend to use one service or software application, per function, for their entire operation. For example, let’s say attackers deploy an infostealer on their target’s network to steal credentials and then get hold of the password for the company’s accounting software. Attackers could then gain access to the targeted company’s financials and have the ability to funnel funds into their own accounts,” said Christopher Budd, director of Sophos X-Ops research at Sophos. “There’s a reason that more than 90% of all cyberattacks reported to Sophos in 2023 involved data or credential theft, whether through ransomware attacks, data extortion, unauthorized remote access, or simply data theft.”

Ransomware Still the Biggest Cyberthreat to SMBs

While the number of ransomware attacks against SMBs has stabilized, it continues to be the biggest cyberthreat to SMBs. Out of the SMB cases handled by Sophos Incident Response (IR), which helps organizations under active attack, LockBit was the top ransomware gang wreaking havoc. Akira and BlackCat were second and third, respectively. SMBs studied in the report also faced attacks by lingering older and lesser-known ransomware, such as BitLocker and Crytox.

Ransomware operators continue to change ransomware tactics, according to the report. This includes leveraging remote encryption and targeting managed service providers (MSPs).

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of ransomware attacks that involved remote encryption—when attackers use an unmanaged device on organizations’ networks to encrypt files on other systems in the network—increased by 62%.

In addition, this past year, Sophos’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team responded to five cases involving small businesses that were attacked through an exploit in their MSPs’ remote monitoring and management (RMM) software.

Attackers Sharpen Their Social Engineering and Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks

Following ransomware, business email compromise (BEC) attacks were the second highest type of attacks that Sophos IR handled in 2023, according to the Sophos report.

These BEC attacks and other social engineering campaigns contain an increasing level of sophistication. Rather than simply sending an email with a malicious attachment, attackers are now more likely to engage with their targets by sending a series of conversational emails back and forth or even calling them.

In an attempt to evade detection by traditional spam prevention tools, attackers are now experimenting with new formats for their malicious content, embedding images that contain the malicious code or sending malicious attachments in OneNote or archive formats.

In one case Sophos investigated, the attackers sent a PDF document with a blurry, unreadable thumbnail of an “invoice.” The download button contained a link to a malicious website.

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