Registrars Fold: NIRA Board Reinstates Domainking.ng

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the country’s domain name Registry, has lifted the temporary ban placed on Domainking.ng following the total compliance to rules guiding the industry.

Mrs Edith Udeagu, chief operating officer of NIRA said that on Friday 24th March 2017, an official representative of Hannu Internet Corp PVT LTD, the manager of DomainKing.ng, informed the .ng Registry that since 20th March 2017, the organization had re-opened its support channels, commenced resolving clients’ queries and has commenced preparations for full operations as a .ng Accredited Registrar.

“The officer also reported how they are cooperating with their clients to provide them with support and other services beyond registering .ng domain names”, she said.

Mrs. Udeagu said that the NIRA Board has evaluated and assessed the situation of Domainking.ng. Hannu Internet Corp PVT Ltd has responded to the .ng Registry within the allowed grace period with an outline on its dealings with its clients and its eagerness to return to full operations.

“As from Monday 27th March 2017, NIRA has lifted the temporary suspension of Hannu Internet Corp PVT Ltd. However, the Registrar will not be able to register new domains for another two weeks, as the .ng Registry continues to monitor its activities and the way it resolves  pending customer issues,” she explained.

During the period that Domainking.ng was not available to attend to its .ng clients, those clients who requested for the transfer and renewal of their .ng domain names were able to do so.

NiRA had on February 28, 2017 temporarily blocked DomainKing.ng, an Indian based .ng Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) accredited registrar for alleged negligence of duties to clients’ requests, especially for refusal to respond to escalated support queries and emails from its clients forwarded to it by the .ng Registry.

However, on Friday 24th March 2017, an official representative of Hannu Internet Corp PVT

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WannaCry Ransomware Attack in Nigeria: A call for sustainable cyber security Say's NITDA

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says Nigeria is free from the “WannaCry” ransomware attack but called for sustained security from stakeholders to forestall future attacks.

Dr Isa Ibrahim, the Director-General of NITDA said this in a statement issued by Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Cooperate Affairs and External Relations on Sunday in Abuja.

Newsmen report that on May 12, the WannaCry began affecting computers worldwide, with evidence pointing to an initial infection in Asia at 7:44am UTC.

The WannaCry ransomware attack is an ongoing worldwide cyber attack, which targets computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

It has affected systems of more than 200,000 individuals, more than 150 countries across the globe including Europe, America and Russia.

Ibrahim, however, said that Nigeria was spared following sensitisation from relevant stakeholders.

“The management of NITDA would like to bring to the attention of Nigerians that the recent WannaCry or WannaCrypt ransomware attack has been contained.

“Nigeria was largely spared from the attack due to the massive enlightenment campaign, awareness and proactive measures put in place to swiftly deal with any reported incident.

“The efforts of all stakeholders in the Information Technology industry are highly commendable and appreciated.

“The attack which was considered to be one of the biggest cyber security attacks in recent history showed traces that Nigeria appeared to be isolated, as no major incident is reported in the country.

“We, therefore, call on all citizens, especially critical stakeholders in the IT industry, to support NITDA in this onerous task by always following best practices.

“They should be proactive in the way information and systems are handled as these will help in minimising risks of attacks as well as possible loss of vital information,” he said.

The D-G said that IT had become the integral part of Nigerians which required vigilance to ensure maximum protection.

Ibrahim further called on users of outdated operating systems to upgrade to Windows 10 and obtain the latest protection patch, MS17-010 released by Microsoft.

He added that Windows Defender Antivirus should be enabled on systems so to detect Ransomeware and similar attacks.

He, however, said that there was hope for systems that had already been affected by the attack.
“For systems that have been attacked, tools have been developed to unlock the files locked by this ransomware.

“The WannaDecrpyt or Wannakey can be used to unlock the file; they have been found to have successfully decrypted systems infected with the ransomware,” he said.

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U.S. to support Nigeria in fight against cyber crime

The U.S. on Wednesday pledged to support Nigeria in the fight against cybercrime and financial fraud. 

A statement issued by the U.S. Embassy quoted Amb. Stuart Symington, as saying this at the Second Annual Conference on Combatting Financial Fraud, Cybercrime, and Cross-Border Crimes on Tuesday.

The conference with the theme `U.S.-Nigerian cooperation in combating cybercrime and financial fraud,’ was organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Information Technology Development Agency. 

Symington said: “there is not a country in the world that is kept secure day and night, year after year by anything other than the people of that country. 

“They are to national security what every user of a computer is to internet security, they are the critical link.” The ambassador expressed the need to set up appropriate legal frameworks, deploy computer emergency response teams in critical sectors, and develop national and international tools that will work to combat cyber crime.

He explained the internet has leveled the playing field for all citizens, because anyone in the world can compete with, influence, and change what the entire world is doing. 

Citing the recent WannaCry worldwide attack, he said “whatever challenges Nigeria is facing, the United States and the global community are confronting those challenges as well”. 

He emphasised the need for an immediate response and robust coordination between nations in answer to frequent cyber-attacks and increasingly sophisticated transnational criminal networks.

“The U.S. has partnered with the Nigerian government to combat fraud, financial crimes, money laundering, cybercrime, and cross-border crimes including drug, human, and wildlife trafficking. 

`The two countries also continue to work to counter these threats, strengthen information sharing, and develop strategies to work together to protect citizens, resources, and financial networks from dangerous criminal attacks,” he said. 

Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, Minister of Justice said Nigeria was proactively taking steps to ensure that the Cyber Crime Act of 2015 was implemented.

Representing Malami, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, Special Adviser to the President on Justice Reforms, said the Ministry of Justice was ensuring that cyber crime perpetrators were prosecuted for obstructing national security.


“Our intention is to ensure that Nigeria is proactively implementing our Cyber Crime Act of 2015 and also to ensure that we are implementing the Advanced Fee Fraud Act of 2007. 

“We want to ensure that we are looking at cross border crimes that can affect the national security of Nigeria and we are taking proactive steps in that direction. 

He said that Nigeria was in a critical situation and if nothing was done to tackle cyber crime issues in the government and across private sector, the country might become subject to gruesome cyber attacks.

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SHITTU: Proposed ICT University will equip Nigerians with best skills

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, said on Thursday that the plan to establish a University of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria was aimed at equipping Nigerians with the best skills. 

Shittu told newsmen in Abuja that facilities at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) would be utilised to achieve this objective.

“We feel that we can ultimately utilise the facilities of NITDA by transforming it into an ICT University, which will be the first of its kind in Africa. 

“We are also engaging the private sector to collaborate with us in this venture; the Nigerian government is not going to spend huge amounts in running that place. 

“The ministry will be inviting companies like Motorola, Facebook and all the big companies to come and adopt campuses; by so doing, they will bring their money, technology and skills.

“Nigerians will, therefore, be equipped with the best skills to look for jobs all over the world.’’ 

Shittu said that the ministry decided to take this step in order to stop the trend of Nigerians having to travel to India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Western Europe to acquire high level ICT training. 

He added that if a country like South Korea which has expertise in e-governance could adopt a campus at the university, the capacity of Nigerians who would be trained there would be strengthened. 

“If we have Korean telecoms companies coming to adopt one of our campuses, that will strengthen us instead of going to South Korea.

“We can have all the training and the number of people who will have the training locally will certainly be more than those who will have opportunities of going abroad to train.

“So, we feel that the ICT University is one of the big legacies that this government wants to give to Nigerians by adding value to computer science education,” the minister said. He had said at a workshop organised for secondary school students in the FCT in 2016 that the establishment of the institution would bridge the ICT skill gap in the country

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UZOMA:IoT Is Creating Big Market for Privileged Identity Mgt. Solution

 Chima Uzoma is the current Chief Executive Officer and founding partner of Boch Systems

Chima Uzoma is the current Chief Executive Officer and founding partner of Boch Systems. He is an agile and strategic Technology Executive with an excellent track record in heading diverse businesses to consistent growth and profitable outcome. 
He has over 16 years practical IT experience; and has worked with several technology giants in Nigeria, including Microsoft, Technology Distribution, ICONET Group, and Imperial Business Systems; among others. He spoke to peter oluka on Boch System’s partnership with Arcon and the advantage it will bring to organizations on the Continent.

BYOD, Cloud Computing, IoT and Security Lapses
There is a future for Privileged Identity Management Solutions (PIMS) as the world embraces Internet of Things (IoT), Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Cloud Computing or mobility in general. It means you need to have access to every of these devices. Arcon is thinking ahead like two decades from now, how are you going to manage these applications. So, IoT is creating a big market for PIMS. Now, your electronics will be talking to you, which demands the right authorized access to be able to talk back to them.

Growth of Cyber Market in Nigeria and Place of Arcon
Cyber security is the future, because technology is driving a lot of things- banking operations, communications, e-commerce and more the advent and growth of technology, the increase of the challenges like attacks. It requires a lot of awareness, and every company must be part of finding the solutions, because they need to keep their data.
Arcons is a product; when you acquire it, you have full control. The demo session shows there the administrator decides who does what and how the period you would prefer the password changes. And there are criteria to that. With regards to increased cyber attacks, if I take care of my insider threats and ensure your keys are not in the wrong hands, then, we are moving forward; by then, 70% of the threats are curbed.

Companies Should Set Cyber Security Guide for Employees
Every organization should take cyber security very serious, because it I can collapse a business and it is a high risk area. Imagine my email is hacked, by mere remembering that I wouldn’t know what the hackers are doing with the content of the email; it can lead to all manner of psychological trauma. However, we offer a solution on security and the governance; it has helped organizations to mitigate risks as much as possible.

Evolution of Policies in The Cyber Security Sub-Sector
In terms of government, I wouldn’t know what they are currently engaged on, because it has become a herculean task. But, the Financial Institutions (FIs), for instance have a lot of investments in that regards, and the telcos. Nigerians are adapting to future technology. When we opened our office in Ghana and compared both markets, we found Nigeria is far ahead. Technologies that were implemented in Nigeria, maybe two years ago, they are about to be considered in Ghana.

Boch Systems Limited
Boch Systems has a Pan-African vision to be the leader in providing information and implementation solutions in Africa. Currently, the Company is in Nigeria and has started a full-fledged operations in Ghana. Boch Systems Company Limited is a leading Systems Integration Company of choice, providing professional and high quality ICT services to our esteemed clients. We are driven by a passion to offer reliable, timely, and cost effective solutions; relying on our thoroughly skilled and dedicated workforce, supporting partners, and advanced technologies; thereby guaranteeing maximum ROI to all stakeholders.
Boch Systems creates solutions for leading organizations in all sectors of industry, commerce and government. We work with our customers to identify and create better ways of doing business – from optimizing existing tools and resources to realizing revolutionary processes.
At Boch Systems, we fully understand Lead Capital Government environment and the challenge it faces in using technology to bear on its service delivery to its staff and customers.

Partnership with Arcon
Arcon is actually bringing two things; first, advanced technology in the cyber security space. Secondly, the products are cost effective. With the situation of the country, companies are concerned about getting a quality product at the right price.
So, we signed a partnership with Arcon to represent them in the whole of Africa and deploy solutions to financial institutions and the telcos. Its flagship product- Arcon, is a Privileged Identity Management Solution (PIMS). Today, about 70% of cyber attacks that occur today are instigated from within from organizations. Most of them are caused by disgruntled staff, or staff with privileged access to company’s data. So, when access to the security protocols is compromised it affects the business. Therefore, Arcon’s solution is such that ensures your insider protocols are protected. Even if you have a third party who works with you, Arcon has a system to help organization guide against breaches. It is a time-based access guarantor into your application and shares a link on what the person actually did. So, it helps you ensure that from the inside you are fully protected.

Value Proposition of Arcon Solutions
The first value proposition: this is an advanced technology. Formerly, you have what is called Privileged Access Management  Solution (PAMS), but Arcon has narrowed it down to PIMS, which entails you manage not just the access but who does what. There are features that other competitors cannot boast of.  Secondly, everybody wants to buy the right product at the appropriate price. Arcon is flexible with regards to pricing. Other solutions out there tend to remain on their high horses, but Arcon is willing to come down to your level and offer you service.
In terms of customization, because the whole thing is designed by them they are ready to offer you special attention. There are connectors we constitute which other competitors with over two hundred experts, which other competitions lack. And the inhouse developers are ready to customize

Targeted Market
Any technology driven organization requires cyber security solution, because the systems are always subject of attack- serves, networks or switches, they require access. Arcon is available to companies across sectors. For instance, a company like Jumia or Konga, the merchants go ‘in there’ to post or update values of products. Such process can lead to compromise, therefore, you require a robust solution like Arcon to monitor the processes. Aside the firewalls, they need further identity management solution to ensure even protection. Example, an insider can alert an outsider about a possible order for a pair of shoes, he goes to supply same and collect the money, thereby leveraging the investments of the e-commerce platform without making any revenue contribution to it.

Aside Arcons, Other Boch Systems’ Solutions
We are a full security technology organization, offering end-to-end solutions. We have partners who provide global enterprise firewalls relevant to banking, e-commerce, telecommunications and other industries. These firewalls are safeguards against external attacks. We also provide data access management solution. Aside giving you access, there are certain people that are not privileged users especially to unstructured data. Unstructured data seat on serves on individual systems. We have seen confidential letters or memos from government going public because it fell into the hands of unauthorized person even as an unstructured data.

Digital Marketing And Implications To Bank Customers
The future is social media and the future has gone mobile. In fact, any organistion that is not thinking about using the social media to win customers is not looking at the right direction. Today, we are talking about digital marketing. It is about utilizing the social media to create awareness. That is same thing banks are extending to customers. The beauty of it is that the more we engage on social media, the need for them to secure the networks, and also ensure the customers are left in danger of cyber attacks.  

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NITDA: Local content policy will reduce software import

The Local Content policy of the Federal Government on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would reduce the importation of ICT software into the country, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr. Isah Ibrahim, stated this in Abuja at the 2017 international Day of girls in ICT organized by Veritrax Solutions.

Ibrahim, who was represented by Assistant Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions, Engr. Salisu Kaka, said the agency has made it compulsory for contractors to ensure that at least the computer systems they buy are from local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Nigeria.

He said: “In 2013 there was the local content policy passed by the federal government on ICT and NITDA being the regulator has quickly established office of the national content on ICT (ONC).

“This office is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that at least 30 per cent of whatever we consume locally or within the country there is local component of it, that is from the hardware to the software aspect of it.

“We made it compulsory for contractors to ensure that at least the computer systems they buy are from our local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).”

He said the agency has created the enabling environment that would allow genderless communities at different levels to have equal opportunities in terms of digital divide.

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$450m lost to cyber crime in Nigeria

The Senate, yesterday, said Nigeria has lost about $450 million to 3,500 cyber attacks on its Information and Communication Technology, ICT, space.

According to the Senate, this represents over 70 per cent of hacking attempts on technology in the country.

Against this backdrop, the Senate asked the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major-General Mohammed Babagana Monguno (retd), to, as a matter of urgency, alert all security agencies and financial institutions in the country about the current and threatening dimensions of cyber attacks.

The Senate also asked its Committee on ICT and Cybercrime to immediately convoke a national stakeholders’ conference on cyber security that would help stimulate what it described as a collective reflection among relevant stakeholders and articulate a national and broad-based approach to keep the country ahead of the challenges.

The Senate, which noted that the figures were arrived at by revelations from studies, expressed concern that government servers were currently under serious threat.

The upper chamber, however, lamented that the ICT shortfall in Nigeria was enormous, while its cyberspace had become very porous, adding that the system lacked a well-structured and effective approach to cyber-crime control, according to the oversight findings of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime.

Yesterday’s resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (APC Oyo North), entitled: “Worrisome dimension of cyber-crime and insecurity, urgent need for concerted efforts to secure Nigeria’s cyberspace.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, however, called for concerted efforts at confronting the cyber war currently threatening the world.

Ekweremadu noted that criminals had on a daily basis been hacking into the e-mails and other accounts of very important people on social media.

He said: “It is worrisome that cyber war is coming and we all need to be prepared to fight it. It is expected that all stakeholders will rise and deal with it.”

Earlier in his presentation, Senator Abdulfatai said the Senate noted that the positive posture of ICT revolution was being dampened by malicious activities of criminal elements in society who invade cyberspace, presenting risks to businesses, national economies and security, such as malicious use of the social media, identity theft, electronic fraud, data damage or alteration, espionage, etc;

He said the Senate was aware that these elements have developed several hacking technics, one of the most recent being Ransomeware known as WannaCry Worm or WannaCrypt, which infected computer operating systems and networks, encrypted files and asked for ransom.

According to him, cyber attacks are taking a dangerous dimension all over the world, as Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays Bank of UK, for instance, suffered 48-hour online attack from 11th to 13m of January this year, in which the criminals attempted to block about 20 million accounts.

He also noted that Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were bombarded with millions of fake requests designed to grind the groups’ systems to a halt and asked for a huge ransom in bitcoins to end the attacks which were being prevented by the Denial of Access (DOS) system;

“The Senate is further Worried that on the 12th of May alone, at least 200,000 targets in over 150 countries were hit by cyber attacks which the Internet Protocol suggested to have originated from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Iran, as well as Kenya, supposedly using a malware, known as Lazarus, to compromise systems in banking and information networks, with no clear evidence yet as to how the act was perfected, and that the criminals are already targeting Nigeria;

“It is also alarmed about revelations from studies that over 70% of hacking attempts so far, i.e. about 3500 cyber-attacks on the Nigeria lCT space, have been successful resulting in loss of over $450 million and that government servers are currently under serious threat.’’

In their separate contributions, Senators Olugbenga Ashafa, APC-Lagos East, and Dino Melaye, APC-Kogi West, claimed that they have been victims of cyber crime in the past, even as they stressed the need for all arms of government to ensure that the crime was eliminated in the society.

The senators, however called for laws that would end misuse of cyberspace in the country and ensure that cyberspace operators function in accordance with the extant laws, adding that erring ones must be dealt with to serve as deterrent to others.

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Sunnet Systems’ ICT Hub to Develop IT Skilled Deficiency

Olagunju Paul

Olagunju Paul is the managing director of Sunnet Systems – a Pan African ICT firm is known for deploying technology solutions and services that enable growth and development. 

The company also supports growth strategies through her top-notch solutions and services. Recently, the company won Customer Focused Technology Delivery Company Award and Paul spoke to chike onwuegbuchi on issues around Sunnet Systems’ efforts to revolutionize IT industry.

Issues Around Assessing Foreign Exchange 

Yes, it is a challenge, at the same time, it presents some opportunities. As an organization, we believe that every problem has at least one solution. To us, what this challenge has thrown up is that as an IT company we should be thinking inwards. 

That has also helped us to filter the possibilities and otherwise. We look at the whole spectrum of ICT landscape: where are we as a country? What can we do? 

What should we be doing? What services do we need from outside? So, what we have done is to ensure, internally we align our resources to some of these challenges, providing in-country solutions. 

We believe that, for so long, certain skills in the industry are largely dependent on expatriates. We felt one of the good things this crisis has brought is: there is no forex to continue on that path. So, do we have capable Nigerians, who require, maybe additional trainings, to deliver such services? The answer is Yes. 

Therefore, we went ahead to set up an ICT Hub in Ilorin to serve as a base to develop Nigerian IT professionals to be utilized both locally and exportable skills. 

There are so many smart Nigerians out there, but a lot of concentrations are in Lagos. But, step out of Lagos you see armies of young people who are waiting to be tapped, domesticated and empowered to begin to take advantage of the technology space. So, it has opened our eyes.

Why Ilorin? 

It is a layback town; very quiet and cost of living is relatively cheap. There are about five universities, colleges of education, ensuring a whole army of young people. We want to harvest and empower them. 

So, some of them we engage in providing these services that we were paying dollars to achieve. We are able to export these skills, bringing in dollars into the country. So, certain things that would ordinarily require dollars, we are using the naira; helping us to have a better margin. 

Thus, certain jobs out there that we would have lack the boldness to go for, won’t happen anymore. By that, Nigeria will be able to play and tap into some of those services; take up contracts from UK, US, Europe, done here and delivered out there. 

So, the dollar crisis is a blessing in disguise, if we are able to convert them to opportunities. It has actually helped us to think. People say you should think out of the box, but there are no boxes any more. Now, you have to think vertically, horizontally in other to take advantages of these opportunities.

Identification as A Customer Focused Company 

As an organization, and from the beginning, we believe that Sunnet Systems exist because our customers exist. We treat our customers as people who put food on our table; they are the reason why we will exist. 

Thus, we cannot afford to disappoint them. Our customers will only be happy, if they will run their businesses with their eyes closed. That implies, we can take the pressure off their shoulders to focus on their core competencies. 

If you look at our mission statement we have “Passion for Excellence”. We derive our satisfaction from the customer’s satisfaction. We are deeply committed to customer satisfaction; the customer in this case could be the client, shareholders, or even internally, whether our customers as staff, we render services in excellent manner. 

It is something that we have been able to practice over time. I am not really surprised that our customers feel that we deserve this award.  

I want to thank Nigeria CommunicationsWeek’s publishers for putting up such a beautiful programme in place. The essence of an award is not just about the reward, but it serves as an incentive for you to strive harder in service delivery. It also gives up-comers to have something to look up to; and as well encouraging compliance to standards, ensuring that organizations step up their games to be globally compliant in terms of quality of service, innovative initiatives that can change the landscape of our country. 

To us as an organization, even though we are extremely a quiet organization in terms of visibilities, we have a very large footprint in the industry particularly with the major industries- public, financial, oil and gas, telecoms, and energy. It is an encouragement to us to know that some people somewhere appreciate the good work Sunnet Systems is putting into the industry, particularly our professional dedication and commitment, as well as quality of service. 

We will take this as our first step and make sure we embark on aggressive improvement in all our services. Come next year, more of our good works will be out there for exhibition for people to appreciate and others to learn from. So, we really want to appreciate Communication Week Media for the recognition given to us. We will not rest on our oars as this serves as an impetus for us to strive harder; that is our commitment.

Sunnet Systems’ Distinguishing Factors 

One of the key things to us is the understanding of our customers’ pain-points and align them with the best technology provider that can best deliver the experience required. For instance, if a customer requires an enterprise solution that can run their application 24/7 and effortlessly, we align them with the appropriate provider. 

Also, for every solution we project into the market, Sunnet Systems have the highest level of trained personnel. So, we don’t just push or sell boxes, we generally work directly with the OEMs to ensure we are able to deploy, support and extend the services of these OEMs to the clients. We are strategic partners to these OEMs to deliver solutions relevant to the clients; that is why some of them have Sunnet Systems key leaders as part of their advisory team. Most times, before new products are introduced into the market, we are briefed, keeping us ahead of some of the challenges the customers are facing.

Sunnet Systems Going Forward

In the next five years, Sunnet Systems will not just be recognized for service excellence, but for innovative excellence. We are looking at various challenges faced by Nigerians and working towards technological solutions to them. 

For example, we are working assiduously in the areas of health, financial inclusion, crisis management (like the case of herdsmen); we believe that technology that can help us solve some of these challenges. 

We are positioning ourselves as innovative solution providers and for the entire West Africa. Every investment we are making now is geared towards that. Even the resource centre in Ilorin, we are working with some universities, tapping into their resources while addressing some of the local challenges.    

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