The post Financial Security: Steps for Bank Account Protection appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST- Twitter users are falling victim to phishing attacks due to a recent change in the social media platform’s account verification process. Scammers are targeting consumers, particularly bank customers and airline passengers, who complain about poor customer service on Twitter, now known as X. These fraudsters pose as customer service agents using fake X handles and manipulate victims into revealing their bank details under the pretense of offering refunds.

What makes these scams more convincing is the use of the blue checkmark icon, previously a symbol of verified accounts, which can now be obtained by paying a monthly fee for X’s subscription service. This change has raised concerns about the authenticity of accounts on the platform.

READALSO: Expert Urges Integration of Real-World Business Skills into Nigerian School Curricula 

The modified verification system on X has opened the door for cybercriminals to exploit users seeking prompt solutions by publicly complaining to companies on the platform. The scams often involve responding to such complaints, gaining victims’ trust through the display of the blue checkmark icon. Instances have emerged where victims, after being approached by seemingly legitimate accounts, were asked to share personal information via direct messages and even download suspicious apps. Although efforts have been made by some companies like Booking.com to refund affected users and caution customers about verifying accounts, the risks persist, prompting warnings to stay vigilant.

Bank customers, in particular, have been urged to exercise caution as these scammers are actively monitoring Twitter for opportunities to extract personal information. The issue has extended to financial institutions like Metro Bank, whose customers received fraudulent texts from fake customer service agents after responding to the bank’s call for online feedback. Amid these rising concerns, consumer law experts emphasize the importance of verifying the authenticity of accounts, especially when interacting with companies on social media. The changes on Twitter, now X, have inadvertently complicated the process of distinguishing between legitimate and malicious accounts. Calls are should be made to the government to swiftly pass online safety legislation to protect consumers against the surge of online fraud infiltrating major social media platforms like Twitter.

The post Verified Scammers Exploit X Complaints appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – Nigeria has recorded another landmark achievement by hosting the maiden edition of the digital economic regional conference (DERC), a convergence of all the ministers of digital economy in the sub-region. The conference is aimed at providing an opportunity for countries in the West Africa sub-region to discuss the growth and development of their various digital economic sectors including the gains, challenges, and opportunities, and also allow for peer review to identify key performance metrics that can form the foundation for the region’s equivalent of the Digital Economy and Society Index utilised by countries in the European region.

While welcoming his colleagues from other West African sub-region, the Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami disclosed that the conference has become imperative because digital inclusion cannot be achieved without collaboration.

He maintained that “no country can do it alone; our strength is in our collaboration and the unity we forged among ourselves,” adding that digital technologies are no respecter of borders, an axiom the sub-region can leverage for brainstorming and idea sharing.

While describing the African economic situation as worrisome, Prof. Pantami disclosed that the conference will beam a searchlight on the sub-region’s strengths and weaknesses and identify areas that needed development.

The Minister, who described the theme of the conference, “Positioning West Africa Digital Economy for the Future” as very apt, averred that the sub-region in particular and the continent, in general, lost out in the first to third industrial revolutions which accounted for the continent’s developing and under-developed status.

“The world economy is growing. Countries that prioritise the fourth industrial revolution are the leading economies. And if you look at all these countries that are doing well economically, you will discover they prioritised the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

While challenging the continent to be proactive because “that is the only key to achieving a very successful digital economy’’, the Minister noted that it is only in the Fourth Industrial Revolution that some African countries are actively involved.

The Minister decried that the entire African Economy, with a population of almost 1.5 billion people, is less than the economy of Japan. “If you look at our economic growth, it is lower than our population growth, and by implication, if care is not taken, poverty will continue to increase in the African continent.”

He said, “Our population is very important, particularly if we leverage on the potentials we have, definitely, we will be able to achieve a lot, particularly by being very proactive in our approach to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

While quoting the African Development Bank ADB, the Minister described as alarming, the over 420 million unemployed or unemployable youth in the continent, saying it is a time bomb waiting to explode if care is not taken. He added that by developing the digital economy sector, there are abundant opportunities for the West African youth to leverage on.

“And this is why we are here to discuss our strength. In the South of West Africa, we have a country that has the largest economy in Africa. Within the West African sub-region, we have the most populous country among us. Within the sub-region, we have the country with the youngest population. These are the things that are driving the economy, and most importantly the digital economy that we are here to discuss. So, failure is not an option, he averred.

While thanking the delegates from different West African countries for honouring the invitation, Prof. Pantami advised that building on the pedestal the conference has afforded is necessary in order to promote the digital economy of the sub-region in specific, and the region in general.

He said, “I do hope that we will continue to expand this conference to cover the entire African continent in the subsequent events to be organized, but starting with this, I think it is indeed a very good idea.

Day one of the two days conference which is supported by the World Bank has in attendance, the Nigerian World Bank Country Director, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri; Cape Verde’s Secretary of State for Digital Economy, His Excellence, Pedro Lopes; Gambian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Ousman Bah; Nigerien Minister of Post and Information Technology, Mr. Moussa Hassan Basara; Liberian Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Mr. Cooper Kruah; the Senegalese Minister of Digital Economy and Telecommunication, Mr. Ndeye Diop
Other dignitaries at the event were Chief Executive Officers of the Nigerian Digital Economy sector, and their counterparts across the West Africa sub region.

The post Nigeria Hosts Maiden Edition Of Digital Economy Regional Conference appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau has opened an investigation into allegations of data breach by two Nigeria Banks, namely GT Bank and Zenith Bank. This investigations were triggered by allegations of unlawful disclosure of banking records to a third party and unlawful access and processing of personal data.

According to the directive of the National Commissioner and CEO, NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the investigation covers the data governance practice of the banks in all their branches in Nigeria and extends to all third parties carrying out data processing activities. The Bureau notes with concern that many data privacy and protection regulations and best practices are hardly implemented down the organizational strata of major data controllers in Nigeria.
Similarly, the Bureau enjoins organizations to heed the Federal Government circulars and general compliance notice directing them to send the names of their Data Protection Officers/Contacts to the Bureau.

READ ALSO: NITDA Engages Partners On Digital Acceleration Programs For Nigerian Startups

There are reports by Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) which indicated that within 9 months of 2020, fraudsters attempted 46,126 attacks and they were successful in 41,979 occasion representing 91% of the time! This level of vulnerability to data breach is unacceptable and it can only be addressed through foolproof data security and data privacy measures by data controllers/data processors in the industry.

The National Commissioner enjoins all financial institution to emulate the example of the Central Bank of Nigeria in compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019 and in creating a robust data governance system.

The National Privacy Week is an opportunity for all organizations to set their records straight on how they handle the data of citizens. Enforcement measures will be taken against wilful violators of privacy rights forthwith.

The post NDPB Investigates GT Bank, Zenith Over Data Breach Complaints appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – Policy makers and stakeholders in the digital economy ecosystem in the West African sub-region will converge in Abuja from January 31st to 1st February for the Digital Economy Regional Conference to discuss the future of digital economy and intensify regional public private partnerships for the region.

The event is being hosted by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the World Bank.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who will deliver the keynote address at the event will be joined by his Federal Capital Territory (FCT) counterpart, Mohammed Bello, to welcome Ministers and top government officials from the subregion.

READ ALSO : Nigeria is Best Global IT Talent Factory – Kashifu Tells Tech Visionaries in Germany

The Conference, with the theme “Positioning West Africa’s Digital Economy for the Future”, will provide a platform for countries in the region to discuss issues that will strengthen the digital economies in West Africa and by extension the continent.

The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy said the conference will also create an avenue for peer review to accelerate digital transformation and increase collaboration to secure partnerships within the region to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem while intensifying regional public-private partnerships for digital economy funding, research, and development.

It is expected that the gathering will also provide an opportunity to showcase the progress made in the development of digital economy in the West African sub-region, identify winning strategies, discuss challenges, and prepare for the future in addition to creating awareness of the region’s needs in the areas of policies and framework for the digital economy and attracting private sponsors for digital transformation in the region.

The post Nigeria Hosts Regional Digital Economy Conference appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST: As of Friday, September 16th, 2022, the NIMC had registered 90 million Nigerians with national identification numbers, which is a stark contrast to the number of Nigerians with a bank verification number (BVN), just under 55 million people.

The post NIN: Nigeria’s Chance at True Financial Inclusion? appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami received in audience, a team from the World Bank on a working visit at the Communications and Digital Economy Complex, Abuja.

The team consisted of the Country Director, Shubham Chaudhuri, New Infrastructure Director for West Africa, Mr. Franz Drees, and two others.

READ ALSO: MTN Launches Commercial 5G In Lagos, 6 Other States To Follow

The discussion of the meeting was centered around Digital Identify, data Protection, cybersecurity, Broadband Infrastructure and Connectivity.

The team finally commend minister of communication and digital economy for his giant stride on digital Infrastructure for the success journey so far.

The post World Bank Team Commends Pantami For ICT Transformation In Nigeria  appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – There are strong indications that Nigeria may miss the World Bank’s target of 148 million enrollments for the National Identification Number (NIN) by June 1, 2024. This is even as the country has achieved 58% of the target as of July 7, 2022.

The target was set for Nigeria under the Bank’s Digital Identification for Development (DI4D) Project, which seeks to increase the number of persons enrolled for NIN from 36.89 million as of October 11, 2019, to 148 million by June 1, 2024. Parts of the DI4D targets also include enrolling 65 million women and girls as well as 50 million children under the age of 16 by that date.

With a commitment of $430 million from the Bank, the country has been able to grow the NIN database by 48.7 million in the last 3 years. This was achieved with several policies including mandating the NIN for students writing JAMB exams, mandating it for the issuance or renewal of International Passport and Driver’s Licence, and mandatory linking of the NIN to SIMs by all telecommunications subscribers.

READ ALSO: Trashpays:Transforming Waste into Economic Resource

Why Nigeria may miss the target

It is now a few weeks less than 2 years to the June 1, 2024 deadline, and going by the enrolment figure as of July 7, 2022, which stood at 85.59 million, according to data from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Nigeria has to enrol 62.4 million more Nigerians for the NIN between now and June 1, 2024.
Having achieved 48.7 million enrollments in the last 3 years with all the new policies, expansion of local enrolment centres, and creation of Diasporan enrolment centres, it may be difficult to achieve 62.4 million in less than two years.

In 2021, the database grew by 28.7 million, which brought the total enrolment figure to 72.7 million in December 2021 from 44 million recorded in December 2020. The massive increase was as a result of the NIN-SIM policy announced in December 2020.

So far this year, 12.89 million have been added to the database.

With the enforcement of the NIN-SIM linkage deadline and the blocking of unlinked SIMs in April, many affected telecom subscribers had since enrolled for the NIN to unblock their SIMs.
Most of the enrolment centres now have fewer visitors for NIN registration on a daily basis.

What you should know

The DI4D project is being financed through an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$115 million and co-financing of US$100 million from the French Agency for Development and US$215 million from the European Investment Bank.

According to the World Bank, which facilitated the loans and monitored the project, as of September 30, 2020, IDA had released its $115 million commitment.
The World Bank in a review of the project in March this year had described the overall implementation progress as ‘unsatisfactory’. According to the ‘Implementation Status Report’, in terms of the Overall Implementation Progress of the project, the country regressed from ‘moderately satisfactory’ in its previous review to ‘moderately unsatisfactory’ in the latest review.

In terms of the progress towards the achievement of the project’s objectives, the country also slid from ‘Satisfactory’ to ‘Moderately Satisfactory’. The bank, however, put the Overall Risk Rating of the project at ‘Moderate’.

Source: Nairametric 

The post NIN: Why Nigeria may miss World Bank’s 148 million National Identification Number enrolment target appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – The Industry Summit, formerly The Industry Evening Summit is organised by The Industry Newspaper and the event is scheduled to hold at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja Lagos on April 26, 2022, according to a statement by the organisers.

This year’s event which is third in its series is themed: “Financial inclusion, digital payment and the challenges of banking the unbanked”. The event is expected to be chaired by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the special guest of honour is the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel.

In the statement made available to newsmen recently in Lagos, the convener of the Summit/Awards, and the Editor-in-chief of the Industry Newspapers, Goddie Ofose disclosed that, “the event is envisioned to bring together leaders of thoughts in Nigerian business landscape in order to rev up conversations that would deepen financial inclusion and proffer solution to the challenges of banking the unbanked.

READ ALSO: Pantami, Emefiele Woo French Investors, Flaunts Nigeria as largest economy in Africa

He pointed out that, “in a quest to extend financial services to the unbanked, particularly those in remote and rural regions, it is critical that we engender conversation about the viability of agents. Agents are retail storefront operators representing financial services providers with the delivery of financial services.”

The year panel is consist of Chioma Afe, Group Head, Retail Marketing & Analytic, Access Bank Plc; Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing & Corporate Communications Officer, Interswitch Nigeria; Chuma Ezirim, Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, FirstBank; Kenny Joda, CEO, FibreOne; Bola Atta, Group Director for Communication, UBA Plc; David Okeme, Divisional Head Payment Solutions & Vertical Market Systemspecs; Olugbenga Agboola, CEO Flutterwave; Oti Ukubeyinje, Senior Vice President, Products and Product Marketing, Terragon; Babs Ogundeyi, CEO Kuda Microfinance Bank.

The Moderator for the session is Alhaji Mojeed Jamiu, Seasoned financial journalist/publisher of Upshot Reports.

Also, the Awards ceremony will witness conferment of awards on great personalities such as Biodun Shobanjo as Doyen of Advertising in Africa, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State as the Governor, six first ladies from each geopolitical zone with best PET projects, among others.

The post Emefiele, Malize, others for Digital Payment Solution Summit appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – Chief executives of Nigerian banks claim that the country’s banks have been impacted by a tech talent exodus.

According to a voice recording shared by the central bank, Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of Sterling Bank, told reporters at the end of a meeting of bank CEOs on Thursday, “so many of our very experienced talents, especially in the area of software engineering, are either leaving the industry or leaving the country.” He described it as a “major resignation.”

READ ALSO: World Bank suspends Nigerian tech company for bribery

The discussion took place as conventional lenders in Africa’s largest economy compete for talent with digital companies that are receiving more investment from international investors and providing better working conditions both inside and outside the country.

Last year, Africa-focused businesses raised a record $5 billion, with digital and mobile payments and lending receiving the majority of the funds. There have been two economic downturns this year.

The post Top Tech Talent’s Resignations, Harm Nigerian Banks appeared first on Tech Digest News.