Skip to main content

Oando Acquires Oil Block In Angola

Oando Plc  Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  Oando Plc  says it has completed and won the bid for the operatorship of oil block KON 13 in Angola. The firm which recently acquired Eni of Italy’s oil assets in Nigeria, said that the award of the oil block located in Angola’s onshore Kwanza Basin followed a competitive bidding process by the country’s oil and gas sector regulator. It further said hat the asset in which it owns 45 per cent participating interest, has estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil. Oando is handling its operations relating to the asset through its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER). “Oando Plc,  Africa’s leading indigenous energy solutions provider listed on both the Nigerian Exchange Limited and Johannesburg Stock Exchange is pleased to announce that its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER), has been awarded operatorship of Block KON 13 in Angola’s Onshore Kwanza Basin, following a...

Nigeria, 11 others in Africa lose $11m to hackers




By  Favour Ajibade


Nigeria and 11 other African countries have lost millions of dollars to a hacking group based in an unknown french speaking African country, a Singapore-based cyber security firm Group IB and Orange CERT, the IT security arm of French telecommunications company Orange have revealed in a report. 

 In the  report Nigeria and 11 other African countries lost millions of dollars to a hacking group based in an unknown French-speaking African country.

According to the report, the threat actor, which mainly targeted Francophone Africa was codenamed OPERA1ER and relied solely on known off-the-shelf tools.

The report said the threat actor managed to launch over 30 successful attacks against banks, financial services providers, and telecommunication companies between 2018 and 2022, stealing $11 million in the process.

The actual amount of damage could be up to five times higher than the amount stolen. “According to our calculations, the total amount of damage ranges from $30 million to $50 million. 

However, this could be even more,” Rustam Mirkasymov, head of cyber threat research at Group-IB’s European Threat Intelligence & Research Center in Amsterdam tells Quartz.

Affected countries are Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda. Those outside Africa are Argentina, Bangladesh, and Paraguay. Most victims were attacked twice, and “their infrastructure was then used to attack other organizations.”

OPERA1ER, which also goes by the names DESKTOP-group and Common Raven traces its roots back to 2016 when it registered its first domain.

It conducts cyber-attacks over the weekends or during public holidays because according to Mirkasymov, “it is much more difficult to stop fraudulent transactions or stop an attack on these days. Even if someone detects an attempt to withdraw money, during the weekend it is not easy to stop them and get the money back.”

The report says that OPERA1ER is a seasoned threat actor and once it noticed it was being traced, it deleted its accounts and changed its trails to cover its activity last year. But it resurfaced this year.

Mirkasymov explains: “It correlates with the fact that they spend from three to 12 months from the initial access to money theft. The exact number of the gang members is unknown.”

Tactics

But contrary to modern attackers who use sophisticated software and technology such as deep learning to clone fingerprints and steal passwords, OPERA1ER uses off-the-shelf open-source programs, malware freely available on the dark web, and popular red teaming frameworks, such as Metasploit and Cobalt Strike. Red teaming is a cybersecurity technique used to test how an organization would respond to a real cyberattack.

“In at least two incidents in different banks, the attackers deployed Metasploit servers inside compromised infrastructure. Because the gang relies solely on public tools, they have to think outside the box: in one incident, it used an antivirus update server deployed in the infrastructure as a pivoting point,” the report explains.

But it starts its attacks with a very familiar tactic—high-quality spear phishing emails targeting specific employees within an organization with most of its messages written in French, “ranging from fake notifications from government tax offices to hiring offers from the Central Bank of West African States.”

Under the guise of legitimate email document attachment, OPERA1ER distributes Remote Access Trojans, such as Netwire, bitrat, venomRAT, AgentTesla, Remcos, Neutrino, BlackNET, Venom RAT, as well as password sniffers and dumpers, the report says.

Once it gains access the hacking group uses the information in further targeted phishing but takes time to study internal documentation to better prepare for the cashing out stage.

In one case, the study shows, a network of more than 400 subscriber accounts controlled by money mules hired by OPERA1ER was used to enable the cashing out of the stolen funds, mostly done overnight via ATMs.

In at least in two bank cases, OPERA1ER managed to get access to the global SWIFT messaging interface software (presumably Alliance Access) running on the banks’ computers. Though SWIFT was not compromised in the process, “the attackers were able to break into the systems inside the banks where this software was installed.” In 2018, hackers stole $6 million in an attack on the SWIFT system.

In the recent past Africa has 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Manufacturers Are Key To Nigeria's Economic Growth

By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) says revitalisation of the manufacturing sector is key to the growth of the econnmy.  The group expressed this at a pre-summit webinar ahead of the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit, focusing on the theme:“Reversing the Decline: Strategies for Stabilising Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sector.” The event brought key stakeholders together to discuss on how to prevent decline in the manufacturing industry, by examining how current economic reforms impact the sector’s operations. Speaking,Dr. Muda Yusuf, Thematic Lead of the Manufacturing Group, Mr Musa Yusuf, who  represented Engr. Mansur Ahmed, Private Sector Co-Chair of the Manufacturing and Mining Policy Commission (MMPC) Steering Committee, highlighted the significant role of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria’s development. According to him,despite its potential, the manufacturing sector faces numerous challenges such as inadequate in...

NNPC destroys 134 Illegal Refineries Recently

A destroyed refinery  By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks.  Also, the company said  63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks .  The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge.  According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation.  It further s...

Transcorp Appoints Christopher EzeafulukweAs Non-Executive Director

Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  Transcorp Power Plc has strengthed its board with the appointment of Christopher Ezeafulukwe as a Non-Executive Director. This marked a significant change to its Board of Directors. The appointment, approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the company. Ezeafulukwe, a highly accomplished professional, has over 20 years of executive management experience across multiple sectors, including power, oil and gas, financial services, legal services, and corporate governance. His current role as Managing Director/CEO of Transcorp Energy Limited demonstrates his expertise in the energy sector. Prior to his current position, Ezeafulukwe held leadership roles at Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc and Transcorp Power Limited (now Transcorp Power Plc). He also served as Executive Director, Legal and Business Development, at Transnational Corporation Plc, showcasing his versatilit...