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NCC alerts on Latest Trick by Hackers to unlock, steal Vehicles

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted telecom consumers and members of the public on an ongoing cyber-vulnerability which allows a nearby hacker to unlock vehicles, start their engines wirelessly and make away with them.

The NCC’s Director of Public Affairs (DPA), Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Adinde quoted the latest advisory released by the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) established by the NCC, as saying:

“The fact that car remotes were categorised as short-range devices that make use of Radio Frequency (RF) to lock and unlock cars informed the need to alert Nigerians on this emergent danger.

“The vulnerability is a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack or, more specifically, a replay attack in which an attacker intercepts the RF signals normally sent from a remote key fob to the car.

“It manipulates these signals and re-sends them later to unlock the car at will.

“With this latest type of cyber-attack, it is also possible to manipulate the captured commands and re-transmit them to achieve a different outcome altogether.

“Multiple researchers disclosed a vulnerability, which is said to be used by a nearby attacker to unlock some Honda and Acura car models and start their engines wirelessly.

“The attack consists of a threat actor capturing the RF signals sent from your key fob to the car and resending these signals to take control of your car’s remote keyless entry system,” the advisory stated.

He, however, said that the NCC-CSIRT, in the advisory, had offered some precautionary measures or solutions that could be adopted by car owners to prevent falling victim.

According to the cyber-alert unit of the commission, when affected, the only mitigation is to reset your key fob at the dealership.

“Besides, the affected car manufacturer may provide a security mechanism that will generate fresh codes for each authentication request, this makes it difficult for an attacker to ‘replay’ the codes thereafter.

“Additionally, vulnerable car users should store their key fobs in signal-blocking ’Faraday pouches’ when not in use.”

He advised car owners in these categories to choose Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) as opposed to Remote Keyless Entry (RKE), which would make it harder for an attacker to read the signal due to the fact that criminals would need to be at close range to carry out their nefarious acts.

He explained that the PKE is an automotive security system that operates automatically when the user is in proximity to the vehicle, unlocking the door on approach or when the door handle is pulled.

He also said that the user locks it when walking away or touches the car on exit.

He added that the RKE system, on the other hand, represents the standard solution for conveniently locking and unlocking a vehicle’s doors and luggage compartment by remote control.

In a related advisory, he said that the NCC, based on another detection by CSIRT, wishes to inform the general public about the resurgence of Joker Trojan-Infected Android Apps on Google Play Store.

“This arose due to the activities of criminals who intentionally download legitimate apps from the Play Store, modify them by embedding the Trojan malware and then uploading the app back to the Play Store with a new name.

“The malicious payload is only activated once the apps goes live on the Play Store, which enables the apps to scale through Google’s strict evaluation process.

“Once installed, the apps request for permissions that once granted, enable the apps to have access to critical functions such as text messages and notifications.

“As a consequence, a compromised device will subscribe unwitting users to premium services, billing them for services that do not exist. A device like this can also be used to commit Short Messaging Service (SMS) fraud while the owner is unaware,” he said.

Adinde said that the app could click on online ads automatically and even use SMS One-Time Password (OTPs) to secretly approve payments without checking bank statements.

He said that the user would be unaware that he or she had subscribed to an online service.

He further said that other actions, such as stealing text messages, contacts, and other device data, were also possible.

He cautioned that to avoid falling victim to this manipulation, Android users should avoid downloading unnecessary apps or installing apps from unofficial sources.

According to him, the NCC also advises telecom consumers to ensure that apps installed from the Google Play Store are heavily scrutinised by reading reviews, assessing the developers, perusing the terms of use and only granting the necessary permissions.

“The commission recommends that unauthorised transactions be checked against any installed app.

“Indeed, any apps not in use should be deleted while users are also advised to ensure that a device is always patched and updated to the latest software,” he said. (NAN) 

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Bandits Invade Niger Local Market,  Village  Head, 20 Others Killed

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From Dan Amasingha,  Minna

After relative  peace since the start of the Ramadan fast,daredevil Bandits  invaded a Niger local market and killed the Village head and 20 traders in Madaka, Rijau local government areas of Niger State.Rijau Local Government which borders  neighbouring Kebbi State, has experienced consistent banditry attacks in the past one year.

Eye witnesses inform our Correspondent that the suspected bandits riding on motorcycles stormed the market  on Thursday  afternoon  around 3.
30- 4pm  when activities at the market  were  at its peak.According  to the source,  the invading  bandits who shot sporadically  into the air to scare away traders later started ransacking big time traders by carting away food stuffs  and Cash.
Villagers who had the pandemonium at the market square fled into nearby bushes to take cover and the Village head who attempted  to find out  what was happening was shot dead at close range.”At the end of the confusion, we discovered that twenty one persons  including our Village  head were wasted,The Source  maintained that, the bandits before leaving  later set about 50 houses  including commercial shops on fire, and a  number of cars and motorcycles were burnt down during the incident.”After  killing innocent victims and burning down the market they also went away with an unspecified number of the villagers to an unidentified destination”Confirming  the incident,  Madaka District Head, Alhaji Isah Bawale  said  it was a black Thursday evening in a telephone interview on Friday morning.He further recounted that the Community  had come under similar attack some times ago when his predecessor  was killed without any resistance from security agencies.When contacted, Niger State Command of Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP Wasiu Abiodun assured to verify and get back but he couldn’t revert at the time of filing in the report.Meanwhile, the Niger state government, especially the commissioner for security, General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (retired) is yet to speak on the incident.

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Women Are Nation Builders, Bayelsa NAWOJ

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From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa

The Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Bayelsa State chapter has described women as society builders hence they should be empowered to harness their potentials for nation building.

Chairperson of NAWOJ Bayelsa, Mrs Grace Orumieyefa handed down this during a one day program to commemorate the 2024 International Women Day held at the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Press Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Mrs Orumieyefa noted that NAWOJ has over the years been at the forefront of advocacy for women rights as the empowerment of women brings empowerment for everyone around her which makes a better society.

Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer, Eunice Nnachi Women Advocacy Foundation, ENWAF, Lady Eunice Nnachi urged women to take advantage of technological advancement to improve their learning and training in order to empower themselves.

“You can learn almost anything using the internet, through YouTube, women should use this medium to learn many things and train themselves.”

While responding to questions, she said, women should not be desperate to get life partners but should ensure that they have partners who can help them to achieve their dreams.

The Keynote Speaker, Mrs Ebi Kakandar who delivered a lecture on “Harnessing the Prospects and Potentials of Women” called on women to shun all forms of laziness, be determined and courageous to pursue their life ambitions.

Mrs Kakandar pointed out that factors such as building a growth mindset, improving your emotional mindset, developing willpower, cultivating strong social support, aspiring for greatness and setting achievable goals are some of the keys to achieving success as a woman.

She encouraged women to seek more knowledge and inspire themselves to be self-reliant.

Various organizations such as NUJ, FIDA, NLC, MWAN, Starzz Initiative, DO Foundation, POWA and other women organizations as well as NGOS delivered Goodwill messages for women advising to aspire for higher achievement.

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Students Loan: FG Explains Delay in Take-off, Sets New Date

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The Federal Government has set the month of March for a definite opening of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund) portal for eligible students.

Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, Execute Secretary NELFund, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja urged eligible students to register to access the fund.

President Bola Tinubu on June 12, 2023, signed the Access to Higher Education Bill into law to enable indigent student access interest-free loan to pursue their education in any Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The scheme was slated to commence between September and October 2023, but because of unforeseen circumstances, there was a revised timeline to January.

Giving reasons for the delay in starting the scheme as earlier scheduled, Sawyerr explained that the process is technically driven and necessary measures needed to be put in place for proper execution.

“The take-off date is this month (March) and the reason for the delay is that we are trying to get it right.

“This is not a political programme where we say, oh! we are just going to do it, it doesn’t  matter how it works.

“This is a programme that will, probably run beyond me as a human being, not even as a Secretary. This is something that we want to run adequately, so we have to get it right,’’ he said.

Sawyerr, reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to ensure that lack of finance should not be a reason for any student in Nigeria to halt education at a tertiary level.

According to him, the scheme was designed for indigent Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and applications would be done online.

“We have decided that, all applicants should be able to access this scheme regardless of where they are, who they are and who they know.

“We want this to be a process that is fair to all and we will advertise the portal widely so that applicants will be able to go to the website to fill series of forms and answer certain questions.

“Base on the data they input and their answers to the questions, the system will be able to determine appropriately, whether they are eligible to apply or not,’’ Sawyerr explained. (NAN)

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