IT-CRUISERS: Everything IT

The Importance of "Human Firewalls"

2025-12-21T01:55:00.005+01:00

In computer networking and cybersecurity, a firewall is a security system that typically establishes a barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted network, such as the Internet, thereby preventing unwanted malicious traffic. It allows or blocks traffic based on a defined set of security rules, and it is usually the first line of defence.

In today’s cyberspace characterised by advancements in Artificial Intelligence and increasing cyber threats, humans have become an important component in the security equation and not just the technologies — the firewalls!

The concept of a "Human Firewall"

Human firewalls simply refer to individuals or employees of an organization who have relevant knowledge and consciousness regarding cyber safety and are consistently building the culture of cybersecurity in both work and personal digital life. These are people within an organisation who follow cyber security best practices and report any data breaches or suspicious online activity that may bypass your standard security systems, thereby helping to keep the organisation and its assets secure.

Why Human Firewalls?

No matter how sophisticated the security implementations and technologies are, the weak link has always been traced to be the end users of technology. End user computing devices which get compromised through spear phishing attacks is frequently cited as the initial step of advanced persistent threats, often leading to data breaches.

With recent statistics indicating that 95% of cybersecurity breaches are attributed to human error, it has become pertinent that organizations and individuals ensure that necessary awareness and controls are put in place — the human firewalls with adequate awareness and training of cybersecurity risks and how to stay ahead of the bad actors.

When “Backups” Becomes Target of Cyber Attacks

2025-12-21T01:48:00.002+01:00

Maintaining reliable and secure backups of data and systems is one of the most important functions of any organisational IT team, which also forms a critical component of an organisational IT disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Having reliable backups helps to ensure that a business can quickly recover and continue to operate in the event of any sort of disaster such as failure of active systems, cyber attack, human error or even natural disasters.

On an individual level, people make effort to backup their personal data in case of loss of a device and to be able to regain access to their important personal data. This is achieved by simply restoring data from backups on a new device which is usually a seamless process and gets the user up and running, eliminating the pain of loosing important data.

The question is what happens when these valuable “backup vaults” become the target for cybercriminals? Why do cybercriminals target backup systems/data, how can organisations and businesses stay ahead of the game? I have seen this trend in recent years and it does not seem to be going away soon, rather it is likely to get more widespread and sophisticated.

Why do Cybercriminals target “Backups”?

The answer is simple — this is because backups helps businesses to keep going in the event of a disaster such as a ransomware cyber-attack or even natural disasters that may take live systems/data offline. In their ruthless manner, cybercriminals target these critical backups as they consider it a way to bring organizations down to their knees and to increase likelihood of a ransom payment as data recovery becomes difficult for the victims.

Also, cybercriminals have over time observed that more attention is given to production systems in terms of adequate security controls, while the backups are somewhat given lesser attention. They have discovered that sufficient security controls are implemented on live systems and data while the backups do not receive similar treatment but are left more vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.

Incidents of Cyber Attacks on Backup Systems

Veeam Backup Infrastructure Attacks (Ongoing 2025): Veeam is widely used by organisations and businesses around the world as a cloud backup service for their IT infrastructure and data such as servers, databases and credentials. Recently, their systems have been identified as being actively targeted by cybercriminals who are attempting to harvest credentials

Spectra Logic (Dec 2025): Spectra-Logic which is a major force in backup solutions was targeted in a cyberattack, indicating direct attacks on backup infrastructures.

Askul (Oct 2025): A major Japanese retailer is still bouncing back after a cyberattack that disrupted its business, likely caused by ransomware hitting backup systems.

LastPass Data Breach (2022): One of the most recent incidents is the data breach involving one of the prominent tech companies that offers “password manager” service known as LastPass — as cybercriminals gained unauthorised access to its backup database. LastPass has a consumer user base of over 20 million and 100,000 businesses relying on its services — with such userbase, one would imagine it probably must be a target for cyber attacks!

The hacker was able to extract the contents of the backup database, which contained personal information of 1.6 million LastPass customers, including names, emails, phone numbers, and stored website URLs. However, no evidence that encrypted passwords and other credentials was decrypted by the hacker due to LastPass’s zero-knowledge encryption system.

The Way Forward

Organisations need to understand that the security of backup systems is as critical as that of primary production systems, and such should be treated equally — by applying technical and non-technical controls to both systems in active use and the backups.

The following are best practice recommended for organisations to consider

- Enable enhanced security measures such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) especially for backup systems and third party vendor remote access.

- Third-party vulnerabilities are a common attack vector, so it is important to perform frequent vendor risk assessments.

- Test backup and disaster recovery plans regularly to ensure data can be restored effectively.

In summary, cybersecurity is everyone’s business! And the bottom line is that security isn’t just tech, but also more about staff awareness and building a culture of digital security mindset.

Cybersecurity “Vishing” Attacks — All You Need to Know

2025-12-21T01:42:00.003+01:00

The spate of cyber attacks has significantly remained on the increase, and there are no signs of it slowing down — not with the continued reliance of individuals, small businesses, educational institutions, and of course governments around the world on Cyberspace.

This reliance has made cyberspace to generate a vast and unending pool of sensitive data and information which are of very high value, hence making it a gold mine and prime target for cyber criminals to exploit.

If we examine this from the perspective of information technology versus the humans who generate, process and store/transmit the information, we can try to determine which aspect is the most vulnerable to the tactics and techniques of the cyber “Bad Actors’’. Over time it has been determined that the weak-link in the chain is the “end-user” side. To a considerable extent, the Information Technology security side has matured over the years and is constantly being developed. Several reports have attributed a very high percentage of cyber attacks to human error. According to thrivedx, 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error which apparently were preventable.

What is Vishing?

Now, one of the ways this end-user cyber attack occurs is through a tactic called “Vishing” — which is simply a social engineering attack that occurs over a telephone call, whereby the caller attempts to use psychological manipulations to trick users into divulging personal/organizational sensitive information.

Phishing is a more common term which involves hackers sending enticing or compelling emails sometimes claiming to be a known organizational users, but with malicious attachments in form of documents and pictures. Vishing is simply the voice version of phishing!

What is the Primary Purpose of “Vishing” Attacks?

The ultimate aim of a vishing attacks is to steal valuable information such as login details, Personal Identification Numbers (PIN), and bank account details which is usually targeted at gaining access to the victim’s bank accounts.

How to Recognize Vishing

Vishing attacks comes through phone calls either on personal mobile or organizational phone systems. The main red flag to look out for is when the caller presents a frantic sense of urgency, which sometimes sounds like a threat. Sometimes the call may not come from a human at the other end, but an automated call with instructions to key in information via the telephone keypads.

Also, it is worth noting that the callers are usually experts in their field or self-acclaimed experts, and attempt to use the right professional terms in their communication. They could masquerade as IT technicians, financial advisers, bankers, or even medical personnel.

Emails and/or text messages do usually get sent to the recipient as follow-up to the vishing calls, with malicious links that can lead to compromised websites designed to harvest sensitive information like passwords and credit card details. Also, the attackers do call with different numbers, thereby making it difficult to get them blocked.

Vishing Attacks Statistics

According to statista, “In the second quarter of 2023, the volume of vishing attacks worldwide saw a 10 percent increase since the previous quarter. This change was more significant in the two preceding quarters when a 40 percent increase was detected”.

Precautions Against Vishing Attacks

i. Avoid getting swayed by the sense of urgency presented by the call requesting for sensitive information

ii. Endeavor to keep the communication going and try to gather and write down some information about the caller, which can be useful for cyber incident management investigations.

iii. In the case of automated calls, kindly drop the call and do not attempt to press the keypads to provide any information like PIN and banking card details.

iv. Report suspected vishing incidents to your organizational IT or on relevant government platforms.

The Importance of Cybersecurity Health Check for Small Businesses

2024-03-10T00:10:00.001+01:00

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), small businesses have become the engine of economic growth and social development across all countries, accounting for a staggering 70% of employment worldwide.

Obviously, these small businesses rely heavily on the internet and other online platforms and resources, which form integral components and enabling tools for their transactions. This has become even more prevalent since the pandemic period. Regarding online safety, it is estimated that over 40% of these small businesses have experienced a cyber attack. The type of cyber attacks that are more commonly aimed at small businesses include Social Engineering attacks like Email Phishing and telephone phishing otherwise known as "vishing"

There are a few factors that make small businesses to be vulnerable to attacks. Cyber criminals assume that small businesses have weaker security measures in places, making them easier to crack than the larger enterprises. Also, they have smaller budgets which means they are not financially prepared for an attack, and most do not have cyber insurance. Poor or non-existent employee cyber awareness education/training is another huge factor, considering the fact that 95% of cybersecurity breaches are attributed to human error.

What is Cybersecurity Health Check?

The Cybersecurity Health Check is aimed to help small businesses understand and minimize their cybersecurity risk by systematically identifying the weaknesses and strengths of their cybersecurity policies and implementations. It provides a checklist showing areas where they are doing well and where they can improve in order to mitigate risks. It can include vulnerability scans of the organizational local or cloud infrastructure and systems.

A cyber health check also offer the advantage of helping the small business to establish and proof compliance with regulatory information security requirements such as the ISO 27001.

What activities are involved in Cybersecurity Health Check?

Conducting vulnerability assessment on IT assets - internal IT infrastructure, cloud platforms and end-user devices
Document identified risks and understand remediation actions needed
Determine level of preparedness and response to possible cyber attacks
Determine the level of staff cyber awareness
Provide a snapshot of the current cybersecurity posture

Outcome/Benefits of Cybersecurity Health Check?

The outcome of a cybersecurity health check is a detailed report describing current risk status and vulnerabilities/exposures - with reference to best practice frameworks such as the ISO 27001, NIST controls, CIS 20 Critical Controls, Cyber Essentials, etc. and of course some recommendations for reducing the identified cyber and compliance risks effectively and in line with business objectives. Other benefits include:

The small business can focus more on innovation and growth
Financial losses due to data theft or ransomware are drastically minimized or eliminated
New business opportunities can be secured such as government contracts because of compliance to regulations.

The First Cloud Datacenter Launches in Africa - January 2022

2022-08-04T13:20:00.000+01:00

It was a remarkable day for the future of cloud technology in Africa as Oracle launched the first cloud region (Cloud Data center) on African soil - In Johannesburg South Africa. This means users of cloud services especially within Africa can now be able to choose a location closer to them for hosting of their cloud resources and applications. Also regulatory requirements would be met such as the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).

What is a cloud region/Data center?

It is the actual, real-life geographic location where your public cloud resources are located, where your data resides physically.

Some think of the cloud to be a hypothetical or intangible storage in the sky, but it is indeed a physical robust IT infrastructure consisting of server machines and high-speed network connectivity designed to provide secured access to a large number of users or subscribers.

Currently, Oracle has about 39 cloud regions around the world. Google boasts of 29 regions, Amazon AWS 26 regions, while Microsoft Azure has over 60 regions.

What are the advantages of having a cloud region within your location?

The answer is simple - faster access to hosted resources! Regions allow you to locate your cloud resources close to your customers, the closer your customers are to the region where your cloud resources are located, the faster and better their experience will be. There is less lag as data is transmitted over a relatively short distance.

Also, users are provided with better applications performance as a result of the improved network access performance. Timely and reliable technical support is another big advantage as businesses are located in same time zone as their and probably same language support as their cloud providers.

Lastly, safety of data and compliance to regulatory requirements of not hosting data outside country/regional boundaries is one of the major advantages of having a cloud infrastructure within.

According to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4% in 2022 to total $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021. This clearly shows cloud technology is for today and for the future!

What Caused Global Downtime of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram

2021-10-05T13:28:00.004+01:00

The World's most popular Social Media platforms - Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger went down for over 6 hours on October 4th 2021. These super Social Media platforms are owned by one company - Facebook and run on same infrastructure. Reports has it that this 6 hour long outage saw $7 billion wiped from Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth as users flocked to alternative platforms.

Image Source: https://see.news/users-report-issues-with-facebook-instagram-whats-app/

I observed the downtime here in Nigeria from around 16:55 GMT+1 when I could neither send or receive messages on WhatApp. Also I observed my Facebook news feed was not getting refreshed with new content. At first I thought the problem was with my mobile telecom data service, but realized I could access other websites on the internet. On making further checks online I saw a report from an online real-time outage monitoring website DownDetector that Facebook was down! There were numerous reports as well that the site and related Social Media services were down across the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

WhatsApp and Instagram users reported they were getting a "5xx Server Error." Some Facebook users reported seeing an error message reading: "Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can."

What Actually Caused the Downtime?

This massive outage was caused by network configuration changes on their routers. As stated by Facebook - "This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt”

So what exactly is this network configuration changes on their routers? It is called Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing which eventually led to Domain Name System (DNS) problems. There were no working Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes into Facebook's sites and services, making them unreachable across the internet! As a network administrator, I can explain a little more.

What Is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)?

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) refers to a gateway protocol that enables the internet to exchange routing information between autonomous systems (AS). As networks interact with each other, they need a way to communicate. This is accomplished through peering, BGP makes peering possible.

What is Domain Name System (DNS)

The Domain Name System (DNS) is like the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain names (e.g. www.facebook.com), while Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (e.g. 102.132.101.35). DNS does the job of translating these human readable domain names to their corresponding machine readable IP addresses so browsers can load and display Internet resources and contents. See my previous post on Web Server and Browser Interaction.

Thumbs up to the network administrators at Facebook for being able to eventually resolve the network configuration issues and ensure restoration of service!

Thank you for reading and kindly share!

Nigeria Central Bank Set To Launch Digital Naira Currency (eNaira)

2021-08-26T12:27:00.000+01:00

The Nigeria Apex bank - the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced plans to launch a digital currency called eNaira or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by October 1, 2021. The digital currency will be operated on the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain which is an open source project that serves as a foundation for developing blockchain-based products, solutions and applications. It uses plug-and-play components that are aimed for use within private enterprises.

Is CBDC similar to popular Cyrptos Such as Bitcoin?

The answer is no, they are different in many ways:

CBN can approve or override CBDC transactions since it is in control of the infrastructure, it a direct liability of the central bank and serves as the issuing authority. In contrast, crypto is private money with no central authority.

The CBDC will be backed by law to become a legal tender, whereas the cryptos are not legal tender.

Unlike cryptos that operate via blockchain networks in a decentralized way, a CBDC is a state-issued and controlled digital asset.

How Can the CBDC Be Used?

The CBN document explained that the eNaira CBDC would be distributed to financial institutions and licensed service providers who will in turn make them available to individuals and businesses.

Transactions with CBDCs can either be online or offline. Individuals and businesses will be able to transfer value in real-time via existing and future payment channels (e.g. mobile). The CBD will continue to monitor and maintain CBDC.

Will the eNaira Grow in Value like Bitcoin?

The eNaira will not grow like the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the reason is because the value will be pegged to the value of the Naira notes so the value remains some. It will function same way the Naira does, it is only a digital version of the Naira notes.

Will the eNaira be connected with existing bank accounts?

No, the eNaira will be created independently of bank accounts, the wallets will be created by financial institutions that will create customer identification through an application product interface (API).

How to Link NIN to Your MTN, Glo, 9Mobile and Airtel Lines

2021-03-31T12:00:00.002+01:00

Following recent policy on integration of mobile lines with the National Identity Number (NIN), the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered all Nigerians to link their National Identity Number (NIN) to their respective SIM cards or face termination of service from network providers.

Image from https://nimc.gov.ng/

Consequently, the major network providers in Nigeria (MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9mobile) has released easy and quick steps for subscribers to link their National Identity Number (NIN) to their mobile numbers, ranging from simple USSD codes to SMS and use of web portals.

How Can I Retrieve My NIN?

Simply dial *346# to retrieve your NIN number regardless of how long ago you did the registration with NIMC.

I Do Not Have NIN, How Can I Register?

Kindly walk into the any of the listed NIN enrollment centers closest to you – as listed on NIMC website https://nimc.gov.ng/nimc-enrolment-centres/

How to Link Your NIN to Your MTN Line

image from https://www.mtnonline.com/

There are three options available to do so.

1. USSD Code: Dial *785*Your NIN# from the phone number you wish to link.

2. Mobile App: Launch the MyMTNApp on your phone and follow the instructions accordingly.

3. Website: Kindly visit https://nin.mtnonline.com/ and follow the instructions accordingly.

How to Link Your NIN to Your Glo Line

image from https://www.gloworld.com/

There are two options available to do so.

1. SMS: Simply send “UPDATENIN NIN FirstName and LastName” to 109 from the phone number you wish to link.

2. Website: Kindly visit https://gloworld.com/ng/nin and follow the instructions accordingly.

How to Link Your NIN to Your 9Mobile Line

image from http://www.9mobile.com.ng

There are two options available to do so.

1. USSD Code: Dial *200*8# from the phone number you wish to link.

2. Website: Kindly visit http://www.9mobile.com.ng/nin and follow the instructions accordingly.

How to Link Your NIN to Your Airtel Line

image from https://www.airtel.com.ng

There are two options available to do so.

1. USSD Code: Dial *121*1# from the phone number you wish to link.

2. Website: Kindly visit https://www.airtel.com.ng/nin/ and follow the instructions accordingly.

I hope you find this information quite helpful. Kindly share with others.

Stay safe!

Importance of Digital Skills

2021-03-16T10:40:00.001+01:00

Digital Skills are no longer only for graduates of IT, Computer science and relates courses. In today's world if you do not have any form of digital skill you'll be left at a permanent disadvantage in the near future!

School vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com

Virtually every job or task today is either fully done with computers and software applications or aided by it. Therefore, employers are looking for persons with one form of digital skill or the other. Even smaller businesses out there make use of some form of digital platforms for their trading.

Examples of Digital Skills

Few years it was all about being computer literate, that is the basics of digital skills. But today, in addition to being computer literate you will need some digital skills to be relevant like the following:

1. Social media marketing skills ( E.g. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter marketing)

2. Digital marketing skills (E.g. Email marketing)

3. Digital content creation (Graphic - video editing, photo editing, etc.)

4. Website design/development

5. Proficient use of productivity tools like Word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications. Common examples include Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Other advanced digital skills include

1. UI/UX Design: This is the art of making sure that apps, websites, and other digital channels are intuitive and enjoyable to use.

2. Data science/analytics

3. Artificial intelligence

4. Blockchain technology

5. Internet of things

6. Cloud services

I hope you find this useful and motivational enough to work towards self development and alignment with today's digital world.

WhatsApp - How to Enable Two-Step Verification

2021-02-01T12:57:00.006+01:00

Once again I bring to you online security tips; this time it is about the popularly used mobile messaging app - WhatsApp.

Two-step verification ensures safety of the application and prevents intruders from taking over your account. Here are the steps to enable the two-step verification.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp Settings.

Step 2: Tap Account > Two-step verification.

Step 3: Tap Enable.

Step 4: Enter a six-digit PIN of your choice and confirm it.

Step 5: Provide an email address you can access (Recommended)

Step 6: Confirm the email address and tap Save or Done.

You should see the final page as show below

With this you have successfully enabled two-step verification on your WhatsApp account. Remember to keep your six-digit PIN safe and never disclose to anyone.

Hackers can come by way of social engineering and trick you to release sensitive information like the six-digit PIN, beware of such.

Thank you for reading and I hope you find this quite helpful.

Stay safe!

Your Old Phone Number Could Be Someone's New Number

2019-07-10T14:04:00.004+01:00

You may have lost your mobile device, and for some reason could not retrieve your old phone number. It is important to note that after a long period of time you service provider could reassign the number to someone else, therefore there is need to update your online contact details accordingly.

What this means is you need to ensure your old mobile number is no longer linked to any of your online accounts and platforms. You can achieve this by updating your personal and contact information on all online platforms where you may have registered the old number, such as your bank accounts, Google account, Apple account, etc. For bank accounts kindly contact the customer service via phone call, visit their verified website or walk into nearby branch to update your details with your new number.

Failure to effect these contact updates could lead to issues such as inability to receive One Time Password (OTP) notifications, SMS alerts and so on. These notifications would be received by the new owner of your old mobile line, which potentially puts you in danger of being hacked.

WHATSAPP: HOW TO BACKUP CHATS & MEDIA ON GOOGLE DRIVE

2018-08-28T09:33:00.002+01:00

With Google Drive cloud storage service you can backup WhatsApp media which includes chats, photos, videos, audio and documents. It is goodbye to data loss! The importance of performing this backup is if you change or lose your device you can always retrieve all your previous media files with ease.

Google has recently announced a new agreement with WhatsApp regarding backup of WhatsApp chats and media on Google Drive which will allow users have extra storage different from their normal Google Drive storage quota. The announcement reads; "Due to a new agreement between WhatsApp and Google, WhatsApp backups will no longer count against Google Drive storage quota. However, any WhatsApp backups that have not been updated in more than a year will automatically be removed from storage. This policy will go into effect for all users on November 12, 2018 though some users may see the quota benefits earlier. To avoid the loss of any backups, we recommend that people manually back up WhatsApp before November 12, 2018"

What this means is users are expected to ensure their whatsApp backup is functional. Now let's demonstrate how to ensure an Android device is backing up WhatsApp chats and media on Google Drive.

Step 1:
Open WhatsApp.
Tap Menu > Settings > Chats > Chat backup.

Step 2:
>Tap Back up to Google Drive and select a backup frequency other than Never.

>Select a Google account that you'll back up your chat history to. If you don't have a Google account, tap Add account when prompted and enter your login credentials.
>Tap Back up over to choose the network you wish to use for backup. Please note that backing up over a cellular data network might result in additional data charges.

You can also manually back up your chats to Google Drive at any time:
Tap Menu > Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
Tap BACK UP to begin your Google Drive backup. This process might take a few minutes.

When this is done, your WhatsApp backup is now functional and will run in the background accordingly based on the frequency chosen in step 2 above.

Google To Provide Free Wi-Fi For Nigerians

2018-07-30T15:47:00.001+01:00

In one of my previous blog posts INTERNET PENETRATION - Nigeria Top Three in Global Online Search, a research conducted by Google ranked Nigeria among the top three countries of the world that spend quality time online in search of various goods and service.

The latest development is Google has announced Nigeria to be the first on the African continent to receive Google's free public Wi-Fi service via the Google Station initiative - a program to provide high quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in Nigeria. Google Station initiative is already live in five countries globally and will connect millions of users via 200 Wi-Fi hotspots spread across five cities in Nigeria within one year.

The Internet connectivity will ride on a partner Fiber Optic infrastructure to provide Wi-Fi hotspots at public places such as colleges, shopping malls, markets and bus stations in over 200 locations in five cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE MAP TO FIND PLACES AROUND YOU

2018-05-09T16:12:00.000+01:00

Google Map is a simple but powerful tool. You can use it to locate places around you such as Cinemas, Restaurants, Hospitals, etc., find detailed directions from one part of town to another or from one city to another, as well as estimate distances and travel times.
Here's how to find particular locations and discover places of interest.

STEP 1: Open the Google Maps app on your mobile device or visit https://maps.google.com on your internet browser. Once opened it should load the map of your current location. If not, you will be prompted to enable location service on your device, tap ok to enable and continue.

STEP 2: Type in the name of the location you wish to search for in the search bar, for instance Port-Harcourt. You can use Google's voice input to speak the name of the location instead of typing it. The map of the location you searched will be displayed.

STEP 3: You can then search for places within the location by using relevant keywords. e.g. cinema.

STEP 4: You can as well search for specific places with their names or something related, you will surely get some suggestions when you type or speak. E.g. Port Harcourt Please Park

STEP 5: Tap on "More Info" to see details of the place which include address, phone contacts, pictures, business hours and much more.

In the next blog post I will guide on how to navigate from one place to another with the help of Google Map.

CONTROL HOW TWITTER SHARES YOUR INFO WITH BUSINESS PARTNERS

2018-05-01T01:33:00.000+01:00

Following recent Facebook data privacy issues, Twitter has taken proactive steps by notifying users of their current privacy settings, acknowledging the fact that current default settings allows them to share certain users' private information with business partners. Users are encouraged to turn off the sharing if not desired.

This blog post will guide you through the steps to check and adjust these settings to prevent your data from being shared by Twitter.

Step 1: From your Twitter mobile app main menu, go To "Settings and privacy"

Step 2: Go to "Privacy and safety"

Step 3: Go to "Personalization and data"

Step 4: Uncheck "Share your data with Twitter's business partners"

Step 5: If you decide to disable all settings related to personal data, simply toggle the button at top right corner.

If logged on via web browser simply go to Profile and settings > Privacy and Security > Personalization and data

I hope you find this post useful as we all strive for online safety!

HOW TO STOP FACEBOOK APPS FROM SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

2018-04-24T15:43:00.000+01:00

Few weeks ago a data privacy scandal was in the news which involved Facebook and a political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. User information of over 87 million Facebook users where either exposed by Facebook to the consulting firm or the firm "inappropriately" obtained the data, beginning from year 2014. Following this incident Facebook has come up with some security settings that can help users evaluate third party apps already connected to their accounts.

There are several third party apps on Facebook which by way of design accesses user information and can possibly share such information illegally. Therefore Facebook has released a statement advising users to review these settings and see exactly the apps currently connected to users accounts from the time the user joined Facebook till date.

The statement reads "We understand the importance of keeping your data safe, and we are making it easier for you to control the which apps you share information with. You can go to Apps and websites section of your settings at any time to see the apps and websites you've logged in to using Facebook. You can also remove the ones you don't want to have connected to Facebook anymore."

Here is a step by step guide on checking and adjusting these settings accordingly when logged in to your Facebook account either from a Web Browser or Mobile App. From time to time you would see a pop-up message like the image below if you haven't adjusted the settings yet.

To view and adjust the settings when logged on via Facebook App;
Step1: Go to Settings > Account Settings

Step2: Go to Apps

Step3: You will see the categories under Apps and websites as shown below, choose accordingly;

Step 4: Choose Edit under "Logged in with Facebook" you'll see three tabs - Active, Expired and Removed. Click each tab tab see the apps and review accordingly. To remove any simply choose and remove.

Step 5: Go back to Step 3 and choose Edit under "Apps, Websites and Games" read through displayed info and make a decision either to turn of or close.

NB: If logged in via Web Browser, simply Go to Settings > Apps and websites.

I hope you find this blog post useful as per keeping your Facebook account and personal information safe and secured.

INTERNET PENETRATION - Nigeria Top Three in Global Online Search

2018-02-09T13:50:00.000+01:00

Over the years Internet penetration has greatly improved across the developing countries of the world especially Nigeria which now has over 92 million internet users. Finding information online has become a common practice as people comfortably search for information using web search engines, especially Google and get relevant search results that answers their questions and further provides them insight to related articles, events, photos, news and even map locations. Thanks to Google Map Local Guides like myself who diligently contribute to improve the map by sharing knowledge of the local environment.

The mobile internet revolution has made it possible for people even in the rural areas to have access to internet on their mobile devices. During my University days, precisely in the year 2008, I carried out a questionnaire research on the topic: "How Effectively Do You Utilize Your Mobile Phones For Internet Access", the responses were amazing as people were already exploring and taking advantage of the mobile data service that was available as at then which was only GPRS, they looked forward to improved internet speed and better browser experience on mobile devices close to what is obtainable on the computers. Ten years down the line there has been tremendous improvements and we now have 4G LTE fast internet access, even though the cost is still generally on the high side and more telecom infrastructure needs to be put in place to get more areas covered.

I am not surprised that Nigeria has just been ranked top three in global online search by Google! The culture has been there over the years, today e-commerce has gained grounds, local mobile Apps are being developed, and of course Social Media has been a catalyst to it all! A recent research conducted by Google has showed a rapid increase in online search among Nigerians. The research study which ranked Nigeria among the top three countries of the world that spend quality time online in search of various goods and services, disclosed that Nigerians’ passion to go online is highest among Africa countries, surpassing South Africa and Kenya, and among top three countries globally.

2018-01-05T16:43:00.002+01:00

20 WORST PASSWORDS OF YEAR 2017

Just like the keys to your houses or cars, do you know your “online keys” are even more important? These online keys are simply your passwords and passphrases used to login to your personal or workplace accounts such as computer logons, online portals, internet banking platforms as well as the social media platforms.

Image from Pixabay

So how conscious are you concerning your passwords and how strong they are? Year 2017 witnessed a lot of online hack cases across the world, yet people still use passwords like '123456', “password”, “abcde”, and so on.

According to a research carried out by SplashData; They examined more than 5 million passwords that were leaked in 2017. Taking the top two spots for the fourth consecutive year are the old standbys, "123456" and "password." A number of variations of each, such as "123456789" and "passw0rd" also made the list.

Here are the top 20 worst passwords of 2017:

1. 123456

2. password

3. 12345678

4. qwerty

5. 12345

6. 123456789

7. letmein

8. 1234567

9. football

10. iloveyou

11. admin

12. welcome

13. monkey

14. login

15. abc123

16. starwars

17. 123123

18. dragon

19. passw0rd

20. master

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

It’s simple, pay closer attention to what you use to formulate your passwords. if your password is found on the above list, you should change it immediately! Recommended approach is using phrases of 8 characters or more, with mixed types of characters including upper and lower cases. Users should also create different passwords for each login.

Here are four simple password rules that can be used;

1. Must be up to 8 characters

1. Must contain both upper case and lower-case letters

2. Must contain at least 1 digit, and

3. Must contain at least 1 special character (e.g. #@%!)

Wishing everyone a secured year 2018 ahead!

ONE BILLION YAHOO ACCOUNTS HACKED

2016-12-16T12:50:00.000+01:00

Got home last night and tuned to CNN and here is the headline I saw "ONE BILLION YAHOO ACCOUNTS HACKED" I had to look closely to see if that was "M" as in Million but its actually "B" as in Billion! Mehn... That's huge, had to quickly snap my TV screen with my phone!
ONE BILLION YAHOO ACCOUNTS HACKED

Anyways here are some tips for every yahoo mail user;

1. First, if you get an email saying your Yahoo account may have been hacked and to click this link to re-secure your account, it's bogus. 

Yahoo's official, "you're screwed" emails have the subject line: "Important Security Information for Yahoo Users", anything else is just a phishing scam.

2. you must change your Yahoo account password on Yahoo services such as Yahoo Mail or Flickr. To do this, go to your Yahoo account page. Once there, go to Account 

Info and click on Account security. Then, on that page, choose Change password. While you're at it, you should turn on two-step verification

3. If you, as many people do, use the same password for multiple accounts, stop that. You're just asking to be hacked. If someone breaks into any of your accounts, lazy hackers can try your most common user name or email with that known password on multiple systems. To be safe, you must use a unique password for every site. Sure it may be difficult to remember all the unique password, then use a password manager such as LastPass, Google Smart Lock, 1Password, or RoboForm. They'll make your online life much more secure and easier.

Finally... be your own online security guard by doing little things like using strong passwords and avoid using your names as passwords which is the most common and daily mistake I have observed in the course of my IT career so far.

Social Network Data Centers - What They Look Like

2016-10-06T09:06:00.004+01:00

Have you ever wondered where all the information you post on Facebook over the years is hosted? I know someone is thinking of cloud storage! Yes but funny enough the cloud is not an imaginary entity somewhere in the higher altitudes of the cloudy atmosphere.

It is actually a physical location somewhere, which might be the next building at your workplace a remote location, usually referred to as a Data Center which hosts tens to hundreds of server machines and corresponding sophisticated computer networking and storage infrastructure.

Now here is one of Facebook's Data Centers, about the size of 7 football fields. Located somewhere in Sweden. The location was chosen because of the advantage of low environmental temperature averaging -30C and plentiful power from nearby hydro electric dam.

One of Facebook's Data Center

UBUNTU LINUX MOBILE PHONES ON THE WAY

2013-02-07T10:47:00.002+01:00

Ubuntu Linux Mobile Phones On The Way

The ever powerful and user-friendly Ubuntu Linux Distro Operating System is to storm the mobile Smart Phone arena, with the official launch of the Mobile Operating System recently, and developers already working on a variety of apps.

So for Ubuntu folks like myself, it only gets better and better as open source technologies keep making the IT life more interesting, even towards the mobile platform! Cant wait to have one right in my palms! :)

250,000 HACKED USER ACCOUNTS: TWITTER TO INTRODUCE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

2013-02-05T09:06:00.004+01:00

250,000 HACKED USER ACCOUNTS: TWITTER TO INTRODUCE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

Following the recent attack on twitter over the weekend which resulted in compromise
of over 250,000 users accounts, twitter is on the look-out for a competent software
engineer to implement additional security layer for user logins to the social media cum micro-blogging website.

Two-factor (multi-factor) authentication is a way of adding additional layer of security in addition
to the regular username and password combination, usually in the form of additional random
token generated by a hardware or software, or even a message received via SMS which is valid for a short period of time and cannot be chosen by the user or a potential hacker.

It has become obvious that multi-factor authentication is the way to go in handling the simple but ever important authentication question of "who are you" we encounter on on web login forms every now and then!

MOBILE NETWORK PORTABILITY (MNP) COMING SOON IN NIGERIA

2012-07-31T18:01:00.002+01:00

What is Mobile Network Portability (MNP)?

Mobile Number Portability allows mobile telephone users to migrate from one service provider to another and still retain their telephone numbers. It provides a platform whereby a subscriber on any of the existing GSM and some of the CDMA networks can switch from one service provider to another and still retain their phone numbers. For instance, with your current MTN line you can decide to migrate to ETISALAT or vice-versa, and still retain your "stable and popular" phone number.

How MNP Works

For instance, subscriber A whose original service provider is network P, might wish to change or port to network Q. This can be achieved by subscriber A sending a porting request to network Q, network Q sees the request coming from a user on network P and then contacts them accordingly to setup the process of exchange and transference of subscriber details, this is the most common and it is known as "Recipient-led" porting.
Once a number is ported, calls and messages (sms & mms) destined for that number are routed through the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers. Every network operator makes a copy of the CDB and queries it to find out which network to send a call to, this is also known as All Call Querry (ACQ).

Consumer Benefits of MNP

Network users would no longer be landlocked in one network operator's world even when quality services are not enjoyed.

Subscribers should therefore anticipate an era of freedom and even “petting” by their respective telecom operators, as they would be looking for ways to ensure their customers do not decamp to their competitor operators, maybe as a result of perceived poor Quality of Service (QoS) or the like. This “petting” is going to come in the form of freebies like free airtime, free internet data bundles and so on.

MNP has already been implemented in most countries of the world including India and Ghana.

WEB SERVER AND BROWSER INTERACTION

2011-08-26T14:15:00.000+01:00

At one time or the other, you may have used or heard such expressions as “Downloading file from server”, “server is slow”, “Authentication required for server access”, and so on. These are everyday expressions used in the present Information Age. Now let us take a closer look at what a server really is, with emphasis on the type of server that makes it possible for access to the Information Superhighway – the Internet, known as Web Servers, as well as what actually happens when an internet user tries to access a website via a Web Browser by sending a (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) HTTP request to the web server.

WHAT IS A SERVER?

A server is basically a computer program that serves some sort of content to a client using a specified protocol. The term server also refers to the computer or virtual machine running the server program, which in fact is the most common use and understanding of the term. Today, most enterprise organisations with computer network infrastructure do host their servers internally, running services such as Web, Mail, Directory service (e.g. Microsoft Active Directory), Domain Name Resolution (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), File services and so on.

WEB SERVER

A Web Server is a computer program that serves content (web pages) to clients, using a common protocol known as the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). In order to have access to a web server to view contents of a website, a client software known as Web Browser is used.

WEB BROWSER

Client application software used to communicate with a web server in order to display the contents of a website, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). There are several browsers such as the popular and open source Mozilla Firefox browser (my favourite browser), Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc.

HOW THE WEB SERVER INTERACTS WITH THE WEB BROWSER

When an internet user types a website address, otherwise known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL), e.g. www.it-cruisers.blogspot.com on the browser address bar, an “HTTP request” is constructed and forwarded to the appropriate destination server, which responds accordingly via an “HTTP response”. This response is then formatted by the browser and presented in a user-friendly view, which could be the website homepage. Below is a graphical illustration;

Web Server/Browser interaction

A SIMPLE HTTP (WEB) REQUEST FROM A WEB BROWSER TO A WEB SERVER

The general format for an HTTP request sent from a web browser to a web server is as shown;

GET: /path/file.html

HOST: www.xyz.com

Example:

GET: /ossy.tony/notifications

HOST: www.facebook.com

COMMON WEB SERVER STATUS CODES/ERROR MESSAGES

Certain useful messages are generated in the form of status codes by web browsers/servers in the course of their interaction. Here are the most commonly encountered status codes and their meanings;

Ø 404 – “Not Found”

Ø 400 – “Bad Request”

Ø 503 – “Service Unavailable”

Ø 502 – “Bad Gateway”

Since the World Wide Web (WWW) has become the most widely used resource on the internet, and gaining popularity by the day even in this era of social networking, the importance of familiarity with web server/browser interaction cannot be over-emphasized.

Sharing A USB Modem Internet Connection With Other PCs Using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), Without A Switch/Router

2011-02-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

Yes you can share that USB modem internet connection on one PC with other PCs over an ad-hoc wireless network, even without a switch or wireless router. This is made possible with Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), a network service/feature of all windows-based systems. The sharing can also be done just between two PCs connected using an Ethernet cross-over cable.

How Do I Share My USB Modem Internet Connection With Other PCs Without A Switch/Router, Over My Ad-hoc WLAN?

Steps:

1. 1. Connect the USB modem (e.g. MTN 3G USB modem) to the host computer.

2. Enable ICS on the USB modem connection properties and select the network type through which you desire to share (e.g. Wireless Local Area Network connection)

3. Select the services you would want to run by clicking Settings. The basic services you need in order to access the internet are DHCP, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS.

4. Once this is done, your wireless card is assigned a static IP address. So before commencing the ICS setup, ensure the card is on DHCP so as to obtain the static IP address to be assigned. The static IP could be something like 192.168.137.1

5 Now its time to hook up other PCs to experience the sharing work! Note that ICS has to be enabled also on all PCs intending to access the internet via the host PC. Since we’re using WLAN in this case, enable ICS on the WLAN card properties and select relevant services as done earlier on the host PC (DHCP, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS)

6. At this point, you are good to go! To test, first check the IP details on the host and network PCs using the “IPCONFIG /ALL” command on windows command prompt. Example is shown below of one of the network PCs. It can access the internet since a website (e.g. www.google.com.ng) can be reached and responds when the PING command is used!

Go ahead and try it out, it works...!