The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned Nigerians about the activities of an Iranian hacking group that specifically targets African telecoms space and ministries of foreign affairs.
Known as Lyceum (Hexane, Siamesekitten, or Spirlin) the group is reportedly targeting telecoms, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Africa with upgraded malware in a recent politically motivated attacks oriented in cyber espionage.
In a notice to the public on Monday, NCC said details on the cyber-attack was released in an advisory issued by the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT). The advisory rated the probability and damage level of the new malware as high, NCC said.
“So, once a victim’s system is compromised, the attackers conduct surveillance on specific targets,” said NCC.
Reports said individual accounts at companies targeted by the group are used as a springboard to launch spear-phishing attacks against high-profile executives in an organization.
NCC advised Nigerians to create multiple layers of security, and asked telcos and ISPs to constantly monitor the network to prevent potential attacks.
