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NCC-CSIRT identifies two cyber vulnerabilities

Oyindamola Akanni
Oyindamola Akanni
NCC sets up committee to aid broadband infrastructure deployment
NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission’s Cyber Security Incident Response Team, NCC-CSIRT, has independently identified two cyber vulnerabilities and advised Nigerian telecom consumers on the measures to be taken to get protected from the cyber-attacks.

According to its Director, Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC said the CSIRT, in its first-ever security advisories less than three months after its creation, had solely identified the two cyber-attacks targeting the consumers and profferred solutions that could help telecom consumers from falling victims to the two cyber vulnerabilities.

He said the first was described as Juice Jacking, which could gain access into consumers’ devices when charging mobile phones at public charging stations and it applied to all mobile phones.

The other, he said, he said had to do with Facebook for Android Friend Acceptance Vulnerability, which targetted only Android Operating System.

He said according to CSIRT security Advisory 0001 released on January 26, 2022, with Juice Jacking, attackers had found a new way to gain unauthorised entry into unsuspecting mobile phone users devices when they charged their mobile phones at public charging stations.

Many public spaces, restaurants, malls and even in the public trains do offer complementary services to their customers in a bid to enhance customer services, one of which is providing charging ports or sockets.

He explained, however, that an attacker could leverage the courtesy to load a payload in the charging station or on the cables they would leave plugged in at the stations.

He explained: “Once unsuspecting persons plug their phones at the charging station or the cable left by the attacker, the payload is automatically downloaded on the victims’ phone. This payload then gives the attacker remote access to the mobile phone, allowing them to monitor data transmitted as text, or audio using the microphone. The attacker can even watch the victim in real time if the victims’ camera is not covered. The attacker is also given full access to the gallery and also to the phone’s Global Positioning System (GPS) location.”

He added:  “When an attacker gains access to a user’s Mobile phone, he gets remote access to the User’s phone which leads to breach in Confidentiality, Violation of Data Integrity and bypass of Authentication Mechanisms. Symptoms of attack may include sudden spike in battery consumption, device operating slower than usual, apps taking a long time to load, and when they load they crash frequently and cause abnormal data usage.”

Adinde said the NCC-CSIRT, however, proffered solutions to the attack to include ‘charging only USB cable’, to avoid Universal Serial Bus (USB) data connection; using one’s AC charging adaptor in public space; and not granting trust to portable devices prompt for USB data connection.

Other preventive measures against Juice Jacking include installing Antivirus and updating them to the latest definitions always; keeping mobile devices up to date with the latest patches; using one’s own power bank; keeping mobile phone off when charging in public places; as well as ensuring use of one’s own charger, if one must charge in public.

On the other hand, he said, the NCC-CSIRT Advisory 0001 of January 27, 2022, warned that Facebook for Android was vulnerable to a permission issue which gave privilege to anyone with physical access to the android device to accept friend requests without unlocking the phone.

The products affected include Versions 329.0.0.29.120 of Android OS.

With this, according to him, the attacker would be able to add the victim as a friend and collect personal information of the victim, such as Email, Date of Birth, Check-ins, Mobile phone number, Address, Pictures and other information that the victim might have shared, which would only be visible to his/her friends.

However, to be protected from the Facebook-associated vulnerability, NCC-CSIRT in the security advisory recommends to users to disable the feature from their device’s lock screen notification settings.

The NCC-CSIRT was inaugurated in October, 2021 to provide guidance and direction for the constituents in dealing with issues relating to the security of critical infrastructure in their possession, and periodically assess, review and collate the threat landscape, risks, and opportunities affecting the communications sector, in order to provide advice to relevant stakeholders in those regards.

As the telecoms-industry specific intervention, the objective of which aligns with the objective of the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy (NCPS) document published by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the NCC-CSIRT ensures continuous improvement of processes and communication frameworks to guarantee secure and collaborative exchange of timely information while responding to cyber threats within the sector.

In recent times, NCC-CSIRT has raised series of cyber-vulnerability awareness based on security advisories it receives from the Nigerian Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), which is the national body for the implementation of the NCPS objective.

However, Juice Jacking and Facebook for Android Friend Acceptance Vulnerabilities are the two first-ever cyber vulnerabilities published by the NCC-CSIRT.

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