Technology
Top 5 Tips for Reliable Smartphone Security
Nowadays, having access to data on the go is as ubiquitous as having access to water or a jacket. Yet despite the convenience of being able to log onto the Internet from your smartphone from nearly any location, there are certain risks regarding smartphone security that should concern everyone using a mobile device in public. Namely, free public Wi-Fi networks make us vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches.
According to TechRepublic, Android ransomware increased 137.8% from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2017. A benchmarking study of the cybersecurity practices of global companies offers insight into cyber threats. The study, called The Cybersecurity Imperative, was released by ESI ThoughtLab and WSJ Pro Cybersecurity and was sponsored by Security Industry Association (SIA), along with other partners. The study cites the following leading cyberthreats in 2018, which include malware, phishing, ransomware, viruses, and attacks from apps.
Wireless network hotspots, which are often provided by coffee shops, hotels, or airports, are significantly less secure than our private connection at home or in the office. Tech-savvy cybercriminals can easily hack into public networks and attempt to steal or even lock and extort confidential information for financial gain. One option to prevent cybertheft is to not use public Wi-Fi, however, it’s often hard to pass up. Therefore, in order to use hotspots safely, it pays to follow these simple tips to ensure you’re not an easy target for cybercriminals.
Use a Reliable Anti-Malware
Since we have already decided that it’s vital to have reliable cybersecurity protection on all our devices in order to detect, quarantine, delete and report any type of suspicious activity, it is important to continue applying this rule when we are on the go. According to cybersecurity leader Kaspersky, there were a more than 42.7 million mobile malware attacks in 2017 and malicious mobile software threats were found in more than 230 countries worldwide, making travelers especially vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Therefore, to ensure our smartphones are secure, having a reliable anti-malware is a no-brainer. The software performs routine scans of your smartphone or mobile device and updates itself with the latest security protection against cyber threats.
Always Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, ensures you can use the Internet safely because it disguises your online identity. Rather than browsing the Internet openly by using a coffee shop, restaurant or hotel’s free Wi-Fi network, use VPN software with encryption technology to safeguard your identity and ensure you are browsing anonymously. This will protect you from those who want to spy on what you’re doing online.
A reliable VPN for smartphone automatically changes your IP address to conceal your actual location. Fundamentally, a VPN makes your smartphone or mobile device as well as the information within it undetectable and therefore inaccessible to anyone who may be on the same Wi-Fi network as you. Not only will hackers not be able to pilfer your data, but they also won’t be able to infect your device with ransomware or other malware.
Be Careful Where You Connect
It is crucial to be sure you’re joining a secure Wi-Fi connection. Often, we connect simply by instinct. For example, if a network is called HotelFreeWiFi, we may innocently assume that it is the hotel’s network, yet it can often be a calculated “man-in-the-middle” attack employed by hackers to fool users into logging in in order to steal their information.
According to the Pew Research Center, 54% of internet users use public Wi-Fi networks, and many perform sensitive activities such as online shopping (21%) or online banking (20%) in public. Therefore, when logging in on the go, ensure your Wi-Fi network is secure and not a rogue network. Double check with the barista or receptionist to find out the actual name of the coffee shop or hotel Wi-Fi network.
Remain Alert On-The-Go
It is also important to be selective about what you’re looking at on your smartphone while in public. Using free Wi-Fi for reading the news or streaming music is one thing but be careful when you’re performing sensitive tasks like reading your email, banking, or online shopping. When performing these activities, you find a secured connection in an Internet browser that has a padlock or the letters HTTPS or SSL in the URL window, rather than HTTP.
Also, for added security, try to perform sensitive operations from your own personal hotspot by using your data plan for things like email, shopping or banking.
Additional Tips
It is also important to back-up your important information and other data at least once a week just in case you lose your smartphone, or your mobile device is stolen. A great solution is to use cloud services and local back-up, like a USB flash drive or external hard drive.
Also, use a strong password, which is at least 7 characters long, has a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and combines upper and lower cases. Experts say it can also be effective to use a passphrase, such as a line from your favorite song, like “royaltyinsidemydna,” from Kendrick Lamar’s DNA.
Additionally, when possible, choose a two-step verification that requires not just a password to log in, but also a one-time code that is sent to your smartphone in order to confirm it’s actually you using the device. If your smartphone is not set up to do this automatically, download the latest free software updates for the Windows or Mac operating system on your device.
Users should be concerned about smartphone security even if privacy isn’t a top priority for them. A VPN for smartphone or tablet, which unlike your home computer will be using public Wi-Fi access occasionally, either in a coffee shop, airport, or hotel, ensures your data is protected. Public hotspots are not particularly trustworthy, and those that don’t require a password are even more vulnerable to attack. A mobile VPN isn’t just smart, it’s vital.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Lagos State’s representative, Team Nevo, won the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) South-West Regional Hackathon, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.
The host state took the victory defeating pitches from other south west states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo States.
This regional hackathon was a major moment for the 3MTT Programme, bringing together young innovators from across the South-West to showcase practical solutions in AI, software development, cybersecurity, data analysis, and other key areas of Nigeria’s digital future.
Launched by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, the hackathon brought together talented young innovators from across the Southwest region to showcase their digital solutions in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning, software development, data analysis, and cybersecurity, among others.
“This event not only highlights the potential of youth in South West but also advances the digital economy, fosters innovation, and creates job opportunities for our young people,” said Mr Oluwaseyi Ayodele, the Lagos State Community Manager.
Winning the hackaton was Team Nevo, made up of Miss Lydia Solomon and Mr Teslim Sadiq, whose inclusive AI learning tool which tailors academic learning experiences to skill sets of students got the top nod, with N500,000 in prize money.
Team Oyo represented by Microbiz, an AI business tool solution, came in second place winning N300,000 while Team Ondo’s Fincoach, a tool that guides individuals and businesses in marking smarter financial decisions, came third with N200,000 in prize money.
Others include The Frontiers (Team Osun), Ecocycle (Team Ogun), and Mindbud (Team Ekiti).
Speaking to Business Post, the lead pitcher for Team Nevo, Miss Solomon, noted, “It was a very lovely experience and the opportunity and access that we got was one of a kind,” adding that, “Expect the ‘Nevolution’ as we call it, expect the transformation of the educational sector and how Nevo is going to bring inclusion and a deeper level of understanding and learning to schools all around Nigeria.”
Earlier, during his keynote speech, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, emphasised the need for Nigeria’s budding youth population to tap into the country’s best comparative advantage, drawing parallels with commodities and resources like cocoa, soyabeans, and uranium.
“Tech is our best bet to architect a comparative advantage. The work we are doing with technologies are very vital to levelling the playing field.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the high points of the 2025 re:Invent was the unveiling of Graviton5, the fifth generation of custom Arm-based server processors from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Many tech enthusiasts believe that the company pushed the limits with Graviton5, its most powerful and efficient CPU, frontier agents that can work autonomously for days, an expansion of the Amazon Nova model family, Trainium3 UltraServers, and AWS AI Factories suitable for implementing AI infrastructure in customers’ existing data centres.
Graviton5—the company’s most powerful and efficient CPU
As cloud workloads grow in complexity, organizations face a persistent challenge to deliver faster performance at lower costs and meet sustainability commitments without trade-offs.
AWS’ new Graviton5-based Amazon EC2 M9g delivers up to 25% higher performance than its previous generation, with 192 cores per chip and 5x larger cache.
For the third year in a row, more than half of new CPU capacity added to AWS is powered by Graviton, with 98 per cent of the top 1,000 EC2 customers—including Adobe, Airbnb, Epic Games, Formula 1, Pinterest, SAP, and Siemens—already benefiting from Graviton’s price performance advantages.
Expansion of Nova family of models and pioneers “open training” with Nova Forge
Amazon is expanding its Nova portfolio with four new models that deliver industry-leading price-performance across reasoning, multimodal processing, conversational AI, code generation, and agentic tasks. Nova Forge pioneers “open training,” giving organizations access to pre-trained model checkpoints and the ability to blend proprietary data with Amazon Nova-curated datasets.
Nova Act achieves breakthrough 90% reliability for browser-based UI automation workflows built by early customers. Companies like Reddit are using Nova Forge to replace multiple specialized models with a single solution, while Hertz accelerated development velocity by 5x with Nova Act.
Addition of 3 frontier agents, a new class of AI agents that work as an extension of your software development team
Frontier agents represent a step-change in what agents can do. They’re autonomous, scalable, and can work for hours or days without intervention. AWS announced three frontier agents—Kiro autonomous agent, AWS Security Agent, and AWS DevOps Agent. Kiro autonomous agent acts as a virtual developer for your team, AWS Security Agent is your own security consultant, and AWS DevOps Agent is your on-call operational team.
Companies, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, SmugMug, and Wester Governors University have used one or more of these agents to transform the software development lifecycle.
Unveiling Trainium3 UltraServers
As AI models grow in size and complexity, training cutting-edge models requires infrastructure investments that only a handful of organizations can afford.
Amazon EC2 Trn3 UltraServers, powered by AWS’s first 3nm AI chip, pack up to 144 Trainium3 chips into a single integrated system, delivering up to 4.4x more compute performance and 4x greater energy efficiency than Trainium2 UltraServers.
Customers achieve 3x higher throughput per chip while delivering 4x faster response times, reducing training times from months to weeks. Customers including Anthropic, Karakuri, Metagenomi, NetoAI, Ricoh, and Splash Music are reducing training and inference costs by up to 50 per cent with Trainium, while Decart is achieving 4x faster inference for real-time generative video at half the cost of GPUs, and Amazon Bedrock is already serving production workloads on Trainium3.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has issued an advisory on new vulnerabilities in ChatGPT that could expose users to data-leakage attacks.
According to the advisory, researchers discovered seven vulnerabilities affecting GPT-4o and GPT-5 models that allow attackers to manipulate ChatGPT through indirect prompt injection.
The agency explained that hidden instructions placed inside webpages, comments, or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) can trigger unintended commands during regular browsing, summarisation, or search actions.
“By embedding hidden instructions in webpages, comments, or crafted URLs, attackers can cause ChatGPT to execute unintended commands simply through normal browsing, summarization, or search actions,” they stated.
The warning followed rising concerns about AI-powered tools interacting with unsafe web content and the growing dependence on ChatGPT for business, research, and public-sector tasks.
NITDA added that some flaws allow the bypassing of safety controls by masking malicious content behind trusted domains.
Other weaknesses take advantage of markdown rendering bugs, enabling hidden instructions to pass undetected.
It explained that in severe cases, attackers can poison ChatGPT’s memory, forcing the system to retain malicious instructions that influence future conversations
They stated that while OpenAI has fixed parts of the issue, Large-Language Models (LLMs) still struggle to reliably separate genuine user intent from malicious data.
The Agency warned that these vulnerabilities could lead to a range of cybersecurity threats, including unauthorised actions carried out by the model; unintended exposure of user information; manipulated or misleading outputs; and long-term behavioural changes caused by memory poisoning, among others.
It advised Nigerians, businesses, and government institutions to adopt several precautionary steps to stay safe. These include limiting or disabling the browsing and summarisation of untrusted websites within enterprise environments and enabling features like browsing or memory only when necessary.
It also recommended regular updates to deployed GPT-4o and GPT-5 models to ensure known vulnerabilities are patched.
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