E-Business
32m Attacks Thwarted on World Password Day
Passwords serve as the foundation of our digital lives, but they also serve as the gateway for cybercriminals to hack into sensitive personal information. Considering their essential function, passwords remain a prime target for increasingly sophisticated cybercriminal attacks.
Therefore, taking proactive measures to safeguard accounts and personal information is imperative.
To mark World Password Day on May 2nd – highlighting the essential role passwords play in protecting our lives online – Kaspersky experts are providing essential tips to enhance password security, ensuring that users data stays out of the hands of attackers.
Weak and simple passwords have always been an attractive target for scammers as cracking them gives criminals access to multiple types of data – personal data, financial information, medical records etc.
Kaspersky telemetry indicates more than 32 million attempts to attack users with password stealers took place in 2023, this followed more than 40 million incursions in 2022.
These alarming statistics highlight the need for users to create strong, unique and varied passwords for different accounts. This way they can mitigate the risks of cyber threats and maintain personal security online.
To enhance password security, Kaspersky experts recommend the following steps and practices:
The ‘association method’ helps create strong and memorable passwords
The association approach involves creating a password from a sequence of words or ideas that have personal significance but are not easily guessable by others. A password can be based on a favourite quote, a memorable song lyric, or a unique combination of objects. This technique generates strong passwords without requiring complex memorisation, helping to maintain security while reducing the risk of forgetting. For example, a phrase “I first visited Paris in 2008” could be transformed into a password “IfvPin2o:o8”.
Are regular passwords too boring? How about emoji?
If using the same password everywhere becomes too much and you lack the imagination to make up something new, emoji-passwords could be a non-standard and safe option. Since they are a part of the Unicode standard, it is potentially possible to use them as passwords.
One of the most significant pros is that scammers cannot brute-force emoji-passwords, since various tools and dictionaries can’t crack combinations like these. More detailed information on how to set up an emoji password and the necessary requirements is available here.
The most obvious option is not the safest one
Using common passwords or default values such as “1234”, “password” or “admin” could make personal data and accounts vulnerable to scammers, since they use automated tools to guess the correct combinations.
It may take several seconds to find the right answer and gain access to personal data. A strong and complicated password includes a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols, while avoiding personal information such as names or birthdays.
Additionally, there are online public free services that allow everyone check how strong their passwords are to mitigate possible risks.
Old, but gold: one account – one password
This practice ensures that if one account is compromised, others remain secure. By creating a unique password for each account, you minimise the damage a hacker can do if they manage to steal one.
This approach isolates security breaches and helps protect sensitive data. According to a global survey, the average user has approximately 8 accounts. Remembering even 2-3 long and complicated passwords (containing up to 15 symbols) could be impossible for the majority of users.
In this case it is both safe and useful to shift the responsibility of remembering all the passwords to a security solution, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.
E-Business
Cyber Resilience a Critical Priority for Manufacturing Amid Rapid Digitalization – Report Shows
As 60% of manufacturers race toward full digitalisation, cyber risk is increasingly manifesting as a business risk, according to a new global report by Kaspersky and VDC Strategy.
This means cybersecurity is not merely a compliance function, it is a cornerstone of production assurance, safeguarding uptime, quality, and operational continuity.
Manufacturers are modernising to deliver safer, more consistent and more cost-effective production and digitalization is moving fast: just 9% of organisations describe themselves as fully digital today, but 60% expect to get there within two years, according to the joint report by Kaspersky and VDC, titled ‘Cyber Resilience, Built for Manufacturing’.
That shift links shop-floor equipment, production lines and site operations to platforms such as Manufacturing execution systems (MES), Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and historians, turning many plants into cyber-physical systems (CPS), where a digital disruption doesn’t stay digital. It can slow production lines, quarantine work in progress, invalidate traceability records, or halt production outright.
What’s driving manufacturing digitalization?
Manufacturers are digitising for measurable operational gains, not novelty. Survey respondents identified the primary drivers of their digital transformation strategy as:
- Improving production output or efficiency (24%)
- Reducing operational or production expenses (15%)
- Enabling new strategic opportunities (14%)
- Improving cyber resilience (13%)
The same connected systems that unlock these gains, including MES, IIoT sensors, automated material handling, remote engineering access, also become the systems that determine whether production can be trusted to keep running.
Cyber risk is now a business risk
Cyber risk has evolved from a mere IT concern to a direct threat to revenue generation, as environments transform into cyber-physical systems. In these integrated settings, digital disruptions like malware no longer just affect data, they can cause unsafe operations, scrapped batches, and halted production on the plant floor. This shift highlights the urgent need to treat cybersecurity as a key part of operational resilience.
According to the report, nearly 60% of manufacturing organisations estimate that cyber incidents cause damages exceeding $1 million per event, with an average disruption of 15.3 hours. The most significant losses often result from production halts, missed delivery commitments, and penalties, rather than just forensic costs.
In this context, downtime links cybersecurity risks to overall business performance. Cyber incidents can reduce Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), strain staffing, and disrupt supply chains. Recovery involves more than system restore, it requires re-establishing confidence in process parameters, quality records, and traceability before resuming operations.
Mature cybersecurity programs now incorporate OT security into governance, focusing on metrics valued by production leaders such as time to restore, backup confidence, legacy asset coverage, and safe degraded operation. This alignment ensures cybersecurity supports continuous production and resilience, not just IT compliance.
However, challenges remain due to split ownership. While 59% of organisations’ IT departments manage security policies, these often overlook plant realities. Managing many security tools (44%) and OT patching issues (38%) show that cybersecurity must be embedded into daily routines of production, engineering, and quality teams. Only through such integration can cybersecurity effectively enhance operational reliability and defend against evolving threats.
“As manufacturing environments become increasingly interconnected, cybersecurity shifts focus from merely adding protective layers to ensuring the availability, resilience, and integrity of production processes. The goal is to minimise operational impact and speed up recovery, rather than solely preventing intrusions.
“Kaspersky offers a unified ecosystem that integrates IT, OT, and IIoT security, empowering manufacturers to pursue digital transformation securely. This strategy helps maintain operational continuity and reduces long-term cybersecurity costs,” comments Andrey Strelkov, Head of Industrial Cybersecurity Product Line at Kaspersky.
To implement this strategy, manufacturing companies can leverage solutions from the Kaspersky OT Cybersecurity Ecosystem, centered around Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity (KICS), a native Extended Detection and Response platform designed for critical infrastructure protection. KICS enables centralised detection and response to complex attacks across the entire industrial network, ensuring comprehensive visibility and security.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
Nigeria Not Making Progress in Fiscal Transparency –US
NCAA to Introduce RFID Technology to Tackle Missing Luggages
SEC Directs Operators to Subscribe to NigSac Alerts, Freeze Terrorists-Linked Funds
Davido Bets $1m in Hit-for-Hit Battle with Colleagues
GSMA Industry Services Unveils Circularity Services to Help Operators Reduce E-Waste and Unlock Value
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
Fact-Check: Elon Musk’s “Tesla Pi Phone” is Internet Rumor
NBC Tasks Broadcasting Stations over 2028 DSO Global Deadline
NBC Scraps Annual Digital Access Fee on DSO
Glo Sponsored African Voices to Feature Netflix’s “The Polygamist” Stars
News2 days agoMoove Achieves Unicorn Status With $250m Funding
Telecom2 days agoMTN Nigeria Clocks 25, Connects over 90m People
E-Financial2 days agoFG Suspends NAICOM’s N680m Insurance Recapitalisation Fees
Telecom2 days agoSubscribers to Seek Legal Redress if Poor Quality of Service Continue in September
E-Business2 days agoMicrosoft to Unveil Next-generation AI Chip in September
Broadcasting2 days agoAffordable, Flexible Streaming Platforms May Kill PAYtv – Report
E-Financial2 days agoSEC Moves to Recover Unclaimed Dividends, Inherited Investments Nationwide
Telecom2 days agoipNX Collaborates with ICT Stakeholders on the Future of Fibre-to-the-Home in Nigeria @ ATCON Forum