E-Business
Cisco Empowers Women in ICT through Internal Employee Resource Group
Cisco Systems, worldwide leader in networking solutions has continually recognized the need for more female participation in the high-technology industry. The Networking giant has programs and resources to help women develop their skills as individual contributors, managers, and executives, including an internal employee resource group dedicated to the development of women, this group are called the Cisco Connected Women (CCW).
Over the last ten years the CCW at Cisco, has grown to over 38 chapters, offering more than 4000 global members opportunities for development, networking and generating new business. CCW contributes to a strategic effort to enhance Cisco’s success in attracting, developing and retaining talented female employees.
Cisco Systems Nigeria also participates in the CCW, allowing female Cisco employees to meet and discuss their involvement in the ICT industry and how the participation of women is on the positive rise.
Speaking about CCW Nigeria, Olakunle Oloruntimehin, Country Manager Cisco Nigeria, said: “CCW Nigeria has over 15 employees as its members, which accounts for 50% of employees in the Nigerian office. The CCW Nigeria activities are strategically executed by core team of volunteers lead by the CCW leads, with the guidance of executive sponsors and thought leaders. The volunteers develop programs in line with the Cisco’s business guidelines, employee network directions and needs as per the local culture.
As a high technology company which believes in the power of the ‘human network’, Cisco recognizes the importance of a very diverse work force and the value of employee mobility. In line with its inclusive organizational culture, Cisco has a number of employee networks to support the development, and growth opportunities of staff. The Cisco Sales Associates Program (CSAP) is one of such opportunities. It is the most highly coveted early-in-career development programs designed specifically for top university graduates from around the world who aspire to become the next generation of sales leaders at Cisco.
This year long program provides world class, hands-on educational and experiential training that will prepare Associate Sales Representatives (ASR) and Associate Systems Engineers (ASE) to become successful Account Managers and System Engineers in the Cisco Sales Organization.
The CSAP allows Cisco employees the chance to travel work in Cisco Amsterdam office allowing them to garner knowledge and different perspectives. In Nigeria, Cisco CSAP aims to empower men and women alike helping them realize their value in the ICT industry.
Tolulope Ogundipe a female Cisco employee expressed her views on the CSAP program she stated that it provided her with tremendous growth experience that stretched her skills and abilities over the elastic limit. The entire experience for me has been exhilarating. Having and working with colleagues from over 12 different nationalities and forming life time friendships is priceless and I am grateful for the opportunity. Aside this, During their time in Amsterdam Cisco employees participated in trainings and workshops and Nigerian Cisco female employees got a chance to be a part of the Cisco Connected Women’s Amsterdam and the girls in ICT, which trains and educates girls of the roles and potential career paths present in Cisco Systems and the ICT industry as a whole.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.
Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.
“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.
Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.
“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin
The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.
Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.
“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin
Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.
To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.
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