E-Business
From Farming to Forex: How Technology Has Changed the Face of Investing
By Nikola Grozdanovic, Senior Writer at FXTM
Not too long ago, when an individual wanted to save or invest money, they were limited to a handful of options. In the early days of our ancestors, farming and land underpinned wealth and a bank account was considered a luxury.
Even after industrialization took hold, we were still fairly limited; with most individuals opting to invest in a bank account, property or even in a box under the bed.
Information around investing was scant and financial education required a huge commitment of time and resources. If we wanted financial advice we had to rely on advisors (if we could afford them), community members, or go it alone.
Nikola Grozdanovic, Senior Writer for FXTM, a global award-winning forex broker, explores how our options have become significantly broader in terms of the types of products we can invest in and the way we do it.
We can now participate in anything from Forex trading to buying Crypto Currencies with our mobile devices or a laptop.
Technology has allowed people to get completely involved with the process of investing, from choosing a portfolio of shares to becoming a forex trader.
However, we are still a long way from a world where everyone can participate in the formal financial arena.
According to Worldbank.org, two billion people worldwide do not have a bank account or access to a financial institution via a mobile phone, or any other device.
However, between 2011 and 2014, 700 million adults became account holders, and the unbanked population fell by 20%, down from 2.5 billion.
The growth of mobile technology, and the fact that mobile phones are becoming cheaper, has helped literally billions to have access to products and services that they were previously excluded from.
Technology has influenced almost every aspect of our lives, but perhaps the most useful of the developments are in the financial space. We not only have access to many more investment options, we even have robots that can make decisions for us, fondly known as Robo- Advisors. They are not actually robots but clever computer programmes that ask you about your life, income and investment attitudes – and based on your answers, they will generate a report that suggests suitable investment options for you. Lukman Otunuga, a Market Analyst at FXTM says “When trading the foreign exchange market, investors can use Expert Advisor which are programs that allow automation of the analysis and trading. Forex brokers have recognised that novice traders have the desire to trade, but lack experience.”
An Expert Advisor (EA) is essentially an automated trading algorithm that allows traders to code the parameters of their trading strategies.
These highly complex but simple-to-use tools assist traders to refine their trading strategies and gain a greater potential advantage over the markets. Traders that have opted to use EAs have honed their skills over time and eventually become strategy managers, allowing suitable traders alike to copy their trades for a fee.
Copy trading as it is called, is a form of social investing. It allows traders to build a network of followers in which they would share market projections to create trading strategies. Followers can duplicate trades made, while onlookers could receive first-hand insights into how trading strategies are formed.
This creates a hybrid scenario for an investor – using both technology and another human to help them invest. There has been a long-standing debate about whether humans or machines are better suited for making investment decisions or delivering a service.
However, the key argument here is not who delivers a better service but rather, how the service deals with human behaviour. Human behaviour is random, but by employing big data analytics and algorithms we can spot trends and discard the noise that can undermine decisions.
The real power of technology will come when it is seen not only as a mechanism for enabling access to services, but when it facilitates a positive user experience and drives meaningful engagement with the vendor. In other words, the technology enables a more social and human experience.
Nigeria has a rich history of social investing. Collective investment schemes known as eSUSU are known to almost all individuals who want to save for a goal. Over 70% of people in emerging markets do not have a formal bank account, so they have devised their own ways to save money.
The most popular are the Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs). They function by taking monthly deposits from each member of a group and then payout the entire amount to one member of the group. The recipient of the collective sum is based on a predetermined rotation, ensuring each participant will eventually receive a payout.
It is estimated that over 40 million people in Nigeria participate in some form of social investing. Of course, when there are humans involved with money there is always a margin for error; blind trust that the people handling your money will play by the rules is a default – a condition of participation.
Banks have seen the enormous potential of getting these informal savings plans onto a technology platform and have invested significant capital to achieve this.
While technology has changed the face of investing and allowed more people to engage in the formal financial sector, we are still a long way from full inclusion.
Accessibility and knowledge still remain a major obstacle for the bulk of emerging market individuals. Institutions fully recognise that optimising the technology experience is key to seamless service delivery and the much-desired total customer experience. This explains the huge investment in IT infrastructure by financial institutions in recent times.
Otunuga says “all financial service industries have raised their games in the technology space. FXTM has spent a lot of resources on their mobile trading apps and we invest heavily in keeping up to date with innovations in the industry. Reliable, fast and engaging technology is what keeps our clients coming back and we are acutely aware of the role it plays in our success as a broker.”
We will continue to see rapid growth in financial technology, but it would and should not come at the expense of the individual. In fact, the smart money will be on solutions that seamlessly embrace and involve the user for the benefit of both parties. It is an exciting time for both the consumer and the service provider, and it would seem that the only barriers we now face, exist within the limits of our creativity.
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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