E-Business
IBM Unveils New Enterprise Intelligence Analytics to Fight Cybercrime as Losses Hit $445Bn
IBM has unboxed a new solution that provides deep analysis across hundreds of terabytes of disparate data to uncover hidden criminal activity in just seconds.
The solution unveiled at the ongoing IBM Insight 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA is a high-speed analysis and criminal investigation software that is designed to uncover hidden criminal threats buried deep inside massive volumes of disparate corporate data.
IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis (EIA) can find non-obvious relationships masked within hundreds of terabytes of data and trillions of objects in just seconds.
By fusing together these multiple data sources, organizations can gain complete visibility into threats across the enterprise, giving companies the ability to transform how they protect themselves from increasingly sophisticated attacks.
Organizations across industries face endless threats from cybercrime and other criminals in pursuit of private customer information, employee records, financial data and intellectual property.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates that cybercrime costs the global economy $445 billion each year.
But companies are overwhelmed with an increasing volume and diversity of data to protect, giving cybercriminals the ability to hide their covert activity for months after an attack.
The proliferation of connected devices and machines – from mobile phones to smart cars to remote oil rigs – only compounds the problem by opening new avenues for criminals to penetrate the enterprise.
Operating at high speeds and massive scale, i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis accelerates the data-to-decision process by uncovering new insights into criminal threats against the enterprise that intelligence and security analysts might otherwise not have realized for days, weeks or months later. EIA analyzes huge amounts of disparate data to discover weak-signal relationships that reveal the true nature and source of an attack.
The solution unravels these hidden connections that can be divided by as many as six degrees of separation between disparate sources – from corporate records and social media chatter to data accessed by remote sensors and third-party applications.
As developments unfold, EIA provides always-on recommendations that proactively alert analysts to new related abnormalities at the speed of attack.
For example, consider a national retailer that hasn’t yet realized hundreds of its customers’ credit card account numbers have been stolen and sold on the black market.
Any illegal transactions can be easily lost in the noise of typical day-to-day activity – such as a transaction denial, a billing dispute or multiple purchases at the same store.
But when connected together, EIA can immediately spot commonalities that reveal the specific store branches that were breached.
This insight allows the retailer to take action before millions of accounts are compromised and any significant damage is done.
“Organizations can’t afford to take a reactive approach to cyber defense, nor can they do it alone. The speed of threat is too great, and today’s attackers are far more technically advanced, proficient and organized than ever,” said Maria Vello, president and CEO of The National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA), a non-profit role model organization for collaboration, information and resource sharing between public and private organizations in the fight against cybercrime.
“Threat analysts and investigators need the ability to look at every possible data set and relationship – no matter how distant or unrelated they may seem – and be able to make key associations and correlations in seconds. The new IBM i2 offering is an impressive tool in its ability to quickly analyze these massive data sets in near real time to paint a complete picture of the threat.”
Built on IBM Power Systems, IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis can complement existing security or fraud solutions with additional features, such as:
Enhanced visualization capabilities: With multi-dimensional visual analytics, investigators can gain a better understanding of an attack by visualizing a comprehensive situational overview of all possible related elements for a more easily digestible viewpoint.
Open, modular architecture that scales as needs change: IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis is fully customizable with fast integration with third-party applications and features, such as natural language processing and complementary analytics at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.
Interoperability inside and outside the organization: The open design not only integrates with existing infrastructure and other apps but also allows users to easily share critical threat information across the company and with partners, customers and other organizations.
Out-of-the-box functionality: Out-of-box functionality reduces the training, maintenance and deployment costs while allowing organizations to quickly begin protecting their infrastructure.
“While most organizations understand how big data can help prevent the ever increasing threat of cybercrime, they are so overwhelmed by massive data volumes that they can’t act fast enough to turn it into meaningful intelligence to stop criminals,” said Bob Griffin, General Manager, i2, Threat and Counter Fraud, IBM.
“With IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis, we’ve changed the ability of investigators to find that illusive needle in a haystack that helps them detect a cyber attack. This provides any organization with always-on analytics that turns massive amounts of data into real-time insights in a way that simply wasn’t possible before.”
IBM has established the world’s deepest portfolio of Big Data and Analytics technology that spans research and development, solutions and software. IBM has invested $24 billion to build its capabilities in Big Data and Analytics through R&D and more than 30 acquisitions. Today, more than 15,000 analytics consultants, 6,000 industry solution business partners and 400 IBM mathematicians are helping clients use big data to transform their organizations.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said thet more than 136 million Nigerians and legal residents have been enrolled in the National Identity Database (NIDB).
In a statement on Tuesday, Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communications, NIMC, said Abisoye Coker-Odusote, chief executive officer (CEO) of the commission, announced the milestone during a courtesy visit to the ministry of budget and economic planning.
In April 2025, NIMC said over 117.36 million Nigerians had been enrolled as of February 28, 2025.
The visit was part of the commission’s ongoing stakeholder engagements with ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) on the implementation of the NIMC Act 2026.
Presenting the new Act, Coker-Odusote said the legislation repeals and replaces the 2007 NIMC Act, modernising Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem by positioning the national identification number (NIN) as the country’s foundational identity under the “one person, one identity” policy.
She said the law also establishes NIMC as the root certificate authority for the national digital infrastructure and introduces stronger data protection and cybersecurity measures, as well as digital credentials.
“The Federal Government remains committed to enrolling and issuing NINs to all Nigerians and legal residents within the shortest possible time,” Coker-Odusote said.
She added that NIMC is ready to collaborate with the ministry of budget and economic planning to leverage the NIN for economic planning and national development initiatives.
Speaking during the visit, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the minister of budget and economic planning, reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to the implementation of the NIMC Act 2026.
Bagudu described the legislation as “a transformative milestone” that would strengthen Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem and accelerate national planning and development.
He commended the NIMC director-general and the commission’s leadership for their efforts in securing the passage of the legislation, noting that it provides “a solid legal foundation for a trusted, secure, and inclusive national identity management system”.
The minister, however, said the true measure of the Act’s success would lie in its implementation and the benefits it delivers to Nigerians.
“The true measure of the Act’s success will lie in its effective implementation and the tangible benefits delivered to citizens,” he said.
Bagudu also called for stronger collaboration across the federal, state and local governments to build public confidence in the national identity system and eliminate the duplication of identity databases across government institutions.
He said the NIN should serve as Nigeria’s single, universally accepted identity standard, supporting efficient service delivery and good governance.
On June 26, President Bola Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 into law, repealing the commission’s 2007 establishing Act.
At the time, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, said the legislation would strengthen Nigeria’s legal framework for digital identity management, cybersecurity and secure digital authentication, while reinforcing the NIN as the country’s foundational identity credential under the “one person, one identity” principle.
Plateau State Public Complaints Commission (PCC), an agency of the state established to investigate complaints of abuse of office, administrative injustice and other forms of official misconduct is allegedly collecting personal information from members of the public through its website with no privacy policy.
According to investigation by Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), PCC is falling short of a key transparency requirement under Nigeria’s data protection laws.
FIJ found on Tuesday that PCC collects personal information from members of the public through its website despite providing no privacy policy explaining how that information is collected, processed, stored or protected.
The commission serves as the state’s ombudsman, receiving complaints free of charge against public institutions and private organisations on issues including wrongful dismissal, victimisation and administrative negligence.
Yet, while its online complaint portal requests personal information such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, subject lines and complaint details, visitors are given no privacy notice explaining what becomes of that information after it is submitted.
The omission means visitors are not told why their information is being collected, how long it will be retained, the legal basis for processing it or the rights available to them as data subjects.
WHAT IS THE POSITION OF THE LAW?
The guidelines issued by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) are explicit: every government website is required to have a privacy policy.
Section 10.4 (i, ii) of the NITDA guidelines mandates all government websites to exercise diligence when collecting personal details or information about visitors on their websites.
The requirement is intended to ensure transparency and accountability in the handling of personal information, allowing visitors to understand why their data is collected, how it will be used and the safeguards in place to protect it.
Similarly, the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 requires data controllers to provide privacy notices to individuals before, or at the point of, collecting their personal information.
Such notices are expected to disclose, among other things, the purpose for collecting the data, the legal basis for processing it, the period for which it will be retained and the rights available to data subjects.
Section 27 of the NDPA states:
(1) Before a data controller collects personal data directly from a data subject, the data controller shall inform the data subject of the – (a) identity, residence or place of business of, and means of communication with the data controller and its representatives, where necessary;
(b) specific lawful basis of processing under section 25(1) or 30(1) of this Act, and the purposes of the processing for which the personal data are intended;
(c) recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data, if any;
(d) existence of the rights of the data subject under Part VI;
(e) retention period for the personal data;
(f) right to lodge a complaint with the Commission in accordance with section 46 (1) of this Act; and
(g) existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, the significance and envisaged consequences of such processing for the data subject, and the right to object to and challenge such processing.
Without a privacy policy, visitors have no way of knowing the commission’s data-handling practices or the safeguards, if any, in place to protect the personal information they submit through the website.
At press time, the Plateau State Public Complaints Commission’s website had no privacy policy.
Federal government has directed key digital regulators to suspend the implementation of new rules affecting internet platforms and online intermediaries while it develops a unified national regulatory framework.
Dr Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy
The directive was issued on Tuesday by Dr Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, after chairing a strategic meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
The minister in a statement, said that the rapid growth of the digital economy has created areas where the responsibilities of the three regulators increasingly overlap, particularly in artificial intelligence, online safety, and data protection.
He said that a coordinated approach is needed to provide regulatory clarity, protect investor confidence, and support innovation.
Dr Tijani noted that as part of the directive, the agencies will temporarily halt the implementation of recently introduced guidelines in these overlapping areas.
However, the Minister said that they will continue to carry out their statutory responsibilities within their respective legal mandates.
Dr Tijani said that a Joint Technical Coordination Committee will now be established to work with industry players, academics, and civil society on a single, coherent regulatory framework.
The minister added that the move is designed to improve coordination across government, create a more predictable business environment, and strengthen Nigeria’s position as a leading destination for digital investment in Africa.
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