E-Business
Nigeria Improves, Symantec Warns on New Security Threats
Nigeria moved nine places from 59 in 2012 to 68 position in the 2013 global listing of Internet security threat report by Symantec, but the US global computer security software company is warning that new threats have risen with 58 per cent increase on android devices.
In the new listing, Nigeria is also 6th behind South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritius. Listings are based on the stronger cyber threats to weaker nation.
It means the lower you are mentioned on the ladder board, the better protected or least vulnerable you are seemed to be known.
Oseme Osabase, Symantec Corporation territory manager, (West Africa) stated at a media interactive session in Lagos Tuesday that new global threats like ‘Watering Hole’ pose greater danger to individuals, SMEs, big corporations and nations.
“Attackers no longer come to you directly, but wait for their targets at their most frequented websites and unleash their virus. This could cost an individual, corporation or nation entire data storage,” said Osabase on ‘Watering Hole.’
He also reiterated that there are now more state-sponsored cyber attacks across the globe, meaning, nations are gradually shifting from known military hardware warfare to cyber warfare.
“The last few years have seen increasingly sophisticated and widespread use of cyber attacks. In peacetime, they provide plausible deniability; in wartime, they could be an essential tool. Cyber attacks will continue to be an outlet where tensions between countries are played out. Moreover, in addition to state-sponsored attacks, non-state sponsored attacks, including attacks by nationalist activists against those whom they perceive to be acting against their country’s interest, will continue. Security companies and businesses need to be prepared for blowback and collateral damage from these attacks and, as ever, they need to make strenuous efforts to protect themselves against targeted attacks of all kinds,” said Osabase.
As precautionary measure for individuals and SMEs against data loss, Osabase said e-mails should be encrypted – “especially if they contain sensitive information you don’t want to share with third parties.”
With growing popularity and use of the social media, the Symantec team leader also noted that that platform will become a major security battleground.
“Social media websites already combine elements of an operating system, a communications platform, and an advertising network. As they go mobile and add payment mechanisms, they will attract even more attention from online criminals with malware, phishing, spam, and scams. Traditional spam, phishing, and malware will hold steady or decline somewhat; however, social media attacks will grow enormously. As new social media tools emerge and become popular, criminals will target them. Further, we think that the intersection of smartphones and social media will become an important security battleground as criminals target teenagers, young adults, and other people who may be less guarded about their personal data and insufficiently security-minded to protect their devices and avoid scams,” said Osabase.
E-Business
UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

United Kingdom has issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple, mandating that the company create a backdoor to access users’ encrypted iCloud data.
This directive, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, requires Apple to provide British security officials with the means to retrieve all content uploaded to iCloud by any user worldwide.
Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature, introduced in 2022, offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud data, ensuring that only users can access their information.
The UK’s demand challenges this security measure, potentially compelling Apple to either comply by creating the backdoor or withdraw the ADP feature from the UK market.
Compliance could set a precedent, leading other governments to request similar access, thereby raising global privacy concerns.
The UK Home Office has declined to confirm or deny the existence of such notices, stating, “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”
This development underscores the ongoing tension between governmental surveillance efforts and technology companies’ commitments to user privacy.
E-Business
Oracle Adds AI Pricing Features to Financial Software

Oracle on Thursday added another set of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to NetSuite, one of its corporate finance software offerings, including some that might make it faster for consumers to get a price quote on purchases like custom bicycles.
Oracle has taken a different tack with AI than rivals such as Microsoft. Rather than racing toward general purpose virtual assistants, Oracle has decided to add targeted features that speed common-but-tedious tasks like entering a brief write-up of how a sales meeting went into a corporate records system.
Another such task that is common in the business world is giving a customer a price quote on a complicated purchase that might have a lot of options, when a sales professional would need to sift through materials to come up with a price.
NetSuite on Thursday announced a feature to compile such a quote via conversation with a chatbot asking what the customer wants, which can either be used by sales professionals behind the scenes to speed up their work, or directly by consumers in the case of e-commerce businesses.
“When you buy something like a bicycle, you have to configure it – figure out what parts you want and which parts work together. We all do it when we buy our cars on the web these days,” Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said.
“If you can configure (products) for customers more easily, you can do more deals in a day, or each deal costs less.”
To power those features, Oracle has decided to skip the costly race to develop huge AI models and instead works with partners such as Canadian startup Cohere.
Goldberg said that Oracle’s recent agreement to build massive data centers with ChatGPT creator OpenAI could lead to working with it as well, though the two firms have made no formal announcements.
“I think you could safely say that there’s a possibility that OpenAI will be part of this,” Goldberg told Reuters. “We are eager to work with OpenAI.”
E-Business
IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

IBM, the American multinational technology giant, has reportedly announced plans to exit Nigeria, Ghana, and other key African markets, transferring its regional operations to MIBB, a subsidiary of the Midis Group.
The move, which according to TechCabal was revealed in a statement by the company, effective April 1 2025, is part of a new operating model IBM is adopting across select African countries.
Under this arrangement, MIBB will take over IBM’s local operations, customer support, and relationships while marketing and selling IBM products and services across 36 African nations.
“MIBB will market and sell IBM products and services in 36 African countries, thereby giving MIBB’s sales network direct access to IBM products, services, and support, further boosting innovation and growth in the region,” IBM stated.
IBM has been a key player in Africa’s tech industry for decades, providing critical infrastructure for banking, telecom, oil and gas, and government services.
However, its planned exit follows a trend of multinational corporations leaving Nigeria.
In December 2024, Swiss cement giant Holcim announced its departure from Nigeria, selling its 83% stake in Lafarge to a Chinese firm.
Similarly, South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay disclosed plans in October 2024 to exit Nigeria by selling its 51% stake in a joint venture.
IBM has yet to respond to media inquiries regarding the specifics of its transition strategy and reasons for the exit.
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