E-Business
Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report Reveals True Cost of Cyber Breaches
![Cisco-Logo-Sml1.jpg](https://www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Cisco-Logo-Sml1_17.jpg)
Cisco, worldwide leader in IT and networking released its Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR). The Cisco Annual Cybersecurity Report, now in its tenth year, examines the latest threat intelligence gathered by Cisco security experts, providing industry insights that reveal customer security trends.
The 2017 report also highlights key findings from the third annual Cisco Security Capabilities Benchmark Study (SCBS), which examines security professionals’ perceptions of the state of security in their organizations. It shares geopolitical trends, global developments around data localization, and the importance of cybersecurity as a boardroom topic
According to the report, over one-third of organizations that experienced a breach in 2016 reported substantial customer, opportunity and revenue loss of more than 20 percent.
Ninety percent of these organizations are improving threat defense technologies and processes after attacks by separating IT and security functions (38 percent), increasing security awareness training for employees (38 percent), and implementing risk mitigation techniques (37 percent). The report surveyed nearly 3,000 chief security officers (CSOs) and security operations leaders from 13 countries in the Security Capabilities Benchmark Study, part of the Cisco ACR.
The global report highlights challenges and opportunities for security teams to defend against the relentless evolution of cybercrime and shifting attack modes. Chief security Officers (CSOs) cite budget constraints, poor compatibility of systems, and a lack of trained talent as the biggest barriers to advancing their security postures.
Leaders also reveal that their security departments are increasingly complex environments with 65 percent of organizations using from six to more than 50 security products, increasing the potential for security effectiveness gaps.
To exploit these gaps, ACR data shows criminals leading a resurgence of “classic” attack vectors, such as adware and email spam, the latter at levels not seen since 2010. Spam accounts for nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of email with eight to 10 percent cited as malicious. Global spam volume is rising, often spread by large and thriving botnets.
Cybersecurity has changed drastically since the inaugural Cisco Annual Security Report in 2007. While technology has helped attacks become more damaging and defenses become more sophisticated, the foundation of security remains as important as ever.
In 2007, the ACR reported web and business applications were targets, often via social engineering, or user-introduced infractions. In 2017, hackers attack cloud-based applications, and spam has escalated.
The 2017 ACR reports that just 56 percent of security alerts are investigated and less than half of legitimate alerts remediated. Defenders, while confident in their tools, battle complexity and manpower challenges, leaving gaps of time and space for attackers to utilize to their advantage.
Cisco advises organizations to take steps to prevent, detect, and mitigate threats and minimize risk. These steps include; making security a business priority: Executive leadership must own and evangelize security and fund it as a priority. Measure operational discipline: Review security practices, patch, and control access points to network systems, applications, functions, and data. Test security effectiveness: Establish clear metrics. Use them to validate and improve security practices. Adopt an integrated defense approach: Make integration and automation high on the list of assessment criteria to increase visibility, streamline interoperability, and reduce the time to detect and stop attacks. Security teams then can focus on investigating and resolving true threats.
Reacting to impact of the report on Nigeria, Olakunle Oluruntimehin, General Manager, Cisco Nigeria, said : “In Nigeria, we recognize that the penetration of mobile and growth in internet usage also means that we are more vulnerable to cybercrimes. That is why we leverage our partners, the Cisco Networking Academy program and certifications in addition to typical customer enablement activities to grow our Security market share. We have a growing list of over 300 partners in Nigeria covering Security in Verticals like Retail, Financial Services, Oil, Healthcare, Hospitality and Public Sector.”
“The Cisco Networking Academy is expanding its causes to include Security Everywhere by providing knowledge and capacity building partnering with government and private educational institutions, this actually aligns with the skills development and jobs creation goal of the Government ensuring that we are also increasing skills in Security IT. We currently have over 130 academies in Nigeria and have more Academies joining this number on a quarterly basis.”
In 2017, cyber is business, and business is cyber –that requires a different conversation, and very different outcomes. Relentless improvement is required and that should be measured via efficacy, cost, and well managed risk. The 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report demonstrates, and I hope justifies, answers to our struggles on budget, personnel, innovation and architecture.
E-Business
Schmidt, Ex Google Chief Says AI Risky in Terrorist Hands
![](https://www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Eric-Schmidt.jpg)
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO has expressed concerns about the extreme risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue states.
![Schmidt, Ex Google Chief Says AI Risky in Terrorist Hands](https://i0.wp.com/www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Eric-Schmidt.jpg?resize=573%2C254&ssl=1)
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO
He warned that nations such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia could adopt AI technologies to develop weapons capable of causing significant harm, including biological weapons.
Schmidt urged governments to oversee private tech companies, emphasising, “The real fears I have are not the ones most people discuss about AI, I talk about extreme risk.”
“I’m always worried about an ‘Osama Bin Laden’ scenario, where truly evil individuals take control of some aspect of modern life to harm innocent people,” he added.
With private companies driving AI advancements, he stressed the need for careful government monitoring and regulation. “It’s really important that governments understand what we’re doing and keep their eye on us,” he said.
His remarks followed a two-day AI summit in Paris, where the UK and the U.S. declined to sign a communiqué outlining the future direction of AI. The declaration on “inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet” was endorsed by 57 countries, including India, China, the Vatican, the EU, and the African Union Commission.
The UK justified its decision, stating that the agreement lacked “practical clarity” on global AI governance and national security concerns.
Schmidt supports U.S. export controls restricting the sale of advanced AI microchips to certain countries, aiming to slow adversaries’ progress in AI research.
He also highlights the importance of international collaboration on AI safety, suggesting that cooperation with nations like China is essential to addressing global AI challenges.
E-Business
OpenAI CEO Rejects $97.4Bn Takeover Bid from Elon Musk
![](https://www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Open-AI.jpg)
Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, has firmly declared the company “not for sale” following a $97.4bn (£78.4bn) takeover bid from a consortium led by Elon Musk.
![OpenAI CEO Rejects $97.4Bn Takeover Bid from Elon Musk](https://i0.wp.com/www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Elon-Musk.jpg?resize=563%2C229&ssl=1)
Elon Musk
Speaking at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Altman emphasised OpenAI’s mission to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence) for the benefit of humanity.
Marc Toberoff, attorney for Elon Musk, confirmed the bid submission on Monday.
In response, Altman humorously offered to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion on Musk’s platform.
Unlike many tech giants, OpenAI is not publicly traded but operates through a complex partnership between non-profit and for-profit entities.
Musk aims to return OpenAI to its non-profit roots, despite owning a rival firm, xAI.
Christie Pitts, a tech investor, expressed scepticism about Musk’s intentions, noting his competitive interests.
Altman echoed this sentiment, suggesting Musk’s move disregards OpenAI’s mission.
Altman, who holds no stock in OpenAI, advocates transforming the organisation into a fully for-profit company to raise more funds for AI research.
Although the board has the final say, the $97.4bn offer falls short of OpenAI’s previous $157bn valuation and rumoured $300bn in future funding talks.
Toberoff stated the consortium might increase their bid. Meanwhile, OpenAI is collaborating with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund on “The Stargate Project,” a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative announced by President Donald Trump.
E-Business
Adobe Launches AI Video Tool to Compete with OpenAI
![](https://www.nigeriacommunicationsweek.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Adobe-logo.jpg)
Adobe yesterday released the first public version of an artificial intelligence tool that can generate video clips and revealed how much it will charge, but said it will not set pricing for major users such as studios until later this year.
The Firefly Video Model, as Adobe is calling the service, will compete against Sora, a model developed by ChatGPT creator OpenAI, and startup Runway, both of which currently offer video-generation services. Facebook owner Meta Platforms has also developed a video-generation AI model but has not given a timeline for when it will be released.
Adobe’s model differs from its rivals because it is geared toward generating clips that will fit into how film and television studios use Premiere Pro, its flagship video editing software.
To that end, many of the features that Adobe is emphasizing revolve around feeding existing shots into the video model and asking it to generate clips that fix or expand on shots that were taken on a real production set but that did not come out quite right.
Adobe said the service will generate five-second clips at 1080p resolution. While that is shorter than the clips of up to 20 seconds generated by OpenAI’s service, Adobe executives said the majority of individual clips in most productions are only three seconds.
Adobe said a user can generate 20 clips per month for $9.99 and 70 clips for $29.99. That compares with 50 videos for $20 per month with OpenAI’s plan at lower resolution and a $200 OpenAI plan that can handle longer, higher resolution videos.
Adobe is also working on a “Premium” pricing plan for studios and other high-volume video users and will release those pricing details later this year. Alexandru Costin, Adobe’s vice president of generative AI, said the company is working to generate 4K video and will remain focused on quality rather than longer clips.
“We actually think that great motion, great structure, great definition scheme, making the actual clip look like it was film, is more important than making a longer clip that’s unusable,” Costin told Reuters.
- General News2 days ago
MTN Increases Data Prices Amid NCC’s 50% Tariff Hike Approval
- E-Financial2 days ago
FG Takes Full Ownership of Keystone Bank
- E-Financial2 days ago
CBN Rolls out New ATM Transaction Fees Effective March 1
- Telecom2 days ago
Suspend 50 Percent Telecom Tariff Hike, Reps Urge NCC
- E-Financial2 days ago
Afreximbank Invests $52bn in Nigeria, Plans Energy Bank
- News2 days ago
SEC Urges State Governments to Explore Investment Opportunities in Capital Market
- Telecom2 days ago
NASENI CEO Mandates Institutes to Use Agency’s Technologies and Products
- General News2 days ago
Africa’s Startup Funding Increased by 240%