E-Business
Canon Unveils its imageRUNNER ADVANCE Third Generation Platform

Canon Central and North Africa, a leader in imaging solutions, is proud to announce the next edition of its third generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform with new version 3.8 firmware. This extensive portfolio of 26 products and 7 series, offers cutting edge security and an intuitive interface across all devices.
Developed with Canon’s entire Multi-Function Printers (MFP) range in mind, the 3rd edition of the third generation platform provides upgrades across every device in the award-winning imageRUNNER ADVANCE series.
Somesh Adukia, Sales & Marketing Director, Canon Central and North Africa said, “Committed to addressing the issues faced by organisations in this digital era, our latest innovation is designed to enhance productivity within the most demanding office environments while also ensuring comprehensive security in a connected landscape.
Through our connected MFP strategy we strive to make the digital office ecosystem more agile and seamless to ultimately deliver a matchless user experience.”
Secure by Design
With data protection becoming an increasingly high priority for businesses of all sizes, the 3rd edition imageRUNNER ADVANCE incorporates a range of preventative measures to empower businesses to get ahead of security vulnerabilities. Building on Canon’s history of delivering best in class security solutions, the latest generation of devices still integrates the highly important security functions from previous editions, including Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Encryption with FIPS140-2 validation to automatically encrypt data.
Additional security features now include verification of system at start up. Users can safely open programmes based on Root of Trust (ROT). This innate security feature hinders hackers from being able to side-step the security mechanisms of MFPs, which hold some of an organisations most valuable information.
The new Syslog data provides real time security information about the device, which can be analysed by a capable third-party solution using industry recognised standards. Additionally, Syslog functionality enhances the portfolio’s integration with any Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) server.
This ultimately enables the administrator to analyse actual and potential security issues for real-time prevention or forensic analysis following a breach. With greater transparency, data breaches become simple to thoroughly investigate and manage.
Digital certificates provide the means to encrypt data and verify the integrity of scanned documents or emails created by imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices. Using automated security certificate enrolment with either Simple Certificate Enrolment Protocol (SCEP) or Network Device Enrolment Service (NDES), minimises administration requirements by autonomously updating the device with the latest security certificates.
“Advanced security features on the latest platform, across all network connected devices, protect the business’ most valuable asset – data,” comments Somesh Adukia, Sales & Marketing Director. Canon Central and North Africa
In the coming months, Canon plans to offer further development in the information security market landscape by continuing to enhance its product integration in areas such as runtime detection to further protect against intrusion.
The latest edition of imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices are intuitively designed for optimal user experience. A new home user interface provides a customisable and flexible experience, enabling the streamlining of tasks and workflows. Combining Main Menu functions with the Quick Menu and a new timeline feature the latest platform allows devices to store user behaviour, providing shortcuts for past or repetitive jobs.
Responding to the need of businesses to improve agility and their capacity to operate from anywhere, the devices will be fitted with a QR-Code Direct Connection, allowing iOS users to set Wi-Fi for direct connection through either a default iOS camera app or Canon PRINT Business (CPB) camera feature, improving mobile interaction and flexibility.
An OCR mode is available during scanning to provide accurate identification of 25 European languages. This advanced personalisation and connectivity across the entire device portfolio represents significantly improved productivity for the entire workforce.
Device management for modern working
To further support its customers, Canon’s BLI award-winning [1] cloud-based solution uniFLOW Online is being updated alongside the latest portfolio. Businesses will benefit from increased synergy between hardware and software to streamline internal processes.
uniFLOW Online 2019.1 offers additional functionality such as Print from Cloud and compatibility with a range of service providers including Box, Dropbox, Evernote®, Google Drive™, Microsoft OneDrive®, and Microsoft SharePoint® Online.
E-Business
Survey Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDS Despite Knowledge Gap

A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.
The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.
It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.
Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.
The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.
However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.
Key findings from the research include:
- After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
- 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
- Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
- The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.
The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).
A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.
An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.
Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.
Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”
To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.
E-Business
Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains

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.
E-Business
NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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.
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