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E-Business

Cisco, Checkpoint Lead, Security Appliance Shipment Sees Double-Digit Growth

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The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker, both factory revenue and unit shipments continued to grow in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14).

Worldwide vendor revenue grew 8.6% year over year to $2.6 billion in the fourth quarter, the 21st consecutive quarter of revenue growth, as Cisco remains at the forefront.

Shipments grew nearly twice as fast as revenue at 16.7% year over year to 635,933 units, making 4Q14 the fourth consecutive quarter of shipment growth.

For the full year 2014, revenue and shipments improved 8.4% and 8.3% respectively to $9.4 billion and 2.1 million units.

Regional Highlights
Security appliance revenue in the United States surpassed $1.0 billion in 4Q14, growing 13.5% year over year and making it the third fastest growing region after Latin America and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan).

The US accounted for 39.4% of total worldwide revenue in the quarter, gaining 1.7 points of share year over year but losing 2.0 points compared to the previous quarter.

Latin America recorded the strongest year-over-year revenue growth in 4Q14 at 21.5% while shipment growth was 16.4% in the quarter.

The region continues to show strong growth potential with just 4.7% share of total worldwide revenue, up half a point year over year, and 5.6% share of total worldwide shipments.

Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) captured 22.7% of total worldwide revenue in 4Q14 and 23.4% of total worldwide shipments and gained significant shares both year over year and sequentially following a strong performance by Huawei in China.

Shipments in the region surpassed 100,000 units in the fourth quarter and grew almost twice as fast as revenue at 32.1% year over year.

The Europe, Middle East & Africa region ended the fourth quarter with a 26.9% share of total worldwide revenue, a loss of 2.3 share points year over year and 1.0 point compared to the third quarter. Unit shipments were up 9.8% year over year, driven largely by demand in the emerging markets in Central & Eastern Europe and the Middle East & Africa.

Japan and Canada combined accounted for 6.2% of total worldwide revenue in 4Q14.

The two markets experienced year-over-year revenue declines of -20.4% and -0.4% respectively.

“2014 saw a record number of serious data breaches causing both government agencies and companies to realize how susceptible they are to cyber threats that cut beyond boundaries,” said Ebenezer Obeng-Nyarkoh, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Trackers Group. “In spite of this, many companies still have not done enough to protect their systems, which could compromise their security and jeopardize sensitive data and information.”

Vendor Highlights
Cisco continues to lead the overall security appliance market with a 16.6% share of worldwide revenue in 4Q14.

This was the first time since the fourth quarter of 2014 that Cisco failed to achieve double-digit year-over-year growth in a quarter.

Check Point remained the number 2 security appliance vendor with 13.2% revenue share in the quarter, gaining 1.2 share points year over year. In addition to 14.4% year-over-year revenue growth, Check Point posted impressive shipment growth of 25.6% in the fourth quarter.

Fortinet returned to the number 3 position with year-over-year revenue growth of 27.4% and capturing 7.7% of worldwide revenues.

Fortinet remains the largest security appliance vendor in terms of shipments with 18.8% share of total unit shipments in 4Q14, driven by its Unified Threat Management solution.

Since entering the top 5 in the second half of 2013, Palo Alto Networks has experienced the fastest year-over-year revenue growth, consistently outpacing the overall market.

Palo Alto Networks ended the fourth quarter with year-over-year revenue growth of 53.3% and a 7.6% share of worldwide revenues.

Rounding out the top 5 vendors, Blue Coat and McAfee finished the quarter in a tie with each vendor holding a 4.3% share of worldwide revenues.

Both vendors experienced declining revenue share on a year over year and sequential basis.


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E-Business

Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains

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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.


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NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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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.

NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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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Nigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa

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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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