E-Business
Cloud Mobility,Others to Shape ICT in 2014 – Akano
Tim Akano, Chief Executive Officer, New Horizons Nigeria over the weekend release his ICT predictions for 2014, chike onwuegbuchi was there and captured highlight of the predictions.
In 2014, we are going to divide our submission into 4 parts: One, Seven Hottest skills that will prosper ICT professionals; two, seven biggest trends in ICT that will determine which organization survives, thrives or dies in 2014.
Three, seven most dangerous ICT Threats and four; How Nigeria and Nigerians can benefit from all of this. Some of the surveys conducted by IDC, Gartner, IDG, CIO magazine are quite useful as a guide for investors this year to know what is on the horizon.
Meanwhile in 2014, issues like e-waste will continue to dominate the technology discussion as this is predicted to grow by 33% in the next 3 years.( source: IDG) New Start-Ups will benefit from re-cycling businesses of telephone handsets, Laptops and PCs. Another issue is the mobile banking users. This is expected to grow by 100% this year.
There will be new ways of watching Televisions. Another area of opportunities for entrepreneurs with foresight is MOBILE INSURANCE. Since we are now married to our gadgets, this will be a new source of investment for the Insurers.
ICT spending will grow by about 5% in the ‘’traditional market ‘’ of Europe and America while in the emerging markets , double digit growth is being expected to be led by China at 13%( source: idc), Adoption of CYBER INSURANCE will witness double digit growth in 2014 in Europe and North America where awareness of Cyber threats is huge.
In addition, this is a year of what I call ‘’TECHNOLOGY OVER FLOW’’ i.e. hardware will do more things than hitherto because it is now more intelligent and smarter. We will see new touch screen TVs and telephone handsets; smaller gadgets; good, functional and value-adding wearable technologies will flood the market, high performing sensors, automated homes, schools, intelligent automobiles, smart buildings among others are some of the innovative products that will be born which will excite and tickle consumers this year.
The 7 hottest ICT Skills Employers will Pay any Amount to Acquire in 2014
This is not going to be like any other year in the ICT industry both globally and locally. Most of the ICT skills that will benefit the unemployed , the youths, the old as well as the ICT Professionals who are desirous of promotion are truly new skills or hybrid of old and new.
BIG DATA ADMINSTRATOR (BDA) – Before 2014, what obtained was Data Administrator (DA). However due to the fact that the request for big data is skyrocketing- growing by as much as 30 %,( source: idc) there will be issue around big data management. Demand is currently outpaces supply with regards to experts in this area.
Most of these data are coming from Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Jelly, LinkedIn and 3rd Parties etc which Marketing requires on hourly basis to study the ever changing consumer behavioral attitude and taste.
Currently, there is substantial growth in ‘’data-optimized cloud platform- leveraging high volume real time data streams according to Gartner. Packages like HADOOP and Big Data Analytics are in hot demand.
Data storage has become an issue and how to build redundancy into storage and make the data fit for efficient and effective storage and consumption is a challenge that a BDA will be employed to solve by major international Enterprise. 24% of companies’ survey said they will hire BDA professionals in 2014 (source: IDC)
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS: With Big Data comes the biggest job of making sense out of all the mountain of information.
Volume of global data will expand to 35.2 zettabytes (idc) in two years time. 18% of companies’ survey by IDC submitted that they are looking for professionals with Business Intelligence skills to employ in 2014. It is seen as the second most difficult skill to get competent hands. This is why they command very fat salary starting with six digits.
In 2014 if you are dam, dam good in analyzing, interpreting, and presenting the data in a meaningful way that will help the CEOs to take profitable decision, you are sure to prosper as IT Professional. The joker is to combine Business intelligent skills with Plex Systems plus ERP plus Project Management. You cannot be poor again with this combination- if you are sound at each of them!
DEVELOPER’S PROFESSIONALS WITH CLOUD MOBILITY SKILLS: These are the gurus who build and maintain cloud architecture. There is a paradigm shift right now from ‘’infrastructure as a service (Iaas) to platform as a service (Paas).
And this is expected to be a data-optimized platform as against generic platform. More data centers will be built in 2014.
The cloud spending is expected to grow to $100billion in 2014 ( source:idc). Cloud application will become mission critical.
We do not have enough expertise in this field anywhere in the world. Those who want to make good money in 2014 are advised to go for it!
LINUX PROFESSIONALS: This is an age of SINGULARITY where OPEN-SOURCE is the KING powered by LINUX and ANDROID.
Open source has now been finally accepted by countries and organization who need inexpensive and stable platform.
And this adoption and shift is phenomena. According to Jack Cullen, President of IT Staffing Firm called Modis: ‘’ if you are an IT Professional looking for long term career growth there is no better place to be than working with open source’’. I strongly believe there are huge opportunities in Linux and Android skills in 2014.
VIRTULISATION EXPERTS: The art and science of commissioning, managing, and tearing down intelligent and virtual machines are now one of the fastest growing roles of date centers. Experts in virtualization will be in high demand this year.
IT UNTILITY MANAGER (ITUM): Everything in ICT is in a permanent state of flux- changing at the speed of light, getting more fragmented and sophisticated by the day. The CEOs don’t have time to keep pace with this dynamic industry.
And the resources to employ Consultant for each narrow, new segment are not available. Therefore, the CEOs are looking for the IT Utility Manager (ITUM) who has a holistic perspective of how technology works and communicates among one another.
The Manager who understands programming languages and how to connect them on different and competing platforms: desktop, laptop, mobile, cloud, etc.
He has skills in information security and Biometrics certifications and he can integrate all this with Social Technologies like facebook, Twitter, Jelly, LinkedIn etc.
This year, the role of biometrics in authentication will grow while the value of password will decrease.
Organizations will pay any amount of money for professionals who have deep understanding of biometrics authentication- facial, iris, fingers, voice, DNA, palm, pulse, in addition to the above skills. I call such a professional IT Utility Manager. This is a new role- which did not exist in 2013.
IT SECURITY, COMPLIANCE AND GOVERNANCE PROFESSIONALS: To prosper in 2014 as IT Security professional, one needs to combine it with compliance certifications like ISO, PCI/DSS, and Governance skills in risk Management.
Yes, security is like hunger in the stomach, it never goes away completely. It comes out in new dimension every day. However, most organizations are not interested in employing separate Manager for IT Security, Compliance and Governance.
They are all ‘’FIRST COUSINS’’ and they are safe to be warehoused in one room under one command. In 2013 IT Security was a big challenge. Most of the top global IT Companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and all suffered security breaches. IT security breaches grew by 23% (IDC) in 2013.
In September 201 3, major US banks were hit with the largest denial of service (DoS) attacks in history. Also in October, South Carolina tax payer’s services were hacked compromising 3.6 million social security numbers.
In August, hackers broke into New York Times computer and stole passwords of high-profile Journalists and staff. This is why 21% of companies’ surveyed said they would hire the guy with the right skill-set in IT Security, Compliance and Governance.
International certifications like EC-Council CEH, CHFI, Encryption, ECSA, CISSP Risk Management, etc will sell like hot potatoes.
This is why Safenet encryption is growing like bush fire in the harmattan, being acknowledge by Gartner as the best in the Encryption space.
More so, most of the things we predicted came to pass in 2013. Then, in 2012 based on the trends which we observed on the horizons in the ICT industry globally and locally, we came to certain conclusions in specific sectors like MOBILITY, Training, and Security etc.
One, that OPEN-SOURCE via Android and Linux will rule the Smartphone and personal computers. Today Android’s share of the Smartphone operating system stands at over 75%. We saw that because Apple is a ‘’closed system’’, and with high price tag vis-à-vis competition, that it would lose market share: that happened until it came out with an ‘economy iPhone’.
We saw then that competition was about to throw Blackberry ‘under the bus’ as a punishment for its sluggishness in innovation.
With Blackberry recent mountain of looses of $4.4billion, it is a matter of time, if nothing urgent, radical and concrete is done before the bus will crush the most successful Canadian mobile telephone giant, which used to be the darling of youths and the Military globally. As we predicted, IT security breaches skyrocketed.
As we predicted, the seven IT skills that we submitted would blossom, actually did, and smart guys who took practical steps to acquire those skills really prospered in 2013.
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has signed an international mail partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for improved delivery access to over 200 countries without middlemen.
Tolani Odeyemi, postmaster-general and chief executive officer of NIPOST, described the deal as a “major milestone” for the country’s logistics and postal sector.
In a statement on X on Monday, Odeyemi explained that the new agreement marks NIPOST’s first direct international airline partnership for several years.
“For a long time, NIPOST operated without any direct partnerships with international airlines, relying heavily on multiple third-party handlers,” the Postmaster-General stated. This often resulted in delays, higher costs, and uncertainty around the delivery of packages.”
She explained that under the new arrangement, KLM will directly handle all outbound international mail from Nigeria, eliminating the need for intermediaries.
“This translates to faster and more reliable delivery, reduced risk of loss or damage, lower handling charges, and access to over 200 countries through KLM’s global network,” the Postmaster-General stressed.
According to Odeyemi, NIPOST’s breakthrough came after it began settling long-standing debts owed to international carriers, a step she said was key to “rebuilding global trust” in Nigeria’s postal system.
She revealed that talks were also ongoing with Ethiopian Airlines to bolster regional and continental logistics, particularly on African and Eastern routes.
“Our goal is clear and unwavering: to connect Nigeria regionally and globally, efficiently, securely, and affordably,” Odeyemi asserted.
The NIPOST CEO described the development as a significant win for Nigerian businesses and small and medium-scale enterprises that rely on international shipping, stating, “You now benefit from quicker, more affordable international shipping, greater peace of mind with improved reliability, and new potential to reach and grow in global markets.”
Odeyemi commended the teams behind the scenes and pledged continued improvements in service delivery, adding that the deal signals a turning point for the agency.
The evolution of AI is not only affecting various industries, but it has also transformed cybercriminals’ tactics. One alarming trend is the use of AI to enhance phishing scams, refining them, targeting specific individuals, and making these attacks almost impossible to recognise.
Kaspersky reviews how AI is changing phishing techniques and why even the most cyber-aware employees may fall for these scams.
According to a recent Kaspersky study, the number of cyberattacks experienced by organisations in the last 12-months is reported to have increased by nearly half (48%) in the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region.
The most ubiquitous threat came from phishing attacks, with 51% of those questioned in the META region reporting this type of incident. With AI becoming a more prevalent enabler for cybercriminals, over half of the respondents in META (53%) anticipate significant growth in the number of phishing attacks. In this text, Kaspersky examine how AI is used in phishing and why experience alone is sometimes not enough to avoid becoming a victim.
Personalisation through AI
Previously, phishing attacks relied on a generic mass message sent to thousands, hoping some of the recipients would fall for the bait. AI has changed this into scripting highly personalised phishing emails in large numbers. Using publicly available information like that on social media, job boards, and companies’ websites, these AI-powered tools can generate emails tailored to an individual’s role, interests, and communication style.
For example, a CFO might receive a fraudulent email that mirrors the tone and formatting of their CEO’s messages, including accurate references to recent company events. This level of customisation makes it exceptionally challenging for employees to distinguish between legitimate and malicious communications.
Deepfake technology
AI has also introduced deepfakes into the phishing arsenal. These are increasingly being leveraged by cybercriminals to create fake but highly accurate audio and video messages, crafted to reflect the voice and appearance of the executives they seek to impersonate.
For example, in one reported case, attackers used a deepfake to impersonate multiple members of staff during a video conference, convincing the employee to transfer approximately $25.6 million. As deepfake technology continues to advance, it is expected that such attacks will become more frequent and harder to detect.
Bypassing traditional defenses
Cybercriminals can manipulate the script of traditional e-mail filtering systems with the use of AI. By analysing and mimicking legitimate email patterns, AI-generated phishing emails can bypass security software detection. Machine learning algorithms can test and refine phishing campaigns in real time, enhancing their success rates and making them increasingly sophisticated.
Why experience is not enough
Even experienced employees are falling victim to these advanced phishing attacks. The level of realism and personalisation that AI can achieve may override the skepticism that keeps experienced professionals cautious. Moreover, AI-generated attacks often exploit human psychology, such as urgency, fear, or authority, pressuring employees into acting without double-checking the authenticity of the request.
Combatting AI-hyped phishing
To defend against AI-driven phishing attacks, organisations must adopt a proactive and multi-layered approach that emphasises comprehensive cybersecurity. Regular, up-to-date AI-focused cybersecurity awareness training is critical for employees, helping them identify the subtle signs of phishing and other malicious tactics.
Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform can help with such training. Alongside this, businesses should implement robust security tools, such as Kaspersky Next and Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, capable of detecting anomalies in emails, such as unusual writing patterns or suspicious metadata.
A zero-trust security model also plays a vital role in minimising the potential damage of a successful attack. By restricting access to sensitive data and systems, this approach ensures that even if attackers breach one layer of security, they cannot compromise the entire network. Together, these measures create a comprehensive defense strategy, combining advanced technology with vigilant human oversight.
At least 10 out of every 100 Nigerians have fallen victim to data breaches since 2004, according to a new report by global cybersecurity firm Surfshark, raising serious concerns about the country’s long-standing vulnerability to cyber threats.
Surfshark’s research is based on data gathered from 29,000 publicly available databases.
Each unique breached email address is treated as a separate user account, and breaches often include additional personal data such as passwords, phone numbers, IP addresses, and postal codes.
The data was anonymised before analysis, and countries with populations under one million were excluded from the study.
Findings of the report revealed that a staggering 23.2 million Nigerian user accounts have been compromised in the past two decades, an alarming figure in a country with an estimated population of over 230 million.
This includes 7.3 million unique email addresses and 13 million passwords leaked into the public domain.
“Cyberattacks remain a persistent and growing threat globally, and Nigeria is no exception,” Surfshark stated in its analysis.
Despite a significant 85 per cent drop in new data breaches in the first quarter of 2025, falling from the previous quarter’s numbers—Nigeria still recorded over 119,000 breached accounts during the period. This places the country 34th worldwide in total breach volume.
Even with the recent decline, the scale and depth of past breaches remain troubling.
According to the report, 56 percent of Nigerian users affected by breaches are at heightened risk of identity theft, extortion, and unauthorised access to their online accounts.
“In Q1 2025 alone, an estimated one Nigerian account was breached every minute,” Surfshark noted.
The global picture also shows a dramatic shift: the number of leaked accounts dropped 93 percent year-on-year—from nearly 974 million in Q1 2024 to just 68.3 million in Q1 2025.
Countries with the highest number of breaches include the United States (16.9 million), Russia (4.4 million), and India (4.2 million).
However, when adjusted for population, smaller nations like South Sudan, Spain, and Slovenia reported the highest breach density, with South Sudan recording 61 breached accounts per 1,000 residents.
Luís Costa, Surfshark’s research lead, warned that the downturn in breach numbers should not lead to a false sense of security.
“Cyberthreats are constantly evolving, and attackers are adapting their tactics. Strong security practices, frequent password updates, and enabling two-factor authentication remain essential,” Costa stated.
The report underscores the urgent need for improved cybersecurity infrastructure and public awareness in Nigeria, as millions remain exposed to potential exploitation due to past breaches.
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