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Deloitte’s 2014 Report Identifies Tech Trends Disruptors, Enablers

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(L-r): Kamal Ramsingh, director, Africa Technology Leader and Tawanda Gumbo, transitional leader, both of Deloittee Consulting, during Deloitte Tech Trends 2014, held in Lagos.
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Deloitte, a professional services firm, at the launch of its fifth annual Tech Trends report in Lagos on Wednesday, identified 10 technological trends that could have an impact on African companies across industry sectors over the coming 18 to 24 months.

By Disruptors Deloitte cited opportunities that can create sustainable positive impact in IT capabilities, business operations and sometimes even business models, while enablers are technologies in which many Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have already invested time and effort, but which warrant another look because of new developments or opportunities.

The identifiable disruptors include CIOs as Venture Capitalist; Cognitive analytics; Industrial crowdsourcing; Digital engagement and Wearbles, while the enablers are technical debt reversal; social activation; cloud orchestration; in-memory revolution and real-time DevOps.

“At their core, these trends inspire disruption by having the potential to reshape organisations, business models, and even entire industries in South Africa and beyond. While some of these technologies might seem far-fetched for some, the reality is that the evolving competitive landscape means they can provide companies with a distinct business advantage,” said Kamal Ramsingh, Technology Leader for Africa at Deloitte.

Ramsingh said the disruptive technologies highlighted in the report can challenge CIOs to anticipate the impacts that these forces may have on their organisation.

“This year, we look at how technology forces offer CIOs the opportunity to shape tomorrow, to inspire, to create, and to transform business as usual.”

According to Mark White, the global chief technology officer of Deloitte, “the trends identified in the report have to adhere to very strict criteria which include having to be business-led and technology-enabled, as well as have at least three real world instances of adoption.”

“It is clear that organisations need to be forward-thinking to develop strategies that are cognisant of the pace of technological change. However, trends that are too future-focused are of very little practical value for decision-makers wanting to get a competitive edge in the market in the short-term. As such, the Tech Trends report is focused on those emerging technologies that can provide measurable returns in the next 18 to 24 months,” said White.

“This year’s report reflects the reality of the connected world. Data, mobile, social, cyber security, and the cloud are all key drivers in what businesses do online. Even South African organisations are starting to realise the business benefits that leveraging developments in this area can provide them,” said Ramsingh.

While advising the Nigerian indigenous companies to embrace new ways of using skills in information technology for enterprise value and business growth, he said, “Nigerians need to be more conscious on their security and environment by adopting application of wearable technology which support video and audio solution for personal security.”

On Technical Debt, he said that Nigeria companies could reverse its huge debt consequent, technical deficiencies by adopting the global standard design for technical operation in multinational companies.

Ramsingh disclosed that “Global Technical debt is estimated at $500billon”.

He also charged Nigerians to adopt in-memory storage system, stressing that In-memory computing aid processing of big-data.

He said “In-memory helps to create business value on big data.”

On Cloud Orchestration, the Director said that 100% big data management with efficient cloud solution is possible in Nigeria public and private sector, while there are likely potential pitfall for business using the social media and other e-commerce platform especially as African countries are open to embrace any technology.

“The ability to understand what digital means to any striving business means in Nigeria is essential to leverage global practices,” he said.

 


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

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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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Data Breach
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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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