E-Business
EMC. TD Ink Partnership to Drive Tech Expansion
The partnership between global data storage giants EMC and Technology Distributions, biggest ICT distributors in Sub-Saharan Africa has been hailed as a strategic initiative which will go a long way in positively enhancing the profile of technology distribution and penetration on the continent for the benefit of all.
Making this bold assertion at the official launch of the partnership between both companies on Tuesday, Mr. Nazim Fraijat, managing director, EMC, Levant and Emerging Africa Region, posited that the addition of TD to EMC’s Global Business Partner Programme was in line with the organization’s desire to deepen the pace of technological innovation and diffusion in the West African sub-region and on the continent as a whole.
“We are happy to officially welcome Technology Distributions into our Business Partner Programme. Our delight further stems from TD’s status as one of the biggest and most structured ICT distributors in Nigeria and the West African region as a whole.
“In view of our desire to make further in-roads into Sub-Saharan Africa, we are confident that this partnership with TD will undoubtedly accelerate the rate of access to the wide range of innovative solutions that EMC is known for world-wide.”
Also speaking at the launch, Mr. Nicholas Travers, general manager, EMC West Africa, who delivered the keynote presentation, traced the organization’s global trajectory and competence in the areas of storage, cloud computing, data security, content management and Big Data.
According to him, EMC which is already a renowned global leader in the storage and IT field, also retains a key interest in West Africa and Nigeria in particular.
In his view, this interest is justified by the short space of time in which EMC has expanded its operations in Nigeria, going from having a single employee in 1999 to employing about 45 staff at present, while maintaining offices in Nigeria and the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
While lending his voice to the landmark partnership, Leo-Stan Ekeh, chairman of Zinox Group noted that the pact with EMC serves to reaffirm TD’s prime position as the major driver of technological revolution in Africa.
Ekeh, who commended EMC’s exponential growth after just six years of operations in Nigeria, also encouraged solution providers and resellers to take advantage of the unique opportunity offered by the partnership to grow their businesses.
“TD has maintained its position as the leader of the ICT distributor space over the years despite strong competition in the market place. This is why we see this partnership with EMC as strategic as it will go a long way to expand access to technology on the continent, especially considering the status of EMC as a major player in the global IT scene.
“I wish to encourage all of our solution providers and resellers to take advantage of the unique partnership being unveiled officially today, especially in view of the sheer scale of TD’s wide reach and after-sales support infrastructure which is unmatched in the sector as well as the innovative solutions in storage and data which EMC brings to the table.
“Despite the current state of pessimism in the economy due to falling oil prices and the fluid state of the naira, I must reassure you that there is much to be hopeful about in Nigeria’s business space. We are Africa’s biggest economy and we have the right calibre of people in the incoming administration who will build on the gains recorded by the outgoing administration,” he declared.
Mr. Etiene Etukudoh, executive director, who painted a glowing picture of Technology Distribution’s strong market presence and brand portfolio, also expressed delight at the partnership while affirming its strategic importance as the company enters its 16th year of operations.
“This year will mark TD’s 16th year of exceptional operations as a prime ICT distributor in Africa. We are indeed excited at the partnership with EMC especially in view of its far-reaching implications for our strategic positioning as the market leader in the field,” he noted.
With branches in major cities coupled with expansion into other African capitals, TD has forged a reputation for being the prime ICT distributor in the West African sub-region. Backed by its status as the pioneer manufacturer-accredited local distributor for the sub-region, TD has successfully represented a number of globally renowned brands which has helped maintain its position as the market leader.
The epoch-making event had in attendance Chief Executives and other key management staff from major ICT reseller companies in the country.
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.
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.
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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