E-Business
FG to Create 1m Jobs on Digital Platforms
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is targeting the creation of about one million jobs through digital platforms between now and 2025, according to, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi of the agency.
Abdullahi who disclosed this during a virtual stakeholders engagement workshop in Abuja on the Draft National Outsourcing Strategy for Nigeria 2020-2025, said Nigerians and industry players should learn from how the world’s 25 richest billionaires have gained over $225 billion in just two months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Almost all of them leverage on the power of digital platform to get the whopping amount. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the biggest gainer.
“He made almost $32.5bn in two months under lockdown and he has moved from the 7th richest person in the world in early April to the fourth-richest person today,” Abdullahi said.
The NITDA boss, who quoted Forbes Magazine to buttress his point, explained that the Federal Government would leave no stone unturned on the diversification of the economy, especially adoption of digital platforms to increase the country revenue earnings.
Abdullahi, who put the global business process outsourcing market size as at 2019 at a value of $221.5 billion, said it was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0% from 2020 to 2027.
COVID-19 is forcing organisations to cut bottom line cost. Therefore, many organizations will leverage on the benefits of outsourcing for some business processes and focus on core competencies, he explained.
He said: “With the recent government initiative to make Nigeria a leading digital economy coupled with the government promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, NITDA under the supervision of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has refocused its effort to implementation of the National Digital Economy Strategy.
“This resonate with what is happening globally. Digital economy was emerging before covid-19 and now the crisis has made it more profound.”
He told participants at the workshop the strategy is predicated on fostering “institutional, legal, regulatory, technological and infrastructural environment for sustainable development and rapid growth of IT enabled outsourcing industry in Nigeria.
“And we targeting creating over a million jobs in Nigeria by 2025”, Mr Abdullahi said, adding that seven critical pillars, such as infrastructures, skill and human capital development, branding and promotion, digital finances and incentives, innovation and entrepreneurship, trust, privacy and security and multi stakeholders governance are on target to achieve the desired end.
Abdullahi urged the stakeholders to make inputs into the draft to facilitate robust document that would make Nigeria a better place for all and a force to reckon with in the global business outsourcing market.
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.
Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains
Senate Passes Harmonised Report on Tax Reform Bills
FG to Provide High-fibre Internet in 12 Universities by Year End
The Silent Killer of Great Companies: A Guide To Why Your Processes Will Break (and How to Fix Them)
EFCC Witness Admits Writing Off Arik Air’s $2.3M Debt Amid N76Bn Fraud Trial
E-Financial2 days agoEFCC Recovers over N20Bn Stolen by Hackers from 6 Banks in Nigeria
Telecom2 days agoEngr. Ikechukwu Nnamani Receives Two Prestigious @ABoICT Awards
Telecom2 days agoFG to Deploy 80 Percent of 7000 Telecom Towers to North
E-Financial2 days agoPonzi Scheme Operators Risk N10m Penalty, Others- IST Chair
E-Financial2 days agoUBA Launches *919# Advance Top-Up Feature for Instant Access to Customers
News2 days agoEFCC Recovers Funds, Arrests Suspects in N1.3 Trillion CBEX Crypto Fraud
E-Financial2 days agoCourt to Deliver Judgment in NIBSS’ Suit against CBN, Others over BVN Database Management
E-Business1 day agoNigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa