E-Business
‘Freight Train’ of Added Traffic to Hit ICT Networks Globally
Two recently published white papers have projected large increases in ICT network traffic over the next five years.
Each points to a different source of growth, which impacts different parts of the corporate network. Mobile data (of which video will form an increasing part) will affect the WAN and campus network; cloud computing will affect the data centre network.
Tony Munro, Solutions Executive: Dimension Data Africa equated the impact of the added traffic to that of a freight train.
“The network forms the basis for both growth points, so it’s important to consider their combined demand when planning your future capacity.”
Moving to mobility The most recent of the white papers – both published by Cisco – is titled Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012-2017.
It documents an on-going initiative to track and forecast the impact of visual networking applications on global networks, and is partly based on data published by several well-known research houses.
According to the research, global mobile data traffic grew by a massive 70% in 2012 alone, with mobile video traffic exceeding 50% of total traffic for the first time.
More importantly, the paper projects that mobile video will increase 16-fold between 2012 and 2017 – which means that two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video-related by 2017.
Much of this growth is created by additional devices that will be connected to networks, such as smartphones and tablets, but also to large numbers of sensors and monitors such as medical monitoring apparatuses, asset tracking devices, GPS tracking devices, temperature sensors, and so forth. These will generate machine to machine traffic.
Additionally, each connected device will generate more traffic as the applications that run on them become more sophisticated.
These connected devices won’t only increase network traffic for service providers, but also for enterprise networks, as more mobile devices and sensors connect back to business applications, and users on the enterprise network communicate with one another via video, using the wired and wireless network.
Towards a cloudy future
The second research paper, Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2011-2016, projects the growth of global data centre and cloud-based IP traffic, and describes the trends associated with data centre virtualisation and cloud computing.
One of the white paper’s conclusions reads as follows: ‘Global data centre traffic is firmly in the zettabyte era and will nearly quadruple from 2011 to reach 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016. A rapidly growing segment of data centre traffic is cloud traffic, which will increase six-fold over the forecast period and represent nearly two-thirds of all data centre traffic by 2016.’
Interestingly, 76% of this traffic remains inside the data centre, which highlights the tremendous pressure exerted on data centre networks today.
The nature of data centre cloud traffic requires specialist network architectures to manage the most basic building block of cloud computing – the virtual machine – in the same way as a physical machine.
Additionally, storage traffic, which makes up 40% of data centre network traffic, becomes an important consideration as it moves to IP, thus adding even more load onto an already stretched network.
Preparing for impact
Munro believes projections like these should concern forward-thinking organisations.
‘When planning your enterprise mobility, visual communications and network infrastructure strategies, you need to be aware of these projected increases and start preparing for their impact. The growth in visual communications and cloud computing combined will require that most businesses double their network capacity at least every three years.
This is, of course, an estimate. Most computing infrastructure has a depreciation cycle of three to four years, while networking has an average depreciation cycle of seven years. It is likely that these trends will reduce the depreciating cycle for networking so that upgrades can be conducted more regularly.
‘In Dimension Data’s experience, many organisations are still unaware of what lies ahead. By far the majority don’t yet have video capabilities on the desktop – an area of almost certain growth in the near future. At the same time, many are already testing private cloud environments and investigating the possibility of moving their least risk-prone business applications to the cloud in order to save costs.
‘Again, the success of a cloud strategy depends on whether the network can handle the traffic,’ said Munro.
‘Only when the adoption of both video and cloud-based applications reaches higher levels, do many businesses realise their network is groaning under the weight, and begin to experience performance issues or, worse, increased outages.’
Partnering with care
What should organisations do to better brace themselves for impact? Munro emphasized the importance of in-depth network knowledge and skills, and understanding the profile of traffic across your network.
‘It’s important that your organisation forms a clear picture of its current state, including which parts of the network demand the most bandwidth. Then you need to project the future state of the network keeping future demands in mind. Lastly, create a roadmap to steer your on-going investment and development.
‘If you don’t have the necessary expertise on board,’ advised Munro, ‘it’s time to partner with the right people. The best networking experts don’t just provide integration and implementation skills where you fall short. They can also offer broader, multi-disciplinary architectural and consulting services to assist you strategically in the long term.
‘Your network forms the basis of ICT in your business. Changes to it will affect every area, including information security, data centres, software applications, communications and collaboration, and more. Due to the critical nature of a well-prepared network, businesses can no longer face the future without it.’
A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.
The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.
It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.
Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.
The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.
However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.
Key findings from the research include:
- After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
- 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
- Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
- The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.
The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).
A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.
An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.
Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.
Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”
To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.
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.
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