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Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity for Energy Excites Users

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By Dipo Olowookere

Kaspersky Lab has announced the global availability of Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity for Energy, a vertical advanced package for energy enterprises, based on Kaspersky Lab’s suite for protection of industrial infrastructure.

Modern electrical power grids are complex networks, with integrated automation and control functions.

However, because they communicate through open protocols, they do not have sufficient built-in cybersecurity functions to combat the increasingly sophisticated range of security threats they face.

Kaspersky Lab’s recent report on industrial cybersecurity found that 92 percent of externally available industrial control system (ICS) devices use open and insecure Internet connection protocols.

Since 2010, the number of ICS-component vulnerabilities has also increased by a factor of 10, making these devices an easy and lucrative target for cybercriminals.

The challenge for energy companies is clear, with Ernst & Young’s most recent Global Information Security Survey revealing that 42 percent of power and utilities companies say it’s unlikely they would be able to detect a sophisticated attack.

Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity (KICS) for Energy is dedicated to helping energy companies secure every layer of their industrial infrastructure, without impacting on the operational continuity and consistency of technological processes.

Kaspersky Lab’s solution protects SCADA level control centers and Substation Automation Systems on every level: upper level of automation including Servers, HMI, Gateways, Engineering workstations. Secondary automation equipment: Protection relays, Bay Controllers, Merging units, RTU and other substation bus and process bus IED and overall network infrastructure.

The solution provides a variety of advanced technologies to protect industrial nodes (including servers, HMI, Gateways and Engineering workstations) and network infrastructure. The latter offers network monitoring and integrity checking with the capability of deep application protocol inspection (including IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, and other standards and protocols for electric power infrastructures).

“Electrical power equipment automation, control and protection are no longer handled by closed systems and, as things stand, detecting a potential threat is extremely difficult, both technically and organisationally,” said Andrey Suvorov, Head of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Kaspersky Lab. “That’s why energy enterprises need to bolster their defences to combat increasingly prevalent cyberattacks and avoid the nightmare scenario of complete loss of service and the impact that would have on citizens and society in general.”

Alexander Golubev, Chief IT Security Officer at Electrical Distribution Network Northwest Federal District, Rosseti, commented: “Being one of the major operators of electric grids in Russia, it is very important for our company to ensure uninterrupted operations, including those caused by cyberattacks on our IT infrastructure. A large number of our subsidiaries has been using Kaspersky Lab’s solutions for a long time, as they allow them to effectively detect and block all types of cybersecurity threats in a timely manner. As a result of this positive experience, we are evaluating the option to extend cooperation to the field of industrial security. The test deployment of Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity for Energy on one of our substations has become the first important step in this direction”.

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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MTN Nigeria Suffers 9,218 Fibre Cuts in 2025

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Karl Toriola MTN Nigeria

By Adedapo Adesanya

MTN Nigeria has revealed that it experienced 9,218 fibre cuts in 2025, causing widespread network disruptions across the country.

The telecommunications giant also reported that 211 sites were affected by theft and vandalism as of November 30, 2025, impacting essential services relied upon by customers daily.

The company recorded a total of 1,624,263 customer complaints, all of which were resolved across various service channels during the year. Despite these challenges, MTN reached 85 million subscribers by September 2025.

The chief executive of the telco, Mr Karl Toriola, made these revelations in his latest post on LinkedIn, acknowledging the company’s responsibility for network performance and its efforts to improve the customer experience.

He stated that the services fell short of customers’ expectations and clarified that some of these gaps were shaped by real operational challenges such as fibre cuts, theft, and vandalism.

“Their impact is felt directly by customers and reflected in what they tell us. We take responsibility for the signals we receive and for how we respond to the realities that shape the customer experience on our network,” he said.

Regardless, Mr Toriola added that, “There is progress to be proud of. And we clearly still have work to do.”

“We are not where we want to be yet, but our commitment to putting the customer at the centre of everything we do remains constant.”

As MTN prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2026, Mr Toriola reaffirmed the company’s dedication to listening to customers, responding quickly to issues, and driving consistent service improvements.

Some other milestones announced include addressing 1,624,263 customer complaints across all communication channels as well as receiving best network recognition from Ookla, getting back to profitability, and declaring interim dividends to shareholders.

The report comes in the wake of a February 2025 initiative by the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, which established a joint standing committee on the protection of fibre optic cables in Nigeria.

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AI Legal Tech Firm Ivo Gets $55m for Contract Intelligence

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AI legal tech Ivo

By Dipo Olowookere

The sum of $55 million has been injected into an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered contract intelligence platform, Ivo, to support product development and scaling as the company deepens its reach across the hundreds of organizations that already rely on its product, including Uber, Shopify, Atlassian, Reddit, and Canva.

The Series B funding round comes after a year of substantial growth in product performance, customer adoption, and market traction to accelerate its mission of making contract intelligence available to every business.

Since its last funding round, Ivo has grown annual recurring revenue by 500 per cent, increased total customers by 134 per cent, and expanded adoption within the Fortune 500 by 250 per cent.

Business Post gathered that the latest funding support came from Blackbird, Costanoa Ventures, Uncork Capital, Fika Ventures, GD1 and Icehouse Ventures.

Ivo is purpose-built for in-house teams that need both reviews with surgical accuracy as well as visibility into their complete contract library.

The company’s AI-powered contract review solution, Ivo Review, allows users to complete reviews in a fraction of the time; customers report saving up to 75 per cent of the time that manual review would demand.

The product standardizes a company’s positions and precedents using playbooks built and implemented by lawyers. This means that every contract is reviewed accurately, consistently, and efficiently, critical for large and globally distributed teams.

“Our goal has always been to make interacting with contracts fast, accurate, and enjoyable. Every key relationship in a business is defined by an agreement, yet most organizations struggle to extract the insights inside them.

“Our focus is to give in-house teams a trustworthy solution that helps them work faster and gives them visibility into their contracts that was previously impossible,” the chief executive and co-founder of Ivo, Min-Kyu Jung, stated.

Also commenting, a Principal at Blackbird, Mr James Palmer, said, “In-house legal teams demand products that are deeply accurate and aligned to how they work. The most sophisticated teams are incredibly selective about the tools they trust.

“Ivo’s traction with some of the world’s best companies shows it consistently exceeds that bar. With exceptional product execution and an uncompromising quality bar, we believe Ivo is defining and leading the category.”

The Senior Manager for Contract Operations at Uber, Ms Kate Gardner, said, “Uber selected Ivo because it was intuitive to use, demonstrated a high level of accuracy, could work in multiple languages, and met its confidentiality requirements. Furthermore, the Ivo team was highly responsive to Uber’s needs.”

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Nigeria Leads in AI for Learning, Entrepreneurship—Google

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AI for Learning Nigeria

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A new report released by global tech giant, Google, in collaboration with Ipsos, has revealed that Nigeria is writing the playbook on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it leads in AI for learning and entrepreneurship.

In the study titled Our Life with AI: Helpfulness in the hands of more people, it was shown that Nigerians are using AI tools for everything from education to entrepreneurship at a remarkable rate, showing immense optimism for the technology’s future.

It was disclosed that about 88 per cent of Nigerian adults have used an AI chatbot, a huge 18-point jump from 2024, placing the West African country well ahead of the global average of 62 per cent.

It was also found out that while the top use for AI globally has shifted to learning, Nigerians are taking it a step further, using AI as a powerful tool for personal and professional development.

A staggering 93 per cent of Nigerians use AI to learn or understand complex topics, compared to 74 per cent globally, with 91 per cent using the tool to assist them with their work.

In addition, the research observed that 80 per cent of Nigerians are using AI to explore a new business or career change—nearly double the global average of 42 per cent.

Nigerians have overwhelmingly positive feelings about AI’s role in the classroom and beyond, seeing it as a game-changer for education, with 91 per cent feeling AI is having a positive impact on how we learn and access information versus 65 per cent globally.

The report showed that 95 per cent believe university students and educators are likely to benefit from AI, as 80 per cent of Nigerians are more excited about the possibilities of AI, versus just 20 per cent who are more concerned. Globally, the split is much closer at 53 per cent excited and 46 per cent concerned).

Commenting on the findings, the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google in West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said, “It’s inspiring to see how Nigerians are creatively and purposefully using AI to unlock new opportunities for learning, growth, and economic empowerment.

“This report doesn’t just show high adoption rates; it tells the story of a nation that is actively shaping its future with technology, using AI as a tool to accelerate progress and achieve its ambitions. We’re committed to ensuring that AI remains a helpful and accessible tool for everyone.”

Business Post gathered that the research was conducted by Ipsos between September 22 and October 10, 2025, on behalf of Google.

For this survey, a sample of roughly 1,000 adults aged 18+ who are residents of Nigeria and were interviewed online, representing the country’s online population.

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