IT News
Kenyans Can Now Use Telkom T-kash to Pay for eCitizen Services
Telkom’s T-kash, the telco’s Kenyan-based mobile money platform, has been fully integrated into the governments’ digital services platform, Citizen. According to Gadgets Africa, this partnership will “enable T-kash customers to pay for National and County Government Services that are able to be found on the portal”. The list of services users will be able to pay for are those offered by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA); Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Business Registration Service and Immigration Services. The list also includes services under the Civil Registration Department, Office of the Attorney General, Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), National Construction Authority, Kenya Film Commission, National Environment Manageme...
Contactless Payment Methods Beat Traditional Options for the First Time
Sourced from Htxt.Africa South African bank, FNB has revealed that contactless payments have surpassed Chip and PIN contact payments for the first time ever among its Credit, Debit, Fusion, and Virtual Card users. The Bank attributes the behavioural shift (from chip contact to contactless) to consumer’s preference and awareness of safer, convenient, and quicker means to pay at a Point-of-Sale. “This is a remarkable milestone for the financial services industry, and it augurs well for efforts to improve safety and convenience in the payments network,” says Raj Makanjee, Payments Executive at FNB. “With over 10 million contactless cards in the hands of our customers and 200 000 Virtual Cards activated, we are delighted to see our customers pioneering what we believe to be the future of payme...
Mondia Pay and M-Pesa Expand FinTech Footprint in Tanzania
/* custom css */ .tdi_4_713.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_713.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Mondia Pay and M-Pesa have partnered to allow Tanzanians to access Mondia’s suite of online content on the Vodacom Tanzania PLC digital services network. This means 7 Million Vodacom Tanzania customers can now make use of their airtime balances via SMS and USSD to subscribe to Mondia digital services including PlayInc., MyMuze, Vodacom Premier league, as well as many other news and entertainment services. With the addition of the Mondia Pay and M-Pesa payment option, users now have a safe, secure and convenient payment method connecting them to content, from sports and movies to music and games. The partnership shows the growth potential for innovative fintech and content collabo...
Unpacking Lessons from Ransomeware Attacks in 2021
It’s nearly impossible to read the news without seeing at least one headline blaring about a breach, hack or attack. In the USA, the Colonial Pipeline experienced a Darkside ransomware attack that affected more than 10, 000 gas stations. Virgin Active was hit by a hack in early May 2021 and took weeks to re-establish its systems. Vastaamo, a platform that provided therapy to thousands of patients, lost its data to hackers thanks to an unexpected security flaw. The hackers sent ransom demands to patients – pay up, or your personal information is public knowledge. As Stephen Osler, Co-Founder and Business Development Director at Nclose, points out, the criminal networks and masterminds behind digital attacks are doing their jobs and have every motivation to do these jobs extremely well. “The...
Vital Pandemic Industries Foster Unprecedented DDoS Attack Activity
Netscout today announced findings from its bi-annual Threat Intelligence Report, punctuated by a record-setting 10,089,687 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks observed during 2020. Cybercriminals exploited vulnerabilities exposed by massive internet usage shifts since many users were no longer protected by enterprise-grade security. Attackers paid particular attention to vital pandemic industries such as eCommerce, streaming services, online learning, and healthcare generating a 20% year-over-year increase in attack frequency over 2019 plus a 22% increase in the last six months of 2020. In August, a threat actor Netscout dubbed Lazarus Bear Armada (LBA) launched one of the most sustained and extensive DDoS extortion campaigns yet seen, taking down the New Zealand stock exchan...
MTN Completes NLD Fibre Cable Project in South Africa
MTN has officially completed its Coastal National Long Distance (NLD) fibre cable project. The fibre route starts in Cape Town, and runs along the N2, moves through Gqeberha and East London and then on to Durban. It is expected to offer an exciting alternative to existing fibre networks and older, slower options and covers an impressive 1,822 kms while supporting several other sites. “The project gives MTN an opportunity to provide additional and significant capacity between coastal cities and the rest of SA, ensuring the digital world is brought one step closer for many more people,” says Giovanni Chiarelli, CIO at MTN SA. The NLD 5/6 project commenced over 3 years ago, constructed by Liquid Telecoms (Liquid Intelligent Technologies), with MTN as the key anchor investor. Apart ...
Infobip to Roll Out WhatsApp for Business in Botswana
/* custom css */ .tdi_3_ec0.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ec0.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Infobip has joined forces with Redbullet to roll out an Automated WhatsApp for Business API channel to its clients with the option of a breakout to a live agent. Established in 2010, Redbullet is a Botswana-based company that provides omnichannel solutions to enterprise customers in the local market. Bakang Sebele, Co-Founder of the ICT company says that they approached Infobip based on its reputation as a big omnichannel provider in South Africa. It had previously also used Infobip’s SMS platform before developing its own. “WhatsApp for Business is a fairly new technology in Botswana, but most people here use WhatsApp as their preferred channel of communication. It mad...
Huawei to Launch New Android Alternative HarmonyOS in June
/* custom css */ .tdi_3_aaa.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_aaa.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Huawei has confirmed that it will launch its new smartphone operating system (OS) HarmonyOS in June. The Chinese tech company told Global Times that the OS has been in use for the last two years on a number of Huawei watches, laptops and home appliances but it will now formally support smartphones. Huawei expects the number of devices equipped with HarmonyOS to reach 300 million by the end of 2021, including more than 200 million Huawei devices. According to TechRadar, HarmonyOS is related to, but not exactly the same as, the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), replacements to Google’s apps that the company is working on in an effort to work pass the Huawei ban. “These are apps th...
Telkom Group Records Growth in Mobile Business
Telkom has released its financial results – ending 31 March 2021. The telco saw the lion’s share of its income made up by “next-generation technologies” like its mobile business. Growth, driven by the mobile business, saw EBITDA grow 11.7% to R11 973 million, with EBITDA margin expanding by 2.8 ppts to 27.7%. Despite a challenging environment, Group revenue grew 0.4% to R43 222 million. Mobile business revenue growth now more than offsets the anticipated structural decline in fixed-voice revenue and revenue pressures from COVID-19. The results showed a change in revenue mix, with legacy fixed-voice income now contributing only 15% to the business. Notwithstanding the challenging trading environment, the Group delivered underlying earnings growth of 88.1% to R2 622 million, growing BEPS and...
Samsung Unveils 3 New Smart Monitors
/* custom css */ .tdi_3_b86.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_b86.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Samsung has unveiled its newly expanded Smart Monitor lineup which provides more display sizes and design options, along with new and enhanced smart features. “As time spent working, learning and playing from home increases for people around the world, homes are being transformed into multi-functional environments,” said Hyesung Ha, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our expanded Smart Monitor lineup will continue to provide users with even more convenient and flexible ways to accomplish everyday activities through technology, enabling them to truly ‘do it all’ through powerful mobile and PC connectivity on the smartest monitor available on ...
Double Bullseye for SentinelOne in Recent Prestigious Global Accolades
Stefan van de Giessen, General Manager: Cybersecurity at Networks Unlimited Africa SentinelOne’s endpoint security solutions came out on top among endpoint vendors in the latest ATT&CK Evaluation performed by MITRE Engenuity. Having recently released its results from the 2020 evaluation, SentinelOne was proud to report that it was the only vendor to achieve complete visibility, with zero missed detections, across both Windows and Linux environments. In addition, SentinelOne was also proud to announce that it has recently been positioned by Gartner as a Leader in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. SentinelOne believes the placement is a testament to the company’s innovative Singularity XDR platform and scaled go-to-market execution in record time. Over and ...
Beware of this New SMS Phishing Scheme Spreading Worldwide
A new, and viral, phishing scheme has seen fraudsters putting mobile users’ financial information at risk, according to Kaspersky. The cybersecurity company revealed that attackers, typically under the guise of a postal service, request a small sum of money for the shipping costs of a package. Once a user clicks on an SMS authentication code for the money transfer, the device is compromised thereby enabling increasingly larger amounts of money to be stolen. “Because it is not a complex phishing attack, it has already gained traction in other parts of the world with fraudsters able to pose as virtually any service provider from prepaid electricity to airtime, naming just a few examples,” says Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa. Phishing, regardless of the scheme u...
