tech news
Rubrik for Microsoft 365 Delivers Faster, Simpler Recoveries at Scale
Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa It’s well known that Microsoft 365 – formerly known as Microsoft Office 365 – is one of the most widely used solutions for email, collaboration and document storage in large enterprises. At the same time, Microsoft doesn’t provide its own backup and restore offering, but instead encourages third-party vendors to provide their own solutions. Cloud data management company Rubrik places a focus on speed and simplicity of management in its backup and restore solution for Microsoft 365. Rubrik offers a policy-based SLA enforcement, and uses Microsoft Azure as the storage location for backups. Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa, which distributes Rubrik throughout Afri...
6 Ways to Improve Your POPIA Readiness
When it comes to POPIA compliance readiness, only 30% of South African organisations believe they are well-prepared – according to the KnowBe4 online data protection survey. To make sure your company is ready, Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist KnowBe4 Africa, has shared six things that you can do: 1. Education and Awareness Should be a Top Priority “Education and awareness should be a top priority for organisations as we approach the POPIA deadline,” she says. “This is critical at every level of the business, from top management down to every person who works at the organisation. Everyone has to be aware of their responsibilities with regards to handling personal information and their roles when it comes to the safeguarding of personal information.” People unfortunatel...
Research Shows an Increase in Ransomware Attacks on South African Companies
South Africa is firmly in the sights of international cybercrime syndicates, who have been ramping up their attacks on local companies in the past six months – reveals cybersecurity defence, offence and protection specialist, Nclose. Martin Potgieter, Co-Founder of Nclose, says the Nview MDR team have detected a significant uptick in the number of attempts made against local customers in recent months. “We, and our colleagues in the cybersecurity sector, are seeing a surge in cybercrime activity – in particular ransomware attacks,” he says. “There has definitely been an increase in syndicates that make use of humans to launch and coordinate their attacks, they are not just relying on automated ransomware attacks.” Stephen Osler, Co-Founder at Nclose, says South African companies typical...
ETI Appoints New Group Executive of Operations and Technology
Image sourced from Naija247News Ecobank parent company, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has appointed Tomisin Fashina as its new Group Executive of Operations and Technology – a position he will now hold in addition to his existing role of Managing Director of eProcess International. “The rapidly accelerating digital adoption by Africa’s citizenry and businesses, together with the explosion in eCommerce across the continent, is driving transformation throughout the banking and payment sectors,” says Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank. “Winning across operations and technology is essential for the Ecobank Group’s short, medium and long-term success, and is an integral requirement of our ongoing determination to continue to meet the evolving expectations of our customers. Tomisin is well e...
Airtel Kenya Makes Network Upgrades to Avoid CA Fines
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Kenya has made a number of improvements to its network in order to meet the regulatory minimum threshold on quality of calls across the country. Airtel Managing Director, Prasanta Das Sarma told Business Daily that 270 sites were upgraded from 2G and 3G sites to 4G while more than 400 sites were added in upcountry towns and highways. “In total, the upgrade covered 20 counties. Some more sites will be added by end of April when the work will be done,” says Sarma. “We are vindicated when we see more customers using us. With this kind of expansion, we will be able to satisfy CA criteria (on voice quality).” Airtel Africa – and Telkom – came under fire earlier this year when the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) placed the telco’s under scrutiny after alleged...
Huawei Partners with Mondia to Expand Contactless Payments Across Africa
Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) has teamed up with Mondia Pay, a digital payments company, to roll out seamless and contactless payments solutions for mobile network operators. Since the commencement of the partnership in September 2020, demand for the implementation of Direct Carrier Billing service (DCB) for seamless, contactless payments for mobile users in the MEA region has grown. Mondia Pay’s direct carrier billing service integration was launched with Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat UAE. During this quarter the following operators – Ufone Pakistan, Cell C South Africa, Orange Tunisia and Ooredoo Algeria – will go live with the DCB service, following the testing phase. As a DCB services for consumers, Mondia Pay is available on HuaweiAppGallery, to facilitate online payments. Subscribers ca...
How Telematics is Driving eCommerce during COVID-19
If ever there was a time for the eCommerce sector to adopt telematics technology, it would be now: COVID-19 has disrupted the retail landscape, with more South Africans now choosing e-commerce as their preferred shopping channel over traditional brick-and-mortar stores. According to a Mastercard study, as much as 68% of South African consumers said they are shopping more online since the onset of the pandemic. More online shopping means that there are more deliveries to be made, and the logistics industry has had to scale operations to meet the growing demand. The various levels of lockdown, COVID-19 regulations and people working from home have created a greater reliance on home deliveries, with the industry now findi...
Safaricom Partners with Ericsson to Provide Gbps Backhaul Capacity in Kenya
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom has chosen Ericsson to supply microwave solutions based on the E-band platform to achieve multi Gbps backhaul capacity for mobile broadband nationwide coverage in Kenya. The solution – MINI-LINK 6352 – is expected to offer high capacity, efficient use of spectrum, low-energy consumption and simplified operations and maintenance. With technological advances in microwave system software and new radio hardware, microwave transport capacity has moved from megabit-per-second capacity to gigabit-per-second capacity. By deploying Ericsson’s microwave solution, Safaricom will benefit from multi Gbps links as an alternative in areas where fibre is not viable. The links will assist in providing the much-needed capacity to assist the service provider to expand da...
What is Cyber Doxxing and How to Protect Against It
Since the beginning of internet errors, a lot of personal details is revealed. Publishing personal data online may be very dangerous. The internet is a pool where you will find all sorts of people including hackers, cyberbullies, and other people with defamatory intentions. Such people collect and publish personal information with a bad intention. When this is done, it is known as Doxxing. Doxxing comes from the word “documents” with the act of documenting another person’s information. Criminals dig up personal details of an individual who wants to remain anonymous and expose them to the public. The main aim is to harass or shame the person. Although details like email addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers are available online, there are other details like pictures, financi...
Ride-Hailing Platform, Bolt Now Available on Huawei App Gallery
Huawei has announced that ride-hailing platform – Bolt – is now available on its AppGallery. The service provides users with a simple, affordable, and much quicker way of reaching any destination within certain cities in South Africa. Moreover, it can help users avoid the hassle of missing an important appointment, reduce stress related to heavy traffic during peak hours, and enable a secure and contactless payment method. Huawei has also revealed that ride-hailing apps – like Bolt – are integrated within the core Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem. They include Huawei Map and Location kit, which provides an accurate location when booking rides and location tracking, thereby offering an enhanced user experience. FNB Banking App Launches on Huawei App Gallery FNB has confirmed that its ...
M-Pesa Africa Appoints New Managing Director
Image sourced from Twitter Safaricom’s M-Pesa Africa has appointed Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as its new Managing Director. He is a “mobile financial services expert who has directly managed mobile money in two of the largest markets in the world – Kenya and Tanzania,” reveals MyBroadBand. Lopokoiyit joined Safaricom in 2011 as head of M-Pesa strategy and business development. He then went on to Vodacom Tanzania in 2016 where he worked as the director of m-commerce, before re-joining Safaricom in 2018. Kenyan Senators Call for Safaricom to Split Senators in Kenya believe that Safaricom should split into two firms – Mobile Services and M-PESA. According to The Star, a split would see the mobile telephony service is regulated by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the M-Pesa...
Almost 50% of South Africans Will Avoid a Service Provider Following a Data Breach, Research Shows
Nearly half of South African consumers (46%) would walk away from an online service provider if it suffered any form of data breach, according to a global study by Kaspersky. The idea of avoidable data misuse is likely to incur even greater wrath from respondents, however, with 68% affirming they would no longer use the provider for fear of their data being sold to a third party in this case. As consumers understand more about businesses’ data privacy responsibilities, more transparency is needed from those companies about how they handle user data. Having to shop, be entertained, communicate and conduct business virtually is likely to have sparked heightened awareness about how much data is being offered, and what the upshots of this proliferation could be. Over two-thirds (67%) of respon...
