technology news
Top 10 Most Imitated Companies in 2021 So Far
In a brand phishing attack, cybercriminals try to imitate the official website of a well-known brand by using a similar domain name or URL and web page design to the genuine site. The link to the fake website can be sent to target individuals by email or text message, a user can be redirected during web browsing, or it may be triggered by a fraudulent mobile application. The fake website often contains a form intended to steal users’ credentials, payment details or other personal information. Check Point’s new Brand Phishing Report reveals the most frequently imitated by criminals. Here are the Top 10 phishing brands in Q1 of 2021: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_657.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_657.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Microsoft (related to 39% of all brand...
Dell Unveils the New Inspiron Laptop Lineup
Dell has unveiled its new lineup of Inspiron laptops – including the 13, 14 & 15-inch devices as well as the Inspiron 16 Plus. According to Dell, these laptops have been designed with a work-from-anywhere lifestyle in mind. They feature a nearly borderless display, expansive keyboard, larger keycaps and spacious touchpad to make it easier for viewing and smoother to navigate content. And to ensure users look their best while streaming online, Dell has included an HD webcam in the new line up with Temporal Noise Reduction (TNR) hardware solution for quality video streaming. Inspiron 13, 14 & 15 /* custom css */ .tdi_3_878.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_878.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Every Inspiron from the 13-inch to 15-inch features easy-to-use technolog...
South African Businesses Adopted Hybrid Cloud at An Increasing Rate In 2020
Image sourced from Glassdoor Nutanix, a leader in private cloud, hybrid, and multicloud computing, has released the local data from its third global Enterprise Cloud Index survey, showing how South African companies compare with the rest of the globe regarding their hybrid cloud adoption in 2020. South African organisations are still transitioning to a hybrid cloud infrastructure, and for most organisations, these transitions do not happen overnight. Legacy applications may justify keeping older infrastructure for a time or require re-platforming skills that organisations may not have access to. According to the report, 50% of South Africa organisations run either private cloud-only or a non-integrated mix of private, public, and traditional infrastructure models. Key Findings includ...
How Companies Should Deal with the Threat of Cybercrime
Sourced from International IDEA Cybercrime is on the rise and South African C-suites would do well to ensure that they have up-to-date and appropriately resourced strategies to deal with its threat. The pandemic showed us that while land and sea borders can be shut, in the digital village this is not possible, and more importantly, in many instances, it is unclear where these attacks originate. The definition of cybercrime perhaps holds the key to who should take it seriously. Cybercrime is defined as criminal activities that are carried out by means of a computer or the internet. Anyone who uses a computer that is connected to the internet should have a cybercrime strategy in place. No matter where you are in the world, if you let your guard down you are at risk. Everyone needs to be resp...
Calls for Safaricom to Share Telco Infrastructure by Kenya Competition Authority
Image sourced from Techweez The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has approached Parliament with new laws that would require the country’s telco’s – mainly Safaricom – to share their private infrastructure on a commercial basis. “The authority’s view is that ab initio infrastructure provisions in the sector should have been separated from the mobile network operators. Primarily regulations should have been developed to ensure that third parties provide the infrastructure. Unfortunately, this did not happen,” says CAK Director-General, Francis Wang’ombe Kariuki. “It is with this reality that we opine regulations should be promulgated and enforced in regard to infrastructure sharing on a commercial basis and in case of dispute, the sector regulator [Communications Authority of Kenya] may ...
3 Cybersecurity Challenges Triggered by COVID-19 Lockdown
The global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the everyday operations of businesses and as a result, the cyber risk still remains a grave concern as many business practices have been compromised. The ZA Central Registry organisation, which is the administrator of South Africa’s .za domain name, recently warned that South Africa is a global target for international fraudsters and cybersecurity measures are more important now than ever before. “It is essential for businesses to be aware of the nature of these cybercrimes and technology countermeasures to protect their businesses, especially when considering the cybersecurity challenges that have occurred during lockdown”, says Riaan de Villiers, Cybersecurity Expert and Business Analyst at LAWtrust. Here’s a Quick Look at the Top 3 Cybersecurity Ch...
Unpacking the Economic Impact of COVID 19 on SMBs in South Africa
One in two small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in South Africa has yet to see revenues recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest edition of Facebook’s Global State of Small Business Report. 50% of operational South African SMBs on Facebook reported that their sales in February were lower than the equivalent month last year. Some 74% reported that they were operational or engaging in any revenue-generating activities, while 8% of operational SMBs on Facebook expected challenges related to cash flow and 20% expected challenges related to demand or a lack of customers in the next few months. Continuing trends observed throughout the pandemic: Women-owned South African businesses have been hit especially hard. Some 71% of women-led SMBs (vs. 77% of men-led SMBs) on Facebook ...
Zeepay Ghana Acquires Zambian Mobile Money Platform
Image sourced from Modern Ghana Zeepay Ghana has revealed its plans to acquire a majority stake (51%) in Zambian company Mangwee Mobile Money – although, it is not yet known how much Zeepay paid for the majority stake. “The merger is the first of its kind – that two indigenous African fintech companies in mobile money operations have come together to grow. It represents a wind of change ongoing on the African continent,” reads a statement from Zeepay. Managing Director of Zeepay, Andrew Takyi-Appiah believes that this deal will allow Zeepay to expands its operations through Southern Africa. He says “this will give Zeepay access to Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Namibia amongst others in our efforts to capture Africa’s $70billion remittance market and opportunity to deploy our award-winning...
Safaricom is Testing a Digital Health Passport Programme
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom has begun testing Afya Moja – a mobile health records system – in partnership with Nakuru County. The initial pilot programme will see over 100,000 people be part of the integrated electronics medical records program. According to TechIsh, Afya Moja is a simple mobile-based Digital Health Passport that receives and securely stores patient information. With the platform, users can access a copy of their health information, and share it with trusted healthcare providers. “So, a doctor can for example, upon receiving consent from a user, have access to their medical background, helping them effectively handle whatever [medical] situation is at hand.” Steve Chege, Chief of Corporate Affairs at Safaricom, says “what we aim to do through Afya Moja, is to mak...
Are BaaS Solutions the Answer to Spike in Ransomware Attacks?
With an ever-growing number of people working from home, primarily due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, meaning that dealing with security risks is an ongoing journey for enterprises. IDC predicts that by 2023, 60% of data will be generated at the edge by people working from home and from devices outside of the corporate firewall. While at the same time, many corporate cloud services are already being rendered from locations outside the data centre. This has given rise to ransomware attacks as many employees who are working remotely have their firewalls and access points configured to allow remote access. This has also seen an increase in ransomware attacks against Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. While SaaS applications are generally secure...
Dell to ‘Spin-Off’ Shares in VMware
Image sourced from TechCrunch Dell has revealed its plan to spin off its 81% stake in VMware in an attempt to reduce its debt. According to TechCrunch, the way that the deal works is that “Dell plans to offer VMware shareholders a special dividend of between $11.5 and $12 billion. As Dell owns approximately 81% of those shares that would work out to somewhere between $9.3 and $9.7 billion coming into Dell’s coffers when the deal closes later this year”. Dell CEO, Michael Dell says that by spinning off VMware, “we expect to drive additional growth opportunities for Dell Technologies as well as VMware, and unlock significant value for stakeholders. Both companies will remain important partners, with a differentiated advantage in how we bring solutions to customers”. This is a move long ...
Paratus Appoints New Group CCO
Image sourced from Patriot Paratus has announced the appointment of Martin Cox as its new Group Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). He brings a wealth of experience as a founder shareholder of Neotel and Executive for Strategy, Commercial and M&A at Internet Solutions. Cox will run the commercial operation for Paratus from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he is expected to focus on driving the company’s aggressive growth plans for its expansion in Africa. UK born and educated, Cox is a qualified lawyer and MBA graduate. His work in the international telecommunications sector began in the late ‘90s with a private equity development company that invested in telecom operators in emerging markets. More recently, Cox was responsible for Strategy, Commercial and M&A Internet Solutions (part...
