Author: ITPulse

By Elvis Eromosele The COVID19 pandemic is not letting up. It continues to race and rage across the globe. With 92 million cases and almost two million deaths, one expects every hand to be on deck to curb the spread. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that if COVID-19 is spreading in your community, stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue. Yet in Nigeria where the second wave is blossoming crowds have besieged National Identity Management Commission…

Video conferencing platform, Zoom is set to sell 4.4 million shares with a value of $337.71 in a secondary offering to raise $1.5 billion that will be used for acquisitions or strategic investments this year. Experts believe that the sale of the shares is taking advantage of a surge in investors’ interest in Zoom’s stock, which quintupled in value last year when the company’s flagship product became a household name. Zoom is already profitable, but the share sale will pad its balance sheet. As of October, the company had $730.5 million of cash and equivalents, up from $283.1 million in…

The government of Uganda has blocked all social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter ahead of tomorrow’s crucial presidential and parliamentary elections. The East African country’s telecom regulatory body, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) in a letter to all Internet Service Providers (ISPs), ordered the immediate suspension of access and use” of all messaging apps and social media platforms until further notice. Though further details not disclosed why the suspension of all social media platforms, there is a wide belief that it is an attempt by the incumbent President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to muscle the oppositions and the citizens to…

The United Kingdom-based Control Risks, a specialist global risk consultancy has announced the Top 5 Risks for Business in 2021, with a world with Covid-19 coming first on the list. Control Risks believes that in 2021, the business will face a globally fragmented recovery from COVID-19; and now is the time to embrace risk and focus on the rebound as there will be emerging digital threats. “There’s no doubt that businesses will continue to face considerable disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, but we believe that the opportunities are real and exciting for many companies in 2021,” comments Control Risks CEO,…

Global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky has in its security bulletin asserted that growing economic turbulence along with the impact of Covid-19 will contribute to an increase in cybercrime across South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria in 2021. The bulletin noted that while the increase in these crimes will vary by country, African nations must prepare themselves for the inevitability of increases in malware that already topped 28 million by August last year, according to Kaspersky research.  “Even though every country globally has had to deal with the pandemic in its own way, developing economies across Africa have been especially hard hit by…

Global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky has recommended seven key points that will help organisations and individual stay protected in 2021, even as it disclosed that in 2020, an average of 360,000 new malicious files was detected by per day – an increase of 5.2 percent when compared to 2019. This increase was influenced mostly by a large growth in the number of Trojans (malicious files capable of a range of actions, including deleting data and spying and backdoors (a specific type of Trojan that gives attackers remote control over the infected device. The seven recommendations are: Pay close attention to and…

TradeDepot, the B2B eCommerce platform for consumer goods in Africa, has today released new insights from its market data that highlights the trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021. According to TradeDepot, the impact of the pandemic, rising inflation, border closures and other issues drove significant changes in behaviour for retailers, distributors and manufacturers in 2020. As the sector settles into the new year, TradeDepot predicts that some of the main trends that shaped 2020 – particularly smaller packaging for consumer goods and increased spending on food and essential goods due to dwindling disposable income and people spending…

The Nigerian government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has sponsored five Startups from Nigeria out of the six from Africa to participate at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021, a US-based technology event that provides ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators. The other startup that will feature at the event, which holds annually every January in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA is from South Africa. A statement from NITDA disclosed that this will be the first time Nigerian Startups will be exhibiting at CES and will showcase to the world what Nigeria has achieved in the technology…

The integration of software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) has given rise to DevOps, an indispensable element in the software development life cycle. DevOps fosters a collaborative environment, emphasising teamwork, integration, and communication between developers and operations teams. With the increasing demand for digital transformation, DevOps has become a critical skill for IT professionals worldwide. Becoming a Global DevOps Engineer requires the ability to apply DevOps principles and practices in a global context. Such an engineer must collaborate across organisational, cultural, and geographical boundaries to deliver high-quality software solutions that meet clients’ global demands. One notable example of a…

Ajayi Tajudeen, an Ikoyi Club-based category-1 amateur golfer has emerged winner of the 59th edition of the FirstBank sponsored Lagos Open Golf Championship. Ajayi closed with 1-under par 70 for a total of 7-over the course par to win the Championship by two-shots after 56-holes. Speaking after winning, Ajayi adduced his success to hard work, saying “I practiced a lot. There is no shortcut to success which is why I take the sport very seriously. I was well prepared for this tournament because I practiced a lot,” he said. With his victory, Ajayi replaces Peter Eben-Spiff on the FirstBank Open…