One of the world leading anti virus solution providers, Kaspersky has disclosed that the proliferation of mobile phone, which is forecast to reach4.68 billion of which 2.7 billion are smartphone users in 2019 is the reason mobile device security threats are on the rise. It also attributed this to unsecured Wi-Fi connections, network spoofing, phishing attacks, ransomware, spyware and improper session handling, making the mobile devices easy target. “So, if you are looking for a target, it certainly makes sense to go where the numbers are. Mobile apps are often the cause of unintentional data leakage,” it says adding that…
Author: ITPulse
The semi-finalist judging panel for this year’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) have been announced. The ANPI is a prize competition for African entrepreneurs spearheaded by the Jack Ma Foundation. For the next ten years, the ANPI will be hosted across Africa culminating in an annual finale where ten finalists will compete in a pitch competition. The ANPI aims to support and inspire the next generation of African entrepreneurs across all sectors, who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future. Applications for the first ANPI officially closed 30 June 2019 and nearly 10,000 applications from 50 African…
It is looking up for Fintech startups in Africa as Transsion Holding, owner of TECNO, Infinix and iTel brands recently sealed a partnership deal with Wapi Capital to invest $100, 000 into the early stage of some selected startups. Once selected, the startups will be housed in Transsion’s new tech hub dubbed Future Hub under Senior Investor Laura Li in Nairobi, where they will be tutored by Phoenix, Scoop and Boomplay to develop solutions that are suited into addressing the continent challenges, especially payment systems. At the end, Transsion Holdings and kenya’s Wapi Capital will select early-stage fintech startups from…
Chinese tech giant, Huawei has described the report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it helps African governments spy on political opponents, including surveillance and distributing spyware, leading to arrests and other crackdowns as unfounded and inaccurate allegations. Several reports have quoted the Wall Street Journal alleging that Huawei’s employees crack down opposition politicians in Africa, using surveillance cameras, phone tapping, and cracking encrypted communications with spyware. But, Huawei in a response said its code of business forbid any employee from undertaking any activities that would compromise the data or privacy of its customers or end users, or that…
One of Nigeria’s biggest financial institutions, Fidelity Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Open Technology Foundation (OTF) for the adoption of a standard Application Programming Interface (API) for its operations as a financial institution. The deal, Fidelity said is consistent with its commitment to the adoption of innovative digital technology to drive its retail strategy, reduce costs and improve revenue and returns. “Through this partnership, Fidelity Bank would deepen its financial service delivery through appropriate and time sensitive channels whilst collaborating with other stakeholders within the ecosystem,” said Fidelity Bank CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo. The statement described open Banking…
The Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, Mr. Yinka Sanni has highlighted some of the ways the financial institution promotes healthy living and wellness among staff of the bank. Mr. Sanni gave the highlights at this year’s edition of the Stanbic IBTC Employee Health and Wellness week with the theme: “Healthy Mind, Healthy Body – Reloaded.” While encouraging the company’s employees to pay more attention to their mental health, to be more mindful about their lifestyle and to inculcate healthy habits, Sanni noted that the Health and Wellness Week is part of the bank’s contribution towards promoting wellness and healthy…
By Martin Ekpeke The latest figures released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as of May 2019 show that, Nigeria presently has 63,244,609 broadband subscribers, representing 33.13 percent penetration. This figure puts side by side the population of 201,102,939 people living in the country, according to World Population Review is poor. What this means is that 137, 858, 609 Nigerians are without broadband connectivity in today’s world, where people can easily interact with an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), carry out activities around e-commerce, e-government, tele-medicine among others on a daily basis. Why some stakeholders have commended the figure, saying it…
Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital Territory is set to host over 54-member nations of the African Union (AU) Conference of African Telecommunications Regulators on Consumer Affairs, CATCO 2019, with the theme: Empowering the Telecom Consumer in an Era of Technological Evolution. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), disclosed this in a statement last night, saying the fulcrum of the 3-day Conference is to find a way of how regulatory activities of the African continent can be integrated for seamless connectivity to boost customer satisfaction. The conference is slated for August 20 – 22, 2019. ”This year’s event is geared towards pursuing a continuous…
Facebook has expanded its local language coverage in Africa, as part of its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme, which it uses to raise potentially false stories to fact-checkers for review Social media giant launched the local language support for several African languages in 2018 to assess the accuracy of news on Facebook and aims to reduce the spread of misinformation. It relies on feedback from the Facebook community. It was launched across five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon. This time, it has partnered with Africa Check, Africa’s first independent fact-checking organisation, to expand its local…
A new report from the GSMA has noted that, while 5G is inevitable, given that it is a natural progression from previous technology generations, it is not imminent in most markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa region as existing technologies are capable of supporting current use cases and demand for mobile internet connectivity. The report argues that for all countries in the region, market readiness is necessary to determine the timing for the transition to 5G and will help maximise value from 5G services for consumers, operators and the wider society. The report, which establishes the outlook and expectations for the…