Author: ITPulse

Researchers from the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in the US identified 1,325 Android apps that were gathering data from devices even after people explicitly denied them permission, news portal CNET reported on Tuesday. Serge Egelman, Director of Usable Security And Privacy research at the ICSI, presented the study at the Federal Trade Commission’s privacy conference. He said the researchers had notified Google about these issues in September 2018, as well as the FTC. One of the apps mentioned by name was Shutterfly, which is used for editing photos. It had been gathering GPS coordinates from photos and sending that…

Google has suspended a fraudulent mobile app on the Google Play Store called “Updates for Samsung” for violating its policies that claimed to offer system-level Android updates to smartphones. In a statement on Monday, Google said that “providing a safe and secure experience is a top priority and our Google Play developer policies strictly prohibit apps that are deceptive, malicious, or intended to abuse or misuse any network, device, or personal data. When violations are found, we take action”, The Verge reported. In addition, the developer of the app claimed that it was pulling the app to “remove the firmware…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given some tips that would help the over 174 million telecom subscribers in the country constantly monitor their data usage and ultimately, authenticate their consumption level. The Commission said it is giving the tips as a result of the concerns being raised by telecoms consumers about the rapidity of data depletion on their devices. Also, as part of its commitment to protect and appropriately inform and educate the telecom consumer on industry issues. Specifically, NCC enjoined the consumers to always contact their service providers to make requests for cases of discrepancies noted in their…

Fidelity Bank won the ‘Best Digital Networking Bank For Entrepreneurs, Africa 2019’ at 2019 PWM Wealth Tech Awards held in London, United Kingdom (UK) recently. Organized by Professional Wealth Management (PWM), a Financial Times Publication, the awards celebrate excellence in wealth management technology. According to the organizers, technology and service delivery were key components in the criteria considered by the independent panel that selected the award winners. The month long period involved gathering a series of detailed information on KPIs, portfolio management, asset allocation, due diligence, risk management, growth strategies, customer service, innovation and ethical practices. The award, presented at…

As internet users increasingly turn to VPN providers for enhanced online privacy, questions regarding their data protection while using the services arise. Per usual, VPNs don’t disclose much of their inner workings to the public; therefore, a brief overview of the criteria behind choosing their server locations might increase trust in the emerging service. In a nutshell, the ability to ensure server security, variety of geographical locations, the reputation of the infrastructure services provider, and minimal downtime is what VPNs are looking for when setting up points of presence. The growing popularity of VPN services is reflected in the statistics…

The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has argued that only Chinese technology giant, Huawei can give Africa 5G network, stressing that multilateral relations should be able to reflect an enabling posture for the global digital economy. Ramaphosa, who stated this last Friday at the first South African Digital Economy Summit in Johannesburg, where he outlined his government’s strategy to unlock economic opportunities in the digital era, also backed Chinese technology giant, Huawei on 5G deployment in South Africa. “Telecom companies got together and wrote me a letter saying that this tussle between the US and China around the company…

Google Assistant has been rated as the best top performing real time voice translator, beating Skype and Apple’s Siri. In the benchmark, conducted by One Hour Translation (OHT), Google scored the highest – 4.54 out of 6, Skype second (4.32) and Siri third (4.09). Google was the best in Japanese (4.01), German (4.5) and Spanish (4.8), while Siri led in French (4.87). OHT, an online platform which provides translations in more than 100 languages and 3,000 language pairs, used expert in-house linguists to compare the performance of Skype Translator, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri in translating business and tourism expressions…

In the last two years, Artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things and data centers were the key drivers behind mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity, data and analytics company, Globaldata can report. In the latest report titled ‘Merger & Acquisition in Technology, Media and telecoms (TMT), Globaldata noted that in 2018, the total transaction value of M&A deals announced in the global TMT sector reached $630bn, up 23 percent from 2017 and significantly ahead of other markets in both 2017 and 2018. “Running any business today requires an understanding of all disruptive threats – and most of these threats come…

In furtherance of the empowerment of women in Nigeria, especially widows, First Bank of Ngeria Limited has sealed a partnership with the International Women Society (IWS), an organization that work for the advancement of women of all races. This is even as the bank has promised to empower 500 widows in 2019 as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities and Sustainable Week (CSR), after empowering 125 widows as identified by the International Women Society (IWS). The empowerment, according to Firstbank will help the widows to grow their micro-medium scale businesses. “The partnership with International Women Society is designed to advance the…

Nigerian government at all levels has been urged to leverage the expertise, technology provides to improve its leadership, as the solution the society largely need to run efficiently and effectively is embedded in technology. This advice was given on Sunday by some stakeholders at a forum with the theme ‘An Evening of Conversation on Moral Leadership.’ organized by Eko Innovation Centre, Acumen and African Venture Philanthropy Alliance. First to give the advice is Ms. Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Acumen, a non-profit impact investment fund with over 15 years’ experience in investing in social enterprises that serve…