Category: TECH

Internet companies petrified after hackers release code behind one of the most powerful online attacks

Google

Internet companies are bracing for more trouble after hackers released the code behind one of the most powerful online attacks ever, which harnessed as many as one million internet-connected devices to knock a blogger offline. The malicious software takes advantage of weak security on video recorders, routers and other internet-connected devices, taking control of the systems and forming them into a collection of attacking machines, called a “botnet.” It can then disable a victim’s internet servers by flooding them with an overwhelming amount of internet traffic. The botnet code was…

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Cybersecurity firms greenlit to decrypt Viber, WhatsApp traffic

Russian cybersecurity companies have a greenlight to decrypt traffic of such popular communication tools as Viber, WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger, a popular business daily reports. The measure is connected to a recently-adopted anti-terrorism law. “We are going to look into the main messengers — WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Skype both for iOS and Android,” Kommersant cites a letter from an employee of Con Certeza, a company dealing with the development of tools necessary for enforcing law in the telecommunications field. The employee wrote that the company aims to make…

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Massive data breach hits 500 million Yahoo accounts

Information from at least 500 million Yahoo accounts was stolen from the company in 2014, the company said Thursday, indicating it believes a state-sponsored actor was behind the hack the Sunnyvale, California-based company confirmed. The theft may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, Yahoo said. Even in an Internet-dependent population accustomed to the regular occurrence of massive data breaches, the size of this one —  thought to be the largest ever in terms of user accounts — is attention-grabbing. And the possibility that another…

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Uber and Little Cab’s duel for Nairobi’s Taxi Market

Uber Africa launches Uber Cash in partnership with Flutterwave

Uber is in the middle of a bruising battle for dominance in east Africa’s largest economy: Kenya. The ride-hailing company started operating in the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Thika last year. It has already outlasted the online cab operator Easy Taxi, which opted out of the Kenyan market in May this year following a decision by one of its backers, Goldman Sachs, to direct all its investments towards the more profitable Uber. However, Uber now has a new domestic rival: Safaricom. It’s one of Kenya’s largest companies, 40%…

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Dropbox hack leaks 68m user passwords on the internet

Online cloud storage firm Dropbox has been hacked, with over 68m users’ email addresses and passwords leaked on to the internet. The attack occured in 2012. At the time Dropbox reported a collection of user’s email addresses had been stolen. It did not report that passwords had been stolen as well. The dump of passwords came to light when the database was picked up by security notification service Leakbase, which sent it to Motherboard. The independent security researcher and operator of the Have I been pwned? data leak database, Troy…

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Study: Canadian tech sector outperforms finance

Staff Writer

The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship (BII+E), a non-profit arm at Ryerson focused on innovation research, has released The State of Canada’s Tech Sector 2016, a report that breaks down the technology sector’s key characteristics and its contribution to the economy. The tech sector, which consists of 71,000 companies, employs around 5.6 per cent of all working Canadians (864,000 of them), and they tend to make more than workers in other sectors, said the report. The average tech employee earns $67,000 per year compared to a national average of…

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Nigerians Take The Lead In Mobile Online Shopping

Staff Writer
Online Shopping

When compared with other countries in the continent, Nigerians take the lead when it comes to mobile online shopping, local retailers or foreign notwithstanding. A research conducted by Ipsos in Nigeria indicates that this trend is not likely to wane anytime soon. Nigerians love mobile commerce. The research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Paypal shows that Nigerians are the keenest shoppers on the African continent. 72% of these shoppers use their smartphones to shop. This places Nigeria after China(86%) and India (82%) when ranked according to incidences of shopping…

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WhatsApp Calling Hits 100 Million Calls Daily

Staff Writer
WhatsApp Calling

A few years after WhatsApp Calling was  introduced, it has hit the 100 million mark. Today, 100 million people use WhatsApp to make calls. A figure that is worrying telcos the world over. WhatsApp announced the great news in a blog post that read: For more than a year, people have used WhatsApp Calling to talk with friends and family around the world. It’s a great way to stay in touch, especially when connecting with people in other countries, or when messages alone won’t do. Today, more than 100 million…

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New Kaspersky Report Indicates That Crypto-Ransomware Attacks Are On The Increase

Staff Writer
crypto-ransomware

Kaspersky Lab has released a new report whose findings indicate that crypto-ransomware attacks are on the increase and will not end anytime soon. Ransomware is a type of malware that, upon infecting a device, blocks access to it or to some or all of the information stored on it. In order to unlock either the device or the data, the user is required to pay a ransom, usually in bitcoins or another widely used e-currency. The Kaspersky Lab report covers the evolution of the threat over the last two years. The…

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The First Interactive Digital Learning Centre (IDC) In Africa Has Been Launched in South Africa

Staff Writer
IDC

The first Interactive Digital Learning centre (IDC) in Africa has been launched in Tshwane, South Africa, ItNewsAfrica reports. EON Reality, a Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer for industry, education and edutainment is behind the Interactive Digital Centre.  The Chairman of EON reality, Dan Lejerskar, said that: “We’re extremely excited to partner with the City of Tshwane and build an IDC in South Africa…We fervently believe that knowledge is a human right and this aligns perfectly with Tshwane’s goal for greater income equality, creating jobs, and improving educational opportunities.” This IDC will…

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