The Computer Society of Kenya

Since 1986

Digital security is as strong as weakest link

cybercrimeBUSINESS DAILY By ADAM JONES

Tuesday January 14, 2020

The World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Risk Report identifies cybersecurity as one of the biggest threats facing businesses and economies today.

Cyber-attacks have exponentially grown in scale and sophistication. Just one, simple attack can lead to significant loss of data or financial fraud that impacts a company’s reputation and credit rating, shaking investor confidence and consumer trust. And it goes without saying that the cost of a breach can amount to millions of dollars, leading to catastrophic consequences.

Experts predict economic loss due to cybercrime to reach $3 trillion by 2020, and 74 percent of the world’s businesses are expected to be hacked in the coming year. Statistics have further shown that the more connected a country is, the more prone it is to cyberattacks. This means that making cybersecurity a part of the national agenda has never been more important.

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Corporate boards should have ICT talent

icttrainingDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Tuesday January 07,2020

ICT departments have over the last two decades moved from the obscure sections within the finance department into full blown corporate divisions with strategic impetus that can make or break organizations 

Should Corporate Boards and CEOs trust their ICT Departments?

Unfortunately many have.  And this has led to scandals upon scandals.

Most fraudulent activities are nowadays executed through ICTs and with the generous help of what is known as the ‘insiders’ within the ICT departments.

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Two decades of ICT progress – What next?

ICTDAILY NATION BY JOHN WALUBENGO

Tuesday December 31, 2019

The 2010-2019 decade is over. 

But before we cover the ICTs highlights of this decade, we should perhaps review the previous 2000-2009 decade and then end with some predictions for the coming decade of 2020-2029.

2000-2009

Having liberalised the telecom sector in the late 1990s, Safaricom and Airtel, then called Zain, changed the face of communication by spreading mobile voice communication across the country.

Beyond voice, Zain introduced mobile money in 2005 but it seems Safaricom ran away with it when they launched their M-Pesa version two years later in 2007.

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How tech is set to transform airports in the next decade

JKIATERMINAL0407yfBUSINESS DAILY By JAMES KARIUKI

Wednesday December 18, 2019

Airport operations technology provider, Sita, is predicting a momentous evolution in airport operations in ten years, thanks to digital technologies for passenger and cargo-handling.

SITA business development director Benoit Verbaere said clearance of incoming and outgoing passengers will be fast-tracked via use of non-human contact digital technologies that enhance efficiency and security.

Speaking when Sita unveiled 10 bold predictions on how the technologies will transform airports into giant flying “park and ride” centres, Mr Verbaere said passengers’ experiences will be based on unique insights, driving industry forces and emerging technologies.

While introduction of biometric security, mobile check-in, and baggage tracking have helped fast-track operations in airports, Sita hinted that technology advances would precipitate a digital explosion of devices where data captured via Software Defined Networks will be collated and analysed for better airport operations.

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Regulator says Telkom, Airtel merger on course

CAKBusiness Daily By OTIATO GUGUYU

Tuesday DECEMBER 9, 2019

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) says it is reviewing the Airtel, Telkom Kenya merger, distancing itself from suggestions by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission that the deal has been put on hold once again.

The EACC initially waded into the proposed transaction, saying it would not continue until allegations of corruption are investigated.

The agency later wrote to the CAK and other regulators on October 15, saying it did not object to the merger.

EACC Director of Legal Services David Too, however, last month walked back the agency’s letter and told Parliament that the transaction is still being investigated.

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New jobs in telcos sector increase by 23.8pc

techBusiness Daily By JOHN MUTUA

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2019 10:00

New jobs in the mobile telecommunications sector increased at the fastest rate in five years, a rare bright spot in a corporate Kenya that has been shedding jobs and freezing new hirings.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that telecommunication firms, including Safaricom , Airtel and Telkom Kenya, added 1,673 new jobs to their payroll in the year to June, reflecting a 23.8 percent jump.

The regulator linked the increase in new jobs to growth and new investments in the sector that saw five firms pump Sh57.5 billion into expanding their businesses including network upgrades, up from Sh41.8 billion.

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Is an Internet blackout possible?

Fibre-opticDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Wednesday November 27, 2019

Last weekend Kenya experienced a fault in one of its four submarine cables that carry the bulk of the Eastern Africa’s Internet traffic to Europe and Asia.

Many decades ago, the satellite links used to carry internet traffic between continents but today, Internet traffic has moved onto the higher capacity, faster speeds, better quality service offered by the undersea fibre cables.

So Mombasa is basically a huge and strategic internet hub for traffic originating from upstream capitals of Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali and Bujumbura. If one of the submarine links in Mombasa sneezes, the rest of the region will definitely catch a cold.

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Cyber crime a major hurdle to confidential data storage, IoT

cybercrime2BUSINESS DAILY By A Reporter 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 14:52

As the world prepares for a hyperconnected Internet of Things (IoT) landscape where billions of devices will be interconnected and zillions of confidential data stored in servers, only one snag scares many IT professionals — cybercrime.

You need technology to improve the quality of life but your efforts can be rendered useless when malevolent people use it to cause harm.

This was the case with Georgia when on October 28 more than 2,000 websites including those of the president, courts and the media were hacked in a massive cyber-attack.

On the front page, the malicious key punchers displayed a photo of the country’s exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili with an inscription "I'll be back!"

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Lawyer sues Safaricom, Airtel over data bundle expiry

mpesaDAILY NATION By SAM KIPLAGAT

Tuesday October 22, 2019

Lawyer and ICT practitioner Adrian Kamotho has sued telecommunication operators for irregularly depriving consumers of their unused data bundles.

In a complaint filed before the Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal, Mr Kamotho said he was aggrieved by the high cost of data and frustrated by the arbitrary expiry of hard-earned bundles.

He wants the tribunal to order Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya to furnish him with their current data tariffs, or prominently display the current data tariffs on their websites.

He also wants the companies to stop depriving consumers their unused data based on the data expiry model.

Mr Kamotho said the firms discriminate against consumers by charging “out of bundle” rates, which are different from normal bundle rates.

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DCI: Buying electronics from dubious dealers may land you in jail

DnLAPTOPs1204rdpxDAILY NATION By JAMES KAHONGEH

Monday October 07, 2019

Kenyans have been cautioned against buying electronic gadgets from individuals and dealers without fixed physical addresses and unidentifiable premises to avoid buying stolen items.

In a statement on Sunday evening, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) warned Kenyans against purchasing laptops, mobile phones and TV sets from traders who lack requisite trade documents, including licenses, permits and other local and national approvals.

Theft of electronic gadgets has become rampant in Kenya in recent years. Criminals steal, rebrand and repackage the gadgets using polythene bags before reselling them as new devices.

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Time for board to rethink ICT governance

icttrainingDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Tuesday October 25, 2019

In general, governance is about having structures, processes and procedures in place to ensure that an enterprise achieves its objectives and is accountable to the shareholders.

Many corporates have established structures to oversight typical business functions like finance, accounts and human resources.

National laws have gone further and internalised the importance of governance in these domains, given the enactment of several acts of parliament governing, for example, the conduct and operation of the accounting and human resource professionals.

As such, board members are fairly clear on the expectations from management when it comes to providing oversight to financial, human resource, procurement and other more established organisational functions.

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UN: Kenyans the most care-free users of internet globally

fbpicDAILY NATION By CONSTANT MUNDA

Thursday September 05, 2019

Kenyans are less troubled about the security of personal data posted on internet, a global survey shows, implying they could be an easy target for cyber criminals.

Only four in every 10 internet users in Kenya are concerned about their privacy online, a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Wednesday shows.

This is the lowest level in the world according to the report and ranks poorly against the global average of eight in every 10 users.

“While there appears to be increasing concerns about data privacy and online security around the world, there is somewhat a ‘data privacy paradox’, as users continue to give away personal data and thus their privacy in exchange for different services,” says UNCTAD Digital Economy report published last (Wednesday) evening.

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Telkom hits out at Safaricom over merger plans with Airtel

telkom2DAILY NATION By PAUL WAFULA

Wednesday September 04, 2019

Telkom Kenya has accused market leader Safaricom and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of frustrating its merger plans with Airtel.

In a rare public spat, the telco says Safaricom wants to delay the process that seeks provide customers with more credible options.  

CLAIMS

“Does the dominant player not want to see this sector grow? Is the dominant player wary of competition, and even more precisely, wary of competitive pricing, choice and value for money for the consumer?” Telkom Kenya Chief Executive Officer Mugo Kibati told a press conference on Tuesday.

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Should CBK issue a cryptocurrency?

moneyDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Tuesday August 27,2019

Ten years ago, when Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency was created by some anonymous fellow or fellows called 'Satoshi Nakamoto', the established monetary system represented by Central Banks across the world ignored the event.

Today, all central banks are grappling with the reality that Bitcoin and its many variants of other cryptocurrencies are not going away anytime soon.

Whereas the majority use of cryptocurrencies remain in the hands of fringe speculators and other minority groups, the value of assets held and transferred within these groups cannot be ignored.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other traditional fiat custodians are beginning to explore the possibilities of integrating at least portions of these emerging crypto assets into their existing monetary systems.

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Internet Governance Forum – multi-stakeholder approach to ICT Policy

internetpic2DAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

TUESDAY AUGUST 6 2019

Last week, the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) week – Kenya edition came to a close at a Nairobi Hotel. Hosted by the Kenya ICT Action Network and now in its twelfth edition, the IGF week presents the best platform for ICT policy dialogues.

Fashioned along the annual Global Internet Governance Forum, it aims to bring together different stakeholders with different perspectives to discuss contemporary policy matters that the ever-evolving ICT technologies present.

The unique proposition that the IGF presents is that all stakeholders are on ‘equal’ footing.

In other words, whether you are from government, media, academia, civil society or whatever else your stakeholder grouping maybe, your views will be heard and adopted on merit.

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Kenya blockchain report a welcome move

moneyDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

TUESDAY JULY 30 2019

The long-awaited Blockchain & AI report was finally handed over and released by the ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru early last week. Expected to have been launched towards the end of last year, one can only say it is always better late than never.

In its basic definition, a blockchain is a new type of record-keeping whose overall control is not within a single entity but rather distributed across multiple entities.

In other words, the ability to change or update records in the system is done through a shared consensus between multiple parties. Better still, once an entry is recorded, it become tamper-proof or immutable.

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CBK says bank boards to pay for cybercrimes

cbk governorDAILY NATION By BRIAN NGUGI

Wednesday July 17, 2019

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has issued new rules to payment service providers including commercial banks and technology companies warning the boards of directors that they face “ultimate” liability in case of criminal breaches.

In the guidelines aimed at stemming cybercrime, the CBK says boards will take responsibility for breaches of customer information.

“Payment Service Providers (PSPs) should carry out regular independent assessment and audit functions that shall be undertaken by the internal and external audit and risk functions … The board of directors is ultimately responsible for the cybersecurity of the PSP,” said CBK.

PSPs including firms like Mastercard, Visa, Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom who have 90 days to comply with the requirements published this month.

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Kenya has made great strides in ICT but key aspects need more work

icttrainingDAILY NATION By BITANGE NDEMO

Tuesday July 09, 2019

In June, Research ICT Africa finalised a second review of the state of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in Kenya. The first review was done in 2012. Since then, the sector landscape has greatly changed.

The report focused on both the supply-side and demand-side perspectives, stressing the changes that have taken place since the last review.

The report used standard ICT development metrics to review Kenya’s ICT status. Access survey was undertaken in 2017 covering 1,200 households and 500 small and micro businesses.

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Kenya cyber attacks rise to 11.2 million in first quarter

cybercrime2DAILY NATION By ANNIE NJANJA

Thursday July 05, 2019 

Kenyan organisations were hit by about 11.2 million cyber threats, being a 10.1 percent increase in the number of incidences, in the first three months of 2019 when compared to the previous quarter.

This is according to fresh Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data indicating that its incident response centre detected growing cases of malware, web application attacks, system misconfiguration and online abuse.

CA’s cyber intelligence team consequently issued 14,078 cyber threat advisories to the affected organisations, an increase from the 12,138 alerts during the previous period.

Cyber security threats are estimated to have cost Kenya’s economy about Sh29.5 billion, a recent report by tech consultancy firm Serianu said.

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Mobile cash deals grow Sh186bn in five months

mpesaDAILY NATION BY CONSTANT MUNDA

Monday July 01, 2019

The value of cash transacted through mobile phones in the first five months of the year rose Sh186.11 billion compared with a similar period last year, largely driven by higher e-commerce transactions.

Mobile payments hit nearly Sh1.79 trillion in the review period from Sh1.60 trillion a year ago, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) numbers indicate.

This translates to a daily average of nearly Sh11.85 billion in the period, an 11.58 percent growth over 10.62 billion posted in similar period in 2018.

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