Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a global provider of cybersecurity solutions, recently announced results from the first ever study on the impact of mobile attacks in enterprise environments. Findings from the research are based on data collected from more than 850 organisations spread across four continents and are stark: enterprise mobility is found to be susceptible to attack on both major mobile platforms, Android and iOS. Threats to mobile users are capable of compromising any device and accessing sensitive data at any time. These threats impact every type of business from financial services to government to manufacturing. Some…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY PETER WANYONYI In January 2017, this column ran an article titled “2017 – Year of the Cloud in Kenya”. Indeed, 2017 has been a good year for cloud adoption in Kenya, even though recent surveys have found that many organisations – including the Government – still persist with traditional investments in on-premise IT infrastructure. To recap, cloud computing is, effectively, leasing computing capacity – storage, infrastructure, even software and applications – from an internet-based provider, and thus paying just for what is consumed. So, instead of investing millions of shillings in servers to install on the organisation’s premises (with…
New research indicates that criminals are increasingly exploiting the growth of ‘fake news’ for commercial gain. The growth of so-called fake news has traditionally been associated with the political sphere and executed for ideological purposes. However, research conducted by analysts at Digital Shadows reveals the growth of toolkits and services – available for just $7 – that are aimed specifically at causing financial and reputational damage for companies. In particular, Digital Shadows has noticed a recent trend towards the growth on the dark web of so-called ‘Pump and Dump’ services. These are designed to work by gradually purchasing major shares…
BY ALASTAIR PATERSON While Equifax is the latest major data breach to hit the headlines, we know it will not be the last. How prepared is your organization if you were similarly targeted? As we all know, the impact of the Equifax breach is widespread, potentially affecting 143 million individuals in the U.S, Canada and the UK whose personally identifiable information (PII) and (to some extent) financial information was accessed by malicious actors. The exact impact is yet to be seen and depends on the motives of the attackers and the ways in which they plan to use the data, but…
By NBM WRITER They said that necessity is the mother of invention. They weren’t wrong. A group of traders at the famous Gikomba market have devised new ways to beat the competition and make a life in these hard economic times. Instead of confining themselves to stalls or hawking their wares in bulk, as is often the norm, this small band buys a single item then moves away to sell it to another customer at a small profit. Some even buy for their own consumption only to sale to the next person who shows interest – a concept made popular…
BY VICTOR ADAR Armed with a backpack and laptop with no knowledge of what lay ahead apart from just a belief in her convincing power, Sheila Ogembo made a big leap. Three years ago, she started Speed plus media limited, a firm that not only deals with design, printing and branding but also advises customers on marketing strategies. A journalist by profession, and alumni of Technical University of Mombasa, entrepreneurship bug bit her at a time when many people her age would find it a great discomfort jumping into business. She tells of the fears that include lack of jobs…
BY NBM WRITER The final days of 2017 are finally here with us and no one can say it hasn’t been an eventful year. From several natural disasters hitting all over the world to one of the most prolonged electioneering periods within our country. Even though the world was full of different events, let us focus on events affecting one sector that has really seen some crucial changes, the financial sector. Different events took place in the financial sector. In kenya for instance, a lot happened, from the launch of the first mobile sovereign bond in the world to the…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA In 2009 the world witnessed the emergence from the blues of a mysterious technology. At the time, no one imagined the technology, which came to be known as Bitcoin would eventually come to take the world by storm. Bitcoin was the work of Satoshi Nakamoto who mined the first ever block; the genesis block, for a reward of 50bitcoins after many years of research and development. Bitcoin although, did not start off on the right track as in the year it was introduced to the world, it went for close to nothing and in its second year,…
BY GILBERT SAGGIA Statistics indicate that 90% of imports and exports in Africa are driven by sea. With a global middle class set to reach 5 billion people by 2030, global trade is set to continue to grow at an unprecedented rate. Reports suggest that global freighter fleet is expected to double over the next decade due to the growing consumption demands of the ever-increasing middle class. Beyond fulfilling their respective countries’ trade needs, ports act as gateways to land-locked countries such as Ethiopia and Chad, that have significant agrarian and raw materials export potential, and great need for imports…
BY SHADRACK MUYESU African countries are increasingly taking up debt as they approach the repayment period when most capital market Eurobond loans mature. The negative effects on economic growth have been telling. In the last four years the continent’s sovereign external debt balance has risen faster than the Gross Domestic Product. On average, countries are paying out more in debt service than they are receiving in loans. Because of the sheer volume of these debts, more than half of the countries that issued sovereign bonds in the last half decade are on the verge of defaulting while the rest are…