Tizeti (www.Tizeti.com), a leading internet service provider in West Africa, announced an expanded collaboration with Microsoft to address the issue of broadband underdevelopment in Cote d’Ívoire and bring internet access to almost five million people.

The partnership aims to provide affordable and reliable high-speed internet access to underserved communities and people in the country, addressing the significant broadband gap that has hindered economic development and social progress in the region and empowering more Ivorians to participate in the digital economy.

Cote d’Ívoire is believed to have less than 40% internet penetration, with fixed internet around 2%. The fixed internet and broadband sectors remain underdeveloped in Cote d’Ívoire, due to a legacy of poor international connectivity, which resulted in high wholesale prices, limited bandwidth, and a lack of access for alternative operators to international infrastructure. Operators such as MainOne, and Africa Coast to Europe have subsea infrastructure, with 2Africa expected to land in 2023. While the submarine cable vertical is more competitive, Cote d’Ívoire has limited last-mile providers who pull the internet capacity and distribute it to homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and other public institutions.

Tizeti will roll out high-speed internet infrastructure with Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, leveraging Tizeti’s low-cost wireless technologies. This will help make it easier and cheaper for people to access the internet and connect to the digital economy. These shared efforts are part of the Microsoft Airband Initiative’s commitment to bring internet access to 100 million Africans by the end of 2025, which aligns with Tizeti’s goal of connecting more people to the internet in a cost-efficient way.

“We are thrilled to partner with Microsoft to bring reliable and affordable high-speed internet access to underserved communities in Cote d’Ívoire,” said Kendall Ananyi, Chief Executive Officer of Tizeti. “Our mission at Tizeti is to bring affordable and reliable internet to more Africans outside the digital envelope, and this partnership is a significant step forward in achieving that goal. This work with Microsoft continues our joint efforts to deliver world-class internet connectivity to the people of Africa, starting with Nigeria and now Cote d’Ívoire.”

Microsoft’s Airband Initiative is focused on advancing digital equity—access to affordable internet, affordable devices, and digital skills—as a platform for empowerment and digital transformation across the world.

“Through our expanded partnership with Tizeti, we are committed to providing high-speed internet access to five million people in Cote d’Ivoire by the end of 2025,” said Vickie Robinson, General Manager of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative. “Partners such as Tizeti are vital to the Airband ecosystem, which relies on local expertise along with public and private organizations of every size to tailor regional solutions. The expansion to Cote d’Ivoire will help build sustainable infrastructure that strengthens local development and reduces barriers to connectivity.”

For many countries in Africa, there is still a huge digital divide. This boundary between connected and unconnected translates into clear consequences for employment, education, family and social life, and access to information. Collaborations such as this play a significant role in addressing the digital infrastructure deficits in emerging economies, leveraging innovative technology and capabilities, to improve development outcomes for millions of people.

As payment fraud remains an area of concern for South African businesses, there is debate about what more can be done to tackle the problem and whose responsibility it is. There are layers of complexity that make what appears to be a deceptively easy question to answer much more nuanced. Businesses, banks, as well as individuals all have a role to play, says Ryan Mer, CEO of eftsure Africa, a Know Your Payee™ (KYP) platform provider. “Banks have, in general, implemented decent security measures when it comes to accessing bank accounts and initiating payments, such as two-factor authentication. There are also systems in place to flag suspicious transactions.”

But several challenges often thwart these systems, he says. “Banks are dealing with the challenge of legacy systems in a constantly changing dynamic business landscape. Not only do banks have a responsibility to pick up fraudulent transactions, but they also have to ensure that robust KYC and KYB processes and identity checks are followed when accounts are opened.”

The problem is certainly also not unique to South Africa; it’s global. “One of the biggest challenges is that account numbers are not matched with names when a payment is made. So, fraudsters can use a legitimate name with an incorrect account number, and the funds would go to the specified account number. It’s very difficult for a bank to protect against this when the person making the payment uses incorrect details. It’s akin to handing over goods to someone claiming to be from a courier company without verifying their identity. If those goods are lost or stolen, you would have a very hard time claiming from an insurance company. There is a shared responsibility for security.”

And it’s not as straightforward as setting up checks that match names and account numbers, because a person can link an account to their own name or to a registered business entity but still trade under a different name.

At the same time, he says, banks do have a responsibility to check suspicious activity in an account, such as a sudden large transaction in an otherwise near-dormant account. “Identity theft is also a big challenge that needs to be addressed. At this stage, it’s very possible for a criminal to copy legitimate documents and open an account using those documents. A payment could then be made to the correct name even if a bank were to match names and account numbers, but still go to a fraudulent account.”

There are some solutions available to businesses who wish to safeguard themselves, such as banks’ account verification services. But these processes are still manual because someone has to request the verification every time a payment is made, with a fee charged every time. This means that even businesses that do these checks tend to do them only once – leaving future payments at risk.

“Currently, it is still possible to stop incorrect payments between different banks if a mistake is spotted soon enough, because of the delay in that transfer. But instant payments would mean that as soon as a payment clears one account, it would be too late to stop it – and you can bet those fraudsters will be taking advantage of that,” says Mer.

Businesses also have a crucial role to play by having the right internal controls in place to combat payment fraud. “In the same way that banks carry out KYC checks, organisations should take their own KYB checks seriously. If you are doing business with another company, you have every right to ask them for their company documentation to do an internal verification that the company exists. There should be strict internal mechanisms that ensure a business is dealing with a legitimate entity at the point of onboarding them as a supplier, and that approval processes are consistent enough to make it very difficult for payment fraud to happen at all,” explains Mer.

He adds that leaving the full responsibility for verification checks and KYC as the sole responsibility of banks is a massive risk simply not worth taking. “It’s essential that an organisation’s accounts payable team has measures in place to verify account names with numbers, and that there’s collaborative oversight between a business’s procurement and accounts payable teams.”

Automatic account verification systems, such as those offered by eftsure, give users the ability to run account verification on every single line item before payment – as well as safeguard incoming payments.

The National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) has expressed its willingness to collaborate with engineering professionals in Africa in order to infuse emerging technological tools, services and knowledge into engineering processes for enhanced productivity and customer satisfaction.

The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE made this known when he played host to a team of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), led by its Registrar, Engr. Prof. Adisa A. Bello and a team from the Engineers Board of Kenya, led by its chairman, Engr Erastus K. Mwongera at the Corporate Headquarters of the Agency in Abuja.

The NITDA Director General stated that emerging technologies are reshaping the way engineers design and develop their equipment globally and it is a necessary step in the right direction that Africa adopts it for optimal productivity in its engineering processes.

According to Inuwa, there is need for a convergence between information technology and engineering because it would reduce cost of research and development as well as enhance innovations in real-time to achieve desired results.

“Today we are talking about data and in mechanical engineering for example, there are no longer machines on the field, there are smart and connected machines that are able to generate data for predictive maintainers and predictive analytics”, he buttressed.

While expressing his excitement at the interest in collaboration shown by the visitors, he stated that it would give room to a plethora of opportunities where ideas and expertise can be collectively harnessed to drive Africa to an enviable position.
“I am glad that Africa is now looking inward to see how to put our energies together to develop African countries. Engineers are problem solvers and as long as the solutions are local, it will require local initiative as well,” he stated.

Reiterating that information technology is pervasive and believing that Africa has all it takes to be a global superpower in the fourth Industrial Revolution, Inuwa urged the two visiting engineering bodies to develop existential capabilities and flexibility to survive and thrive.

Reaffirming that technology has been disrupting processes including engineering processes globally; Inuwa disclosed that NITDA has developed various initiatives and strategies in fortifying the innovative ecosystem within and beyond the country.
He said, “At NITDA, we are promoting innovation-driven enterprises and the target is to take it to the global market. We have initiatives that bring the youths together, build ecosystems and build solutions to our problems.”

Eulogizing the impact of information technology on the status quo of existing traditional processes, the NITDA boss stated that information technology has been phenomenally inspirational by enabling creative ideas for enhanced business value propositions and creating new approaches to solving problems.

Inuwa accentuated the need to leverage digital technologies in boosting engineering processes and urged the visitors to fully exploit the three capabilities of Ubiquitous Data where information is collected, analyzed and commercialized, Connectivity, where existential flexibility can be used in harnessing resources from the physical, digital and biological worlds and lastly, Processing Power, where trending devices can be used in enhancing job processes.

“So, if you can use these three capabilities, nothing is impossible in this world and anything you want to do, you can achieve with it,” he assured.

In his earlier remark, Prof. Bello commended NITDA for their milestone achievements over the years and appreciated the Agency for their willingness in collaborating with COREN in deploying Information Technology into engineering processes for enhanced productivity.

In the same vein, Engr. Mwongera in his remark marveled at the extraordinary work being done at the Agency’s National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR).

He expressed his delight at collaborating with NITDA while using its achievements as benchmarks for up-scaling engineering processes in Kenya and the continent as a whole.

With more than 2 billion users globally and 23 million users in South Africa, WhatsApp continues to dominate as one of the world’s most popular social messaging platforms. It’s also a popular platform for scammers looking to cash in quickly by using social engineering tactics to trick users into revealing personal information, downloading malware, or making payments to fraudulent accounts, says Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of ESET Southern Africa.

Built-in security measures vs social engineering

WhatsApp offers various security measures to reduce the risks associated with using the platform, including end-to-end encryption, two-step verification, user reporting and blocking, and biometric lock and unlock. However, it’s important to note that these measures are not 100% foolproof which means it cannot guarantee protection against user error. As a result, there are some threats which can still pose a risk to users.

WhatsApp scams are usually social engineering scams, which can be difficult for users to detect as they often rely on exploiting human vulnerabilities rather than technical vulnerabilities. This makes it important for users to be skeptical of unsolicited messages or requests for personal information, and to verify the authenticity of any communication or offer before doing anything else.

What do users need to look out for, to avoid getting scammed? What are the most common types of WhatsApp scams?

Phishing scams: Fraudsters send messages that appear to be from a legitimate source, like a WhatsApp business account of a retailer, insurer or bank, and ask the victim to click on a link or provide personal information.

Pretexting scams: Scammers spin a false narrative or use a pretext to gain the victim’s trust, such as pretending to be a customer service representative or a co-worker, and then asking for sensitive information.

Baiting scams: Users are offered something of value, such as a free gift, discount or prize, in exchange for personal information or actions, such as clicking on a link or downloading a file. Recently a major retailer published a scam alert of a fake WhatsApp message and website notifying customers that they could win R4000 in cash.

Scareware scams: Attackers create a sense of urgency or fear to manipulate the victim into taking immediate action, such as downloading fake antivirus software or paying a ransom to avoid legal consequences. Scammers have even posed as SARS employees, creating the impression that urgent action is required to avoid tax penalties or to claim a tax refund. Clicking the link in the message usually downloads a Trojan, which the scammer can use to hijack your mobile device.

Fake job offers: Scammers send messages claiming to offer job opportunities and ask users to pay a fee or provide personal information to secure the job.

Investment scams: Scammers send messages offering high returns on investment and ask users to transfer money to fraudulent accounts.

Romance scams: Con artists create fake profiles on WhatsApp and other dating apps to establish a relationship with users and then ask for money or personal information.

It’s important to be aware of these scams and take necessary precautions to protect yourself from them. It’s just as important to make sure your friends and loved ones are informed about the dangers of communicating with unknown numbers.

Here are some tips to protect yourself from WhatsApp scams:

1. Be wary of unsolicited messages: If you receive a message from an unknown number or a group you didn’t join, be cautious. Don’t click on any links or download any attachments in such messages.
2. Verify the source: If you receive a message from a known contact, but it seems suspicious, verify (either by a phone call or using another social platform) with the person before clicking on any links or downloading any attachments. Scammers often use other people’s hacked accounts to send fraudulent messages to their contacts.
3. Don’t share personal information: Don’t share any personal information like bank account details, passwords, or other sensitive information on WhatsApp, even if the request appears to be coming from a trusted source.
4. Enable two-step verification: Two-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your account. Enable this feature in WhatsApp by going to Settings > Account > Two-step verification.
5. Keep your WhatsApp app updated: Make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your device. Updates often include security fixes and other enhancements that can help protect you from scams.
6. Be vigilant: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t fall for scams that promise you free gifts or money in exchange for personal information.
7. Use trusted antivirus software: Install reputable antivirus software on your device to protect yourself from malware and other security threats.

No such thing as ‘too cautious’

By following these tips and always erring on the side of caution, you can protect yourself from WhatsApp scams and keep your personal information safe from scammers and swindlers. As the saying goes ‘better safe, than sorry’.

 Lexar, a leading global brand in memory and storage solutions, will be showcasing its next-generation product portfolio at GITEX Africa 2023, one of the most important events in the African technology industry. The event will be held from May 31st to June 2nd, 2023 in Marrakech, and Lexar will be exhibiting at their stand on Central Aisle, Booth 4C-35

“Lexar has been a trusted leading global brand of memory solutions for more than 25 years. Our participation at GITEX Africa 2023, is a part of our long-term strategic vision, to meet the growing demand for technology across the continent. The company is actively present in Morocco, as the country is certainly playing a crucial role to assist and support Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy,” said Fissal Oubida, General Manager – Middle East, Africa, CIS and Indian subcontinent, Lexar.

GITEX Africa 2023 is a perfect opportunity for Lexar to showcase its award-winning portfolio designed to specifically meet the unique needs of African consumers that are focused on quality, performance, and reliability. Lexar’s state-of-the-art photography, videography, and gaming portfolio of memory and storage solutions, which includes, SDXC™, SDHC™, microSD™, CFExpress™ cards, card readers, DRAMs, internal SSDs, portable SSDs, and USB flash drives.
“We foresee many opportunities for Lexar, as there is an increasingly rapid technology adoption and growing demand by the urban African population. We are looking forward to developing strategic engagements, building connections, and meeting with key stakeholders from the African tech ecosystem,” concluded Oubida