👨🏿‍🚀 TechCabal Daily – 200 hacking attempts in Kenya

AUGUST 15, 2022

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200 HACKING ATTEMPTS AT THE HEART OF THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN KENYA

Amid Kenya’s general elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is assuring Kenyans that the computer system used to collate the presidential election results is safe from intruders.

IEBC insiders, however, report attempts. According to one of them, around 200 hacking attempts were made between 4 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday (EAT).

The Star reports that an agent from one of the main parties attempted to hack into the system from the National Tallying Center in Bomas. Later that same day, IEBC officials stopped another alleged party agent from grabbing and making off with an IEBC gadget.

Two media outlets were also allegedly hacked on Friday, one of them having its data contaminated, reports The Nation.

ICYMI: While the IEBC is empowered to organize elections, tally the votes and announce a winner, the Kenyan media has also been involved in conveying the votes to the public. Earlier this year, the IEBC set up a parallel count and allowed media and civil society organizations to set up a parallel count centre. This means that while the IEBC is counting the votes, the media also have access to forms that allow them to count alongside the IEBC in an effort to promote transparency. Two of these media, whose names were not revealed by The Nation, suffered hacking attempts.

Many other media houses are also experiencing a slower count because they don’t have enough manpower to keep up with the speed of the IEBC.

Big Picture: As required by Kenyan electoral laws, the IEBC is due to relay the final results of the presidential elections tomorrow, Tuesday 16 August. Until then, the assaults could continue in Bomas as the IEBC continues to tally the votes. On Saturday, IEBC Commissioner Abdi Guliye ordered politicians and anyone with no specific obligation to leave the counting center after several shouting clashes between opposing sides led to delays and rigged charges at the counting center.

ANOTHER PENDANT FOR TELKOM IN SOUTH AFRICA

Yet another company has offered to buy South Africa’s third-largest telecom operator, Telkom.

Last Friday, investment firm Toto Consortium made a 7 billion rand ($433 million) bid to buy the government’s 40.5% stake in Telkom.

It is the second offer the phone company has reportedly received since it announced in July that it was exploring the possibility of being acquired by MTN.

His first offer also came last week from the mobile data-only network, Rain, who mentioned that he had sent a formal request to present to the Telkom board of directors a proposal to merge the 2 companies.

Rain’s proposal, however, was met with a backlash when the South African takeover regulators group ordered the company to withdraw the announcement of the merger proposal. Telkom itself also said that it had not received any requests from Rain.

With Toto Consortium, things are not so different. Although the offer has been acknowledged in some way, the South African government is opposed to the sale of its 40% stake in Toto. South Africa’s communications minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said in a written response that the government had no plans at the moment to sell its stake in Telkom and that if that position changed it would communicate.

From all indications, if Telkom is to be acquired by anyone, the deciding factor will be the South African government.

INTERSWITCH INTEGRATES ITS ENTIRE PLATFORM ON A SINGLE PLATFORM

Nigeria’s first unicorn, Interswitch, has consolidated all of its 20 API products into a single platform, the Developer Console.

At his event held at Zone Tech last Thursday, the platform announced that the new development will allow customers to access the company’s products with little to no customer support.

“Previously, developers had to contact us whenever they needed an API-free integration,” said Abdul-Hafiz Ibrahim, engineering manager for the company’s payment services. “You can now access the platform to call the API you need without necessarily having to call anyone at Interswitch for help.”

Since 2004, Interswitch has developed several APIs to help businesses leverage its fintech solutions. The Paycode API powers cardless transactions and helps customers withdraw cash by generating a 10-14 digit code on their mobile banking app. Value-Added Services API helps businesses automate bill payments and airtime recharges to their customers; while the Lending Services API allows lenders to automate their credit scoring system, easily disburse and collect loans, and access customer transaction history.

Previously, if a company wanted to access these APIs, they had to contact Interswitch, which meant countless hours of customer service. Now developers can access APIs without contacting Interswitch.

Interswitch also launched the Developer Community, a Slack community designed to connect engineers to share knowledge, issues, and solutions. The community already has more than 800 members.

Zoom out: This is not the first time that Interswitch has launched an API aggregator.👀 In 2020, the company launched the Developer Console which should have given developers the same access it advertises now.

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TC INSIGHTS: MOBILE IS THE WAY

The majority of Nigerians usually connect to the internet through mobile devices. In 2022, 37.3% of Nigerians accessed the internet through mobile devices. This share is expected to reach 48% in 2027. In 2021, the number of mobile internet users in Nigeria stood at over 80.93 million.

Likewise, airtime charging has become as ubiquitous as swiping a screen. A study by Indicina reveals that the total airtime recharge volume of customers of 5 Nigerian banks stood at around 718,000 in 2021.

It has not always been so. In the past, network reception was poor and cell phone lines were active in some parts of the country, but as the telecommunications industry improved, wireless services and satellites helped improve coverage. . The ripple effects have been felt in various sectors ranging from finance to health and education. For example, many young Nigerians access banking services through mobile phones.

Service providers have also benefited from this growth. In 2019, Nigerians spent an average of $4.87 per month on airtime with the networks. According to the NCC, foreign direct investment in the telecommunications industry was $417.48 million in 2021. Data usage jumped 68.22% during the year, from 209,917 .40 terabytes in 2020 to 353,118.89 terabytes in 2021.

These figures are partly due to the increasingly low prices of Android phones in the Nigerian mobile market. While Nigeria still has a long way to go before its entire population has access to mobile phones, the benefits of growing mobile phone penetration in the country are clear. Mobile services have promoted digital inclusion in Nigeria, facilitating information exchange for business and social progress.

Nigerian businesses are also leveraging SMS, mobile apps and websites to reach new prospects as the mobile advertising market continues to grow. As mobile Internet penetration rates continue to grow in the country, more services will be mobile-friendly.

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