Author: Staff Writer

Despite technological advances in cybersecurity, humans remain the weakest link in companies’ security strategies – and social media isn’t helping. Says Tony Walt, co-founder and director at Port443, “Staff training is essential for cultivating cybersecurity awareness. Employees must understand that posting even ‘non-sensitive’ personal information can lead to identity theft. It also potentially exposes their work passwords and puts their employers at risk.” For instance, birthday wishes on your social media profiles can help threat actors work out the first six digits of your South African ID number. Your social media profile also gives criminals clues about the seventh to…

In January 2025, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), will review its decision to greylist South Africa and interrogate the public and private sector measures to address its concerns. The country will need to demonstrate a practical, scalable plan to combat money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes. Failing to achieve this will have serious economic knock-on effects, such as a significant decrease in international capital inflows and downgrading by credit rating agencies, all of which will negatively impact the Rand. An extended greylisting is also a serious threat to state-owned enterprises that rely on…

In the past year, identity theft has skyrocketed – a worldwide trend that has not gone unnoticed by the public. A report from earlier this year showed that consumers are looking for more security from their banks: 56% want more security measures for non-routine transactions, and 47% want more even for routine transactions. Clearly, it’s in the best interest of any organisation, but especially financial institutions, to constantly review and update their security systems. But what exactly should this involve? Paul Carter-Brown, Co-founder and CTO of fintech enablement partner Ukheshe, says there are broad components to digital financial security, referred…

Bayer South Africa recently hosted a hackathon organized in collaboration with Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) which brought together some of the most talented young minds to develop creative ways to raise awareness on women’s health and sexual and reproductive education. Despite making up half of the world’s population, women and girls are frequently disregarded and have their rights violated according to the UN. As a result, women and girls may be less empowered to make choices about their own health, sexuality, and reproductive health matters, making them more vulnerable to abuse, unhealthy behaviours, and avoidable maternal deaths[1]. The keynote speaker,…

During the recent Huawei Eco-Connect Sub-Saharan Africa 2023, Steven Zhao, Vice President of Huawei’s Data Communication Product Line, delivered a keynote speech outlining the security threats facing networks today. The speech, which was titled “Huawei Intelligent Cloud-Network: Innovations Never Stop”, also saw Zhao outline how Huawei products are helping address those threats. According to Zhao, the biggest security threats facing networks today include remote work, the cloudification of enterprise services, and ransomware. “Remote work has become mainstream in enterprise campuses, bringing a surge in IoT endpoint connections,” he said. “Additionally, the cloudification of enterprise services has accelerated, leading to a…

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, will be hosting the Trailblazer Virtual Career Fair on Thursday, 3 August as part of its ongoing initiative to grow new digital skills for the South African market. Skills development is an issue of high priority for Salesforce globally, and particularly in South Africa and on the continent. At Salesforce World Tour Essentials that took place in Johannesburg last month, Salesforce reaffirmed their commitment to addressing the digital skills gap in South Africa through their ecosystem of partners. In October 2022 Salesforce announced that the ecosystem is expected to create 31,800 new jobs and…

The workforce is changing. The average age of workers is rising, and the number of young people entering the workforce is declining. This is a concern in a country where youth unemployment is so high. Young people in South Africa are underemployed at far higher rates than older people on the job market. According to Stats SA, by the end of the first quarter of 2023, the underemployment rate was 6.3% for 15 – 24 years of age, and 5.2% for those aged 24 – 34. This is significantly higher than the national rate (4.9%). Here is why it is…

South African ICT entrepreneur Doreen Mbhalati-Mashele recently saw her inspiring story go global when she was featured on Huawei’s international thought leadership platform Transform. Read by millions of people around the world, Transform is published several times a year and looks at how tech is shaping the present, while also providing a glimpse of the future. Mbhalati-Mashele’s feature comes at an apt time, with South Africa set to celebrate Women’s Day in less than three weeks. It’s a story that deserves to be told too. Having obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Mathematics, Mbhalati-Mashele struggled to find work after…

In a South African first, Checkers has launched a competition that will see 120 winners each walk away with a comprehensive home solar solution worth over R100 000 to help its consumers offset rising energy prices and negate load shedding challenges.  Each winner will receive a solar system that includes a Conti Solar Inverter (5.5KW), a Conti Battery (Lithium-ion/LifePo4 48V 100AH), six Conti Solar Panels (420W), a Conti Wi-Fi module, and standard home installation.   “With this competition, Checkers aims to provide 120 loyal customers with some relief from the ongoing challenges experienced with loadshedding, as well as an opportunity to experience firsthand the benefits of renewable energy,” explains Mike Middleton, Chief Marketing Officer at Checkers.…

Kasha, an East Africa’s digital platform for last mile access to health. today announced its Series B financing of over $21 million or R377 million. The funding is led by Knife Capital, a pan African VC based out of South Africa, with participation from FinnFund, DFC, Altree Capital, Tim Koogle and Pam Scott, Beyond Capital Ventures, Bamboo Capital’s BLOC Smart Africa Fund, Five35 Ventures and other new and existing investors. With Series B funding, Kasha is scaling operations into South and West Africa to be Africa’s leading digital health access platform. Kasha is a digital retail and last mile distribution…