IGF unveils BPF output on cybersecurity, boosts SDGs

ITREALMS:

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has unveiled the final output of the 2017 Best Practice Forum (BPF) on Cybersecurity, just as it has potentials to boost the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reports ITRealms.

The IGF Consultant on BPF Cybersecurity, Wim Degezelle, confirmed this to ITRealms saying that he was excited to announce the final output which is now available on the IGF website.

Degezelle  also said that the 2017 BPF focused on the important role of good cybersecurity to enable Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Internet technologies to contribute to development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Equally, Degezelle said the BPF explored what security areas would benefit from further multistakeholder dialogue.

“On behalf of the BPF Coordinators, Markus Kummer and Olusegun Olugbile, and the BPF Lead-Expert, Maarten Van Horenbeeck, I’d like to thank all who contributed throughout the year to the BPF and enriched its discussions,” Degezelle said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Mr 2kay single 'Banging' debuts, features Reekado Banks

ITREALMS:

Barely a few days to the release of his upcoming sophomore album - ELEVATED, Mr 2Kay has released a new single titled “Banging” featuring Mavin Records star, Reekado Banks, reports ITRealms.

According to Mr. 2Kay “Banging,” produced by Saintlizzle is literally a ‘banging’ song, stressing that it is a song that would effortlessly make its way to the dance floor.

ITRealms gathered that 2Kay and Reekado brought their ‘A games’ into the studio and the synergy is quite audible.

As said by Mr. 2Kay, “this ‘banging’ audio has a video already that will be released in a few days from now. I can’t wait to share it with you all. When I said this is the #Elevated season, I meant it.”

ITRealms further gathered that the Elevated album would go live on ITunes and other digital platforms on February 11, 2018 while fans can purchase the physical copy on the streets and record stores from Monday, February 12.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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Buhari leads commendation galore for Durojaiye @85

ITREALMS:

It was a commendation galore at the weekend as the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye clocked 85 years old, reports ITRealms.

These commendations came from from the likes of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode among others.

The birthday celebration, ITRealms gathered was attended by politicians, technocrats and civil servants, saw encomiums showered on the Chairman, Board of Directors of NCC.

For President Muhammadu Buhari represented by the Minister of State for Aviation, Alhaji Hadi Sirika, Durojaye is a man of integrity who has deployed his intellectualism to benefit the business and political spaces in the country.

“Senator Durojaiye is one man who I must thank for his weighty contribution to the development of the Nigerian economy and we wish him more years and happiness,” he said.

Earlier, the EVC of NCC, Prof. Danbatta, had described Senator Durojaiye as a good leader and a team leader, who has strengthened the Commission in having better direction in piloting the affairs of the nation’s telecoms industry.

“We have seen his attributes bringing greater harmony in NCC. We act together in harmony to ensure we drive the telecommunications sector in the right direction of growth and for the empowerment of Nigerians, who daily subscribe to telecommunications services to make a living,” Danbatta said.

Asiwaju Tinubu in his message  delivered by Senator Demola Seriki, said the NCC chair is a public-spirited and committed individual who has remained faithful to the drive for true democratic precepts and revolution till date.

Tinubu recalled that Durojaiye has sacrificed his time and resources in all the endeavours to ensure that Nigeria continues to thrive as a united nation.

In his response, NCC chairman, Senator Durojaiye said his target at the Commission is to make certain Nigeria becomes the most digital driven economy on the continent,  by leveraging Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Durojaiye expressed thanks to God for preserving him till date, with the assurance that he would deploy the rest of his life serving the cause of making Nigeria a great nation.

The Senator also said that at the NCC the board under his watch as chairman, would see that “all Nigerian youths; employed and yet-to-be-employed leverage telecoms services and tools towards improving their standard of living."

Further, he assured that partnering other board members and NCC management, would provide the policy and directions that would position Nigeria effectively on the global map as the world’s most digitised economy in the next few years.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Pix: Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, chairman, NCC

Internet pioneer, Barlow dies @71, EFF mourns

ITREALMS:

An Internet pioneer, John Perry Barlow is late and died at the age of 71 years old, reports 
ITRealms.

Barlow who was one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California, passed away on Wednesday during sleep.

ITRealms recalls that Barlow founded EFF alongside John Gilmore, John Gilmore and Mitchell Kapor on July 6, 1990 in California.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the Executive Director, EFF, Cindy Cohn said that she had a broken heart on hearing about John's death, describing him as a visioner

"We will miss Barlow and his wisdom for decades to come, and he will always be an integral part of EFF," Cohn said.

The director also in a blog post noted that major parts of the Internet "we all know and love today exist and thrive because of Barlow’s vision and leadership."

According to Cohn, "he always saw the Internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.

"Barlow was sometimes held up as a straw man for a kind of naive techno-utopianism that believed that the Internet could solve all of humanity's problems without causing any more. 

"As someone who spent the past 27 years working with him at EFF, I can say that nothing could be further from the truth. Barlow knew that new technology could create and empower evil as much as it could create and empower good. 

"He made a conscious decision to focus on the latter: "I knew it’s also true that a good way to invent the future is to predict it. So I predicted Utopia, hoping to give Liberty a running start before the laws of Moore and Metcalfe delivered up what Ed Snowden now correctly calls 'turn-key totalitarianism.'”

"Barlow’s lasting legacy is that he devoted his life to making the Internet into “a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth . . . a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.”

Cohn promised to share in the coming days and weeks what an extraordinary role Barlow played for the Internet and the world. 

"And as always, we will continue the work to fulfill his dream," she assured.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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NTA Social Media Gag Order: Dictatorship in Democracy?

Commentaary@ITRealms: 

On the 15th of January 2018, the management of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) which is the official government-owned television station, sent an internal circular to its staff expressly restraining them from relating with online publications which concern sensitive and topical national issues. According to the circular which emanated from the Office of the Executive Director (Administration & Training) the act was described as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘reckless and unethical’.

It is baffling that the NTA would issue this kind of instruction to its staff when Section 6(1) of the NTA Act specifically states that ‘It shall be the duty of the Authority to provide as a public service in the interest of Nigeria, independent and impartial television broadcasting for general reception within Nigeria.’ (emphasis ours)

The NTA was set up to report and make available to the country, news as it is. It is understood that there is hate speech – that sometimes, information can be couched in a way as to incite violence against groups of people or the government. That, obviously, is forbidden and quite unethical.

It should, however, be pointed out that this is not what is being referred to by the NTA in its circular. The circular makes it abundantly clear that what it forbids is ‘sensitive and topical national issues’. It is highly ridiculous and ironic for a federal news agency to forbid the broadcast of national issues simply because they are ‘sensitive’ or ‘topical’. Where else are the citizens supposed to get non-partisan and unadulterated news on national events but from the National TV?

Perhaps the management of NTA has forgotten that it belongs, not to any political party or to please the government, but to cater to the people. And it is to these same people, the NTA has a responsibility. The truth is, if there are topical, sensitive and even controversial issues going on in Nigeria, they must be reported by NTA. It is not the job of NTA to ensure the ignorance of the Nigerian citizens by deciding what their hearts can take and protecting them from the reality of affairs in Nigeria simply because they are topical and sensitive. The best the NTA can do in reporting sensitive matters is to put in excellent effort in its delivery to contain the reaction of its consumers.

Section 6 (2) of the NTA Act provides “The Authority shall ensure that the services which it provides, when considered as a whole, reflect the unity of Nigeria as a Federation and at the same time give adequate expression to the culture, characteristics and affairs of each State, Zone or other part of the Federation.”

It may be the claim of the management of NTA that the circular was intended to ensure the ‘unity of Nigeria as a Federation’, but a further reading of the same provision would, however, reveal the spirit of this law. It says that ‘at the same time, give ‘adequate expression to… affairs of each State… or other part of the Federation.’

Additionally, the management of NTA needs to be directed to Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says, ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference’ (the same is provided in Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which has been adopted in Nigeria)

The circular by NTA is very offensive to different degrees of the freedom of expression and the right to information. This is condemnable to us, and to every Civil right-respecting individual. The management of NTA is called upon to review its instructions bearing in mind its statutory responsibilities to the Nigerian people.

We are not asking the  NTA to do anything outside what it was set up to do. Section 8(1)(c) of its enabling Act states that it is the duty of the Authority to ensure ‘that any news given in the programmes (in whatever form) is presented with accuracy, impartiality and objectivity’. NTA is not to cower or shy away from the news but is to give news with accuracy, impartiality and objectivity.

* Adeboye Adegoke and Adeboro Odunlami are digital rights advocates with Paradigm Initiative, the pan-African digital rights group. 

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N20m: Anambra warms up to dole out phase 3

ITREALMS:

The Anambra State Government has revealed plans to commenced the third phase of its N20 million community infrastructure project under the leadership of Governor Willie Obiano, reports ITRealms.

The government has also warned the Presidents-General of towns yet to complete the first and second phases to ensure they meet up with end of February 2018 deadline.

As said by the Hon. Commissioner Information and Communication Strategy, Ogbuefi Tony Nnachetta, the Executive Council of Anambra State Government has observed that a number of Communities have not completed their very first tranche due to environmental and other circumstances.

“Council frowned at this delay and have directed the Presidents General, Traditional institutions and Town organisations to take immediate actions to galvanise the completion of these projects before the end of February 2018,” he warned.

Nnechetta said that some 19 communities across the three senatorial zones of the state are currently on the default list and may not benefit from the third phase of the N20 community infrastructure project grant, with Anambra North Senatorial zone topping defaulters with nine non-compliance communities, whereas others have five each.

He listed the defaulting communities in Anambra South Senatorial Zone to include Ezira (Orumba South LGA), Ihite (Orumba South), Oraifite (Ekwusigo), Awgbu (Orumba North), Nnewi (Nnewi North).

For the Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Nnachetta said that Awka  in (Awka South) , Oba (Idemili South), Ugbenu (Awka North), Isiagu (Awka South)  and Ebenebe (Awka North) are yet to comply with conditions set out in phase 1 and phase 2.

On Anambra North Senatorial Zone, he said, Obeagwe  in  (Ogbaru), Ifite-Anam  (Anambra West), Ukwalla (Anambra West) , Ogbunike (Oyi), Umueze Anam (Anambra West), Ifite Anam (Anambra West), Ogidi (Ogbaru), Aguleri (Anambra East), and Igbakwu (Ogbaru).

According to him, the Council also noted that  a certain number of communities have not processed the second tranche of the N2Om Community Infrastructure Project.

“These communities are asked to hasten up and conclude this process. Government is set to activate the third tranche shortly by March 2018 and completions of one and second tranches are clear prerequisites for communities to qualify,” he said.

Ozo Nweke Ozo/GEE

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Disruptive author, Oranye, to lead speakers @MainOne’s Nerds Unite 2018

ITREALMS:

The author of Disrupting Africa: The Rise & Rise of African Innovation, Nnamdi Oranye has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the 2018 Nerds Unite being hosted by MainOne, reports ITRealms.

Oranye would be supported by speakers from Avanti, SAP Africa, Wema Bank, Andela and Microsoft, IXPN, among others, with the theme “Radical Digital Transformation.”

ITRealms also gathered that the event slated for Friday, 23 February in Lagos, is expected to bring together over 500 mid to senior ICT executives across multiple industries for intense innovation sessions featuring latest best practices and emerging trends in data center, collaboration, enterprise networking and cybersecurity among hot topics.

Nerds Unite is also expected to provide unparalleled networking opportunities with all these professionals under one roof.

ITRealms reports that the radical digital transformation being witnessed globally in recent times is the key focus of the event. The event will have four predominant discussion tracks: “Disrupting the Nigerian ICT industry”, “Radical Digital Transformation: Perspectives across industry players”, “Digitalization and Business” and “The future of mobile content delivery in Nigeria”, with discussions led by executives from leading companies exploring various industries and the digital transformation altering industry verticals.

Just as the event participants will also be empowered with technical insights on the latest trends as it relates to the realities of the Nigerian environment and how these can be adopted for improved efficiencies for their respective organizations.

Created by leading provider of network and data center solutions, MainOne and its partners for ICT Executives, Nerds Unite is an annual technology conference hosted by MainOne which brings ICT Professionals across sectors together for impactful technical knowledge sharing sessions and social networking.

Last year, the event featured the first ever showcase in Nigeria of Microsoft HoloLens, the world’s first self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10, in addition to representation by the Internet Society and a keynote by Microsoft.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Over 1,000 stations suffer remote vulnerabilities - Researchers

ITREALMS:

The researchers at Kaspersky Lab, have helped uncover a number of unknown vulnerabilities that have left gas stations around the world exposed to remote takeover, often for years, reports ITRealms. The vulnerabilities, ITRealms gathered, were found in an embedded gas station controller of which there are currently over 1,000 installed and online. “The manufacturer was notified when the threat was confirmed,” Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, Ido Naor, said. According to experts at Kaspersky Lab they found the controller during unrelated research into devices with open connections to the internet. In many cases the controller had been placed in the fuel station over a decade ago and had been connected to the internet ever since. The controller, they explained runs a Linux machine operated with high privileges and the researchers discovered a number of vulnerabilities that leave the device and the systems it is connected to open to cyberattack. For example, the researchers said, these vulnerabilities were able to monitor and configure many of the gas station settings.  “An intruder able to bypass the login screen and gain access to the main interfaces would be able to shut down all fueling systems, change the fuel prices, cause fuel leakages, circumvent payment terminals to steal money (the controller connects directly to the payment terminal, so payment transactions could be hijacked).” In addition, Ido Naor, said the interfaces could scrape vehicle license plates and driver identities, execute code on the controller unit; move freely within the gas station network.” “When it comes to connected devices it is easy to focus on the new and to forget about products installed many years ago that might be leaving the business wide open to attack. The damage that could be done by sabotaging a gas station doesn’t bear thinking about. We have shared our findings with the manufacturer,” said Ido Naor, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “The vulnerabilities have also been reported to MITRE and the research is ongoing. “Kaspersky Lab advises manufacturers of connected internet-of-thing devices to consider the security of their products from the very first moment of development and design, and to review legacy devices for possible security vulnerabilities. Users of connected devices are urged to review regularly the security of these devices and not to rely on factory settings.”

 Chuks Egbune/GEE

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2018 Safer Internet: Conduct survey on child online abuse – FG told

ITREALMS:

The Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria, has been urged to conducted survey on child online abuses in the country, to check its enormity, reports ITRealms.

This call was made by the pioneer Lagos branch secretary, Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Mr. Remmy Nweke, in a paper, entitled “Nigerian Students, Technology Education and Cyber Crime” to mark the 2018 World Safer Internet Day (WSID) event organized by the International Centre for Leadership Development Nigeria (ICLDNg) at Itolo Girl’s Senior Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos.

Mr. Nweke who also is the Lead Strategist and Group Executive Editor, DigitalSENSE Africa Media group, said the survey has become pertinent to help evaluate the enormity of child online abuses in the country, especially since the boom in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country have been unprecedented.

According to him, the Federal Government can urgently facilitate this survey via collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to quantity the crime, in addition to introducing a dedicated toll-free number to this cause.

Nweke, the award-winning author of “A Decade of ICTReportage” also called for the establishment of a Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOPC) portal, to aid reporting of child online abuses over the world wide web (www).

While urging students, to always exhibit positive confidence whenever online and ready to share only content they are sure of, Mr. Nweke, advised parents to take special interest and care on what their children do mostly online.

“This is very key to safety of children online, while they must stick to Closed User Group (CUG), so as to stay safe and share beneficial information,” he said, enjoining children who wish to use social media applications (apps) to ensure those have user content control or user setting options like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to name a few.

“Apply discipline in the use of social media and focus on your education first,” he advised the students selected from various schools in Lagos State.

Nweke underscored some social media techniques for students to be wary of, comprising the use of use strong password, saying that the “longer it is, the more secure it will be.”

He advocated for the use of different password for each social media accounts, stressing the need to set up security answers where applicable.

“The two factor authentication is available for most social media sites. And if you have social media apps on your phone, be sure to password and protect your device,” he counselled, pointing out that they should be selective with friend requests.

Nweke insisted that “If you don’t know the person, don’t accept their request.  It could be a fake account” and further advised the participants including teachers to ensure they click links with caution due to frequency with which social media accounts are being hacked, especially by looking out for language or content that does not sound like something their friends would post.

His session witnessed some panelists including Mrs. Treasure Uchegbu, Taiwo Fashola, Programme Coordinator, Center for African Renaissance and Development (CEFARRD), Uchechi Chukwuma and officials of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) led by Murtala Ariyo, among others.

 

Some of the dignitaries at the event included the Lagos State Director, Special Duties, Education District 4, Mr. J.O. Oshodi, Principal, Itolo Girls Senbior Secondary School, Mrs. Olawepo, Chief Operating Officer, ICLDNG, Adedeji Adedoyin and the Executive Director, ICLDNG Mr. Felix Iziomoh.

The global theme for the 2018 World Safer Internet Day is theme of "Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you."

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Infraco: NCC approves Zinox for South-East, BRINKS for North east

ITREALMS:

The duo of Zinox Technology Limited and BRINKS Integrated Solutions Limited, have received approved from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to operate Infrastructure Company (Infracos) in South-East and North-East respectively, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said the approval has the nod of the board of the commission.

He also said that with this approval, the number of Infracos licenced so far is now four.

ITRealms recalls that over a year ago, MainOne Cable Company Limited, was licensed to provide services in Lagos, while IHS got its licence to cover the North Central geopolitical zone including Abuja.

The Infraco licenses, Ojobo further said were based on the NCC’s Open Access Model (OAM) in line with the National Broadband Plan (NBP) of (2013 – 2018).

According to him, by the provisions of the NBP, Nigeria is expected to attain 30 per cent broadband penetration by the end of 2018.

As part of the initiative to achieve this, NCC, as the driver of this process, has so far licensed a number of companies to stimulate broadband penetration.

“These include Bitflux Communications Limited (Bitflux) for 2.3 Ghz and MTN Nigeria for the 2.6 Ghz licences,” he said, noting that as at December, 2017, Nigeria has attained 22 per cent broadband penetration.

He emphasized that with the licensing of four Infracos; MainOne Cable, IHS, Zinox Technology and Brinks Solutions, there are three more licencees waiting for approval to bring total number to seven.

“These are for South South, North West and South West,” Ojobo assured.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Ogun Police Command debunks herdsmen attack along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

ITREALMS:

The Ogun State Police Command has debunked herdsmen attack along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, reports ITRealms.

The Police Public Relations Officer for Ogun State Command, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, deflated the rumour making round in a press statement made available to ITRealms, saying that the attention of Ogun State Police Command has been once again drawn to an alleged attack by herdsmen along Lagos/Ibadan expressway as well as an anonymous security alert letter written by a faceless student group urging students and members of public not to travel along that route.

As said by Oyeyemi, the faceless group also posted a simulated voice recording on social media where some people are crying and pleading with their alleged attackers not to kill them.

The Command, he said, would not have dignify the disgruntled elements with a response but in order to allay the fears of public, the true security situation along that axis has to be made known to all and sundry.

“To start with, there is no any attack by herdsmen or any other group in all the stretch of Express Ways across and within Ogun State, we make bold to say that the alleged attack been posted on social media is a lie from pit of hell fire been peddled by those who are not happy with the peaceful atmosphere in Ogun State. The picture attached to the post is a picture of an accident which occurred about Eight years ago exactly on the 31st of July 2010 to be precised; while the purported voice recording was a stage managed one.

“The Lagos/Ibadan express road is one of the busiest roads in Nigeria and the Command is not oblivious of that fact, for that reason, there has been massive deployment of Police operatives from FSARS, Anti-Kidnapping/cultist unit, PMF as well as Conventional Policemen on surveillance and monitoring operatives and patrols to ward off any act of criminal activities on that road.

“In as much as there is freedom of speech as guaranteed by the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, such freedom does not licensed anybody to be peddling dangerous rumours that can cause breach of public peace. In view of that, the Command is investigating those behind the senseless rumour with the view of bringing them to justice as they can be best described as enemy of the State,” he said.

Oyeyemi further enjoined good and peace loving people of the State to discountenance the rumour and go about their lawful businesses without any fear of harassment or attack from anybody or group. Any suspicious movement or gathering should be reported to the Police and other sister security agencies as quick as possible and quick and adequate response will be accorded such report.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Pix: Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris

ICANN sets October deadline for KSK rollover, seeks comments

ITREALMS:

The Internet Cooperation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has set October 11, 2018 as deadline for the roll over of the
root Key Signing Key (KSK), reports ITRealms.

This follows the restarting of plans by ICANN for the KSK rollover process which commenced recently after a stoppage. The initial KSK rollover was scheduled for 2019, but now meant for October 2018, which is a year earlier.

To this effect, ICANN has opened formal public comment period to receive community input on a draft plan, to proceed with the KSK rollover project. 

This comment period, ITRealms reports, will run until 1 April 2018, just as ICANN declared "we are eager to receive any and all comments."

Also, ITRealms reports that the plan calls for rolling the root zone KSK on 11 October 2018, continuing extensive outreach to notify as many resolver operators as possible, and publishing more observations of the RFC 8145 trust anchor report data. Additional details are contained within the plan.

"We are planning a session at ICANN61 in Puerto Rico, to further discuss the plan and obtain additional feedback" ICANN official disclosed to ITRealms.

The draft plan follows the posting in late December, in which the ICANN organization announced next steps in the process to resume the root KSK rollover project. 

"We described our efforts to track down the operators of DNS (Domain Name System) resolvers that were not ready for the rollover.

Further, ICANN said, using a protocol described in RFC 8145, these problematic resolvers had reported to the root servers a trust anchor configuration with only the current KSK (known as KSK-2010) and not the newer KSK (known as KSK-2017).

"In our December posting we also detailed the difficulty in contacting operators, and noted that when we were able to reach an operator, we learned that there were a variety of causes for the resolver’s lagging configuration.

"The bottom line is that these findings did not afford much clarity as to the next steps for mitigating specific causes nor did they afford any guidance for appropriate messaging. Faced with this situation, we announced our intention to solicit input from the community on acceptable criteria for proceeding with the root KSK roll.

"Since that posting in December, a robust community discussion ensued between interested community members. There was agreement during these discussions that there is no way to accurately measure the number of users who would be affected by rolling the root KSK, even though there was a belief that better measurements may become available for future KSK rollovers.

"The consensus of those involved in the discussions was that the ICANN org should proceed with rolling the root zone KSK in a timely fashion while continuing outreach to ensure that the word of the rollover reach as wide an audience as possible.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the ICANN community to roll the root zone KSK," ICANN assured.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Facebook, 20 African partners celebrate safer Internet

ITREALMS:

As part of celebrating Safer Internet Day (SID) under the connected theme of “Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you” Facebook has announced a number of partnerships across Africa, reports ITRealms.

This partnership, ITRealms  gathered comprised over 20 non-governmental organisations and government agencies - with the aim of raising awareness of emerging online issues and helping to explore ways to make the Internet safer for all.

Launching a series of initiatives, including a specially created family-friendly animation, which directs viewers to the Parent Portal in the Facebook Safety Centre, parents and caregivers can access a variety of information and tips on how to discuss issues of online safety with teens, developed in partnership with safety experts from around the world.

The Public Policy Manager Facebook, Africa, Akua Gyekye, told ITRealms “Every day, millions of people across Africa come to Facebook to talk about their special moments and to stay connected with the people they care about. We recognize the important role we play in creating a better and safer online community for all, with this year’s growing partnerships across the continent further demonstrating our ongoing commitment to supporting organisations that raise awareness on these important issues.”

This year in Africa, Facebook is working with partners such as: Rudi International, Internet Society - Uganda Chapter, Watoto Watch in Kenya, Malawi Internet Governance Forum, Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre in Nigeria, South Africa’s Film and Publication Board, JOXAfrica Association in Senegal, Tech Women Zimbabwe, as well as the J Initiative in Ghana to address the needs and ongoing education of various communities.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Call EFCC to order now - Group tells FG

ITREALMS:

A civil society organization, Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption -MIIVOC has warned Nigeria’s Federal Government to immediately act on the report of the Committee to harmonize issues around the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Agency Bill, to save the nation from imminent expulsion from the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, reports ITRealms.

Executive Director of MIIVOC, Dr. Walter Duru, who gave the warning while speaking to ITRealms in Abuja, Tuesday, expressed shock at what he described as the desperation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to retain control of the NFIU, against the interest of the country and international best practice.

He called on the Federal Government to call the anti-graft agency to order, before it throws Nigeria back to the dark days of being on the list of high risk jurisdictions in the world.

“The crux of the matter is the absence of autonomy for the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit-NFIU. Nigeria was suspended at the Egmont Group meeting held in China in July, 2017, following the refusal of Nigeria to make NFIU autonomous in its funding, operations and management of financial intelligence. The failure of Nigeria to pass a law making the NFIU independent is the main issue.”

“If Nigeria fails to comply with the group’s demand for a legal framework granting autonomy to the NFIU by March, 2018, the country may be expelled from the global body, which provides the backbone for monitoring international money laundering and terrorist financing activities.”

“When expelled, Nigeria will no longer benefit from financial intelligence shared by the other over one hundred and fifty member-countries, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom, while the country’s ability to recover stolen funds abroad will be hampered.”

“Another major consequence will be the blacklisting of Nigeria in international finance, and this could affect the issuance of Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards by Nigerian banks. In fact, financial instruments from Nigeria may not be honoured abroad.”

“It could also affect the international rating of Nigerian financial institutions, restricting their access to some major international transactions. Nigeria’s membership of the Egmont Group ensured the removal of Nigerian banks from the blacklist of international finance. The blacklisting had prevented the banks from engaging in correspondent banking with foreign institutions and also denied Nigerians access to foreign credit cards.”

“Now, the situation is that the 8^th Senate has passed a version of the NFIA Bill, which wants the Agency domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria, with full autonomy. The House of Representatives passed a different version, proposing that it remains in the EFCC. A Committee was set up by the Federal Government to harmonize the differences. The Committee submitted its report late last year and till today, nothing has been done about it. Nigeria is at the verge of being expelled from the Egmont group of Financial Intelligence Units. Specifically, in March, 2018, it will take a miracle for Nigeria to escape expulsion from the Egmont Group.”

“The controversy over where it should be domiciled is needless, as we already have a clear guide. The version passed by the present Senate can save the situation. The surest way forward is to adopt the Senate version, produce a clean copy and present for immediate assent by the President. Anything outside this will fall short of the Egmont standard and place Nigeria in a disadvantaged position. The politics of wanting to continue to control the NFIU by the EFCC is self-serving and will land the country in a deeper mess.”

 “The last Egmont group statement about Nigeria is very clear. The issue of autonomy for Nigeria FIU is the crux of the matter. The statement reads in part: “……. Nigeria shall remain excommunicated until its commitments to the international community on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing are met, including the specific issues related to the autonomy of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.” At this stage, we are talking about outright expulsion of the country from the group.  This will spell doom for the country.”

“The Federal Government must call the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission-EFCC to order now, before it is too late. The implications of expelling Nigeria from the Egmont Group are far-reaching. Nigeria will fully return to the list of high risk jurisdiction countries of the world, if the EFCC is not called to order.”

“The argument that if the FIU is removed from EFCC, Nigeria will be expelled is the direct opposite of the situation and amounts to outright misrepresentation of facts. Countries like the United Kingdom have had reasons to move their FIU from Serious and Organized Crime Agency- SOCA to National Crime Agency- NCA. Just the same way Nigeria desperately needs to move its FIU away from the EFCC. We need an FIU that enjoys autonomy. The Egmont Group of FIUs and Financial Action Task Force-FATF shall never dictate for any country, where to situate its FIU. There is no such precedence and they have always made this clear. There is no alternative to NFIU autonomy. The surest way out of the looming humiliating expulsion of Nigeria is that the authorities call the EFCC to order. They must stop spewing falsehood and steer clear the FIU.”

Destiny Ugorji/GEE

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GridGain unveils in-memory computing

ITREALMS:

The GridGain Systems Incorporated has unveiled iIn-memory computing, describing it as characterized by using high-performance, integrated and distributed memory systems to compute and transact on large data sets in real-time, reports ITRealms.

According to the White Paper by GridGain and made available to ITRealms, in-memory computing is anticipated to perform orders of magnitude faster than possible with traditional disk-based or flash technologies.

“GridGain is an in-memory computing platform that delivers unprecedented speed and massive scalability to modern data processing. GridGain enables high-performance transactions, real-time streaming, and fast analytics in a single, comprehensive data access and processing layer,” official said.

In addition, GridGain said it easily powers both existing and new applications in a distributed, massively parallel architecture on affordable, industry-standard hardware.

“GridGain can run on premise, in a hybrid environment, or on a cloud platform such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform,” part of the white paper read.

GridGain provides a unified  Application Programming Interface (API) which supports SQL, C++, .NET, Java/Scala/Groovy, Node.js and more access for the application layer. The unified API connects cloud-scale applications with multiple data stores containing structured, semi-structured and unstructured data (SQL, NoSQL, Hadoop).

“It offers a high-performance data environment that allows companies to process ACID transactions and generate valuable insights using ANSI-99 SQL from real-time, interactive and batch queries. In-memory computing platforms offer a strategic approach to in-GRIDGAIN.COM,” the white paper further read.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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