The Computer Society of Kenya

Since 1986

Kenyan firms hit as Microsoft, Google talent war raises pay

google-1-BUSINESS DAILY By OTIATO GUGUYU

Monday September 19 2022

Local companies are struggling to recruit and retain key talent as US tech titans led by Microsoft, Amazon and Google tilt the market in their favour with high salaries and attractive employment terms.

The three multinationals have increased their presence in East Africa with Kenya as their hub, triggering an aggressive hiring spree that has seen them pay up to Sh1.8 million monthly for principal tech specialists.

The multinationals are also paying around Sh300,000 to junior tech developers, Sh500,000 for mid-level techies and between Sh800,000 and Sh1.3 million for lead and senior roles.

Smaller companies in the area such as Wasoko, Flocash, Twiga foods, Lori Systems, and Sendy, who had invested in and trained young engineers, have been swiftly outbid.

But while the talent war is resulting in higher compensation for Kenya’s techies, it is disrupting the business plans for local firms and smaller foreign technology companies.

Read more...

Cyber-criminals cashing in on e-wallet platforms, says report

cybercrime2BUSINESS DAILY By Edna Mwenda

Wednesday September 14 2022

The rising usage of mobile money payments and remote working, has resulted in increased cybercrimes more so since advent of the Covid-19 scourge, a new report shows.

The latest Africa Cyber Security Outlook report by advisory services firm KPMG has revealed that ransomware, business email compromise and data leakages are some of the top cyber threats affecting businesses in Africa.

“Countries such as Kenya have faced ransomware attacks on supply chain networks that were interconnected using cyber-physical systems,” read the report.

The most affected sectors were financial services, energy and natural resources, and information communication technology.

The report revealed that the top threat faced by African companies was business email compromise, according to 26 percent of respondents, 17 percent cited ransomware, 15 percent data leakages and five percent pointed out supply chain attacks.

Read more...

Cybersecurity: Beware of pop-up adverts

cybercrime2BUSINESS DAILY By Winnie Onyando

Monday August 29 2022

Cybercriminals are now targeting online users through the add-ons that pop up on their digital screens with experts warning that threats have risen over 59 percent in the first half of this year compared to the whole of 2021.

Nancy Bwire, 32, nearly fell prey to these increasingly crafty schemers. The mother of two clicked on an advert that popped up in her browser device. Nothing appeared suspicious about the advert, she said.

“I was using my phone as usual when I clicked on an ad. My personal details were tracked and a unanimous person began sending me messages. They required me to tell them my details, claiming I had ‘won’ an award for using their browser,” said Mrs Bwire.

But she became skeptical when they asked her to send her bank details. She later learned that it was a well-laid trap.

Experts are now warning online users to be cautious and avoid clicking on any add-ons that pop up on their devices. According to research by Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, over 14 000 online users in Kenya encountered browser extension threats in the first half of 2022.

Read more...

Cloud computing: Your answer to cutting business costs and increasing efficiencies

techBUSIENESS DAILY By RICHARD MUTHUA

Monday September 12 2022

It is sometimes too easy for the world to wrongfully assume that Africa lags too far behind the global cloud innovation revolution. That is a fundamentally flawed outlook.

As of 2021, our continent accounted only for $1.2 billion of the global public cloud market, it has more than doubled in the past three years and continues to grow exponentially year on year. Soon, Africa will be among the world’s leading cloud innovators, and Kenya will be at the forefront.

The reality of Africa’s historically low economic growth is the very reason that the continent is ideally suited for the speedy adoption of cloud technology.

As Kenya, and the rest of Africa, look towards economic recovery and growth, cloud is the answer to cutting costs and increasing efficiencies as businesses move away from the requirement of hardware and installation.

Read more...

Parents to access online school transfer system

nempicDAILY NATION By  David Muchunguh

Monday, August 22, 2022

Parents will now be able to initiate the transfer of their children from one school to another online, once the revamped National Educational Management Information System (Nemis) becomes operational. Parents will also access real-time information on their children’s performance in the summative assessments integrated with the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) system.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha yesterday revealed that the system had undergone re-engineering to make it more user-friendly and “one central source of truth when it comes to education data”.

Further, applications for bursaries and scholarships will henceforth be made on the website. Prof Magoha said some of the loopholes that also saw unscrupulous officials and school heads steal money from the government have been sealed. He was speaking when he launched the re-engineered Nemis at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

“For government to benefit from data, it must be virgin, reliable and verifiable. The Ministry of Education deals with lives and those lives cannot be statistics,” Prof Magoha said.

Read more...

Share this page