The Computer Society of Kenya

Since 1986

Will digital currency disrupt payments?

bitcoin-2-BUSINESS DAILY By GEORGE BODO

In February 2022, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) released a discussion paper on central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Through the paper, the CBK is basically soliciting public comments on the applicability of a potential CBDC in Kenya. But where is the CBK coming from? There has been a growing discontent with the current fiat system, especially among the youth.

Essentially, you have a world of young people who want their own financial system and their own culture. In the fiat system, governments issue money, by way of printing, that is backed by absolutely nothing (except for the faith that populations have in their governments).

Because central banks have always been about money - how money is created, how money is held, how money is exchanged and how money or monetary value is moved, the fiat financial system is centralised (and controlled by governments).

The discontent with centralised fiat system gave birth to cryptocurrencies, a system of decentralised money that is not under the control of governments. The technology underlying cryptocurrencies is distributed ledgers and blockchain.

It is a technology that operates on the premise of having no central authority to manage and authenticate transactions.

Read more...

Kenya becoming global ICT hub for the world

dataBUSINESS DAILY By BITANGE NDEMO

Thursday July 28 2022

Big information technology companies have set bases in Kenya in the past few months. Companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet have pitched a tent in the country. In the process, they are recruiting hundreds of young Kenyans as developers and creating new jobs for the unemployed. These companies have seen an untapped opportunity.

Therefore, US President Joe Biden's nominee for ambassador to Kenya, Margaret Cushing Whitman, clearly indicates that our country is becoming a critical ICT destination for the world. And her many years of experience in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could benefit Kenya.

Whitman serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble and General Motors. Previously she was president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In addition, Whitman had a stint at Quibi, a content streaming platform for mobile devices, as CEO between 2018 and 2020.

She received multiple awards, according to her biography, including induction into the US Business Hall of Fame and the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame.

Although the critical responsibilities of ambassadors include maintaining diplomatic relations with the receiving nations, they also advance their foreign policy objectives. As a result, they have latitude in pursuing areas of common interest within the policy agenda. And her predecessors sought to work with Kenya in the development of ICTs.

Read more...

Judiciary to link 67 courts to national fibre optic hub

cjBUSINESS DAILY BY SAM KIPLAGAT

Monday July 18, 2022

The Judiciary has started connecting 67 courts to the National Optic Fibre Backbone (NOFB) as it moves to automate its processes.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said the connectivity is a milestone and a giant leap toward the realisation of the aims of the Judiciary’s automation and digitisation agenda.

“This game-changing development will power the Judiciary’s strategic objective of leveraging on technology as an enabler for efficiency in the delivery of justice,” she said.

The CJ added that the Judiciary has since embraced e-government and is now banking on technology to facilitate the provision of e-justice and improve the efficiency of its administrative processes.

The Judiciary has since embraced e-filing and online court hearings since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2019. More than 3,000 law firms have registered in the system and thousands of cases filed since its launch in July 2020.

Read more...

Hackers now train sights on educational institutions

cybercrime2DAILY NATION By ELIZABETH KIVUVA

The education sector is one of the hardest hit by ransomware attacks globally endangering learners' data.

A global report on the state of ransomware in education 2022 by Sophos, shows an increasing number of cyberattacks are targeting public, private, international schools, colleges and universities with 60 per cent suffering attacks in 2021 compared to 44 per cent in 2020.

This has been attributed to lack of strong cybersecurity defences and the goldmine of personal data translating to high amounts of money paid to the criminals to restore the data.

Covid led to increased cybercrime as many people accessed services online with schools turning to virtual training on lockdown restrictions.

In terms of the overall cost to restore services, both lower and higher education schools pay Sh187.2 million and Sh168.3 million respectively, than the global average of Sh165.9 million ($1.4 million).

“Educational institutions are also caretakers of vast amounts of personally identifiable information (PII) that can be monetised by criminals. These factors provide enough incentive for criminals to take advantage of this sector,” said Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist at Sophos.

Read more...

Why firms are rushing to comply with data law

kassaitBUSINESS DAILY By BRIAN NGUGI

Friday July 08, 2022

Companies are racing to review their data privacy policies to avoid paying a fine of Sh5 million or up to one percent of their annual turnover for firms once the deadline lapses in one weeks’ time.

The commencement date for the new rules under the Data Protection Act is July 14.

Under the law, sharing or offering for sale personal information could land those responsible for their safe storage in jail for up to six months or fines of up to Sh5 million.

A data controller or data processor who uses personal data for commercial purposes without the consent of the data subject commits an offence. They are liable, on conviction, to a maximum fine of Sh20,000 or to a term of imprisonment of up to six months, or to both fine and imprisonment according to the data protection Act.

“In relation to an infringement of a provision of this Act, the maximum amount of the penalty that may be imposed by the Data Commissioner in a penalty notice is up to five million shillings, or in the case of an undertaking, up to one per centum of its annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is lower,” says the new law.

Read more...

Share this page