Dashcam footage is bringing renewed attention to e-hailing crime, amid calls for stronger identity checks and coordinated policing. (Image created via Gemini) The growing circulation of dashcam footage showing criminal incidents involving e-hailing vehicles in South Africa is exposing a safety crisis that industry representatives say has persisted for years. Over the past few months,…
Malawi’s state broadcaster was forced into an embarrassing climbdown on Tuesday after reporting that President Peter Mutharika was jetting off to South Africa on yet another mysterious “private visit” — only to yank the story just hours later, sparking accusations of a cover-up. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) had published the story on its digital…
South Africa has the legislative foundation to respond to nation-scale cyberattacks but the practical capacity has yet to be realised. A wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks earlier this week disrupted connectivity across more than half a dozen South African hosting providers and internet specialists, including 1-grid, Xneelo, Network Platforms, Host Africa and Domains.co.za. Tens…
South Africa is becoming a prominent target for global cyber attacks due to perceived weaknesses in its cyber security defences, with Cloud Security Alliance’s Ayanda Peta calling for consistent basic cyber practices. A lot still needs to be done to improve South African organisations’ cyber security posture. This is the observation of Ayanda Peta, president…
There are both risks and opportunities presented by the rise of finfluencers. (Image source: 123RF) The rapid rise of financial influencers, or “finfluencers”, across South Africa’s social media platforms is a double-edged sword – representing both unprecedented opportunities for financial inclusion and significant risks related to misinformation. This was the sentiment shared by regulators and…
No, helping strangers use their smartphones will not expose you to ‘AI biometric identity fraud’ IN SHORT: Warnings that strangers asking for help using a smartphone may actually be scammers conducting “AI biometric identity fraud” are just scaremongering. Even if well-intentioned, these warnings misrepresent how biometric security and impersonation scams actually work. “STOP HELPING STRANGERS…
Nvidia H100 chips inside a server room at the Yotta Data Services Pvt. data center, in Navi Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 14, 2024. Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images U.S. authorities announced Tuesday that they have shut down yet another China-linked smuggling network that trafficked or attempted to traffic more than $160 million…
A new report from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the NYU Center for Environmental and Animal Protection (CEAP) warns that the current UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) systematically neglect animal welfare and health — a gap undermining progress on human health, environmental protection and social equity. Despite growing international support for a One Health…
The illegal trade in giant African harvester ants endangers local biodiversity and could spread invasive species in destination countries. Four men were convicted in May for attempting to smuggle 5 440 giant African harvester ants from Kenya to Europe and Asia. The suspects (from Belgium, Vietnam and Kenya) were ordered to pay US$7 700 each…
A draft report by the Office of the Tax Ombudsman has found that the mechanisms put in place by the South African Revenue Service to assist taxpayers who fall victim to eFiling profile hijacking are inadequate and ineffective. According to the report, which was released on Wednesday, tax practitioners are more susceptible to eFiling profile…
