TheNewsGuru

Tag: internet

  • Google to discontinue popular service

    Google to discontinue popular service

    Google has announced, starting March 30, 2019, it will discontinue its uniform resource locator (url) shortener service, goo.gle, while beginning a transition process March 30, 2018, to replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL).

    The Internet giant announced the development in a blog post, while stressing that it will turn down support for goo.gl url shortener beginning March 30, 2018.

    “To refocus our efforts, we’re turning down support for goo.gl over the coming weeks and replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL),” the blog post read.

    “From April 13, 2018 only existing users will be able to create short links on the goo.gl console. You will be able to view your analytics data and download your short link information in csv format for up to one year, until March 30, 2019, when we will discontinue goo.gl. Previously created links will continue to redirect to their intended destination,” a statement read on the goo.gl platform.

    TheNewsGuru reports FDLs are smart URLs that allow users to send existing and potential users to any location within an iOS, Android or web app, with Google expressing excitement “to grow and improve the product going forward”.

    Aside using FDL, Google recommends other popular url shortener services like Bitly and Ow.ly as alternatives.

     

  • Internet users in Nigeria record marginal increase in January

    Internet users in the country increase to 100.2 million in January, from 98.4 million in December 2017, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said.

    The NCC made this disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for January 2018 on its website on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The data showed a marginal increase of 1.9 million new subscribers in the country.

    NCC said Airtel, MTN gained more internet subscribers during the month in review, while Glo and 9mobile were the big losers.

    The breakdown revealed that MTN gained the most with over 1 million new internet users increasing its subscription in January to over 37 million from 36 million recorded in December 2017.

    It said Airtel also gained 84, 269 new internet users in January amounting to about 25 million users as against about 24 million users in December 2017.

    It said 9mobile however lost 60,652 internet users in January, decreasing its subscription to 11,278,187 as against 11,338,839 recorded in December 2017.

    The data showed in January, Globacom lost 70,701, showing a loss of 26,927,116, from 26,997.817 recorded in December 2017.

     

  • Google pays content publishers N4.5 trillion in ads

    Google pays content publishers N4.5 trillion in ads

    Google’s Director of Sustainable Ads, Scott Spencer, has revealed the internet giant paid content publishers on its advertising network, who use AdSense to monetize their website, a total sum of N4.5 trillion in the year 2017.

    Scott made this known in a statement pledging the search giant commitment to make the advertising ecosystem work for everyone.

    “We paid $12.6 billion to publishing partners in our ad network last year. But in order to make money from Google ads, you have to play by rules— that means respecting the user experience more than the ads,” he said.

    The Google ads execs also revealed that in the year under review, the platform removed 320,000 publishers from its ad network for violating policies, and blacklisted nearly 90,000 websites and 700,000 mobile apps.

    “In 2017, we took down more than 3.2 billion ads that violated our advertising policies. That’s more than 100 bad ads per second! This means we’re able to block the majority of bad ad experiences, like malvertising and phishing scams, before the scams impact people.

    “We blocked 79 million ads in our network for attempting to send people to malware-laden sites, and removed 400,000 of these unsafe sites last year. And, we removed 66 million “trick-to-click” ads as well as 48 million ads that were attempting to get users to install unwanted software.

    “We also introduced technology that allows us to better protect our advertisers by removing Google ads from individual pages on a website that violate our policies.

    “Last year, we removed 2 million pages for policy violations each month. This has been critical in scaling enforcement for policies that prohibit monetization of inappropriate and controversial content.

    “In fact, after expanding our policy against dangerous and derogatory content in April 2017 to cover additional forms of discrimination and intolerance, we removed Google ads from 8,700 pages that violated the expanded policy,” Scott stated.

     

  • Internet fraud: EFCC arraigns N10 million 419 suspect

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned a suspected Internet fraudster, Ogungbile Oluwaseun, before Justice O. A. Williams of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja.

    TheNewsGuru reports Oluwaseun was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on unauthorized access to computer materials to the tune of Ten Million Naira (N10,000,000.00).

    According to the EFCC, the defendant allegedly defrauded a company, Cenoux Express Limited, of the money by sending fraudulent electronic messages to Guaranty Trust Bank, thereby facilitating the payment of the money into his own account.

    One of the counts reads: “That you, Ogungbile Oluwaseun (a.k.a Emmanuel Oluwaseun), on or about the 19th day of April, 2012, at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, intentionally caused a computer to perform unauthorised access to a programmed data held by Guaranty Trust Bank, wherein you sent fraudulent electronic messages to Guaranty Trust Bank causing a fraudulent transfer of the sum of N5,000, 000. 00 (Five Million Naira) from account No. 5012272664110 belonging to Cenoux Express to your own account and committed an offence contrary to Section 385 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011”.

    The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him.

    In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Nkereuwem Anana, prayed the court for a trial date and asked that the defendant be remanded in prison custody.

    The defence counsel, J. J. Isijola, however, informed the court of an application for bail on behalf of his client.

    He also prayed for a short date for the hearing of the application.

    Consequently, Justice Williams adjourned the case to March 19, 2018 for hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be returned to the EFCC custody.

     

  • Incoming German Minister to open talks with Google, Facebook

    Dorothee Baer, Germany’s incoming minister with responsibility for digital policy says she will push social media giants to make users’ information feeds more diverse and timely to avoid creating “echo chambers” for the like-minded.

    Companies such as Facebook have come under pressure from regulators around the world as evidence has emerged of how the recirculation of a particular selection of news and views on their platforms can narrow perceptions of the world and voters behaviour.

    The minister said she would open talks with Facebook and Google on the way that posts on social media platforms were sequenced.

    “At the moment, the algorithms sort according to relevance or popularity. That pushes to the top old posts that often have little to do with the truth.

    “I want to see real-time timelines again that confront people not with what they want to know, but what they need to know, what is happening at this moment,” she told the newspaper Die Welt in an interview.

     

  • Cryptocurrency scam on Twitter: “We are on it” – Jack Dorsey

    As the issue of copying verified Twitter accounts to trick cryptocurrency users is becoming increasingly prevalent, the microblogging company has said that it is working to curb the rise of these copycat handles.

    Company CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday replied to a tweet that complained about the ongoing cryptocurrency scam on Twitter in which several users have been tricked and their digital assets stolen.

    “We are on it,” Dorsey replied to a user who questioned the CEO if the company was taking note of it, Coindesk.com reported.

    On February 26, Dorsey had said that his company was aware of the issue and they “are fixing” the problem.

    Several users have been complaining about being duped on Twitter by fraudulent offers that promise huge amount of Ether cryptocurrency in return of small initial deposits.

    These offers are being made by accounts that mimic well-known industry members and have a “blue tick” (verified account).

    As a preventive measure, Twitter had banned several accounts, including the support team for cryptocurrency exchange Kraken despite them trying to warn others about the scam. On Tuesday, the ban on Kraken’s customer support handle was lifted.

    “Good news, guys! @krakensupport is back! Strange that our initial appeal was also apparently handled by an automated system. Thank you all for your public outrage. Stay vigilant,” it announced.

    According to the report, the scam began after an influencer posted a tweet regarding a fraudulent offer which was followed by similarly designed accounts.

    In order to make the posts seem more legitimate, the spam accounts posted supportive messages, claiming that they have received the returns.

    On seeing that the threads were posted by “verified accounts”, people fell in the trap and lost digital assets.

     

  • NCC to open up 60 GHz band ‘for people to talk without Internet or cell phones’

    The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) says it in the process of opening up a 60 GHz Band, also known as the V-band, for the deployment of Amateur Radio Services.

    The NCC Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made this known on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ consultative forum in Lagos.

    Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together.

    People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones.

    It is fun, social, educational and can be a lifeline during times of need.

    The use of the 60-GHz (V-Band) goes back to 2001 when the U.S regulator (FCC) adopted rules for unlicensed operations in the 57 to 64 GHz band for commercial and public use.

    This very wide frequency band, with over a 7-GHz of continuous spectrum, makes the band very desirable for applications requiring high transmission bandwidth.

    Danbatta, represented by Mrs Abigail Sholanke, the NCC Director, Research and Development, said the regulatory body “sincerely believed that the action must be guarded by the decisions and inputs of stakeholders’’.

    He said that the commission sought active participation of stakeholders toward the framework being put in place to regulate the 60 GHz V-band for the development of Amateur Radio Services.

    According to him, the Radio Frequency Spectrum is the fundamental resource for the provision of wireless communication services.

    The NCC chief said that the services had become scarce due to the emergence of new technologies and growing demand of wireless service.

    Danbatta said that the commission had decided to provide an avenue for stakeholders and users of telecommunication to converge and make inputs in the opening of the 60 GHz spectrum band.

    “Radio spectrum in the 60 GHz band, also known as the V-band, has yet to be opened for deployment of services in Nigeria.

    “The commission says to boost the eminent advantages that are coming with the 5G and to support short range machine to machine communication, opening band for unlicensed application is an advantage.

    “The global unlicensed band exists on 57GHz to 64GHz, a wide spectrum of up to 7GHz,’’ Danbatta said.

    He said that the commission was also using the seminar as an opportunity to present draft authorisation framework for the use of Amateur Radio Services in Nigeria.

    The framework, according to him, was intended to provide a clear and comprehensive outline for amateur radio operations in Nigeria.

    He said: “Like-minded users of amateur radio build a community of amateur users to exchange personal, cultural and technical information.

    “It is good for technical investigations and wireless experimentation.’’

    Also at the forum, Mr Austin Nwaulune, the Director, Spectrum Administration in NCC, said that amateur radio was a popular hobby.

    Nwaulune said that amateur radio operators came from all works of life.

    “Operators of amateur radio could be doctors, students, politicians, truck drivers and even your average neighbours,’’ he said.

    Nwaulune explained that only eligible persons were allowed to register for amateur radio licences.

     

  • Internet registrar decries low dotNG domain name registration

    Internet registrar decries low dotNG domain name registration

    The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has registered only about 100,000 .ng domain names since its inception in 2007.

    The President of NiRA, Mr Sunday Afolayan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that Nigeria had yet to be where it should, in terms of .ng domain name.

    NAN reports that the .ng domain name is the domain name system for Nigeria the same way .uk is to the United Kingdom and .za is to South Africa.

    The .ng domain name system is useful for anyone who wishes to set up a website in Nigeria and/or for Nigerians.

    “South Africa with about 56 million people has registered one million domain names and Nigeria with 180 million people has registered only 100, 000 domain names; so, we are not there yet.

    “Right now, we should be talking about three million .ng domain names but we are talking about 100, 000 only.

    “There is a gap between Nigeria and South Africa in terms of domain names registration, and we need to close that gap,’’ he told NAN.

    He, however, expressed the hope that the country would still make it “because it has the market and the economy’’.

    “We have the market; we have the economy; so, we should be able to close that gap.

    According to Afolayan, although Nigerians are getting to know about the .ng domain name, it is important that they switched over from other domain names.

    “It is beyond informing or showing people the .ng domain name; there is the need to get people to make the switchover,’’ he told NAN.

    Afolayan said that poor power supply had been a major challenging to the organisation and had made it to host its website outside Nigeria to reduce cost.

    “Keeping a server running 24 hours daily requires energy; the cost of procuring energy is more than the cost of procuring bandwidth.

    “However, it is possible to host websites in the country; some smaller companies still do it, though it is expensive,’’ the NiRA president said.

    He urged the Federal Government to come up with incentives to lower the cost of hosting websites locally to make it affordable for Nigerians.
    The NiRA president said that in spite of the high cost, hosting websites locally had advantages.

    According to him, hosting outside the country had security, economic and technological implications.

    “Anyone can access technological innovations on the host’s site.

    “In the process of hosting, you will have people managing the system; if they are not Nigerians, there is a security risk.

    “If you develop a technology that gives you a competitive advantage and a non-Nigerian can see it, there is a marketing risk, and you are developing other people’s economy; that is the economic risk.

    “If it is hosted in Nigeria, it is better for the Nigerian economy because people will have jobs, the country will not be exposed in terms of information security and physical security,’’ he said.

    The NiRA president urged Nigerians to use the .ng domain name to improve the economy.

    NAN reports that NiRA is the registry for .ng Internet Domain Names and maintains the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).

    It was founded as a stakeholder-led organisation charged with the management of (ccTLD).

    It is self-regulating and manages the .ng national resource, the country code Top Level Domain name space in the interest of Nigeria and global internet communities.

     

  • Cybercrime costs $600 billion annually – McAfee

    Fuelled by growing sophistication of hackers and proliferation of criminal marketplaces and cryptocurrencies, the annual cost of cybercrime has hit $600 billion worldwide, researchers said Wednesday.

    A report by the security firm McAfee with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies found theft of intellectual property represents about one-fourth of the cost of cybercrime in 2017, and that other attacks such as those involving ransomware are growing at a fast pace.

    Russia, North Korea, and Iran are the main sources of hackers targeting financial institutions, while China is the most active in cyber espionage, the report found.

    Criminals are using cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence and encryption for attacks in cyberspace, with anonymity preserved by using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, the researchers said.

    “We are seeing the bad actor community taking advantage of the innovation in the technology industry,” Steve Grobman, chief technology officer for McAfee, told a news conference in Washington.

    Even though these technologies can offer “tremendous value” when used for legitimate purposes, they also can be adopted by criminals to hide their tracks, Grobman said.

    The McAfee-CSIS report suggested cybercrime costs were rising from a 2014 estimate of $445 billion.

    “We were hoping it would flatten, but we didn’t see that,” said CSIS vice president James Lewis.

    One of the reasons for the increase, according to Lewis, is that “there’s a whole ‘dark web’ phenomenon that creates a safe space for criminals to operate”.

    These dark web marketplaces, the report noted, allow hackers and other criminals to offer their services or sell tools which can be used for attacks, and to sell stolen credit card numbers or other valuable data.

    Lewis said meanwhile the geopolitical risks of cybercrime are a key element in these attacks.

    “Our research bore out the fact that Russia is the leader in cybercrime, reflecting the skill of its hacker community and its disdain for western law enforcement,” Lewis said.

    “North Korea is second in line, as the nation uses cryptocurrency theft to help fund its regime, and we’re now seeing an expanding number of cybercrime centres, including not only North Korea but also Brazil, India and Vietnam,” he added.

    The report said there is often a connection between governments and the cybercrime community.

    It noted that in a massive attack against US-based Yahoo, “one of the cybercriminals who hacked Yahoo at the behest of Russian intelligence services… also used the stolen data for spam and credit card fraud for personal benefit”.

    The study did not attempt to measure the cost of all malicious activity on the Internet, but focused on the loss of proprietary business data, online fraud and financial crimes, manipulation directed toward publicly traded companies, cyber insurance and reputational damage.

    The global research report comes days after the White House released a report showing cyber-attacks cost the United States between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016, while warning of a “spillover” effect for the broader economy if certain sectors are hit.

     

  • Cyber-warfare impact: UN Chief urges global rules

    Cyber-warfare impact: UN Chief urges global rules

    United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for global rules to minimize the impact of electronic warfare on civilians as massive cyber-attacks look likely to become the first salvoes in future wars.

    Computer hackers, many of them believed to be state-sponsored groups, last year disrupted multinational firms, ports and public services on an unprecedented scale around the world, raising awareness of the issue.

    Last week, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies on charges of conducting a criminal and espionage conspiracy using social media to interfere in the 2016 US election.

    “Episodes of cyber-warfare between states already exist. What is worse is that there is no regulatory scheme for that type of warfare, it is not clear how the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law applies to it,” Guterres said in a speech to his alma mater, the University of Lisbon.

    “I am absolutely convinced that, differently from the great battles of the past, which opened with a barrage of artillery or aerial bombardment, the next war will begin with a massive cyber-attack to destroy military capacity… and paralyse basic infrastructure such as the electric networks,” he further stated.

    He offered the United Nations as a platform where various players from scientists to governments could meet and work out such rules “to guarantee a more humane character” of any conflict involving information technology and, more broadly, to keep the Internet as “an instrument in the service of good”.

    Addressing professors and engineers after receiving the university’s honorary degree, Guterres urged them to contribute to the process, which had to run much faster than before. Traditional ways of working out such rules could take decades – too slow for the rapidly changing technology scene.

    A group of NATO allies said last year they were drawing up cyber-warfare principles to guide their militaries on what justifies deploying cyber-attack weapons more broadly, aiming for agreement by early 2019.

    Some NATO allies believe shutting down an enemy power plant through a cyber-attack could be more effective than air strikes.