Charts show broadband internet still too expensive for many Africans

In parts of the continent, monthly broadband packages cost more than national minimum wage. In Nigeria, for example, the $80 average cost of monthly broadband packages is nearly double the national minimum wage of $50 (18,000 naira), data from the broadband pricing league table compiled by Cable.co.uk show. Of the 36 African countries analyzed, only …

.WED Placed in Emergency Back-End Registry Operator (EBERO) Program

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) has designated an emergency interim registry operator for the generic top-level domain (gTLD) .WED. An Emergency Back-End Registry Operator (EBERO) may be temporarily activated if a gTLD registry operator reaches an emergency threshold of downtime for any of the five critical registry functions. These functions are: …

German Gov wants a ‘backdoor’ access to every digital device

Germany’s Interior Minister wants to force tech and car companies to provide the German security services with hidden digital access to cars, computers, phones and more, according to a media report from Friday. The RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported that Thomas de Maizière had written up a draft proposal for the interior minister conference, taking place …

Andromeda botnet dismantled in international cyber operation

On 29 November 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in close cooperation with the Luneburg Central Criminal Investigation Inspectorate in Germany, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the Joint Cybercrime Action Task Force (J-CAT), Eurojust and private-sector partners, dismantled one of the longest running malware families in existence called Andromeda (also known as Gamarue). This …

Splinternet? Russia wants to build ‘independent internet’ for BRICS nations

The Russian government has made indications that it will build an “independent internet” for use by itself, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa — the so-called BRICS nations — “in the event of global internet malfunctions,” the Russian news site RT reported on Tuesday. Moscow precisely intends to create an alternative to the global Domain Name System, or DNS, the directory that helps …