Information is Power

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Facebook (FB) followed a second-quarter flop with tepid third-quarter results. The social media giant narrowly missed expectations for global daily active users and revenue while beating on earnings per share. Facebook delivered earnings of $1.76 per share on revenue of $13.73 billion. This beat consensus estimates of earnings of $1.47 per share but missed the $13.8 billion in revenue foreseen by average analyst expectations. The Menlo Park, California-based company reported 1.49 billion daily active users globally in the third quarter, missing expectations of 1.5 billion. The company had seen 1.47 billion daily active users for the second quarter, also missing expectations for the period. Facebook added 1 million monthly active users in North America in the third quarter, bringing MAUs in the region to 242 million. North America remains a lucrative market for the company, with average revenue coming out to $27.61 per user in...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Gabon Gabon’s communications watchdog, the High Authority of Communication, HAC, has suspended a privately-run Cameroonian channel for reporting the fake death of President Ali Bongo Ondimba. The Vision 4 channel last weekend reported that Bongo had died in a Saudi Arabia hospital whiles on admission. The suspension is to last six months. HAC has subsequently directed that Vision 4’s broadcast on all satellite TV bouquets on the Gabonese territory be suspended. The main broadcasters with the channel’s signal in Gabon are Canal +, Sat-Con and TNT Africa. The regulator holds that that Cameroonian television has threatened the lives of others and disseminated information tending to disturb public order. Following the death report, the government clarified in an official statement that the president was suffering from fatigue due to his heavy local and international work schedules. The statement added that he was recupera...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta has refuted claims that his party is interested in amending the constitution to allow him stay in power, after his term expires in 2022. Kenyatta, who is serving his second and final term, told international broadcaster, CNN that he is ‘not interested in a third term’. ‘‘People are talking about Constitutional change, but they’re talking about constitutional change not necessarily because they are desirous for the president to seek a third term,’‘ Kenyatta told CNN’s Richard Quest. People are talking about Constitutional change, but they’re talking about constitutional change not necessarily because they are desirous for the president to seek a third term. The president explained that ongoing calls to amend the constitution are fuelled by a desire to reduce the cost of running government. ‘‘They are talking about constitutional chan...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Microsoft reportedly buys GitHub (Biggest Source Code Repository Hosting Service). Here's the biggest news of the week—Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion. For those unaware, GitHub is a popular code repository hosting service that allows developers to host their projects, documentation, and code in the cloud using the popular Git source management system, invented in 2005 by Linux founder Linus Torvalds. GitHub is used by many developers and big tech companies including Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and IBM to store their corporate code and privately collaborate on software, but Microsoft is one of the top contributors to the web-hosting service. Microsoft has uploaded several of its most important projects, including PowerShell, the .NET framework, and the Microsoft Edge JavaScript engine, to the website under open source licenses. Microsoft also partnered with Canonical to bring Ubuntu to Windows 10. ...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Former first vice-president of South Sudan, Riek Machar has arrived in the capital Juba after fleeing two years ago, multiple media outlets have reported. Machar who leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement In Opposition, SPLM-IO, is expected to join in peace celebrations later today. Along with president Salva Kiir, and other leaders from across the region, Machar will join the celebrations that are premised on a peace deal signed in September under the aegis of the regional bloc, IGAD and other international stakeholders. We are worried for his security in Juba, but the truth is here: we are for peace, and what we are trying to do is build trust. — Denis Dumo (DenisDumo)   Machar’s spokesperson, Lam Paul Gabriel confirmed that the former vice-president will return to Juba for the first time since he fled two years ago under a hail of gunfire when an earlier peace deal collapsed. “Machar w...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. It's only been a few hours since Apple releases  iOS 12.1  and an iPhone enthusiast has managed to find a passcode bypass hack, once again, that could allow anyone to see all contacts' private information on a locked iPhone. Jose Rodriguez, a Spanish security researcher, contacted The Hacker News and confirmed that he discovered an iPhone passcode bypass bug in the latest version of its iOS mobile operating system, iOS 12.1, released by Apple today. To demonstrate the bug, Rodriguez shared a video with The Hacker News, as shown below, describing how the new iPhone hack works, which is relatively simple to perform than his previous passcode bypass findings. Instead, the issue resides in a new feature, called  Group FaceTime , introduced by Apple with iOS 12.1, which makes it easy for users to video chat with more people than ever before—maximum 32 people. How Does the New iPhone Passcode Bypass Attack Work? . Unlike...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. It's been quite a year for the open source platforms. Earlier this year, Microsoft acquired popular code repository hosting service GitHub for $7.5 billion, and now IBM has just announced the biggest open-source business deal ever. IBM today confirmed that it would be acquiring open source Linux firm  Red Hat  for $190 per share in cash, working out to a total value of approximately $34 billion. Red Hat, known for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system, is a leading software company that offers open-source software products to the enterprise community. Even Oracle uses Red Hat’s source code for its Oracle Linux product. Red Hat's last year revenue was $2.4 billion, and this year the company has earned $2.9 billion. But if Red Hat products are open source and updates are free, you might be wondering how does the company earn. Red Hat was one of the first companies who found a successful way to make money fr...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Business owners and Executive Management have a lot on their plate, including finding ways to protect their data and IT systems from hackers and scammers. Human errors take many forms and shapes and are often, at least partially, the source of accidental data breaches and successful cyberattacks. Here are five of the most common types of errors employees make and how companies can protect their users and IT systems.

Inquiry finds refugee numbers were exaggerated by 300,000 in Uganda . Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Government investigation into alleged fraud and mismanaged funds confirms Uganda hosts 1.1 million refugees, not 1.4 million. Families queue for aid at a settlement in Palorinya. The country is home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations. A Ugandan government investigation into alleged fraud over refugee numbers has confirmed that previous figures were exaggerated by 300,000. An official inquiry, conducted since March by the office of the prime minister and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, found that Uganda hosts 1.1 million refugees rather than 1.4 million. The investigation followed allegations that senior officials had inflated figures and mismanaged the funds meant to support them. Apollo Kazungu, commissioner for refugees in the prime minister’s office, and three of his senior staff – Walter Omondi, John Baptist Sentamu and Francis Nkwasibwe – were ...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Linux apps now can run in a Chromebook's Chrome OS environment. However, the process can be tricky, and it depends on your hardware's design and Google's whims. It is somewhat similar to running Android apps on your Chromebook, but the Linux connection is far less forgiving. If it works in your Chromebook's flavor, though, the computer becomes much more useful with more flexible options. Still, running Linux apps on a Chromebook will not replace the Chrome OS. The apps run in an isolated virtual machine without a Linux desktop. If you are not familiar with any Linux distribution, your only learning curve involves getting familiar with a new set of computing tools. That experience can pique interest in a full Linux setup on a non-Chromebook device. Why tool around with adding Linux apps to the Chromebook world? One reason is that now you can. That response may only suit Linux geeks and software devs looking to consolida...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Hacker-Powered Security is any technique that utilizes the external hacker community to find unknown security vulnerabilities and reduce cyber risk. This report is the largest repository of hacker activity and vulnerability data on display. Get the Report. Things have been changing at an almost unprecedented rate with regard to power structures. The last time I saw this happen was in the 1970s, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took off. Suddenly a lot of the off-color, sexist and racist jokes that many executives regularly told could get them fired. A surprisingly large number of people got reassigned, fired, demoted, or otherwise punished for the same behavior that previously had made them "one of the guys." With the current #MeToo movement, any hint of wrongdoing -- not only recent but going back to your youth -- can have dire consequences on job prospects, image, and (depending on what you did) freedom. Th...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Mike Coffman, a United States Congressman is pushing for sanctions to be slapped on Ethiopia’s former intelligence chief, Getachew Assefa. An October 22 letter addressed to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury, Steven T. Mnuchin, described Assefa as a criminal and ruthless human rights violator, who needed to be sanctioned along with all persons who aided him during his reign of terror. The Congressman said his demand for the Magnitsky Act to be imposed on Assefa was also to curtail his actions and abilities despite being out of his position. ...it is entirely possible that Assefa remains in Ethiopia, specifically in the Tigray region and he was recently appointed to a leadership position within the TPLF, where he will have the opposrtunity to inflict harm on his own people. “…it is entirely possible that Assefa remains in Ethiopia, specifically in the Tigray region and he was recently appoint...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Democratic Republic Of Congo Children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are dying from Ebola at an unprecedented rate due largely to poor sanitary practices at clinics run by traditional healers, the health ministry said on Sunday. The impact on children has been felt acutely in the city of Beni, which has emerged as the outbreak’s new epicentre. Of 120 confirmed Ebola cases in Beni, at least 30 are under 10-years-old, and 27 of them have died, according to health ministry data. Many children affected by an unrelated malaria outbreak near Beni are thought to have contracted Ebola at clinics run by traditional healers who have also treated Ebola patients, said Jessica Ilunga, a spokeswoman for the health ministry. Traditional healers use the same tools to treat everyone. And the child who has entered a traditional healer’s clinic with malaria comes out with Ebola and dies several days later. “There is an abnormal...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. The United Kingdom just had its first black female history professor thanks to the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located at the Newton Park on Duchy of Cornwall land. The glass ceiling breaker in this regard is historian Olivette Otele who has Cameroonian origins according to the History Today news portal. The BBC describes her as a Cameroon-born academic who schooled in France but is currently teaching in the UK. Her Twitter bio reads: “Historian: British-French Empires-Slavery, Memory Legacies-African Diaspora (incl. North Africa).” In announcing the big news of her professorship she wrote: “BIG NEWS: my people, @BathSpaUni has awarded me a professorship and a chair in history. “May this open the door 2many v (to many very) hard working women, especially WoC (women of colour), even + specifically Black women, in academia in general & in History in particular. In strength, peace and love my ppl (...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday left the capital Addis Ababa for the start of his first European tour, chief of staff Fitsum Arega wrote on Twitter. Abiy will be in two countries over the period of his visit – Germany and France. He will meet respective leaders of the two nations, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron of France. He is also expected to address Ethiopians living in Europe during his visit. Whiles his only stop in France will be Paris, over in Germany he will make stops in Berlin and in Frankfurt. Abiy’s first diaspora tour since his appointment in April was to the United States, Abiy and his delegation made stops in Washington DC – where he met with U.S. vice-president Mike Pence. He also met with heads of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank on the sidelines of his visit. He visited Los Angeles and then Minnesota to wrap up his tour. Photo Credit: Ghid...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Zimbabwe will continue to operate a multi currency system despite the current economic crisis, president Emmerson Mnangagwa has reiterated. The president, speaking on Monday, at a breakfast meeting with the business community also urged the public to not panic and offload their Real Time gross Settlement, RTGS, balances. “I fully know what is going on in the country. We as government should listen to you. The financial sector is highly sensitive and thrives on highest levels of trust. “Government is working day and night to stabilize the economy. The multi-currency system is here to stay. RTGS balances and bond notes are safe as monetary instruments. No need for pressure to exchange them,” he said. A multi-currency regime is basically a situation where a country adopts other currencies in addition to its own. The measure was introduced in 2009 and is credited with stemming hyperinflation, which made the...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Facebook has finally been slapped with its first fine of £500,000 for allowing political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica to improperly gather and misuse data of 86 million users. The fine has been imposed by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and was calculated using the UK's old Data Protection Act 1998 which can levy a maximum penalty of £500,000 — ironically that’s equals to the amount Facebook earns every 18 minutes. The news does not come as a surprise as the U.K.'s data privacy watchdog already notified the social network giant in July this year that the commission was intended to issue the maximum fine. For those unaware, Facebook has been under scrutiny since earlier this year when it was revealed that the personal data of 87 million users was improperly gathered and misused by political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica, who reportedly helped Donald Trump win the US presidency in 2016. T...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. A security researcher with Twitter alias SandboxEscaper—who two months ago publicly dropped a zero day exploit for Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler—has yesterday released another proof-of-concept exploit for a new Windows zero-day vulnerability. SandboxEscaper posted a link to a Github page hosting a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for the vulnerability that appears to be a privilege escalation flaw residing in Microsoft Data Sharing (dssvc.dll). The Data Sharing Service is a local service that runs as LocalSystem account with extensive privileges and provides data brokering between applications. The flaw could allow a low-privileged attacker to elevate their privileges on a target system, though the PoC exploit code (deletebug.exe) released by the researcher only allows a low privileged user to delete critical system files—that otherwise would only be possible via admin level privileges. "Not the same bug I posted a while bac...

Automated Publishing Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Gabonese president Ali Bongo was on Thursday admitted at a facility in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, a source at the presidency confirmed to the Jeune Afrique magazine. According to the unnamed source, the 59-year-old president was said to be suffering “mild fatigue,” the reason for which he was hospitalized. The AFP news portal reports that Bongo was in Saudi to attend an investment conference organized by the Saudi government but he failed to show up on Wednesday. Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince is reported to have visited Bongo in hospital. It is not known when he is due to leave the hospital as yet. Then minister Bongo was took over the reins in the oil-rich central African nation in 2009 following the death of his father Omar Bongo who had been president for over four decades. Ali won hotly contested polls in 2016 to secure his second-term in charge. The main opponent and former colleague minis...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. FireEye: Russian Research Lab Aided the Development of TRITON Industrial Malware. Cybersecurity firm FireEye claims to have discovered evidence that proves the involvement of a Russian-owned research institute in the development of the TRITON malware that caused some industrial systems to unexpectedly shut down last year, including a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia. TRITON , also known as Trisis, is a piece of ICS malware designed to target the Triconex Safety Instrumented System (SIS) controllers made by Schneider Electric which are often used in oil and gas facilities. Triconex Safety Instrumented System is an autonomous control system that independently monitors the performance of critical systems and takes immediate actions automatically if a dangerous state is detected. Since malware of such capabilities can't be created by a computer hacker without possessing necessary knowledge of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), resea...

Automated Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Tumblr published a report admitting the presence of a security vulnerability in its website that could have allowed hackers to steal login credentials and other private information for users' accounts. The affected information included users email addresses, protected (hashed and salted) account passwords, self-reported location (a feature no longer available), previously used email addresses, last login IP addresses, and names of the blog associated with every account. According to the company, a security researcher discovered a critical vulnerability in the desktop version of its website and responsibly reported it to the Tumblr security team via its bug bounty program. Though the company has not revealed the researcher's name or any technical details about the vulnerability, Tumblr has disclosed that the flaw resided in the "Recommended Blogs" feature of its website. Recommended Blogs has been designed to display ...

Automatic Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Cameroon’s president-elect Paul Biya thanked citizens at home and abroad for voting massively for him to continue in his role as president. Monday, October 22 message was Biya’s first political message since the 7th when he cast his ballot at the Government Bilingual Primary School Bastos in the capital, Yaounde. The message posted on his social media handles read as follows: “Dear compatriots in Cameroon and the Diaspora, Thank you for your renewed and large confidence. “Let us now join in taking up, TOGETHER, the challenges that confront us in ensuring a more united, stable and prosperous Cameroon,” it added accompanied by a photo of Biya. Biya won re-election with 71% of valid votes cast in a poll that was marked by low turnout. The country’s Constitutional Council announced the results of the polls on Monday amid high security across the country. The Council last week dismissed eighteen peti...

Automatic Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Ethiopia’s parliament will on Thursday appoint a new president, to replace Mulatu Teshome , according to state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting ( FanBC ). FanaBC said the parliament will hold a special session to accept Mulatu’s resignation and appoint his replacement. Mulatu has been president of the East African nation since 7 October 2013 and was expected to serve until 2019. While the position of president is largely ceremonial, Mulatu has consistently pronounced himself on issues affecting Ethiopia including recent economic and political reforms. About Ethiopia’s presidency The President of Ethiopia, is largely a ceremonial one, with executive power effectively being exercised by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Presidents are elected by the House of Peoples’ Representatives for six years, with a two-term limit. Any Ethiopian citizen who is a resident of the State is eligible to run for president.

Automatic Publishing Via Osuta Yusuf Robot Trigger. Hack printers and computers using fax machine. What maximum a remote attacker can do just by having your Fax machine number? Believe it or not, but your fax number is literally enough for a hacker to gain complete control over the printer and possibly infiltrate the rest of the network connected to it. Check Point researchers have revealed details of two critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities they discovered in the communication protocols used in tens of millions of fax machines globally. You might be thinking who uses Fax these days! Well, Fax is not a thing of the past. With more than 300 million fax numbers and 45 million fax machines in use globally, Fax is still popular among several business organizations, regulators, lawyers, bankers, and real estate firms. Since most fax machines are today integrated into all-in-one printers, connected to a WiFi network and PSTN phone line, a remote attacker can simply send a sp...