Information is Power

An analysis of the mobile threat landscape in 2022 shows that Spain and Turkey are the most targeted countries for malware campaigns, even as a mix of new and existing banking trojans are increasingly targeting Android devices to conduct on-device fraud (ODF). Other frequently targeted countries include Poland, Australia, the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, and Portugal. "The most worrying leitmotif is the increasing attention to On-Device Fraud (ODF)," Dutch cybersecurity company ThreatFabric said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "Just in the first five months of 2022 there has been an increase of more than 40% in malware families that abuse Android OS to perform fraud using the device itself, making it almost impossible to detect them using traditional fraud scoring engines." Hydra, FluBot (aka Cabassous), Cerberus, Octo, and ERMAC accounted for the most active banking trojans based on the number of samples observed during the same period. Accompan...

By Andrew Cohen Amvesi May 30, 2022. https://redpepper.co.ug/2022/05/maracha-locals-roast-mp-driwaru-over-poor-performance/ ARUA. The locals of Maracha district have come out publicly to castigate their Woman Member of Parliament (MP), Jennifer Driwaru over the recent media reports that ranked her among the worst performing MPs in the country. The report that followed the Red Pepper publication on the performance of West Nile MPs early this year, shows how each MP performed in the last one year, based on the number of times the MP has spoken on the floor of Parliament.   It is in this report that Driwaru featured among the worst MPs who never dared to open their mouth to say anything in the whole year of the 11th Parliament – not even eulogizing the former Speaker, Late Jacob Oulanyah on the floor of Parliament. However, when the news reached the locals in Maracha, many wondered why Driwaru shamed them to this level yet they thought she would be the voice to the numerous ch...

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 Traffic police in Kampala have this morning arrested a State House driver after he allegedly attempted to make a U-turn at Aga Khan Primary school gate and intimidating officers who tried to stop him. "We are opening a war at Government vehicles now in addition to boda bodas who exhibit impunity," Commissioner Transport regulation and safety, Mr Winstone Katushabe said. "I have called Transport Officer President's Office for the action I have taken and the driver must be prosecuted. How the vehicle will be removed, that is not my business. This impunity by such hooligans must be checked," Katushabe added. #MonitorUpdates by Roland Nasasira

The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Maracha District Mr  Ayikobua Festus , Deputy RDC Mrs Coliba Kotevu Monica and the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) Mr Surundu Samuel in fulfillment of their constitutional mandate spent the whole of 27-5-2022 in supervising primary schools in Maracha District. This follows complaints from whistleblowers, who, through this online publication blog team raised their concerns about possible corruption scandals in the District and Schools. Recently, Government allocated some monies for the Districts through the Education department. The Permanent Secretary earlier on wrote a letter directing the DEO, District Engineers to involve Head Teachers, SMCs in the process of drafting a plan for the classroom blocks to be renovated and District officials are supposed to just approve the plans. To the contrary, the District officials from Engineering and Education came in with their pl...

  Contribution is that portion of an employee’s salary is sent to the NSSF fund. The new law (NSSF amendment Act) says that there are now 3 forms of contribution that an employee can make to NSSF that is standard contribution, voluntary contribution and special contribution.  STANDARD CONTRIBUTION  This is what the law requires an employee to make. This is 5% of the monthly salary of an employee. This is collected from the salary of the employee.   SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION  The law requires an employer to contribute a share to what each employee saves with NSSF. This amount should be 10% of the employee’s monthly salary. This is not removed from the salary of an employee but from the funds of the employer. This is added to the standard contribution of an employee and sent to NSSF together to make a monthly contribution of 15% of the employee’s salary.   VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION  If you are employed, and you are already making contributions to NSSF (those are...

  When we talk about a member of NSSF, it can be confusing. This is because the law requires an employer to register for NSSF. However, this is so that the employer can make contributions on behalf of his/her employees.   The job of NSSF is to receive and invest the money from its members. Since it is employee’s money that is received by NSSF, it means that it is the employee who is a member of NSSF. Therefore, if NSSF receives a part of your salary as contribution, then you are a member.

  Did you know that we have had the same NSSF act since 1985?     Well, the two-year pandemic brought one welcome change to the discussion about NSSF. It brought about debate on how we save and access our NSSF. As a result of all these debates, changes were made to that NSSF law (This is called amending a law). The new changes are in a law called the NSSF Amendment Act 2021.    This does not mean that the old Act is no longer law, it just means that the changes introduced by the amendment must be read together with the old Act and some provisions in the old law will be replaced.  We shall be talking about all the ‘small’ and ‘big’ changes that the new Act has brought throughout out this week. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions around NSSF in the comments below. 📷: New Vision

   Julius Hardware Limited suffered economically and over the last 2 years has steadily lost most of its workers and currently, he has only 3 workers left including himself. All these years, it has been law-abiding and was even paying NSSF. The finance officer wants to know if they are supposed to continue making these payments now that the business has fallen so low.     WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?  Before the NSSF amendment, the law required that employers with 5 or more employees register and remit contribution on their behalf. However, with the 2021 NSSF Amendment Act, the law now requires that every employer regardless of the number of employees they have has to continue to make contributions on behalf of all the remaining employees.   It is now mandatory for all employers to make contributions on behalf of their employees.     There was also an option for the employer to be deregistered for NSSF in case they now had a smaller number of employees ...

  Mateyo received an MTN alert saying his monthly NSSF contribution had been paid to National Social Security Fund (NSSF).He excitedly showed his wife Swiriri so that she would know that he was ‘securing their future’. After some thought, Swiriri (who is a self-employed tailor) asked Mateyo if it was possible for her to also save or if Mateyo’s boss can send in more money on their behalf to NSSF?   CAN SWIRIRI ALSO SAVE?  Yes. Although the law requires certain people to make NSSF contributions, it also allows those people who are self-employed (and do not meet the NSSF requirements) to apply to NSSF and be allowed to make contributions. Therefore, Swiriri can apply to become a member of NSSF so that she can start saving her money with NSSF. This can be done either online or physically at any of the NSSF branches by providing copies of her passport photos and national Identification card. Once she has been registered, she will be given a Membership number and card and she ...

  Akello put up with the terrible work hours and toxicity of her boss for the last 3 years because the pay was good and she was guaranteed a good NSSF balance for when she finally retires from work. To her shock, Akello checked her NSSF account last week after resigning only to find a big fat ‘nothing’ where her 3-year contribution should have been. Now she’s very unamused and wants to know what she is supposed to do so her efforts do not go to waste.    WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?  The payment of NSSF contribution is a matter of law. This means that an employer has a legal duty to deduct it from the salary of an employee and share it with NSSF within 30 days of the end of a month.     If this is not done, NSSF is supposed to fine the employer and make him/her pay a fine of 10% of the money they should have paid. If they still do not pay this money, then an additional fine of 10% will be levied on them.    Therefore, if you find you that your NSSF cont...

Sebalu and his friends have survived Kampala doing casual jobs at different companies for the last 13 years. Some months they work for one company while other times, they just get ‘deals’ from many places. During the lockdown, they heard about how NSSF was the keeper of workers’ savings and they want to know if some of their money was also kept and if they are supposed to also keep their money with it. Are casual workers the same as employees? A casual worker is a person who is paid daily for the daily work completed that day. By law this person is not considered an employee and is therefore not entitled to employment benefits like NSSF. However, if a casual worker is continuously engaged for a period of four months, they are then entitled to an employment contract (meaning they are now employees) and they can enjoy employment benefits like any other employee.  Did you know this?

  Julius Hardware Limited suffered economically and over the last 2 years has steadily lost most of its workers and currently, he has only 3 workers left including himself. All these years, it has been law-abiding and was even paying NSSF. The finance officer wants to know if they are supposed to continue making these payments now that the business has fallen so low.  What do you think? 📸 Daily Monitor

If you have been following us this past week,  you, like our friend Magidu, have probably read our content on NSSF. Magidu wants to know how NSSF collects NSSF contributions. WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY? Well, NSSF (National Social Security Fund) has a duty to collect contributions of 15% of an employee’s salary and invest it as part of its fund. It makes this collection every month, by requiring employers to deduct a sum of money from the salaries of employees and forwarding that payment to the NSSF account opened for that purpose and for the employee’s benefit.  If you are part of a workplace where there are 5 or more employees, then it is compulsory for your employer to make this payment on behalf of the employees. The employer must deduct 5% from the salary of the employee and top up an additional 10% of the employee’s gross salary before sending this to that NSSF account.

  All Martha’s friends have been talking about NSSF benefits. They keep saying that they are receiving profits and when they check their phones, they see millions of shillings. Last night, this got her wondering, all her money and savings go into luxurious things that she does not think she will even have 10 years from now and she wants to know if she can also keep some of her money with NSSF so that she has some money to ‘eat’ later when she no longer has a stable salary.    WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY? The law allows NSSF to accept contributions from both employers and private individuals that may not be required to make NSSF contributions. These are called voluntary contributions. Such employers or private persons like Martha may choose a specific amount of money they are willing to save monthly with NSSF.    Has this post gotten you thinking about saving with NSSF? What are your thoughts on saving with NSSF? Please let us know in the comments below. 📷: Freepik

Male has been in business for the last 12 years, but it is not until recently that he managed to do well enough to hire workers for his business. Now he can proudly say that he has several workers who work for him who he is able to pay every month. However, he has been informed that there is this thing called NSSF and he wants to know who is supposed to pay that after all, he already pays his salary.  The law says that if a person (an employer) has five or more employees on the payroll of their business, that employer is supposed to register and make contributions to NSSF on behalf of those employees (workers). This same law requires that employer to deduct 5% from the employee’s monthly salary, then top up an amount equal to 10% of the employee’s monthly salary.   This means that both the employer (boss) and the worker (employee)  contribute to a share of the NSSF payment. This brings the NSSF contribution for each employee per month to 15% of that employee’s salary. Are...

You probably know that what some of these names refer to FBI, CIA, NSA, IRA, social security number. Uganda also has its own famous names that should be recognisable to all of us UPF, KCCA, URA, NSSF.  But just for the sake of those who do not know some of the Ugandan famous abbreviations. Today we are talking about NSSF. The NSSF (which is the National Social Security Fund in full) is the institution that is responsible for collecting, saving, and investing a part of the worker’s salary so that this worker can use that money later in life after they have retired from regular employment. (Starting at the age of 55 years). This contribution is collected from the private employers on behalf of their employees. Do you save with NSSF?

1. Hon Obiga Kania spoke for  55 times in the plenary session. 2. Hon Ababiku Jesca spoke for 40 times. 3. Hon Moriku Kaducu Joyce spike for 40 times. 4. Hon Onzima Geoffrey spoke for 37 times. 5. Hon Oguzu Lee Denis spoke for 21 times. 6. Hon Afoyochan Easther spoke for 18 times. 7. Hon Obiga Rose spoke for 15 times. 8. Hon Baba James Boliba 15 times. 9. Hon Ayume Charles 14 times. 10. Mamawi James 13 times. 11. Hon Ali Moses 12 times. 12. Hon Feta Geofrey 12 times. 13. Hon Leku Joel 12 times. 14. Hon Musa Noah 12 times. 15. Hon Afidra Olema 11 times. 16. Hon Paparu Lillian 11 times. 17. Hon Atima Jackson 10 times. 18. Hon Alioni Yorke Odria 9 times. 19. Hon Otimgiw Isaac Ismail 9 times, 20. Hon Alero Tom Aza 9 times. 21. Hon Okia Joane Aniku 9 times. 22. Hon Etuka Isaac Joakino 8 times. 23. Hon Ongiertho Emmanuel Jor 8 times. 24. Hon Ezama Siraji Brahan 7 times. 25. Acibu Agnes 5 times. 26. Okumu Gabriel 5 times. 27. Osoru Mourine 6 times. 28.  Hon Bhoka Didi George 4 times....

Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has revealed that the quality of most of his fellow legislators is worrying since almost 85 percent of them cannot address issues on the floor of the House. The former opposition Chief Whip made the revelation over the weekend on CBS FM. He said that out of the 500 plus members of the August House, only 100 members can vividly debate issues at the national level in a satisfying manner. “In Uganda, we are facing a dangerous problem that many people see politics as a lucrative business, which is not true. Parliament needs people that are well polished. But electorates normally send people to Parliament who cannot even chair a village meeting. I have one member who has always asked me to help him speak but whenever I ask him to stand, he pleads with me to leave him because he is not ready. So over 300 members fall in such a category who cannot debate but they are waiting to say yes or no depending on what the majority wants,”...

Twitter, which is in the process of being acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has agreed to pay $150 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that it abused non-public information collected for security purposes to serve targeted ads. In addition to the monetary penalty for "misrepresenting its privacy and security practices," the company has been banned from profiting from the deceptively collected data and ordered to notify all affected users. "Twitter obtained data from users on the pretext of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the data to target users with ads," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement. "This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter's primary source of revenue." According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department, Twitter in May 2013 began enforcing a requirement for users to provide either a phone number or email address to ...

Threat actors behind web skimming campaigns are leveraging malicious JavaScript code that mimics Google Analytics and Meta Pixel scripts in an attempt to sidestep detection. "It's a shift from earlier tactics where attackers conspicuously injected malicious scripts into e-commerce platforms and content management systems (CMSs) via vulnerability exploitation, making this threat highly evasive to traditional security solutions," Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team  said  in a new report. Skimming attacks, such as those by Magecart, are carried out with the goal of harvesting and exporting users' payment information, such as credit card details, that are entered into online payment forms in e-commerce platforms, typically during the checkout process. This is achieved by taking advantage of security vulnerabilities in third-party plugins and other tools to inject rogue JavaScript code into the online portals without the owners' knowledge. As skimming attacks have in...

Political activist, Dr Kizza Besigye gestures as he stands in the dock at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate's Court during proceedings in charges of incitement to violence against him on May 25, 2022.   State told court presided over by Grade One Magistrate, Siena Owomugisha that Besigye on May 24, 2022 at Arua Park - Munno Village in Kampala City, without any lawful excuse at an assembly addressed members of the public implying that it would be desirable for them to demonstrate, yet this act can result into violence and destruction of property. The veteran Opposition politician was arraigned before Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kampala and charged with incitement to violence Former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye has been released on bail after spending a night in police cells following his arrest over renewed protests against government inaction to cushion Ugandans against the skyrocketing commodity prices. The former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president was...

Malicious actors can gain unauthorized access to users' online accounts via a new technique called "account pre-hijacking," new research has found. The attack takes aim at the account creation process that's ubiquitous in websites and other online platforms, enabling an adversary to perform a set of actions before an unsuspecting victim creates an account in a target service. The study was led by independent security researcher Avinash Sudhodanan in collaboration with Andrew Paverd of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). Pre-hijacking banks on the prerequisite that an attacker is already in possession of a unique identifier associated with a victim, such as an email address or phone number, which can be obtained either from the target's social media accounts or credential dumps circulating on the web. The attacks can then play out in five different ways, including the use of the same email address during account creation by both the adversary and the vic...

 Russian forces are stealing Ukrainian outdated Mi-2 training helicopters in areas they have occupied, according to MilitaryAviation.in.UA. Photos that have appeared on social media show a Russian military column that gets shipped Ukrainian Mi-2 helicopters out from the Chornobayivka airfield near Kherson, in the southern part of Ukraine. Apparently, the Russian military succeeded in capturing helicopters that were in bad repair and could not fly away during the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24. The Mil Mi-2 is a Soviet-era small, lightly armed turbine-powered helicopter, which has the NATO reporting name Hoplite. The three-blade main rotor is mounted on top of a large hump above the body midsection. Two turboshaft engines are mounted side-by-side on top of the cabin, forming a hump, with round air intakes above the cockpit and oval exhausts on the sides of the engines. The small, bus-like fuselage with fixed landing gear features a stepped-up cockpit and rounded no...

The MP for Central Division Arua City, Hon Atima Jackson who made 47 years old yesterday 23-5-2022, has today 24-5-2022 organized the fete to celebrate his Birthday at Mestil Hotel Kampala. Hon Atima, accompanied by his Wife Mrs Ayaka Rose who is the former Woman MP of Maracha District, has joined rest of the invited guests and other dignitaries at the colorful event that involves Cake cutting, feasting and partying. Amongst invited guests to attend the party are, Some MPs from WestNile region, Mr Matua Job Richard an Aspiring Candidate for the position of NRM Vice Chairperson Northern Uganda, Other Government officials and the entire MPs of Parliamentary Finance Committee where Hon Atima ascribed to. Minister for Sports, Hon Denis Obua is the guest speaker of the ceremony. Here is the list of some MPs who attended the Birthday party; 1 - Hon Minister Hamson Obua David-Ajuri County  2-Avako Melsa- Yumbe 3-Obiga Rose-Terego 4- Chimonges William- Kwania 5-Leku Joel-Terego West 6-Aate...