Information is Power

The xenophobic attacks in South Africa have attracted reactions from the presidents, celebrities and ordinary citizens all over the country. South Africans and Nigerians are using social media to call each other out over the attacks that have been characterised by looting and violence in the major cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. In this article, we highlight some of the quotes by prominent leaders that have driven the debate on the latest wave of xenophobia in one of Africa’s biggest economies. There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa president ‘‘I condemn the violence that has been spreading around a number of our provinces in the strongest terms.’‘ ‘‘There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries.’‘ Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria president ‘‘I am sending a Special Envoy to President Ramaphosa to share our deep concern about the security of Nigerian lives and prop

THIS WEEK IN THE IRONIC NEWS: DDS Safe, an online cloud-based data backup system that hundreds of dental practice offices are using to safeguard medical records and other information of their patients from ransomware attacks has been hit with ransomware. Provided by two Wisconsin-based companies, Digital Dental Record and PerCSoft, the backend system of affected medical records retention and backup solutions has probably been hit by Sodinokibi ransomware, also known as Sodin or REvil malware. Though it's not yet clear how attackers managed to compromise the company's infrastructure, the latest ransomware attack is yet another example of successful supply chain attack, crippling computer systems in 400 dental practice offices around the United States this week. According to statements released by both companies, the ransomware virus hit a remote data management software on Monday, August 26, that DDS Safe uses to back up its client data and encrypted files of hundreds of dental

BAGANDA dominate posts in the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), followed by the Banyankole of western Uganda. According to the list which the tax body released yesterday, the Baganda, who live in the central region, hold 490 positions, or 28.6%, while the Banyankole have 255, representing 14.9%. The Basoga come third with 138 posts, the Bakiga with 114, and the Iteso with 112 employees. The Batoro have 97 positions, the Langi, 66, the Banyoro, 60, the Acholi, 59 and Bagisu, 52 positions. The Banyole, Alur, Bagweere and Bakonzo have below 20 posts, while the Bagungu, Baruli, Karimojong, Madi, Jonam, Kumam and Kakwa have fewer than five positions each. Board chairman Ibrahim Kironde Kabanda yesterday handed the list to MPs to counter the allegations that people from the west, from where President Yoweri Museveni hails, take most of the jobs in the organisation. As a result, on Monday, the parliamentary committee on commissions and statutory authorities asked the URA to release the list of

In the wake of data abuse scandals and several instances of malware app being discovered on the Play Store, Google today expanded its bug bounty program to beef up the security of Android apps and Chrome extensions distributed through its platform. The expansion in Google's vulnerability reward program majorly includes two main announcements. First, a new program, dubbed 'Developer Data Protection Reward Program' (DDPRP), wherein Google will reward security researchers and hackers who find "verifiably and unambiguous evidence" of data abuse issues in Android apps, OAuth projects, and Chrome extensions. Second, expanding the scope of its Google Play Security Rewards Program (GPSRP) to include all Android apps from the Google Play Store with over 100 million or more installs, helping affected app developers fix vulnerabilities through responsibly disclosures.' Get Bounty to Find Data-Abusing Android & Chrome Apps The data abuse bug bounty program aims to avo

“Madam Speaker, I wish to mention that a safe house is a secure place used for intelligence work, all intelligence and security agencies world over operate safe houses...........running safe houses is not peculiar to Uganda but it is a worldwide intelligence practice". Extract from Gen. Tumwine's written statement on the floor of Parliament -  mid August 2019. "What I know is there are safe houses but you (MPs) will not be allowed to go there because the law does not permit you" - Gen. Tumwine - before the Human Rights Committee of Parliament -  late August 2019. In another gamble to remain relevant, Uganda's toothless Parliament is back in arms with the executive over the issue of torture chambers dubbed Safe Houses.  When the matter came to the floor of Parliament a few days ago, the Speaker ordered the parliamentary committee of Human Rights to visit the said Safe Houses.  Instead of moving straight to the alleged locations of the alleged Safe Houses, the comm

Discussion about this post Professor David Kitara Lagoro, a former lecturer at Gulu University has been appointed a Professor of Public Health at the prestigious T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard. Professor Lagoro was a lecturer at Gulu University, faculty of medicine. He has a master of medicine (MMed) from Makerere University and holds a certificate in planning and management of health services from Uganda management institute. He is a fellow of the ASSOCIATION of Surgeons of East, Central, and South Africa. He also holds a certificate in administrative law from the Law Development Centre and a post graduate diploma in project planning and management from Gulu University. While at Gulu University, Professor Lagoro served as the dean of faculty of medicine and also as chairperson Gulu University Academic Staff Association (GUASA) under the leadership of the then acting Gulu University Vice Chancellor, Professor Jack Nyeko Penmogi He has been described as hardworking by Norb

Incident of Gen Kasirye Gwanga is the current trending in the Country. Maj Gen Kasirye Gwanga addresses the media during the age limit debate at Parliament in September 2017. Retired Maj Gen Kasirye Gwanga was at it again last week, shooting and deflating the tyres of a lorry that was ferrying logs of eucalyptus in Busujju County, Mityana District. Gen Ggwanga has vowed to stop the cutting of eucalyptus trees in the area of his birth, arguing that those who planted the commercial forests first cut down natural forests, and that he will, for this reason, ensure that they don’t harvest the eucalyptus. The shooting incident last week followed another that happened two weeks earlier, in which he again shot the tyres of a lorry carrying logs of eucalyptus. These cases are reported to the police, and police records show that the retired general now has a total of 11 cases reported against him. But none of them has been conclusively dealt with. Although now officially retired, Gen Ggwanga is