Nokia brand ready for smartphone comeback in 2017

Nokia, once the world’s top mobile phone maker, will make a comeback on the smartphone market in the first half of 2017, the company and its licensee said .
Nokia, which is now a leading telecom equipment maker, has licenced its brand to HMD Global which is to launch its first Nokia smartphone products early this year.

The Finnish company said HMD had received the green light to proceed with production after completing all necessary transactions with its Taiwanese manufacturing partner, FIH Mobile of FoxConn Technology Group, and with US tech giant Microsoft which had bought the unprofitable phone business from Nokia in 2014.
 

“HMD can begin operations as the new home of Nokia phones, under an exclusive global brand license for the next ten years,” excluding Japan, Nokia said in a statement.

Microsoft’s venture into phone manufacturing cost it $7.2 billion in 2014, but proved short-lived last May, when it said it would sell its feature phone business to HMD Global and FIH Mobile for $350 million (329.4 million euros).

Microsoft also decided to end its smartphone manufacturing in Finland, letting go of some 1,350 smartphone makers and former Nokia employees.
When Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft, it agreed not to get back into smartphones until the last quarter of 2016. With the restriction no longer valid next year, HMD can begin making new smartphones under the Nokia brand.
“Nokia branded feature phones remain one of the most popular choices of mobile phone in many markets around the world today and HMD will continue to market them… alongside a new range of smartphones and tablets to be announced later by HMD,” Nokia said.
Nokia is not a shareholder in HMD, but will receive royalty payments for sales of each mobile phone and tablet sold under its brand.

Nigeria moves to block counterfeit handsets from China

        The Nigerian government is responding to a tidal wave of China-made counterfeit handsets by initiating a program to block the devices from operating on mobile networks in the country .

More than 12.5 million counterfeit handsets are currently in use in the country, officials said. Counterfeit handsets are a problem throughout Africa, but Nigeria is Africa's largest telecom market by mobile network investments and subscriptions, with over US$25 billion invested in infrastructure and about 127 million subscribers.

The Nigerian government has announced that plans are under way to block counterfeits handsets from the networks by detecting the devices' International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. The plan appears similar to efforts made by other countries on the continent.
"The enforcement will help increase revenue for the Nigerian government through taxes and will also increase revenue for genuine mobile phone manufacturers," according to a statement from the Standards Organization of Nigeria.

Efforts by Nigerian customs officials have failed to block the phones at various entry points into the country and to arrest importers of the phones.
Most of the phones coming from China into Africa are not licensed by governments and reportedly use smuggled chips, carry no verification from China's Ministry of Industries and Information, and have fake IMEI codes.
Kenya was the first country in Africa to implement a campaign to block such phones from accessing mobile phone networks.

In Zambia, the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has enforced SIM card registration and has successfully worked with operators to block all unregistered SIM cards from accessing the networks. ZICTA has said it will do the same for phones with unregistered IMEI numbers. Zambia's mobile phone market has about 9 million subscribers.
In 2011, Chinese embassies in the region promised to aggressively crack down on companies and people exporting counterfeit electronic products from China. Embassy officials promised that the Chinese government would start inspecting all ports to prevent counterfeit electronic products from being exported to Africa.

That does not appear to have happened and an increasing quantity of counterfeit mobile phones from China have continued flooding the African market.
"It's not the Chinese that have a problem but the people that import the fake products and China cannot stop them," former Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yuxio said recently, according to published reports.

 

Microsoft Warns Windows 7 Is Dangerous To Use

In a new post on the official Microsoft Newsroom, the company has warned Windows 7 users the ageing platform suffers from a number of serious failings including security deficiencies and hardware restrictions while reiterating all support for the platform is ending. It’s scary stuff.

“Today, [Windows 7] does not meet the requirements of modern technology, nor the high security requirements of IT departments,” says Markus Nitschke, Head of Windows at Microsoft Germany.

The Microsoft post (originally written in German) goes into more detail actively attacking Windows 7 for its "long-outdated security architectures" and warning any users and businesses who are running that they are more susceptible to cyber attacks.

But the remarkable beatdown of its own platform doesn’t stop there. Microsoft says that sticking with Windows 7 will result in "higher operating costs" for users due to problems with reliability and compatibility. It also warns some manufacturers are actively shunning Windows 7 and stopping driver support while the newest chipsets from AMD, Intel INTC +0.05% and Qualcomm QCOM +1.46% are incompatible.

                Microsoft is making major changes to how Windows 10 handles your privacy.
                It's a start but does not compare to the greater freedoms of Windows 7.
                 Image credit: Microsoftyber attacks.


Microsoft completes this somber vision for Windows 7 by emphasising that life cycle is ending and when that happens it will no longer provide any security updates or technical support.

So should you ditch Windows 7 and run for the hills? After all Microsoft also stresses in its post that it has never been easier to upgrade to Windows 10.

What To Think? Reality Vs Scare Tactics

Let me be absolutely clear: Microsoft is taking extreme liberties with the truth and Windows 7 users should not panic. Instead they should see this for what it is - a desperate attempt by the company to push users to Windows 10 after the infamous nagging stopped. So let’s break down Microsoft’s claims:

    Yes, Windows 10 does technically have better security BUT Windows 7 remains a very secure operating system if you are going to keep it up to date with the latest security patches.
    Yes, Windows 7 doesn’t support the latest AMD, Intel and Qualcomm chipsets but that is ONLY because Microsoft chose to make them incompatible. In the history of Windows this was an unprecedented step and designed to push users to Windows 10.
    Yes, technically Windows Store apps are only compatible with Windows 10 but I’ve seen ZERO evidence any hardware or software companies are no longer supporting Windows 7. It would make no sense, Windows 7 is still by far the most popular and widely used operating system in the world.
    Yes, Windows 7 support will end and Microsoft will cut off all support but not until January 14th 2020. You should upgrade after this date, but it remains a long way away in computer years.

And finally, Microsoft has been here before. In January 2016 the company warned Windows 7 users they choose the platform “at your own risk, at your own peril”. Again technically that’s true but it’s true of almost anything (you drive a car ‘at your own risk, at your own peril’). Just two years earlier Microsoft gushed security could be found in "a modern operating system like Windows 7 or Windows 8 that have a decade of evolved security mitigations built in."

The reality is this: Microsoft wants all users on Windows 10 because it gives Microsoft far greater control over updates and privacy (despite important recent concessions). It also provides potentially greater revenue to Microsoft via the Windows Store and native advertising. Furthermore, while supposedly no longer tracked, Microsoft would prefer to miss its “one billion” installs target for Windows 10 by 2018 by a less embarrassing margin.

So ultimately all this scaremongering makes no sense. Why? Because avoiding Windows 10 long term is impossible if you wish to remain a Windows user. Microsoft’s decision to make older versions of Windows incompatible with new hardware has ensured that, so the company will get what it wants.

As such this impatience and foot stamping only makes Microsoft’s new blog post all the more unpalatable. Yes some of what Microsoft is saying is ‘technically true’, but the reality is it’s disingenuous and irresponsible fear mongering written primarily to further its own ambitions following the mixed response to Windows 10.

Don’t be scared by Microsoft and don’t let other, less technical, friends and family members be scared by it either. Share this post and take comfort from the fact that for the next three years Windows 7 will continue to serve you very well indeed - whether Microsoft likes it or not




courtesy: Forbes.com

GTBank Internet Banking Transfers

GTBank Internet Banking : Benefits, How To Register, Get User ID, Login, Transfer etc

Guaranty Trust Bank Internet Banking Nigeria allows GTBank customers in Nigeria and beyond, to conduct a range of financial transactions through the GTBank website, thereby making it easy for customers to access banking services without having to visit a branch office of GTbank.

If you're a GT Bank account holder and you sign up for GTB internet banking, you will easily experience banking from the comfort of your home, at work or abroad.

Benefits of GT Internet Banking

• Easy access to all your GTB account(s) from anywhere in the world.
• Online real-time account monitoring facility.
• Convenience of conducting banking transactions from comfort of home/office.
• Guaranteed security for all your online transactions.
• Easy Access to bank information and products.
• Effective, cheaper and easier way for our customers to communicate with banks.
• Allows 24/7 access to account.

GTBank Internet Banking Registration Process

To get started, you have to sign up for GT internet banking by filling the GTB internet banking request form. You can download GTBank internet banking form online or walk in to the nearest GTBank branch office to fill the form. 

The form can either be scanned and e-mailed to internetbanking@gtbank.com OR submitted at any Guaranty trust Bank branch.

In the request form, you will be required to provide your GTBank account number & name, your email address, the accounts to be profiled for internet banking, the internet banking services to be profiled on your accounts etc

Once your registration has been approved, your account will be profiled and your GTBank internet banking credentials will be sent to your account's email address. 

How To Get GTBank Internet Banking User ID and Password

Your GTB internet banking ID and password will be sent to your email once your account has been profied for the service. 

If you have not received your login details, please visit www.gtbank.com and click on the ‘’REGISTER’’ button on the internet banking tab or dial *737*6*5# from your registered phone number with the bank.

*Kindly note that the Password must be changed within 2 hours of receiving same.

How To Login To GTBank Internet Banking

Please visit www.gtbank.com and click on "Login" button if you want to sign in to GTB internet banking. 

Researchers Find Russian Hacker Selling Access to U.S. Election Assistance Commission

Threat intelligence company Recorded Future announced that it has identified a Russian-speaking hacker trying to sell access to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
The EAC, which was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), is charged with developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration.
The commission also certifies voting systems.

On December 1st, Recorded Future detected chatter related to a suspected breach of the EAC. Further research then identified a Russian hacker, which the researchers are calling Rasputin, seeking a buyer for access credentials the EAC database.

"Recognizing the significant implications of such a compromise, Recorded Future provided law enforcement with the necessary data to further assess the potential damage," Recorded Future director of advanced collection Andrei Barysevich wrote in a blog post. "The breach appeared to include more than 100 access credentials, including some with the highest administrative privileges. These administrative accounts could potentially be used to access sensitive information as well as surreptitiously modify or plan malware on the EAC site, effectively staging a watering hole attack utilizing an official government resource."
Rasputin claimed to be accessing the system via an unpatched SQL injection flaw. "It's not uncommon for this type of vulnerability to lead to broader system level access, however, in this case the full extent of the

EAC compromise remains unknown," Barysevich wrote.
The hacker appeared to be in ongoing negotiations with a potential buyer on behalf of a Middle Eastern government.
Barysevich added the following disclaimer to the announcement; "Recently, there has been intense reporting about potential Russian efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election. While this blog post may be relevant to informing some of those discussions, we make no claims whatsoever regarding operations run by any Russian intelligence service. Such operations are out of scope for this research and blog post."
A recent Tripwire survey of more than 500 IT security professionals found that just one in four respondents said their organizations have the technology needed to effectively detect and respond to a serious data breach.

The survey also found that just 21 percent of respondents said their security teams are able to correlate data and security alerts from their security tools in near real time, and just 20 percent said more than half of the security tools in their organizations are integrated enough to exchange data.
"Opportunities for automation are key to maintaining operational effectiveness when organizations are faced with a skills shortage that won't be alleviated quickly. ... Putting the right contextual data at the analyst's fingertips can allow one person to simply get more done in a shorter period of time," Tripwire senior director of IT security and risk strategy Tim Erlin said in a statement.

source..e-security planet