View this as originally published on TechInPacific

Vanuatu Government is looking to a bird-eye level solution in tackling the cybersecurity and cybercrime issues occurring in the country.

What constitutes of cybercrime is that of hacking, identity theft, hate speech, cracking, social engineering, data tampering, programming attacks, and spamming, which disturb the online security of any individual putting themselves on the vast internet.

An MoU was signed at the event National Cyber Security Strategy 2030 on Melanesian Hotel in Port Vila on Thursday (27/08) by the following figures: The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), Vanuatu Police Force (VPF), Vanuatu Bureau of Standards (VBS), Vanuatu Internet Governance Forum (VanIGF) and the Telecommunications Radiocommunications and Broadcasting Regulator (TRBR) in a catalytic response to the growing concerns in the cybercrime department.

This MoU will deliver the changes that the region needed in order to troubleshoot and handling of the two fields.

This way, the signed agreement will pave the way to a deliberately faster response to the locals of Vanuatu who live around these issues.

Government Chief Information Officer Gerard Metsan reflects on the formalized agreement, saying that the way authorities deal with cybersecurity and cybercrime has to change. According to him, an efficient response from the authorities’ side with the new approach is imminently inevitable.

The Infrastructure and services of Vanuatu’s security will be included in the National Cyber Security Strategy that plans to launch this year.

The strategy will cover a 10-year progression of nationwide objectives on building cybersecurity awareness, literacy, standardization, regulations, and framework to resilience.

View this as originally published by TechInPacific

Vodafone Fiji has recently launch VitiKart, an online marketplace for users in Fiji and Fijians who stay overseas.

According to Vodafone on its website, the platform is ‘Fiji’s best fully-fletched end-to-end online marketplace’ that integrates both local and international payment platforms such as M-Paisa, MasterCard, and VISA credit or debit cards.

“Initiatives such as the VitiKart come at a time where the very existence of many businesses is conditional to their ability to break barriers and stay relevant, and ahead of the competition,” Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Faiyaz Koya said during his speech at the launching event (05/08).

“When businesses and customers aren’t restricted by logistics such as physical location and time, you have a plethora of opportunities to boost revenue in new ways – in ways we may not have thought.”

The platform draws parallels to the likes of Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress, but ‘on a smaller scale’, according to Acting Chief Executive Ronald Prasad, “With independent merchants using a common digital platform to offer products directly to consumers,” He added.

For now, the platform focuses on business-to-consumer service, but welcomes the future of consumer-to-consumer buying and selling portal. Only verified sellers are allowed to offer their products, and so far, the following businesses; Vodafone, Valuefone, Courts & Cybercity, Tappoos, Prouds, and Jacks Retail have joined the platform.

But as Prasad addressed, the long term goal of the platform is to include micro-entrepreneurs who sell Fijian made products.

“In an effort to connect locally made niche products under the “Fijian Made – Buy Fijian” Campaign, I’d like to congratulate the team at Vodafone Fiji Limited, for providing an online platform and connecting Fijian products to a wider market,” Koya said.

“I accord my special thanks also to the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme for their partnership – for their technical and financial support.”

“This newly developed platform will allow Fijian businesses to operate and purchase products from anywhere in the world, with real-time and measurable sales approach.”

The platform can be downloaded or accessed through Play Store, App Store, or website.

View as originally posted on Cook Island News

With yesterday’s internet switch-over, Aitutaki becomes one of the smallest fibre-connected islands in the world. 

Intermittent internet on Aitutaki had left some of the island’s residents frustrated this week. The Vodafone service was “very poor” and the Wi-Fi hotspot had been playing up, said resident Regina Potini.

Than yesterday Potini, a photographer, noticed a difference when uploading some wedding pictures: “The internet service is really good now and the pictures uploaded pretty fast, normally it takes a while,” he said. “It is perfect.”

Engineers from Vodafone and Avaroa Cable worked through the night. And, without any prior announcement, they had quietly switched Aitutaki over from satellite internet to the long-awaited new high-speed undersea fibre cable.

That makes Aitutaki, with 1700 residents, one of the smallest fibre-connected islands in the world.

Later yesterday, Avaroa Cable Ltd and Vodafone Cook Islands announced the signing of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar partnership for use of the Manatua Cable. 

Though taxpayers own a lion’s share of both companies, they insist the details of their agreement are “confidential”. Vodafone does confirm the Manatua cable connection will be at the heart of its ambitious plans for the country’s internet.

The development makes Aitutaki the first community to use the 3600km Manatua One Polynesia cable, which runs from Samoa to French Polynesia, via Niue and the Cooks.

Regina Potini hopes the switch will eventually make internet affordable. “We are looking forward to more promotions and data deals in the near future.”

Vodafone boss Phillip Henderson confirmed they would switch on Rarotonga in a matter of weeks, and would then announce new internet charges. He would not say if it would be cheaper.

“These are commercially challenging times for all of us particularly when entering into multi-year multi-million dollar agreements, however the Manatua cable positions us well as we continue our push in taking the Cook Islands into a new digital society.”

Dr Ranulf Scarbrough, chief executive officer of Avaroa Cable, hailed Vodafone’s courage. “The deal is a major commitment from Vodafone at an incredibly challenging time globally. It shows a bold pledge to the transformation of telecommunications in the Cook Islands.”

Michael Henry, chair of Cook Islands Investment Corporation and an Aitutaki resident, welcomed the switch-over. “It’s a proud and exciting moment for all of Aitutaki.”

Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown said the Manatua Cable would play a vital part in the country’s economic recovery.

“This important piece of technology infrastructure will provide our people with better opportunities to climb the technology ladder and fast track the growth of our knowledge economy.”

The Cook Islands involvement in the Manatua Cable Project has been supported by a grant from the New Zealand Aid Programme and a development loan from the Asian Development Bank.

Global Partners Digital (GPD) has launched a Toolkit to support the development and implementation of inclusive and value-based cybersecurity policymaking processes.

The Toolkit’s central component is a comprehensive guide for policymakers on involving relevant stakeholders in the process of developing, implementing and reviewing an National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCSS). Other stakeholders may also find the guide useful when considering the roles they can play in this process.

The guide is enriched by a repository of good practices in developing inclusive NCSSs—offering short case studies and examples of where policymakers have successfully involved stakeholders in a process. This is a live document; so if you have an example of good practice you’d like to be included, submit it here.

For those looking to get a bird’s eye picture of cybersecurity at the international level, the Toolkit also includes an interactive map, which tracks the adoption of core cybersecurity capacity building instruments in the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. The map has been developed with the support of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

To mark the launch of the Toolkit, over the coming weeks we’ll be airing a series of podcast interviews with stakeholders involved in NCSS processes in Kenya, Ghana and Belize. Listen to the first interview, with Kenneth Adu Amanfoh, director of the Africa Cybersecurity and Digital Rights Organisation (ACDRO), here.

If you have any questions about the Toolkit, please contact Daniela Schnidrig (daniela{at}gp-digital.org)

InternetNZ is pleased to announce its security product, Defenz DNS Firewall, is now consuming CERT NZ’s local threat feed.

Defenz DNS Firewall protects Internet users from phishing attacks, malware, ransomware and botnets helping to manage online security risks.

Defenz already draws on an international cyberthreat feed curated by Akamai which analyses global DNS traffic. The feed is updated in real time, taking roughly five minutes from detection to blocking. 

InternetNZ’s Commercial Director, David Morrison, says the combination of both international and national intelligence broadens the number of security risks detected, with more threat feeds expected to be added later this year.

“It’s important to InternetNZ to keep adding intelligence to Defenz to make sure our customers are protected from known security threats,” says Morrison.

“We’re thrilled to have introduced CERT NZ’s threat feed to Defenz and are already seeing New Zealand specific threats blocked by the product as a result.”

“Phishing is consistently the initial vector of compromise for many of the incidents we see. The CERT NZ threat feed was created to give users a significant boost in their cyber defenses by blocking access to malicious sites that have been reported to us,” says Declan Ingram, Deputy Director at CERT NZ.

In 2019, CERT NZ saw 1,934 reports of phishing and credential harvesting, up 25% from 2018.

15% of reports made to CERT NZ in 2019 had some form of financial loss, with a total value of $16.7 million.

“Cyber security attacks can result in big financial and reputational damage for organisations, says Morrison.

“Defenz identifies and stops online threats at the DNS layer, complementing an organisation’s security stack and supporting efforts to avoid organisational damage.” 

Defenz Domain Name System (DNS) Firewall, is available for a free four month trial.

Read more about Defenz DNS Firewall.

Click to view this as originally announced by InternetNZ

MEDIA RELEASE
August, 2020
Immediate Release

On the 24th of July, the first Hackathon Challenge for the PNG Digital ICT Cluster was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Davis Steven and also Patron of the association at the Gateway Hotel. The challenge called Hack4Change Be the Problem Solver provides an opportunity to encourage and give direction to the efforts of PNG Tech talent, innovators and entrepreneurs.
The launch serves as an introduction and awareness to give better visibility and clarity to existing PNG techies, innovators and entrepreneurs to achieve their goals, and to create products to find solutions with the help of mentorship, tech support and guidance during the Hackathon.

The initiative Hack4Change vision will be to work with key stakeholders to help create champions in PNG, by providing support in ideation, incubation, prototyping, rollout and market access.

The challenge was open for those who have a working product or for those who feel that they have the vision and expertise to create such products for PNG aligning with the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A total of 7 teams of 4 members (at least 1 female and 1 software coder) participated in Hack4Change where 3 winners were declared on Pitch day Monday 27th July in front of a panel of Judges who judged pitching and prototype in action.

It is evident within the ICT Sector that there is tremendous opportunity and scope across the multi-sectors for innovative products which will solve specific issues for PNG and contribute towards digital transformation and a self-reliant PNG.
Whilst Covid-19 pandemic has brought about disruption and a new normal, tackled through use of technology to aid daily lives, accelerating government’s need for digital transformation process and policy and Cyber Security is a crucial part of creating awareness on the need for change. At
the center of this will require supported curriculum that meets Industry relevance and competency in Software engineering and computer programming through Mathematics and Computer Science and ICT fields. “We are therefore pleased to partner with networks such as Switch Maven,
Academia and InvestInMe to support this change” said Vice President International and Co Founder Ms Priscilla Kevin.
There will be two Hack4Change every year and the tech community and young entrepreneurs are encouraged to join.
For more information, visit us at www.ictcluster.org.pg/membership.

ABOUT PNG DIGITAL ICT CLUSTER
The PNG Digital ICT Cluster is a not-for-profit organization initiated in 2014 to drive inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship especially for startups and existing entrepreneurs. The ICT cluster aspires to accelerate capacity for innovation, support and provide visibility for projects With
the objective to be a one-stop shop for financing collaborative research and development of digital ICT projects.
The association’s key strategic pillars are focus on

• Innovation & Entrepreneurship investments in activities that accelerate the market uptake of digital technologies
• Entrepreneurial Education Investments in activities that bring entrepreneurial skills and digital leadership to PNG
• Activities that will support our PNG ecosystem of partners and are centered around our PNG and Pacific locations, physical spaces where we promote cross-pollination and an agile way of working