Outage knocks Amazon Web Services users offline

Outage knocks Amazon Web Services users offline

A massive outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday left people across the globe waiting for services they depend on to come back online. AWS said it was aware of the problem but an hours-long outage was expected to continue until the service was fixed. Many digital services, including…

Apple sues Israeli firm scrutinized over Pegasus spyware tools

Apple sues Israeli firm scrutinized over Pegasus spyware tools

Apple announced on Tuesday it has filed suit against an Israeli company that’s been closely monitored for its role in supplying spyware to foreign governments—a number of them on the African continent—and placed on a U.S. entity list for its development of Pegasus surveillance tools. “NSO Group creates sophisticated, state-sponsored…

U.S. puts Israeli firm behind Pegasus tech on blacklist

An Israeli company scrutinized for its role in supplying spyware to foreign governments, a number of them on the African continent, has been placed under new restrictions by the United States government. NSO Group, which develops and supplies Pegasus software, is now on the Entity List at the US. Department…

Facebook services reported out across the globe

Users of Facebook and its related services, Instagram and Whatsapp, reported global outages of the social media platforms on Monday. The services went down shortly before 7 p.m. in Kenya. South Africans and Egyptians said they were unable to access Facebook, even as users from India, Canada, the United States…

New flood mapping tool geared toward Global South

A new tool to map floods around the world, especially those that occur in the Global South, has been launched through a partnership between Google, MapBox, and other players working with a UN University group based in Canada. The World Flood Mapping Tool uses the Google Earth engine combined with…

African nations implicated in Pegasus spyware inquiry

Morocco, Egypt and Rwanda are just three of the nations where governments and their leaders are named in an ongoing investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware supplied by Israeli tech company NSO Group. The Pegasus Project, coordinated by the Paris-based NGO Forbidden Stories, looks at how the technology is…

Libya, Egypt at center of surveillance tech case in France

Human rights and privacy advocates are closely following a decade-old case that’s led to this month’s indictments of four technology executives in France, on the grounds that the sale of their surveillance technology in Libya and Egypt leaves them complicit in torture and other rights violations. The four executives are…

South Africa to host first WHO-facilitated mRNA vaccine hub

South Africa will lead the way in the effort to begin manufacturing COVID vaccines on the African continent, beginning with an mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub supported by the World Health Organization. WHO said it will work with its COVAX partners, a South African consortium of biotech firms, a network…

WHO report calls for action on growing e-waste impacts

One of the first things to notice in the new “Children and Digital Dumpsites” report from the World Health Organization is how little e-waste – castoff phones, computers and other electronics – originates in African nations. It may be the most important thing to notice, though, because the enormous amounts…

Nigeria bans Twitter use after Buhari flagged for violation

Nigeria has suspended the use of Twitter across the country, just days after a tweet posted by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed for what the social media platform said was a violation of its rules. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, announced the decision in a…

Amnesty links surveillance tech to South Sudan repression

The surveillance society in South Sudan is harnessed by the state in service of repression, according to a new report from Amnesty International that focuses on impacts to journalists and opposition groups critical of the government. The report, called “These Walls Have Ears” – The Chilling Effect of Surveillance in…

Kenyan firm offers farmers AI-based locust monitoring tech

East Africans are now using an early warning tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to help farmers fight off locusts that have devastated crops and communities across the past year. The new tool from Selina Wamucii, a platform that connects farmers and markets across Africa, is called Kuzi, the Swahili…