June 2010 - KICTANet

Council Of Europe Wants In On ICANN Government Body
by alice 08 Jun '10

08 Jun '10

* 7 June 2010* http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2010/06/07/council-of-europe-wants-in-on-ica… Council Of Europe Wants In On ICANN Government Body The 47-member Council of Europe wants to become an observer in the governmental advisory body of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and is pondering on a possible role as secretariat provider for the ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). ICANN is the technical oversight body for the internet domain name system. Following a declaration adopted by the CoE Council of Ministers on “enhanced participation of member states in internet governance matters” at the end of May, the CoE secretary general is now asked to “arrange that the CoE becomes an observer at ICANN’s GAC.” ICANN is seen by the CoE, who in recent years did address internet governance issues more and more, as playing “a key role in ensuring the operational stability, security and resilience of the internet.” According to the Council of Ministers, the GAC could help to ensure “that the management of internet resources by ICANN takes full account of international human rights law.” In addition, the secretary general of the CoE has also been asked “to explore, in consultation with the GAC, ICANN and other relevant stakeholders ways,” how the CoE could contribute to arranging the GAC secretariat, according to a CoE press release. For years, the GAC secretariat has rotated among various GAC member states. According to the declaration of the CoE Council of Ministers <https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1627399&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3…>, efforts are “currently underway to establish a competent, independent and more stable secretariat for GAC.” /By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch/

1 0

African broadband boost spurs rise in spam output
by alice 08 Jun '10

08 Jun '10

Story URL: <http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2010/05/27/african-broadband-boost-s…> (Link to the report <http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/mlireport/MLI_2010_05_May_FINAL_EN.pdf> Africa from page 8) African broadband boost spurs rise in spam output By Matthew Broersma, 27 May 2010 16:48 An undersea cable laid off the coast of east Africa last year has led to a boom in spam coming from the region, according to a new study from Symantec. A cable laid last summer boosted the broadband connectivity to countries along the country's eastern coast in July last year, Symantec noted in its May 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report, published on Wednesday. The consequent rise in broadband availability has given spammers access to a new source of machines for their botnets, it said. "Historically, broadband adoption has been a tipping point for spammers to acquire more bots," said MessageLabs analyst Paul Wood, in a statement. "The new undersea fibre optic cable along the east coast of Africa has enabled rapid growth in the number of users obtaining high-speed connections to the internet, creating a great opportunity for attackers to infect new machines and create new bots." There has been a significant rise in spam coming from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, Symantec said. Spam output from those east African countries has risen by 7.2, 6.3 and 5.7 times, respectively, compared with levels seen a year ago. The more you know about the likely avenues of cybercrime attack, the better you can protect yourself against them, says Alan Calder While the majority of African spam still originates from outside of the eastern region, the new cable boosted eastern Africa's proportion of the continent's spam to 19 percent, up from 13 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of spam coming from the rest of Africa decreased from 86 percent to 80 percent, Symantec said. Overall, spam originating from Africa rose by 1.2 billion junk messages per day. Africa now originates three percent of spam worldwide, up from just under two percent a year ago, according to the report. Earlier this week, VeriSign iDefense reported that botnets are available for hire for as little as $8.94 (£6.04) per hour, emphasising how little financial muscle or technical expertise is needed to carry out attacks. Worldwide, the Symantec study found that in May phishing scam emails accounted for one in 237.1 emails, or 0.42 percent, up 0.2 percentage points on April. Phishing emails represented 80.6 percent of all email-borne threats, up 10.3 percentage points on April. The UK remained the country against which the most phishing attacks were directed, with one in 121.8 phishing emails aimed at British systems, Symantec said.

1 0

Global award scheme for innovative Digital content
by Gakiria 08 Jun '10

08 Jun '10

Dear All, The World Summit Youth award (WSYA) selects and promotes best practice in e-Content and technological creativity, demonstrates young people’s potential to create outstanding digital contents, and is a showcase to the world for young e-content creators, journalists and writers, application designers, and technologists. For application details, follow the link below.. http://www.youthaward.org/en_press_media-coverage.html Gakiria Andrew Kenya eLearning Centre

1 0

The urgent case for a Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP)
by Harry Delano 08 Jun '10

08 Jun '10

Listers, I have noticed, that while all laudable efforts in speeding up our broadband connectivity to the rest of the world hits top gear, saddeningly regional local interconnectivity lags behind. Why is this so...? For instance reaching a branch office located in Tanzania from their Kenya HQ office,or vice versa means traffic transits out from our cyberspace to some international exchange point somwhere in London, hits the return trip back via some other Link to Dar. This especially affects VOIP connectivity and quality, between interconnected offices, and other services that rely on good QOS. This, especially while we are working on the economic, Social, and perhaps Political intergration of the Comesa block seems to fly in the face of the major milestones that have been achieved in the Telecommunication sectors of the member countries, and I strongly suggest the industry addresses this urgently. We need a Regional Internet Exchange point set up. Perhaps name it COMESA-IXP or something. But one thing is clear; the more we each send traffic destined locally on a roundtrip to Europe or elsewhere and back, means we incur huge transiting costs in the process, which dollars that we export out should be be used to expand and develop our local & Regional interconnection capacity.. I think, this is an issue worth being addressed and I'd be interested to discuss this more with anyone interested to drive this forward. Anyone..? Regards, Harry

7 22

UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORKING, ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE POSITION OF TECHNICAL MANAGER
by alice 07 Jun '10

07 Jun '10

Technical Manager Advert Released June 7th 2010 Submission should be by email to: ceo(a)ubuntunet.net UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORKING ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE POSITION OF TECHNICAL MANAGER UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking is a regional member-owned organisation whose mission is to secure affordable high speed regional and international connectivity as well as efficient ICT access and usage for African NRENs. Detailed documentation about the Alliance and its operations can be found at www.ubuntunet.net. The Alliance currently has twelve members, being the National Research and Education Networks of Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Africa. The Alliance has a POP in London through which it connects to the European regional research and education network GÉANT and to the comercial cloud. An increasing number of member NRENs are getting connected to the POP. Over the next twelve months, the Alliance will be fully defining and procuring its regional network, to be followed by operations during the course of the subsequent twelve months. To support and enable both design and operations, the Alliance would like recruit a Technical Manager as envisaged in the Policy and Master Plan. The Technical Manager (TM), reporting to the CEO, will provide vision and strategic leadership in the use of technology to further the Alliance’s vision and strategic objectivesand will also have overall responsibility for management, control and maintenance of the Alliance’s ICT resources to enable the achievement of the service levels of client research and education networks. The TM will be specifically responsible for (key results areas): 􀁺 Strategic and tactical development, implementation and evaluation of technology policies and programmes to support and enhance the academic and research collaboration among UbuntuNet members as well as other Regional RENs; 􀁺 Leadership of the UbuntuNet Alliance Network Engineering Group (UNEG) responsible for technology architecture, strategy, and design; 􀁺 Design, procurement and implementation as well as management, control, and maintenance of all ICT resources; 􀁺 Negotiation and management of contracts with suppliers; 􀁺 Formulation and Management of Service Level Agreements with both vendors and clients consistent with the overall service level targets of the Alliance, and provide/oversee the technical resources to fulfil agreed service levels; 􀁺 Maintaining professional contacts with other stakeholders and vendors concerning ICT. Person Profile The Technical Manager will be a person: i. With at least five years experience in the implementation as well as management, control, and maintenance of large (multi-campus or national) data communication network(s); ii. Who possesses management and leadership experience that would enable them to interface, on behalf of the Alliance, with the different clients and stake holders; iii. Having the skills to deputise for the CEO of the Alliance. iv. Holding a Bachelors degree in engineering with major focus on telecommunication engineering/internetworking. Related qualifications like the CCNP; or relevant qualifications and research at the Masters and PhD level will be added advantages. The Board may consider a track record of expertise and delivery at the internet engineering level in lieu of formal qualifications at any level. v. With excellent report writing, oral communication, and presentation skills vi. With experience in the development, application, implementation and reporting for grant funded projects. Applicants should note the following: i. Preference will be given to applicants who are normally resident in countries where there is a member NREN to maximise opportunities for initial engagement without physical relocation. ii. The employment will be on contract terms for a period to be agreed with the successful candidate, renewable based on performance and mutual agreement. iii. Applications with CVs and capability statements should be submitted as pdf documents by 2000hrs East African Standard Time on the 9th of July 2010. The application should include the applicant’s current and expected salary and benefits. iv. Submission should be by email to: ceo(a)ubuntunet.net

1 0

Fwd: Barcamp Nairobi/Wherecamp Africa
by Phares Kariuki 07 Jun '10

07 Jun '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Phares Kariuki <pkariuki(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 9:12 AM Subject: Barcamp Nairobi/Wherecamp Africa To: Skunkworks forum <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Hi, Event is 55% booked. Kindly register for planning purposes. http://www.barcampnairobi.com/?page_id=21 <http://www.barcampnairobi.com/?page_id=21>Thanks, -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares |

1 0

[Fwd: Symantec Latest Internet Security Threat Report]
by alice 06 Jun '10

06 Jun '10

Dear all, Please see attached the latest Symantec security threat report, which provides an up to date on line threat environment around the world. best alice

1 0

FOSSFA project manager
by alice＠apc.org 04 Jun '10

04 Jun '10

FOSSFA is looking for an enthusiastic African, currently living in Africa to serve the Foundation as Project Manager. Location for FOSSFA project Manager is preferably Accra, Ghana, however, the Manager may opt to work from his or her home base. TERM:12 months of initial contract. Renewable Full information : http://fossfa.net/node/106 Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Kenya

1 0

Announcement: Local Content and Software Applications Grant
by Lucy Odhiambo 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

Dear Listers, The Kenya ICT Board is pleased to announce the launch a Local Content and Software Applications Grant. A call for proposals was advertised this morning. Successful applicants will receive grants of up to US$ 50,000 for firms and US$ 10,000 for individuals. All Tandaa Participants are encouraged to submit proposals for consideration for the Local Content and Software Applications Grant. There are two grant opportunities. They include: 1. Government Information Portal This Grant Component will support the development of the existing Government information portal (www.information.go.ke) developed by the Ministry of Information and Communication. There is increased demand for the development of web and mobile based information services that provide Government agencies and the public with readily accessible and transparent content and data. The grant will be utilized for developing: a) Specific content and applications b) Innovative new content and applications c) Urban and rural community based applications 2. Private sector content and applications including SMS and IVR and e-Services This Grants Component will support the development, roll out and scale-up of content and applications including SMS/IVR and e-Services. The purpose of this grant is to support individuals and firms to develop innovative communications and information applications that utilize web and mobile technologies. This grant is open to firms and individuals in the private sector who are interested in developing applications that would be of benefit to the general public or improve the delivery of existing services. The grant will cover the expenses for service and content development as well as awareness building. Grant Amount The grant will be limited to a maximum of USD 50,000 for firms and USD 10,000 for individuals. The single currency for price conversions is Kenya Shillings, the source of official selling rates is Central Bank of Kenya and the date of exchange rates is the date of Call for Proposals advertisement. Application Forms * Online Application Forms for Firms <https://fs12.formsite.com/KenyaICTBoard/form040946701/form_login.html> * Online Application Forms for Individuals <https://fs12.formsite.com/KenyaICTBoard/form457837001/form_login.html> Questions? For more information: * Visit: www.ict.go.ke * Send an email to: grants(a)ict.go.ke * Call us on: 020 2394244 All the best! Regards, Kenya ICT Board Local Content Grants Team Lucy Gachui Odhiambo, Communications Manager Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers , Kenyatta Avenue Entrance Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 737 839 047 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

1 0

Lessons from Idlelo4
by ikua＠lpakenya.org 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

Dear Listers, I have always wondered why it is that it is mainly the rich and developed/developing nations that see the value of adopting open source in their governments. I was reminded of this in the just concluded Idlelo4 conference in Accra, where we were shown a study conducted by the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS.org) The poor nations are still paying the price of proprietary software. Read more on my blog here: http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net/blog/ikua

3 2