Re: IG Discussions- Day 3 of 10: Infrastructure
     Issues-Submarine Cables  - Cyber Security (Harry Delano)

Fellow discussants,

One thing to also note with regard to the much anticipated Fibre landing is
how to content with the security challenges that will accompany this 'Super
Highway" So apart from the other topics, that have been covered so
well,allow
me to introduce a new angle and momentarily tackle 'The Security challenges
posed by this noble venture' -Cyber Security.

It is one thing to deal with a stream flowing through your garden,
harmlessly
but productively watering it, and quite another dealing with a 'flood gate'
suddenly let loose on your land, and which you have had little or no time to
prepare yourself to handle.

Indeed as much as this would be a Top Tier connectivity, right now , truth
be told - most of the service providers leave tackling security to end users

who in most cases are ill equipped to deal with internetwork borne threats.
Networks are badly exposed, including sensitive data, copywright material,
and
organizational information that would make it a field day for identity
thieves,
and who knows? - a possible cyber attack on our different national wide
infrastructure
when they go online.

Blended threats propagate much faster on faster connections. Currently,a
standard
round trip time of about 800-1300 msec, for most Tier 1 & 2 Service
providers wears
off the patience of most hackers presently prowling the net, which is a good
thing
for us, but not for long as these Marine links lands in within the next few
months.

With this in mind, how prepared are we on this front..? And by that I mean,
the
Government, the Service providers, the Private stake holders, including the
Educational institutions.

Have we made an assessment of our cyber security levels, to date? Are our
sensitive
Data Centres secure..., or will they be overly exposed when this time comes?
And at
what cost will we upgrade these systems..? With increasing E-commerce
activities,
and other online transactions are we 'foolproof? Are our cybersecurity
regulations
up to the task, to protect us...?

Certainly, we need to take the necessary measures,- a systematic approach
and prepare
ourselves to deal With these challenges as the Threat environment is
certainly set to
shift for us, especially as a country on the move in Communication
Technology.

The good news is, it is an undertaking to look forward to with a lot of
expectation,
and we need to position ourselves to reap the maximum benefits that will
accrue thereof.

If you would ask me the score for this - Our Cybersecurity preparedness to
handle, the
onset of the Marine Fibre = 1


Harry Delano.
Integrated Networks and Data Systems.


-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+harry=inds.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
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Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 12:00 PM
To: Harry Delano
Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 23, Issue 43

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Today's Topics:

  1. A wider audiance (robert yawe)
  2. Re: IG Discussions- Day 3 of 10: Infrastructure
     Issues-Submarine Cables (John Walubengo)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:56:59 +0000 (GMT)
From: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: [kictanet] A wider audiance
To: Kictanet Mail list <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Message-ID: <796042.73588.qm@web27801.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hi,

I have been been contributing articles to a new IT magazine called CIO
(chief information officer), as you may be aware there currently isn't any
good and regular ICT local magazine and this magazine aims to fill this gap.

The magazine is in its 3rd issue please get a copy and read my articles as
well as others which are well thought through and cover local ICT issues.

Due to space issues some of my articles have needed to be shortened, if you
need to read the entire unsensored version please send me an email.

Regards

Robert Yawe

KAY System Technologies Ltd

Phoenix House, 6th Floor

P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200

Kenya



Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696



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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:19:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Walubengo <jwalu@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] IG Discussions- Day 3 of 10: Infrastructure
       Issues-Submarine Cables
To: Faima Basly <fbasly1@gmail.com>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Message-ID: <889388.48835.qm@web57806.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


Morning all,

Actually, we had two days to discuss the impact on the undersea cables on
Access, Affordability, Content and Quality.  So lets hear more views...

I know Yawe has written and published widely about this but no harm
summarising.  Also, with regard to Quality, I wish to retain my earlier
submission that there are issues with the internal networks run by our
telcos. Numerous technical evidence exists on the skunkwork list - the local
techies lists - and they may wish to share in not so technical terms...As
for Affordability, the jury is still out there and we shall indeed know who
is fooling who over the next 12mths.

Lets hear more views on this today and prepare to move onto a new theme
tomorrow on the Management of Critical Internet Resources (IPv6, top level
domain, National IXPs - dont be scared by the technical jargon, will break
it down for you)

walu.



--- On Tue, 4/28/09, Faima Basly <fbasly1@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Faima Basly <fbasly1@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] IG Discussions- Day 2 of 10: Infrastructure
> Issues-Submarine Cables
> To: jwalu@yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 12:21 PM Dear Listers,
>
> Good morning. I am happy to hear that it is raining in Kenya!
>
> Mine are observations that I have gathered from one or two fora that I
> think may be of interest.
>
> Access - If this is looked at purely from an individual perspective
> then it will be seen as low (Score 1) and clearly not realize the
> benefits of having an undersea cable at all. There are already signs
> of high demand for increased bandwidth if complaints from consumers
> today are anything to go by. This must then feed the notion that with
> the undersea cable will find ready users albeit of the corporate and
> SOHO ( Small office home office) variety. This then in the
> appropriately competitively structured market will trickle down to
> Apartment buildings and soon into Suburbs.
>
> Further more with clever government subsidies targeting structured
> learning institutions ( schools, universities, libraries) habit will
> be built and carried over and soon demand hopefully will match supply.
>
> I think with the proliferation of lower cost high end Mobile Phones
> into Africa and the readily available Chinese wannabe models, Access
> will be readily facilitated . This may not speak much for computer
> literacy but that may be the price that we have to pay.
>
> Affordability : This will be relative in my opinion. It will be two
> fold.
> >From the perspective of the provider and from that of
> the user.  I am
> certain the providers have their numbers worked out and it will now
> just be a matter of waiting for the uptake from the consumers end.
> And the end of
> it all is unless one is running a BPO or a Media House it will be
> rather interesting to see how business will respond to better priced
> internet bandwidth when their main stay is emails? Even in the
> developed world the internet is being curtailed during working hours
> as a result of the distraction that work causes to staff who are busy
> on face book and chat. In some extreme cases because of availability
> of internet on mobilephones some employers are banking phones till tea
> break and lunch time, as all communication can go on on email and
> landlines....So will majority of the existing business ' jump on the
> bandwagon' when the seacables land? the jury is still out on this
> one......
>
> Content , here I disagree with the score given (1) this is because the
> minute connectivity becomes available  & affordable then a lot of
> sharing will begin and we will be pleasantly suprised as to the gems
> that may be unlocked. Of course Content will in itself need to be
> shepherded and managed, but I beleive I saw a post that alluded to an
> oncoming content discussion so will hold my horses. I suspect that 'a
> monkey see monkey do'
> approach will come into play as has been the case in the west where
> content is concerned, once people see what it is all about and what
> covers the wide scope of content we may as well lead Africa. After All
> Kenya is a reference point for many in East, Central and parts of
> Southern Africa and with the enterpreneuring spirit we are known for
> it will only be a matter of time. I think the score should be a 2.
>
>
>
> Ms Basly
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 9:14 AM, Sam Gatere <sam.gatere@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Walu
> >
> > Interesting ice breaker on the packet exchange
> -Internet- to keep the
> > intellectual   community going!
> >
> > my Initial reactions on Access low impact seems to be
> a fairly accurate
> > since the glorified undersea cables are actually top
> tear and not landing in
> > my house or office! I think this needs to be
> demystified to the end user. In
> > my view possible ways of getting access and broadband
> access to the end user
> > would possibly be facilitated by triple play providers
> such as Zuku who are
> > not only offering Internet and the only product  but
> other infotainment
> > products.
> >
> > On affordability specifically to the Kenyan scenario I
> think the PPP
> > (Public Private Partnership) model would ensure some
> form of Public Good
> > service that safeguards the end user. and cushions
> them from being exploited
> > by infrastructure investors. I would like to site the
> SEACOM venture that
> > has the government and other players such as Safaricom
> who are private
> > investors. As you know Safaricom already offers
> "broadband" Internet
> > services. If they benefit from high speed Internet
> through this SEACOM
> > partnership the end user in this case may actually
> enjoy faster, more
> > reliable Internet access.
> >
> > When we talk about content and local content for that
> matter...  I think
> > this one is just a sorry or sad state of affairs. I
> agree content should be
> > independent of infrastructure. As for our Local
> Universities developing
> > digital content we need a whole e-education on the
> benefits of digitising
> > knowledge and finding new ways of learning and
> delivering the same....
> >
> > It will be Interesting to hear what others have to
> say.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sam.
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 8:20 AM, John Walubengo
> <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Welcome to day 2. Hopefully it would be more
> interactive than
> >> yesterday...I want to believe that the paralysis
> in our politics has not
> >> infected and paralysed us. And just like during
> the cold war, scientists and
> >> technocrats accross the divide continued to
> exchange internet packets
> >> inspite of...
> >>
> >> Nway without too much digression, today we want to
> interrogate several
> >> assumptions about the long awaited submarine
> cable(s) that are poised to hit
> >> our coastal city of Mombasa.  SEACOM, TEAMs, EASsy
> are all expected to be
> >> operational starting July 09 (SEACOM), TEAMS (Sep
> 09) and EASsy (2010?)
> >>
> >> Here's my take/opinion on their impact based
> on a scale of Low(1),
> >> Moderate(2) and High(3)
> >>
> >> i) Access:- Score=1, Low Impact on Access The undersea cable is a
> >> top-tier infrastructure
> that has no impact at the
> >> (User) Access level.  User access level is a
> function of the maturity of the
> >> domestic(local) infrastructure.  Unless this is
> developed proportionately,
> >> we shall have an an awkward situation similar to a
> country with top-notch
> >> Universities (Submarine cable) but no Primary and
> Secondary Schools to
> >> provide the students (no Access)...
> >>
> >> ii) Affordability: Score= 2,Moderate Impact on
> Internet Service Costs.
> >> Yes, the prices are likely to go down from the
> current retail levels of
> >> about 2500USD per 1MB to btwn 500-1000USD per 1MB
> of bandwidth.  But I have
> >> serious doubts if this prices will be sustained at
> these low levels because
> >> the investors in these cables are not in it for
> fun - they have calculated
> >> ROI targets that anticipate a huge uptake of the
> bandwidth.  In the likely
> >> event that this uptake failes to happen, I see
> prices beginning to go up by
> >> the end of the 1st year of the cable operation.
> The investors in the cable
> >> will then begin to milk the few subscribers who
> may have jumped onto the
> >> highway in order to pay for the cost of the
> capital sunk into the cables.
> >>  Yes, maybe I just cant get over the nasty SAT3
> experience where the
> >> submarine fiber cable landed in the West African
> region with little impact
> >> on pricing.
> >>
> >> iii) Content: Score=1, Low Impact on Content.
> >> Incidentally, digital content should be
> independent of infrastructure.  I
> >> mean, we do not need the submarine cable for our
> Lecturers at the
> >> universities to have their notes in digital form.
> We do not need the
> >> submarine cable to digitize government records.
> Content is intricately
> >> related to eventual cost of Internet Service and
> ideally should be fully
> >> developed before the submarine cable.
> >>
> >> iv) Quality. Score=2, Moderate Impact on Internet
> Quality.
> >> "Broadband Quality of Internet" is what
> every service provider is
> >> screaming about. But Broadband standard in .KE is
> way off the mark when
> >> compared to India or Europe. I will remain
> sceptical until proven otherwise
> >> but I forsee the undersea cable having moderate
> impact on quality because of
> >> our poorly managed domestic User and  Telco
> networks. Most Telco networks
> >> that will act as gateways to the submarine cable
> are full of Viruses, Spam,
> >> Proxies, and ill-configured Servers, Routers and
> Switches that introduce
> >> congestion and bottlenecks rather facilate
> broadband access to the Submarine
> >> cable.
> >>
> >> We have today to hear your views on this...and the
> floor is open.
> >>
> >> walu.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
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