👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Microsoft’s hard weekend

Technology

A software update gone wrong at CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, triggered a global IT outage that lasted for 1 hour and 18 minutes last Friday. This outage came from an error in a routine update for CrowdStrike’s Falcon cybersecurity software. It caused crashes and malfunctions in many computers using the software.

While CrowdStrike may not sound familiar to consumers, it is pretty important to global tech players. It provides cybersecurity services to more than half of Fortune 1000 companies—and one of them is Microsoft. 

Eight million devices struck: Due to the faulty update, Microsoft’s services were impacted, leading to the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) for businesses using Microsoft’s 365 cloud services. Businesses using its cloud services were unable to access information or automate digital processes. Microsft estimates that 8.5 million devices were affected.

Banks, healthcare providers, and government agencies faced operational challenges. Airlines resorted to issuing hand-written flight tickets as their systems went offline. In Africa, flights across countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa were promptly cancelled, stranding thousands, and possibly millions of people travelling at that time.

Money down the drain: Experts estimate the downtime could cost over $1 billion in lost revenue for businesses, making it one of the most impactful tech outages ever seen.

In an interesting turn, Linux and MacOS systems were not affected as they don’t use Channel File 291 where the software update was deployed. 

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz wrote on Twitter. 

What do experts suggest? Critics have questioned CrowdStrike’s rudimentary IT hygiene processes in deploying software updates. Many others are now calling for businesses to diversify their cloud service providers from the Big 3—Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—which control 65% of the cloud market—as outages plague these providers.

CrowdStrike’s stock price tanked by 11.1% on Friday, raising concerns about the outage’s impact on its business and key client relationship with Microsoft, one of its biggest customers.

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Funding

Egyptian fintech giant MNT-Halan, the country’s only private unicorn, has raised another $157.5 million in a new funding round. This latest injection brings their total funding to a whopping $677.5 million over the past two years. 

Since launching in 2018, MNT-Halan has grown its customer base to over 7 million users, and disburses more than $4.4 billion in loans. CEO Mounir Nakhla claimed the company surpassed $300 million in gross revenue in 2022.

So, what’s the deal with MNT-Halan? The microfinance lending and payment company runs a hybrid business model. It targets customers lacking access to credit and financial services, and serves as a distribution medium for merchants selling fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs).

The company’s hybrid approach seems to be working as it started expanding this year. In March 2024, it acquired Advans Group in Pakistan, instantly topping its user base by 62,000, and obtaining a microfinance bank licence to continue operating in Pakistan.

MNT-Halan’s expansion philosophy is simple: To expand into populated, underserved areas that are heavily cash-reliant. With this new funding, MNT-Halan is setting its sights beyond Egypt. Nakhla highlighted plans to expand regionally through strategic acquisitions.

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Data Privacy

Here’s a hypothetical situation: You tell a friend you want to buy a gadget or anything at all. Minutes later while scrolling through your Instagram feed, the exact gadget pops up as an Ad. Of course, you’re surprised and wonder if Instagram has superpowers to read your mind. No, they aren’t wizards, they only spied on your conversation or so Nigeria’s consumer protection commission thinks. 

Why? Three years ago, the regulator began investigating Meta—the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp—over claims that it wasn’t giving users a say in whether their personal data could be collected and used.

The regulator has found Meta guilty and handed the company a $220 million fine. 

Meta says no: Meta, however, does not agree with the decision and will appeal the decision. “In 2021, we went to users globally to explain how talking to businesses, among other things would work, and while there was a lot of confusion then, it’s actually proven quite popular. We disagree with the decision today as well as the fine, and we are appealing the decision,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told TechCabal via email.

The FCCPC ruling came after Meta, Opay, and DHL were investigated for data privacy violations by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC). If found guilty, Meta could be fined as much as 2% of its gross revenues in 2022. 

In May 2023, Meta also faced similar data violation charges, receiving a record $1.3 billion fine for transferring European user data to the US without sufficient safeguards. 

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Big Tech

What do you do when you no longer need something? You either donate, recycle it or sell it off. Microsoft is doing the third. The tech company will reduce its office spaces in Lagos from six floors to two after laying off half its engineering team in early 2024

Microsoft in May and June laid off most of its engineering team after it shuttered its African Development Centre (ADC) which it launched in 2019 to recruit world-class engineering talent. The centre would go on to employ 120 engineers and 200 total staff members before the eventual layoff of most of its engineering team this year. 

Engineers unaffected by the layoffs were asked to relocate to Kenya to join new projects. The company’s sales team will occupy the remaining two office floors at the Kings Tower building in Ikoyi.

Is Microsoft beating a retreat? While the reduction of workspace suggests a scaleback in its Nigerian operations, there are other speculations that the tech giant might be retreating from the country, as macroeconomic headwinds have caused several businesses to do the same. 

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Events

• You can still get an early bird ticket to the second edition of TechCabal’sMoonshot Conference!  From October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, you can join Africa’s biggest thinkers and players like Iyin Aboyeji, Wiza Jalakasi, June Angelides, Kola Aina on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join these stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful conversations, then get an early-bird ticket to Moonshot 2024 at 20% off. 


• The Nigeria Fintech Forum is set to hold its third edition on July 25, 2024, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. Nigeria Fintech Forum plays host to the most senior leaders across Nigeria’s fintech and banking, uniting industry stakeholders who are defining the future of the ecosystem, If your work resonates with fintech, payments or banking, This is where you should be. Get a ticket here. 


• JICA will organize an event related to Nigeria’s startup ecosystem in Japan on Sep 5th 2024. Find out more here.

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Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Muyiwa Olowogboyega & Timi Odueso

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