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TGIF ☀️
Here’s a life-saving time-saving tool?
If you’ve got a long YouTube video you don’t have time to watch, you’ll soon be able to ask Bard to do it for you.
Google’s AI service can now watch YouTube videos and summarise them for you. But this feature isn’t available to just everyone yet, it’s only available on Google Labs for now.
Cybersecurity
N4ughtySec demand $60 million from TransUnion and Experian for latest hack
Brazil-based N4ughtySecTU Group which claimed responsibility for the March 2022 cyberattack on TransUnion, has resurfaced with bold assertions.
The cyber extortion group is now threatening to leak the data of the South African consumer credit reporting agencies—TransUnion and Experian— within the next 72 hours unless it’s paid $60 million. N4ughtySecTU claims it has had continuous access to these agencies since their initial attack in 2022.
ICYMI: In March 2022, N4ughtySec claimed to have gained access to files via a user with the password “password”, and claimed to have taken 28 million credit records, and 54 million identity numbers. TransUnion, refusing a $15 million ransom, faced the exposure of at least 3 million South African customers’ details. However, the credit bureau denied the breach maintaining it originated from a prior breach of a South African government website in 2017.
Meanwhile, Experian faced its own data breach in August 2020, involving the exposure of 24 million South Africans’ information.
What’s happening now? Both agencies have confirmed N4ughtySec’s demand, but have disputed the claims, stating thorough investigations found no evidence of inappropriate data access or exfiltration. Furthermore, they claim N4ughtySec misspelt their own name in the email used to contact media and executives.
Although TransUnion and Experian have a history of data breaches, there’s no confirmation of the hacker group’s access to the companies.
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Startups
This Joburg startup wants to tackle vehicle theft and teen joyrides using biometric tech
Eagle-Eye Defence, a Johannesburg-based startup, is giving car owners greater control over their vehicles.
The security company is leveraging biometric authentication to combat vehicle theft and prevent teenage joyrides.
How? Using biometric fingerprint or facial recognition, Eagle-Eye’s technology ensures that only authorised drivers can start a car. Owners can also control their cars remotely using a phone app.
Furthermore, authentication requests are scheduled at specified intervals, triggering alerts for owners or managers if unsuccessful. This will enable real-time monitoring and immediate intervention in case of unexpected incidents.
Tragedy as a motivation: Founded by Iviwe Mosana and Naadir Vorajee, Mosana’s motivation for developing Eagle-Eye stems from a personal tragedy. In 2016, his younger brother stole their parents’ car for a joyride, resulting in an accident that claimed the lives of two of his friends. Eagle-Eye’s solution focuses on the “preventative and protective aspects of vehicle ownership.”
While Eagle-Eye has successfully tested its solution on five vehicles it owns, a commercial rollout has been temporarily limited by licencing requirements regulated by ICASA. Nonetheless, they have a certificate that permits installation only in their own vehicles. The company has submitted an application for the complete licence and anticipates selling its solution to third-party clients by the middle of next year.
Introducing: IP Whitelisting on Paystack
Tighten security for your business by declaring the specific IP addresses from which Paystack should process API requests. Here’s how to set it up.
Telecom
Mr Price’s telecoms division reports R63 million pre-finance profit
Mr Price has announced impressive growth in its telecoms division for the first 26 weeks of its financial year.
Financial results: The South African retailer’s telecom division has recorded a profit before finance costs of R63 million ($3.3 million), a 37% increase compared to R46 million ($2.4 million) during the same period last year.
This growth is attributed to retail sales within Mr Price’s telecoms segment, which reached R533 million ($28.3 million), and a strong performance by Mr Price Mobile, the company’s mobile virtual network operator. Other telecoms income, including revenue from contracts with customers, reached R87 million ($4.6 million), contributing to a total telecoms revenue of R620 million ($32.9 million).
Zoom out: Meanwhile, MTN South Africa records a revenue boost in Q3 of 2023, despite grappling with 273 days of load-shedding during the initial nine months of the year. The service revenue experienced a notable 4.1% year-on-year growth in Q3, surging from 2.5% in Q2 and 1.3% in Q1, reaching R31 billion ($1.6 billion).
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TC Insights
Funding tracker
This week, Nigerian trade finance startup, FrontEdge, raised $10 million in debt and equity funding. The funding round was led by TLG Capital with additional investment dupport from Flexport.
Here are other deals for the week:
- Aquarech, the Kenyan fish farming startup, secured $1.7 million in equity funding. The investment was led by the Dutch global aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark, with additional capital from Acumen, Katapult and Mercy Corps Ventures.
- Egyptian e-commerce platform, WayUp Sports, secured an undisclosed amount in funding in a seed round led by Beltone Venture Capital, Index Sports Fund, and other strategic angel investors.
That’s it for this week!
Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.
Crypto Tracker
The World Wide Web3
Source:
|
Coin Name |
Current Value |
Day |
Month |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin |
$37,321 |
– 0.15% |
+ 2.69% |
| Ether |
$2,067 |
+ 0.07% |
+ 4.39% |
 Pyth Network |
$0.50 |
+ 14.19% |
– 23.35% |
| Solana |
$57.11 |
– 0.55% |
+ 85.46% |
* Data as of 06:20 AM WAT, November 24, 2023.
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Binance users have withdrawn over $1 billion from the platform since founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to violating US laws. A report from blockchain analysis firm Nansen shows that there was an outflow of $1 billion in crypto assets—excluding bitcoin—in the past first 24 hours after Zhao pled guilty on Tuesday and agreed to step down as CEO in addition to paying a $50 million fine. The exchange’s native token, BNB, is also down more than 8% in the last 24 hours.
About $48 million has been stolen from decentralised crypto exchange KyberSwap DEX. CoinDesk reports that the attacker is stealing funds mostly in Ether with about $20 million taken from Arbitrum, $15 million from Optimism and $7 million from Ethereum. The attacker is reportedly teasing the firm, claiming they can negotiate a return of the funds. Administrators are now advising users to withdraw all their funds.
- The 2023 edition of DevFest Lagos, by the Google Developer Group (GDG Lagos), is scheduled for Friday, November 24, and Saturday, November 25, 2023, at the Landmark Event Centre. The 2023 edition will feature sessions on UX and Product Localization, Legalities in tech, AI and machine learning, Web 2 and Web 3, SysOps, Technical writing, Marketing, Product Design, Neuromarketing and many more. Register here.
- The Catalysing Conversations summit themed “Reimagining Growth” is scheduled for Tuesday, November 28, 2023. The event brings together Nigeria’s most exciting high-impact entrepreneurs, influential business leaders, and forward-thinking policy-makers for inspiration, learning, and networking to explore themes of high-impact entrepreneurship, innovation, high-growth companies, and entrepreneur-led economic development. Join speakers like Adaeze Sokan, Bolaji Balogun, Editi Effiong and Ola Brown by registering here.
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