Check Point SecureAcademy collaborates with the Faculty of Computing and Informatics at Namibia University of Science & Technology to help tackle the country’s cybersecurity skills shortage.
Namibian ICT providers Complete Enterprise Solutions and Salt Essential IT will help develop and promote the cybersecurity training offered by the university and Check Point SecureAcademy.
Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions globally, collaborates with the Faculty of Computing and Informatics at Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Complete Enterprise Solutions (CES), and Salt Essential IT to help tackle the cybersecurity skills shortage in Namibia.
This collaboration between Check Point SecureAcademy and NUST will see the university’s faculty members complete the Check Point Certified Security Administrator training, enabling them to teach a range of cybersecurity courses to NUST’s students, starting this year. This collaboration between Check Point SecureAcademy and NUST will see the university’s faculty members complete the Check Point Certified Security Administrator training, enabling them to teach a range of cybersecurity courses to NUST’s students, starting this year.
For their part, CES, which is one of Check Point Software Technologies’ 4 Star partners, and Salt, a 2 Star Partner, will be helping to develop and promote the Check Point SecureAcademy training alongside NUST. Added to this, CES and Salt, working through NUST’s Cooperative Education Unit, will help facilitate industry-relevant internship placement and secure workplace sites enabling Work Integrated Learning for students who have graduated from the collaboration’s training programme.
To date, three of the university’s lecturers have successfully completed the training, with more staff signed up to take the course. “Through this collaboration, we are strengthening Africa’s cybersecurity landscape, as our lecturers will be passing the crucial cyber skills they have learned onto the next generation of professionals,” says Dr. Mercy Chitauro, Cyber Security Program Coordinator at NUST.
“Achieving Check Point SecureAcademy status within Namibia is an important step forward in developing a new talent pool of qualified security professionals and a sustainable breeding ground for this talent pool in the country,” says PJ Kotze, General Manager of CES. Sonja Coetzer, Managing Director at Salt adds: “Education initiatives like this are helping build stronger, more secure environments for businesses to compete in a sustainable digital economy, which is so important in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
This collaboration will deepen the reach of cybersecurity education already being provided by the Check Point Cyber Security Jump Start programme. Through this programme, learners can access free online courses from anywhere in the world, gaining recognised certification upon completion. Currently, over 20 000 students and security professionals across Africa have completed these courses, increasing Africa’s overall cyber safety through industry-leading skills.
Check Point SecureAcademy aims to give students the ability to recognise and resolve IT security threats, develop hands-on experience with leading security solutions, and acquire employable real-world skills to protect networks through the programme’s courses. Upon completion of the programme, students will earn a globally recognised credential in cybersecurity. “This new collaboration further demonstrates our ongoing commitment to make cybersecurity education accessible to all,” says Pankaj Bhula, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software Technologies. “With the current shortage of cyber skills, it is essential that we attract more professionals to the field who we can then prepare to take on future cyber threats across Africa.”
Clearly, closing the cybersecurity skills gap – not only in Namibia but across the continent – is essential for protecting Africa’s businesses and boosting these nations’ economies; especially considering that cybercrime is at an all-time high. In Namibia alone, Check Point Research noted that an organisation experienced an average of 1 382 attacks each week last year. Globally, this figure is 930, meaning Namibian businesses are dealing with nearly 49% more cyberthreats.
For Check Point, driving education around digital technology at all levels is a social responsibility they take seriously. This is why Check Point SecureAcademy was created, with collaborations focused on accelerating this learning to enhance capabilities across the continent.
Check Point Software Technologies, Africa
Digital Literacy has many interpreted definitions, one that is most relevant to the discussion here today is, having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information are increasingly through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices.
Whether in an over or sparsely populated country, Africa struggles with literacy in general. Once Governments understand that real investment needs to be done in education, we will be one step closer to realizing digital literacy.
If a person is deprived in 30% of 11 weighted indicators grouped under the three dimensions of ‘Education’, ‘Health’ and ‘Living Standards’, they are considered multidimensionally poor. According to the 2021 report by the Namibia Statistics Agency, multidimensional poverty was determined to affect 43% of the Namibian population. With Namibia ranking 113th on the list of the most expensive countries to live in, with the low end of people living in poverty surviving on as little as a USD 1.90 (translating into NAD 29.17) per day and at the high-end USD 5.50 (a NAD 84.32) per day.
The first inequality is the teacher to learner ratio. In Namibia the ratio is 24 660 teachers for 617 827 learners. Thus, a ratio of 0.03 teachers for each child. 1/3 of Namibian children miss school because feeding programs are failing, and often there is no transport. An estimated 55 00 Namibian school-going children don’t even have shoes.
With 1 723 primary and secondary schools, of which 119 are private, the educational divide and inequality increases as many Namibian schools don't have access to running water and electricity, let alone access to the internet.
Unless Government, regulators, the private sector, and tech philanthropic organizations take hands and find realistic solutions that are affordable to address the ever-increasing educational poverty, we will not be able to address digital literacy to raise the standards of education and deliver the future leaders of Namibia, Africa, and the world.
If the purpose of education is the integral development of a person, through academic achievement, character and mindset development as well as social cohesion and equality, it is a source of its obvious benefits for a fuller and better life. Education can contribute to the betterment of society as a whole. It develops a society in which people are aware of their rights and duties, then digital literacy is the tool to achieve this. Through this educational poverty will be eradicated.
Thus, in the future, driven by the 4th and emerging 5th industrial revolution, digital literacy will be at the heart of education and the focal point of the modern era.
Author: Sonja Coetzer, Managing Director @ Salt
Did you know only a few things in Namibia require a physical signature, such as a sale of property, and wills and estates? The rest can all be signed electronically. 'Struesbob.
We are using Adobe Sign which integrates fully into Microsoft 365. Electronic signing made easy, compliant, and legal!
Salt is currently running a promotion with Adobe Sign where you sign up for 50 free transactions (signatures) to test it out. Email sales@salt.na to find out more or sign up for the promotion.
Author: Beaulah Keis, Commercial Expansion Representative @ Salt
Salt offers professional Teams telephony for the enterprise – making the move to Microsoft voice easy!
With Tendfor’s state of the art switchboard and contact centre, Teams telephony is your path to lower TCO and smarter functionality for switchboard attendants, contact centre agents and office users. Packed with productivity-oriented solutions, user-friendly and easy to maintain – Tendfor finally makes voice a modern part of your IT infrastructure.
Tendfor leverages the full power of the new native Teams switchboard & contact centre capabilities and takes advantage of:
Tendfor‘s all API-based and within the Microsoft 365 cloud topology (a world’s first!) means that you can now finally move to Teams telephony without compromising on your functionality and customer service demands. offers
Microsoft Teams is the perfect UCC-platform for hybrid work and internal communications. Adding Tendfor's contact centre and attendant console support also integrates all external communication needs, cutting costs in the process. We make leaving legacy solutions behind easy. If you are interested to find more about Tendfor, please reach out to sales@salt.na and let’s get in touch. You’ll be so happy you did.
Author: Grace Katjivena, Service Desk Engineer @ Salt
Last month, Microsoft officially ended its support of Windows 7, a decade-old operating system. The original end-of-support was actually in January 2020, so users squeezed a good extra 20 months out of it. Now it’s officially done.
While most users have long since abandoned Windows 7 in favour of various newer flavours of the Windows OS, there are still many computers running the outdated operating system. Many experts saw Windows 7 as a significant advance over its predecessor, Windows Vista, as well as more reliable than its immediate successor, Windows 8; it received positive reviews on a considerably more consistent basis than any of the others. That reason, combined with many people's and businesses' aversion to replacing a functional system ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it"), has resulted in Windows 7 continuing to run on a substantial number of devices for more than a decade after its initial release.
However, running Windows 7 today can result in many major issues, which you should be aware of.
We've had already encountered the following:
This is what you should do as soon as possible:
If you keep running Windows 7, it’s just a matter of time before your business applications stop working altogether or you experience a security attack. Or both. Either way, you will lose a lot of money.
Contact Salt at contact@salt.na for a discussion about the best, cost-effective solution to keep your business running smoothly and safely. Our people will enable your people.
Author: Ivan Musuuo - Field Engineer @ Salt
You’re probably concerned about cybersecurity. You’re not alone. A 2019 survey of 1200 business owners in the USA found that more than half admitted to worrying about cyber risks. Closer to home, PwC reports that cybercrime is on the increase in South Africa and Namibia, with a notable surge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’re not concerned, you certainly should be.
No organisation is immune
The South African Department of Justice is just one of many recent victims of a cyberattack. The hack caused delays at courts across the country. It happened in September but was only contained in the middle of October. Transnet and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) are other government entities that have fallen foul of cybercriminals. In the private sector, Experian, the multinational consumer credit reporting agency, was the victim of data fraud. African Bank also suffered a data breach involving customers’ personal information. In Namibia over the last 12 months, there have been numerous ransomware, phishing, and DDoS attacks, however, the businesses and institutions have non-disclosure agreements in place and as such confirmed and reference cases are not available. Namibia’s exposure to, and experience with cybercrime is on the rise, and the lack of much-needed legislation is preventing law enforcers to deal with this.
No individual or organisation is safe from cybercrime. Working from home has impacted heavily on the network security of all organisations, whether commercial, government or not-for-profit. Multiple connected devices give hackers much wider access to systems than before. 53% of South African organisations experienced increased phishing attacks, and 46% reported heightened impersonation fraud compared to 2019, according to the 2020 Mimecast report into the State of Email Security. The last official statistics available for Namibia is 2017/2018. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has launched a public participation forum to understand the exposure and the legislation that needs to be put in place. Deloitte’s Cyber Security Survey for Namibia of March 2018, clearly highlighted Namibia’s risk.
With hands-on experience in the Information Security and Digital Forensic environments for more than 2 decades, NEWORDER is a prominent authority in information security and corporate threat protection. This service provides strategic and tactical insight into an organisation's actual state of security. It verifies whether the best practices and adequate safety measures are in place to mitigate and minimise the impact of known and unknown security risks.
Crime-fighting partnership
Technology holds the key to seating government and citizens around the same dinner table to understand and attain common goals and objectives. It also enables transparency through the government’s ability to communicate directly With this holistic, cost-effective way of making your security concerns their business, Windhoek-based Salt Essential IT has partnered with NEWORDER to bring an additional layer of digital security capabilities and a little bit of peace of mind to Namibian businesses.
“Salt has been instrumental in deploying state of the art security solutions for our customers to combat the ever-growing rise of cybercrime in Namibia,” according to Salt’s Commercial Expansion Manager, Vanessa Maresch. “In light of this drive, we are very pleased with our partnership with NEWORDER, as they are internationally renowned experts in threat assessments to test for vulnerabilities and gaps in perimeter, network, endpoint and application security. I quote myself when saying: You don’t know what you don’t know. Salt is excited that with this joint offering, you will be in the know and in a position to protect your business.”
Says Bennie Barnard, NEWORDER Chief Commercial Officer, “We partner with technology experts who provide us with strategic information security technology that complements the NEWORDER offering for specific, niche threats. Our partnership with Salt completes the circle of security through layered security solutions that ensure the customer is protected in accordance with industry best practices. This, and our other collaborations give us enhanced solution functionalities so we can fight cybercrime on your behalf.
Namibia and its neighboring countries are a pivotal part of our Sub-Saharan Africa expansion strategy and we are delighted to partner with Salt. Not only are they a well-known brand and market leader in their space, but more importantly: our joint customers now have access to best-in-class information security products and services in a central location. We look forward to assisting both existing and new customers with the implementation and execution of their cyber resilience strategies.”
This partnership is like having both the X-Men and The Avengers in your corner. If you need to enhance the defences you deploy, and sleep just a little easier at night, contact Salt at contact@salt.na. For more information about NEWORDER, please visit www.newordergroup.net.
Author: Salt Marketing
In all honesty, I do not want to be a President in this day and age, nor would I like to be a Minister or a member of parliament.
Governments and Presidents are constantly under fire, dissatisfied citizens of the world are on the increase, whether the topics are jobs, food, homes, education, health, or infrastructure.
The disconnect is huge, governments and Presidents believe that they are doing their best, yet, the question is, is that what the citizens want? Also, how do they cater for it all with limited budgets, high demands, and endless expectations?
Citizens want food on the table, a roof over their heads, well-maintained infrastructure, quality education, and health care, and above all jobs to provide for their families. Rather a tall order, come to think of it.
Is technology the answer, and if so, how can governments and Presidents leverage technology to deliver on the need for immediate gratification whilst improving on the conditions of satisfaction?
On the other hand, do governments know what it is that their citizens want? Are they connected to those they have been elected by to serve? Are they optimising service delivery through digitisation and quick access? Are they creating trust through transparency? Is there a strategy empowered by a fair and sufficient budget? Does information and communication technology form part of this?
Information Technology can enable a policy decision taken by government to be quickly executed and implemented at multiple locations, across the length and breadth of the country.
According to a news article on drishti, technology can be used to bring about e-Legislature, strengthen parliamentary committees, virtual judiciary, promote participative democracy, implement good governance, achieving sustainable development goals. All this through technology.
Governments can no longer wait for perfect and expensive solutions, they need to adopt available working ICT solutions today, and work together with the citizens to refine and improve the delivery of key services for economic prosperity and political stability. Once governments understand the intelligence and functionality in their existing procured technologies, they will understand how they can start rolling out various e-Services today.
Technology holds the key to seating government and citizens around the same dinner table to understand and attain common goals and objectives. It also enables transparency through the government’s ability to communicate directly with the citizens and eliminate disinformation and disconnection. It becomes easier for citizens to hold government accountable for their commitments to improve, uplift, develop and grow a country as a whole.
In conclusion, when governments embrace transparent technology, citizens are able to prosper.
Author: Christopher Swart - Commercial Expansion Account Manager @ Salt
Attending the 2021 Africa Symposium on Women and Girls in Technology hosted by the World Wide Web Foundation, I realised again, for Namibia, it is not the gender inequality that will cost Namibia billions of dollars in the future, but it is the lack of access to reliable, affordable, and secure internet and eServices such as Education and Health care – as a basic human right.
It is time that we as a collective stand up and demand our collective basic human rights, the technology exists, the opportunity for change is an everyday reality. Henry Ford said: “If I had to ask people what they want, they would have said faster horses”. It is thus the responsibility of the knowledgeable to challenge the status quo, empower the people and impact the future. Be the change you would like to see now and in the future.
The first-round table should be around what affordable platforms and technology are currently available and how can we make it available to the whole of the citizens in a way that every person has access to affordable connectivity. However, we need to be cognisant that this is only part of the solution, tools and devices need to be provided for learning and eServices to be consumed.
While there are regular complaints on various social media platforms about Namibia’s internet access and the cost thereof, the complaint remains just there, on social media. All the stakeholders, regulators, and governments are not coming together to find a sustainable solution to overcome expensive challenges to ensure economic prosperity and growth.
We have talked about it for so many years, yet here we are, still talking about it with nothing to show. I remember a conversation with colleagues in 2002 about containers being converted into smart classrooms that can be made available to rural areas for education, in 2016 we spoke about converting vans into smart clinics that can bring the doctor to the village doorstep. These are still not a reality in Namibia, we will probably still talk about it in 2050. We need a tangible plan, we need actionable tasks, we need ownership and accountability, and we need it now!
Data privacy and security laws are very similar to traffic laws, only effective when adhered to and applied by all.
Various laws, regulations, and policies have been hot topics around the world for quite some time. Still, so many are of the mindset that 'it will never happen to us'. Until it happens to you.
Considering that it is estimated that Cybercrime will cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, we need to act now by changing the behaviour of every technology user. The questions remain, will they be willing to adapt, will they be willing to take ownership of their role and/or contribution towards our collective data privacy and security.
Our last line of defense is you, and your attitude towards data privacy and security. More often than not, users will find ways to bypass privacy and security in exchange for productivity and efficiency rather than adopting and embracing these policies and procedures. A good example of this is using one password for private and work environments, and with most of us working in the cloud, this becomes a huge risk and Grade R playground-level for data predators.
In the ISACA - Assessing the State of Cybersecurity in 2021 and Preparing for 2022 report by Dustin Brewer, it is clear that cybercriminals have the upper hand and is working harder than before to bring about business disruption and ultimately business outage.
In the same report, information security professionals reported that the top five forms of cyberattacks experienced this year so far are social engineering (14%), advanced persistent threats (10%), ransomware (9%), unpatched systems (8%), and DDoS (8%).
In conjunction with the above, ISACA published the paper by Larry G. Wlosinski on Understanding the Information System Contingency Plan, which plays a major role in our overall data privacy and security strategy.
This brings me to my opening statement in the title of this article: Data privacy and security - whose responsibility is it?
The C-Suite, the custodians of business decision making, typically would refer trusted technology advisors, experts, and providers down the ranks to their ICT function, as it is typically still believed that ICT infrastructure, security and data belong to the IT department, same as creditors and debtors belong to the finance department.
Truth be told, like cash flow is to the bank balance, data and the related technology turning data into actionable insight, accelerating innovation, and creating innovative product offerings, is to the business. Since the turn of the 19th century, industrialisation, consumerism, consumption, and capitalism have put profit before safety and security. In the same way, for a long time, most of us have put using data to drive business results before securing data, not understanding that data has now become the most valuable asset of a company, for both the business, as well as for cybercriminals.
It is time for IT's own modernity, it has been so for a while. IT's a seat at the boardroom table as the custodians of data and data security is more crucial now than ever before. Data is at the heart of the business strategy, and as any other critical business function should be empowered by the dedicated CAPEX and OPEX budgets that accelerate the value that business will drive and drive growth, securely. Global trends suggest that as much as 60% should be put towards an expertly planned, designed, and refined ICT environment that is well protected and secured while enabling and empowering employees, partners, and other stakeholders to attain the company's core business goals and objectives in a timeous fashion.
The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu in 500 B.C, is the oldest known military dissertation in the world. The Art of War has remained relevant over the years because it is about strategy and tactics rather than specific warfare technology. It has influenced leaders all over the world, not only in warfare but in many areas of life, including business, and indeed, information security, which should not be focused on technology, but rather strategy and tactics again.
This translates into the human element through training and awareness campaigns. In our ‘new normal, we need to cater for an employee workforce that needs to use any device (such as notebooks, mobile devices, tablets, web browsers), to access any application (whether it be on the web, in the cloud, on-premise in the corporate data center), from anywhere (in the office, at home, or on the go), and this is complex as we need to ensure maximum productivity. This expands the attack surface tremendously with organizational data being anywhere and everywhere, and inconsistent security policies and fragmented visibility result in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
But while employees can be a weak link in the chain, they are not the only route inside an organization. When it comes to cybersecurity breaches, the rule is always ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ When breaches occur, organisations should focus on the lessons they can learn and improvements they can make as a result. The root cause should be identified, and changes should be swiftly implemented to address this, with the lessons learned shared with all relevant staff, partners, vendors, and regulatory authorities.
How do we respond? In the words of Sun Tzu – “When we are weak, we must appear strong!” It comes down to laying plans. As a business, you need to consider the following, where and who are your enemies? Your ability to counteract against these bad actors, and the motivation of the attacker. Once you have a clear understanding of these things, make plans to "evade" the enemies.
You may lose a battle but never lose the war. The reality is cybercriminals don’t care, not where you are from, or what industry you are…
So, in closing, in 2021, companies face several major cyber security challenges. However, this year also presents opportunities for significant security growth. 2020 demonstrated how businesses need to adapt to the modern world, and 2021 provides an opportunity to design and build security for the future.
When the C-Suite fully understands that data is no longer an enabling tool of the business but rather at the heart of the business success, and in many cases the business itself, they will treat data privacy and security differently. With data being moving away from a commodity to an extremely valuable business asset, we need to protect it, and we need to do so now.
Co-Author: PJ Kotze
Review Editor: Arno Delport
When I talk about office relationships, I am not talking about much gossiped romantic affairs, I am talking about the bond and relationships we have with our colleagues. I recently read a short article and a blunt statement hit me like ice water in the face. “I am here to work, not to make friends.”
Although in its essence, this statement rings true, we do spend 9 of our waking hours, if not more, with our colleagues and healthy relationships are important. While my door is always open (unless it's closed), I try to build and maintain good relationships with each of the Salties. The challenge is to find the time – the ever-eluding time.
It is recommended that a team leader or manager should spend at least 15 minutes in a One-on-One with each team member per week, a team of 10 makes these 150 minutes per week, or if you so wish 2.5 hours per week. The average 5-day workweek is 40 hours. Making time takes a conscious effort to take time.
During periods of disruption, managers play a critical role in helping employees navigate change and preserving their sense of belonging. One-on-One sessions enable managers to focus on individual team members, whether it is a casual ‘how are you’ chat or coaching or empowering the individual. These undivided attention conversations help develop strong bonds, which in turn are crucial to healthy work environments and, in the long run, optimum productivity.
Microsoft VIVA Insights reports on your team engagement and is a conscious reminder to make time for your team.
It also recommends actions and offers best practices.
I care about the Salt family, and I am grateful that I have tools to help me be a better leader.
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