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What Lockheed Martin Cyber Attack Must Teach Nigeria – Security Readiness Must Correlate With ICT Penetration

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The US defense giant, Lockheed Martin, was hit by cyber attackers, Yahoo News has reported. Because Yahoo News links do expire, we have to put the contents below:

 

Hackers launched a “significant and tenacious” cyber attack on Lockheed Martin, a major defense contractor holding highly sensitive information, but its secrets remained safe, the company said Saturday.

 

Lockheed Martin, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon confirmed that the contractor’s information systems had come under attack. Lt. Col. April Cunningham, speaking for the Defense Department, said the impact on the Pentagon “is minimal and we don’t expect any adverse effect.”

 

Still, the concerted attempt to breach the contractor’s systems underscored the risk to the nation’s critical defense data. Chris Ortman, Homeland Security spokesman, said his agency and the Pentagon were working with the company to determine the breadth of the attack and “provide recommendations to mitigate further risk.”

 

Now, if this attack has happened in Nigeria, what would have happened?  Read Lockheed Martin:

 

Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it detected the May 21 attack “almost immediately” and took countermeasures. As a result, “our systems remain secure; no customer, program or employee personal data has been compromised.” The company’s security team is still working to restore employee access to the targeted network. Neither Lockheed Martin nor the federal agencies revealed specifics of the attack.

 

This company reacted immediately and took care of the problem.  If the Nigerian security agency was under this attack, do we have a chance. When group of guys in Nigeria attacked some federal websites, it took some of them 24 hours to even know that their sites had been compromised despite the fact that the news was all over the blog-sphere. In this case, you are supposed to be the one that will identify that.

 

How secure is our national data? As ICT is deployed across all areas of our economy, we need to take a hard look at security. This is simply important. If we build without a security plan, we will suffer huge consequences in this age of cyber warfare.

ADM2682E and ADM2687E – Solutions for Critical Isolation Requirements of Motor, Power and Energy Control Systems

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Analog Devices introduced the ADM2682E and ADM2687E, the industry’s first single-chip 5-kVrms signal- and power-isolated RS-485 data transceivers that meet the safety isolation requirements of high voltage systems in motor, power and energy control systems. The new data transceivers also feature ±15-kV ESD protection on the bus pins. The highly integrated data transceivers are designed with Analog Devices’ iCoupler® isolation technology and combine a 3-channel isolator, a three-state differential line driver and a differential input receiver based on Analog Devices’ isoPower® isolated dc-to-dc converter technology.

 

The new transceivers reduce component count by up to 80 percent compared to discrete competitive options. Packaged in a single 10 mm x 13 mm surface mount package with greater than 8 mm minimum creepage and clearance, the transceivers occupy 70 percent less board space than the multiple discrete components typically used. The ADM2682E and ADM2687E achieve data rates of 16 Mbps (mega-bits per second) and 500 kbps (kilo-bits per second), respectively.

 

 

The ADM2682E and ADM2687E extend ADI’s portfolio of isolated bus communication products that includes similar products for other popular industrial and instrumentation protocols, including CAN (Controller Area Network), RS-232, USB (universal serial bus) and I2C. The new isolated transceivers are powered by a single 5-V or 3.3-V supply and integrate a 5-kVrms isolated dc-to-dc converter, which eliminates the need for an external dc-to-dc isolation block.

 

The devices are designed for the critical isolation system requirements of motor, power and energy control systems. The parts are fully specified over the industrial temperature range of -40 °C to +85 °C and are available in a 16-lead, wide-body SOIC (small outline integrated circuit) package. Safety and regulatory isolation standard certifications are pending for the ADM2682E and ADM2687E drivers and include UL (Underwriters Laboratories), CSA (Canadian Standards Association) and VDE (Verband der Elektrotechnik).

 

 

ADM2682E and ADM2687E Key Features and Benefits

  • 5-kVrms isolation per UL1577 meets system isolation needs for safer high-voltage systems.
  • Integrated isolated isoPower dc-to-dc converter reduces design-time and provides industries smallest footprint.
  • ±15-kV ESD protection on RS-485 input/output pins increases robustness of pins connected to external environment.
  • 8-mm creepage and clearance meets safety requirements for medical applications.

 

For more information visit here.

 

Cisco Invests $10 Million In Egypt Through Venture Capital Model

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The global network gear, Cisco,  this month announced that it is investing $10m in Egypt. This is a five year investment in its efforts towards building strong and healthier global communities. The announced was made in a press release on Cisco website, dated June 02, 2011.

 

This investment will go towards job creation and  economic development in Egypt. The most fascinating aspect of this investment is the model – a venture capital investment targeted at small businesses that provide innovative products, services and solutions. They will also play a role in facilitating investment in Egypt by building collaborations with local, regional and international institutions.

 

Key highlights of this investment are as follows

  • Businesses across Egypt are recognizing the need to invest in ICT for new opportunities and growth. While ICT investment in Egypt continues to grow, essentially doubling between 2001 and 2010, ICT penetration still remains low. However, the deregulation of the telecom sector, the dramatic expansion of technology use by the younger generation, and continued investment will accelerate usage in the country.

 

  • Cisco is actively working throughout the Middle East and North Africa to support job creation and economic growth by building ICT skills and talent within the workforce as well as providing greater access to capital and to educational opportunities. Developing and addressing the growing skills gap, as well as creating entrepreneurs and leaders of the future, is at the forefront of Cisco’s mission for the MENA region. Cisco has several initiatives in the region to facilitate this, including the Cisco® Networking Academy® and the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute.

 

  • There are currently 333 Cisco Networking Academies in Egypt with 655 instructors and a total of 18,716 students of which 43% are women. The program has trained almost 45,827 students since inception.

Brand Visibility Report Online – Tekedia Ranks 9th In Nigeria

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According to Vrank, Tekedia ranks 9th in brand visibility online in Nigeria. We ran a report early hour of Saturday and on the Most visible brands in Nigeria, Tekedia came 9th.

Total tops the list  while Ushahidi follows at #2. Tekedia is at 9th. This metric accesses the brand webinality and presence on the web.

What is your brand’s online visibility? How well are you doing on search engines, and in online and social media? Let’s calculate your Vrank and find out more!

Most visible brands in Nigeria

These are today’s most visible brands. Vrank grades change over time – come check them every now and then!

1
Total
(http://www.total.com)
78.4%
Vrank : 784/1000
2
Ushahidi
(http://www.ushahidi.com)
61.5%
Vrank : 615/1000
3
Cp-africa
(http://www.cp-africa.com)
43.6%
Vrank : 436/1000
4
Jobberman
(http://www.jobberman.com)
41.8%
Vrank : 418/1000
5
Surflinks
(http://joblistnigeria.com)
38%
Vrank : 380/1000
6
Internet Payment Solutions
(http://www.paybycash.com)
36.3%
Vrank : 363/1000
7
Alireta
(http://www.alireta.com/)
33.6%
Vrank : 336/1000
8
Gyst
(http://gyst.com/)
33.4%
Vrank : 334/1000
9
32.9%
Vrank : 329/1000
10
Clear-Com Communications
(http://www.clearcom.com)
32.9%
Vrank : 329/1000
11
ConnectNigeria.com
(http://www.connectnigeria.com)
32.6%
Vrank : 326/1000
12
NetroMedia
(http://www.netromedia.com/)
30.7%
Vrank : 307/1000
13
Loyokezie
(http://www.loyokezie.com)
29.2%
Vrank : 292/1000
14
NBF Social Network
(http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/socialnetwork/home.php)
19.3%
Vrank : 193/1000
15
Main One Cable Company Nigeria
(http://www.mainonecable.com/)
(PS: These numbers can change in minutes).

TI Introduces New Apps Processor: Targets Smartphones, Tablets, Notebooks

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Texas Instruments announced a new addition to its OMAP 4 family of ARM SoCs, with the 1.8GHz OMAP4470. TI’s new chip is powered by a pair of 1.0GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore engines, as well as two, 266MHz ARM Cortex-M3 cores that handle multimedia duties. Power-efficient OMAP4470 applications processor, designed to deliver the perfect balance between processing power, graphics, display subsystem functionality and multilayered user interface (UI) composition. The multicore OMAP4470 processor surpasses current market solutions with clock speeds up to 1.8 GHz, an 80 percent increase in Web browsing performance, increased memory bandwidth, a 2.5x boost in graphics functionality—via the POWERVR™ SGX544 core from Imagination Technologies—and a unique hardware composition engine. Mobile computing and gaming applications running on operating systems such as Android, Linux and the next version of Microsoft Windows will benefit from the OMAP4470 processor’s enhanced capabilities. Designers of ultrathin laptops, tablets or smartphones around previously released OMAP 4 processors gain the added benefit of pin-to-pin hardware and software compatibility for maximum re-use and faster time-to-market.

 

The OMAP4470 enables customers to leverage tomorrow’s leading-edge display technology by supporting resolution up to QXGA (2048×1536). The new applications processor drives still more unparalleled HD UIs with simultaneous support for up to three HD screens and up to 2x more layered imaging and video composition than competitive solutions—a capability required by the sophisticated UIs of next generation operating systems. This feature is enabled by the combination of a hardware composition engine with a dedicated 2D graphics core, a highly sophisticated display subsystem, and dual-channel LPDDR2 memory enabling up to 7.5 GB/s of throughput to composite the graphics and/or video data output. This frees the GPU to perform graphics-intensive tasks such as gaming or widget creation while the compositing process is assigned to more power-efficient hardware subsystems.

 

Powerful enough for desktop applications yet highly power-efficient for mobile applications, Imagination Technologies’ POWERVR SGX544 GPU complements the OMAP 4 platform’s promise of high performance, low power. The OMAP4470 processor is the first OMAP offering to leverage the POWERVR SGX544. Combining the SGX544’s features with the sophisticated OMAP architecture enables TI customers to deliver a new set of applications to end-users, including DirectX-driven games and videos.

OMAP4470 applications processor features and benefits:

Features:

  • Two ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCores™ running up to 1.8GHz per core
  • Two ARM Cortex-M3 cores
  • SGX544 graphics core
  • Hardware composition engine with dedicated 2D graphics core
  • Display subsystem
  • Dual-channel, 466 MHz LPDDR2 memory
  • Complete pin-to-pin hardware and software compatibility

Benefits:

  • 80% increase in Web browsing performance
  • Smart multicore processing optimized for low-power and real-time responsiveness
  • 2.5x overall graphics performance increase; support for DirectX, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG 1.1, and OpenCL 1.1
  • Frees GPU to manage intensive tasks; maximizes power-efficiency
  • Supports as many as three HD displays and up to QXGA (2048×1536) resolution; HDMI supporting stereoscopic 3D
  • Higher memory bandwidth enables rendering and compositing of multilayer content at high resolutions
  • Rapid transition and maximum re-use of investment from OMAP4430 and OMAP4460 processors

 

The 45nm OMAP4470 processor is expected to sample in the second half of 2011, with devices expected to hit the market in first half 2012. These products are intended for high-volume mobile OEMs and ODMs, and are not available through distributors. Learn more at www.ti.com