E-Business
PAICTA, Check Point Software Partner to Provide Inclusive Access to Cybersecurity Skills Across Africa

The Pan African Information Communication Technology Association (PAICTA), an organisation that advocates for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), young people, women, and people with disabilities by creating an integrated and inclusive society through integrated digital platforms, has partnered with Check Point® Software Technologies, a provider of cybersecurity solutions globally.
The collaboration with Check Point SecureAcademy will enable PAICTA to distribute Check Point cybersecurity training material to tertiary institutions across Africa as both organisations work towards bridging the skills gap that exists for these professionals.
PAICTA was established in 2020 with the mandate of addressing the digital challenges faced by SMEs, youth, women, and persons with disability.
The organisation aims to contribute towards a transformed digital economy led by African youth-owned, empowered women, people with disabilities, and SMEs that will eradicate poverty through the availability of jobs and technology innovation.
“This partnership supports the Check Point vision of upskilling more people and creating job opportunities. As a global organisation, it is imperative to partner with local organisations who can engage with the communities that Check Point can support and offer training to.
“PAICTA is the perfect partner due to their incredible networks in Africa with government and tertiary education facilities,” says Charnie-Lee Adams Kruger, SADC Country Manager at Check Point Software Technologies.
Check Point will provide PAICTA with access to training and instructors online who are Check Point learning and training experts. This will give the universities who are working with PAICTA the means to ensure their lecturers are certified and empowered to train students themselves. University students and faculty members will also be able to access Check Point cybersecurity training online for free.
PAICTA will ensure the dissemination of Check Point training throughout Africa, especially to the tertiary institutions currently not providing cybersecurity courses.
Once faculty members at these institutions complete their basic CCSA (Check Point Certified Security Administrator) certifications, the opportunities to undergo advanced Check Point training in different areas are virtually limitless.
“In Africa, more than 50% of the youth is unemployed, according to data portal, Trading Economics. Digital skills development is therefore a critical building block to grow communities and economies.
PAICTA was established to help close the digital divide. With partnerships such as the one we have in place with Check Point, we advocate for equitable access to cybersecurity training regardless of age, ethnicity, language, education, and socio-economic status,” says Sonwabo Mdwaba, Founder and President of PAICTA.
Additionally, PAICTA is running internships for learners in South Africa with 46 pupils having already completed their Check Point courses. PAICTA has also introduced a sign up page for those interested in taking Check Point online courses here.
“From software development and cybersecurity to IT change management skills, the youth across Africa can find opportunities in the SMB sector.
This is where the focus must fall to enhance the skills and empowering them to become entrepreneurs and grow this vital sector of the continent’s economy. Check Point provides a perfect starting point especially when it comes to getting essential cybersecurity skills in place,” says Prof Nobert Jere, a board advisory member of PAICTA.
Check Point is wholly committed to not only equality, but providing all people regardless of race, colour, gender, and sexual orientation with access to cybersecurity training that has become critical to employability in the digital world.
E-Business
NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.
This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.
In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.
“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.
The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.
The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.
To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.
NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.
E-Business
Report Reveals African Organizations Dangerously Overestimating Cyber defences

Many businesses are overestimating their defence against cyber attacks, which creates a significant human risk blind spot. A new KnowBe4 report exposes a worrying disconnect between what leaders think about their cyber security readiness and what employees experience.
According to the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025, based on insights from cyber security decision-makers across 30 African countries, despite high awareness, a critical gap exists in turning that awareness into actual readiness and resilient behaviour.
Key findings from the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025:
Confidence vs awareness: While cyber security awareness is high, leaders express uncertainty about their workforce’s ability to act on that awareness. Many feel employees may overestimate their capabilities in recognising, reporting and mitigating threats.
The need for adaptive and personalised security awareness training: Many companies fail to personalise security awareness training to specific roles or risk exposures.
Widespread BYOD usage: A large percentage of employees (between 41% and 80%) use their personal devices for work.
AI policy development is lagging: Many companies (46%) are still in the process of developing policies for using AI tools in the workplace.
Regional variation: Southern Africa trains more, East Africa governs AI better and West/Central Africa sees the most human-related security incidents.
This gap is significant because Africa has become an attractive target to cyber criminals, especially those that launch AI-powered attacks. A LexisNexis Risk Solutions study found 60% of South African organisations have seen an increase in AI-facilitated financial crime – above the 56% global average.
Kehinde Popoola, regional manager and key representative for West and East Africa at Rubrik, said digital transformation is gaining momentum in Africa and companies are more exposed to cyber risk. The Rubrik executive adds that amid an increase in threats, it is crucial that organisations adopt an assumed breach mindset.
The KnowBe4 research shows that cyber security preparedness and the actual structures required to support secure behaviour seem misaligned.
The report highlights that just 10% of cyber security leaders are fully confident that staff would report a phishing attack or other cyber threat, despite rating employee security awareness of cyber threats at four out of five or higher.
There is also a significant perception gap between decision-makers and general employees in Africa regarding security awareness training, with 68% of leaders believing that training is tailored to roles, compared to only a third of employees feeling adequately trained.
KnowBe4 asserts that many organisations only conduct annual or biannual training that is too generic to effectively change behaviour, contributing to uncertainty about its effectiveness.
According to another report, the KnowBe4 African Cybersecurity and Awareness Report 2025, which focuses on end-user based responses, only 43% of African respondents felt confident in their ability to recognise a cyber threat, and just one in three believed their security awareness training was adequately tailored to their role. This comparison suggests the development of a dangerous perception gap in many organisations.
“There’s a disconnect here – between what leaders think is happening and what employees are actually experiencing,” says Anna Collard, SVP content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “The data shows that without procedural and cultural follow-through, awareness simply doesn’t translate into readiness.”
“The continent’s cyber security posture may be more confident than it is truly resilient,” Collard adds.
E-Business
Domain of Deception as Attackers Deploy Spyware Under Guise of Legal Threats

Kaspersky has detected a rapidly escalating malicious campaign that has targeted over 1,100 corporate users since June 2025. The attackers pose as a legal firm and in their emails threaten recipients with lawsuits over alleged domain name patent violations, aiming to deploy malware.
Victims who opened and launched the attached files – that mimicked legal documents – had a Trojan installed on their devices, and the attackers could spy on the content of their screens. Organisations across healthcare, finance, and education sectors have been targeted.
The campaign began with 95 emails on June 11 and has since continued to escalate. Apart from claiming that the recipient’s domain name violates patented combinations of a major brand and threatening litigation, in the email the fake legal bureau also expresses the patent holders’ interest in acquiring the domain and offers getting acquainted with the details of the alleged violations by opening the attached archive with “documents”.
It is worth noting that the attackers, likely to avoid detection, attach an archive that is not password protected, and inside it includes another archive that is password protected and a file containing the password along with it.
After the user entered the archive password and clicked on the alleged legal document inside, a Trojan was installed on the device. The user saw a message displayed that read, “This document cannot be opened on this device. Try opening it on another windows device,” and simultaneously the Tor Browser was covertly downloaded and installed in the background.
Through it, the malware regularly sent snapshots of the user’s screen to the attackers over the Tor network. The malware also autostarts whenever the computer is restarted.
“This campaign is a sophisticated blend of psychological manipulation and technical deception, leveraging fear of legal action to coerce businesses into executing harmful files hidden in attached archives. Its rapid growth since June 11 underscores the urgency for organisations to bolster defenses.
Victims face the risk of losing their private data. Robust email security, employee training, and swift incident reporting are essential to counter this evolving threat,” comments Anna Lazaricheva, spam analyst at Kaspersky.
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