Telecom
Paradigm Initiative Launches ‘Ripoti’ a Platform for African Citizens to Call Out Digital Rights Violations
Paradigm Initiative, PIN, has launched ‘Ripoti’, a groundbreaking platform geared towards the protection of digital rights of all African citizens.
The platform’s aim is to fight the worrying trend of increasing digital rights violations across the African continent was launched on Friday by PIN, during the closing session of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum 2021.
Ripoti –the first of its kind on the continent—allows citizens across Africa to report violations of their digital rights, then connects them with experts who can help them seek justice.
Speaking during the launch, ‘Gbenga Sesan, Director of Paradigm Initiative, said, “Digital rights are just as fundamental as all other human rights.
“We have seen a worrying increase in digital rights violations across Africa.
“Until now, citizens have had no easy way to protect their rights by tracking and reporting these violations. Ripoti empowers them to do that now.”
He further stated that digital world has become a critical space for economic activity, access to emergency services, and the exercise of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Sesan however decried the growing instances of cyber bullying, online gender violence, internet censorship, or the illegal use or accessing of an internet user’s information, a trend emboldened by health surveillance during the pandemic.
He added that with the Covid-19 pandemic pushing many more people online, many of the vices and violations that used to exist only offline have now started to crop up in the digital space, including violence against women, the illegal use of user information, the violation of e-consumer rights, and more.
Boye Adegoke, Senior program manager at Paradigm Initiative, said “For many years, Paradigm Initiative has actively documented cases of digital rights violations and offered litigation support to victims.
“Eventually, we started to get overwhelmed by the number of violations we had to monitor.
“It became clear that we needed to create a communal, strategic, and systemic response to these many incidents of digital rights violations.
“RIPOTI is the answer, and we’re excited to share it with people across Africa.”
Digital rights violations in Africa: A worrying trend
A growing number of Africans are using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on a regular basis, which has made digital technologies critical to the enjoyment of their rights and improvement of their livelihoods.
However, many governments have taken steps to undermine internet access and even encroach on civic participation and the right to freedom of expression online. Some countries have also cracked down on human rights defenders or journalists who challenge the state authorities.
∙ In Ethiopia, the internet has repeatedly been cut off during times of social unrest. The same phenomenon has been reported in Cameroon.
∙ In Nigeria in January 2021, a news website known for being critical of the government was blocked, allegedly on government orders.
∙ On the eve of the Ugandan general elections in January 2021, the country’s internet was shut down for weeks. The president justified the shutdown by saying that it was in retaliation for Facebook removing some pro-government accounts.
∙ In Tanzania, telecom companies in the country were ordered to suspend bulk SMS, bulk communications and individual messages with keywords”CHADEMA”, “LISSU” until after the elections in a bid to weaken the opposition
∙ In Burundi, on election day Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram and Yahoo mail were all made inaccessible. Authorities cut access to social media networks.
“Citizens’ rights to express themselves online and offline and gather and disseminate information and ideas are critical to the fate of democracy in Africa,” said Sesan of Paradigm Initiative.
“Not only that, but the absence of data privacy and protection, illegal and blanket surveillance, internet shutdowns, and other rights violations all impact negatively on democracy and economic development. The centrality of digital rights makes them the business of all citizens.”
Airtel Money Africa, Airtel Africa’s mobile money arm, announced an extended partnership with Africa’s largest mobile money payment service provider (PSP) pawaPay to enable seamless cross-border payments for licensed International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) across seven key Airtel Africa markets.
This collaboration officially launches pawaPay’s service for inbound remittances into Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania. The partnership allows IMTOs to efficiently deliver funds globally directly to recipients’ more than 161 million Airtel Money customers wallets, leveraging pawaPay’s renowned reliability, scalability, and 99.9% platform uptime.
Building on five years of trusted collaboration in domestic mobile money, this expansion strengthens and simplifies Airtel Money Africa’s backend processes, using pawaPay’s robust payment service provider infrastructure, which processes over four million transactions daily.
Airtel Money Africa CEO, Ian Ferrao, said: “We’re pleased to expand our partnership with pawaPay to advance international remittances across Africa. Their proven reliability and commitment to African consumers make them an ideal partner. This integration empowers International Money Transfer Operators to securely connect with Airtel Money’s growing footprint, delivering real-time payments that support financial inclusion and economic growth.”
pawaPay CEO, Nikolai Barnwell, said: “Our mission is to simplify payments for businesses in Africa, and remittances are pivotal. Deepening our relationship with Airtel Money allows International Money Transfer Operators to leverage our world-class infrastructure for seamless cross-border payments.”
Remittances remain critical for millions of Africans, enabling family support, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. This partnership ensures secure, instant mobile wallet transactions, key to advancing Africa’s digital economy. pawaPay will extend this capability to additional Airtel Money Africa markets in coming months.
Rubrik, the cybersecurity company, and Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, have announced a strategic partnership to provide Sophos M365 Backup and Recovery Powered by Rubrik.
This marks the first Managed Detection and Response (MDR)-optimized Microsoft 365 backup and recovery solution fully integrated into Sophos Central, Sophos’ security operations platform.
Designed to support IT and cybersecurity teams, the new offering will provide a unified global platform to enhance cyber resilience against ransomware, account compromise, insider threats, and data loss in SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, and Teams.
“We are reshaping what it means to stay operational in a world shaped by constant digital disruption,” said Joe Levy, CEO, Sophos. “This is the future of cyber resilience: an intelligent, adaptive partnership that ensures organizations remain secure, responsive, and uninterrupted. By combining Sophos’ prevention-first approach with Rubrik’s unwavering recovery capabilities, we empower businesses to withstand attacks and maintain continuity, even under pressure.”
Sophos will offer a powerful new add-on solution for its more than 75,000 MDR and XDR customers, enabling fast, secure recovery of critical Microsoft 365 data in the event of accidental deletion or malicious compromise.
This solution integrates Rubrik’s industry-leading SaaS-based protection directly into the trusted Sophos Central platform, giving organizations the flexibility to enhance their existing security operations with robust data recovery capabilities.
The Sophos Central platform integrates over 350 different telemetry sources across endpoint, cloud, network, identity, email and business applications. The platform leverages deep learning, custom LLMs, and frontier models to detect and respond to threats across the entire attack surface, enhancing defense effectiveness.
“The reality of today’s threat landscape demands a holistic approach to cyber resilience,” said Bipul Sinha, CEO, Chairman, and Co-founder of Rubrik. “With AI-enabled attacks and sophisticated breaches on the rise, organizations need more than just prevention; they need the ability to recover rapidly and reliably. Our partnership with Sophos delivers this critical capability directly within a platform security teams already use and trust, raising the bar for Microsoft 365 resilience.”
The Evolving Threat Landscape
According to The State of Ransomware report by Sophos, nearly half of organizations impacted by ransomware chose to pay the ransom to recover their data. Despite this, only 54% of affected companies relied on backups for data restoration, highlighting a continued gap in effective cyber resilience practices.
Recent research highlights the urgent need for robust Microsoft 365 data protection: 60% of Microsoft 365 tenants have experienced account takeovers, a frequent launchpad for lateral movement within an organization, and 81% have encountered email compromise.
When global admin credentials are compromised, attackers can manipulate retention settings and permanently delete critical business data.
Existing tools were not designed for comprehensive, large-scale recovery, which requires speed, granularity, and reliability for rapid restoration.
Sophos MDR and XDR customers will benefit from:
- Secure, immutable backups: Rubrik will isolate Microsoft 365 backups with air-gapped storage, WORM locks, and customer-held encryption keys. Multifactor authentication and data lock prevent tampering, even with compromised credentials.
- Fast, flexible recovery: Customers will be able to restore Microsoft 365 emails, OneDrives, SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and more to original or alternate users, including inactive accounts.
- Automated protection: Rubrik will automatically discover Microsoft 365 users, sites, and mailboxes, applies Entra ID-based policies, and supports delegated admin – all integrated with Sophos Central to reduce manual effort.
- Unified experience: Microsoft 365 protection and security operations will be managed via Sophos Central with no extra tools.
Rubrik and Sophos’ shared commitment to helping organizations operate with confidence in the face of risk, will provide Sophos customers and partners with a powerful solution to recover with speed and precision when threats inevitably break through.
This offering will be available through Sophos’ channel partner network in the coming months.
MTN Nigeria is deepening its role as an industry enabler with the launch of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform and the signing of its first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement, Chief Financial Officer Modupe Kadri revealed on Monday.
Speaking in an exclusive Channels TV interview, Kadri confirmed that MTN has opened its network to T2 (formerly 9Mobile) under the NaaS framework approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This allows T2 subscribers to roam seamlessly on MTN’s infrastructure while retaining their own customer relationships and branding.
“Network-as-a-Service is a platform where MNOs can roam within the NCC framework on MTN’s network,” Kadri explained. “It makes the industry more efficient in the utilisation of scarce resources.”
Kadri also announced MTN’s first MVNO partnership, with the virtual operator set to go live soon. MVNOs lease network capacity from established mobile operators, enabling them to offer services without investing in costly infrastructure.
These initiatives align with NCC’s push for infrastructure sharing to boost sector efficiency and coverage. By providing network access to smaller players, MTN is positioning itself as a critical enabler of market expansion.
The Nigerian telecom industry, valued at $10.8 billion, now reaches 169 million active phone lines and over 142 million internet subscribers. While competition remains intense, the trend toward infrastructure sharing is expected to lower barriers to entry for new service providers, increase service quality, and expand access in underserved areas.
“As MTN, we are here to help the industry survive,” Kadri said. “It makes it much easier when you see other operators willing to come on and provide quality services to Nigerians, which we all deserve.”
Industry analysts view the move as a strategic diversification for MTN. With voice revenues plateauing and data driving growth, shared network models offer new revenue streams and a hedge against market saturation.
MTN’s investments in NaaS and MVNO partnerships are part of its broader transformation strategy, which also includes cost optimisation, forex risk reduction, and targeted capital expenditure to strengthen network quality.
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