NIGERIA FACES GREATEST CYBER SECURITY THREAT EVER IN 2017

Nigeria cybercrime landscape is changing rapidly with threats actors growing in size, scope, complexity and capability over the past few years.  With no single line of budget for cyber security by Nigeria government, lack of implementation of cyber security strategy and policy, one wonders how Nigeria plan to cope with imminent cyber-attacks in 2017. When it comes to cyber attacks, it is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. The greatest security threat Nigeria faces in 2017 is cybercrime having defeated terrorism with the liberation of Sambisa forest from the notorious Boko Haram.

The Nigeria 419 cybercrime gangs are now specialising in using advanced malware tools common with sophisticated criminals and espionage groups according to a November 2016 report released by Palo Alto Networks.  In June 2016, a 40 year old Nigerian ostensibly to be the ringleader of a global cybercrime network behind scams totalling more than $60m was arrested in Port Harcourt. He was accused of leading a network that compromised email accounts of small and medium-sized businesses around the world.  

There are so many unreported cases of cybercrime activities going on in the country which resulted in financial loss to organisations and individuals.  It has been estimated that Nigeria loses about N127 billion annually to cybercrime. Looking ahead, I have identified five cybercrime that will dominate Nigeria in 2017 based on the current trends. The top five cybercrime in no particular order are CEO Email Scam, Ransomware, Online Assisted Kidnapping, Cyber Bullying and Online Impersonation.

CEO Email Scam is a phishing scheme that targets businesses by spoofing their email or use social engineering to assume the identity of their CEO.  The cyber criminals achieve this by researching employees who are in charge of Finance and request a wire fraud transfer to fraudulent account claiming to be the CEO. CEO Email scammers use techniques known as business email compromise and business email spoofing. Business email compromise is the process of hijacking an email account or email server to intercept business transactions and redirect payments. Business email spoofing is sending spoofed email from an external account pretending to be a company executive authorizing an irregular payment transaction.

The New Year will also witness more ransomware than ever seen before in Nigeria. With the rise of ransomware-as-a-service, cybercriminals can now purchase a user friendly kit they could deploy with little or no cyber know-how from the dark web. A Ransomware is a type of malware that infects a machine when user clicks on a seemingly legitimate link and unknowingly downloads a malicious file. The virus will then encrypt the user's files, share drives and servers, leaving them inaccessible unless the victim pays for the decryption key usually in crypto currency.

That Kidnapping is on the rise in Nigeria is no news, what many people don’t know is that kidnappers are being assisted by their victims’ social media online activities and geolocation data on their smartphones.  Geolocation data is information that can be used to identify an electronic device's physical location. Using smartphones built-in global positioning system (GPS) functionality allows location-based services (or geo-location) to locate and publish information about smartphone owners’ whereabouts. Kidnappers have started using geolocation and geotagging to target their victims. Geotagging are pieces of information that can be attached to a tweet, status or photo on a social networking site that show the physical location of where something had been posted. Social media that have location geotagging implemented include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Google+, amongst many others.

Cyberbullying will continue to rise in 2017. Cyberbullying is the use of internet to harass, intimidate or abuse a person or group with the intent to hurt them socially, psychologically or even physically. 2016 have seen some Nigerians going berserk by making online videos, publishing abusive post just to insult and harass their victims. It is not uncommon for people to circulate fake news about individuals or organisations on social media. With unrestricted access to internet via their smartphones coupled with several social media presence, teenagers have recorded highest number attacks by cyberbullies who are essentially their peers. 

Online impersonation is another top cybercrime to watch out for in 2017. Online impersonators can be classified into two categories based on their activities in Nigeria. The first category impersonates politicians and religious leaders on social media by creating fake profiles with the aim of scamming their victims. The second category usually creates fake profiles with attractive fake pictures so they can engage in what is called ‘romance scam’. The romance scam cybercriminals are mainly interested in targeting foreigners, claiming they are in love with them and establishing a love relation to be able

to swindle them.

2017 promises to be a busy year for cyber criminals in Nigeria as they up their game while Individuals, organisations and government will continue to play catch up game. Fighting cybercrime requires a collaboration of government, law enforcement agencies, private sector and general public. 

Remi Afon is the President, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN)

LAGOS CANCELS MONTHLY ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION DAY

PRESS RELEASE . . .

…Urges Residents To Comply With Environmental Laws

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday terminated the monthly environmental sanitation exercise which hitherto held for three hours on the last Saturday of every month.

The State Government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said the decision to cancel the monthly exercise followed a resolution arrived at Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting which approved the need for a robust review of the environmental laws and procedures in the state in order to meet the present day challenges and to promote a clean and healthy environment.

The Government noted that considering the present economic situation in the country, it was no longer appropriate to restrict movement of people for three hours in a mega city like Lagos at a time they should be pursuing commercial and entrepreneurial activities.

According to government, in the last two decades, Lagos has grown exponentially into a mega city with the attendant huge environmental problems associated with managing a population of over twenty million people.

But sadly, the environmental laws, policies and procedures being practiced in the State have not been able to match the phenomenal growth and the dream of a 24-hour economy, hence the need for the reform.

Ayorinde said the State Government was not unaware of a recent Court of Appeal judgment.

According to him, the thrust of the fresh initiatives, among others, is to promote holistic and modern solutions to the unique environmental challenges confronting the State, while encouraging citizens to voluntarily partner with government to achieve the desired goals.

The Statement said: “After a careful consideration, the State Executive Council has therefore resolved that the present economic climate can no longer support the continued lock down of a mega city like Lagos, when the citizens should be free to engage in commercial and entrepreneurial activities that can promote economic growth and prosperity.

“Furthermore, Government will also accelerate the introduction of fresh reforms through the passage of the new harmonized environmental laws that will drive meaningful changes in areas of harmonized billing, waste management, modern Landfill sites, noise pollution, introduction of an Environmental Trust Fund and an Environmental Advisory Council.

“The Government wishes to reiterate its strong commitment to a clean and secure environment for the benefit of its citizens, and will continue to provide the necessary leadership to meet the environmental challenges of a mega city like Lagos. Lagosians and visitors alike are therefore urged to embrace these changes and imbibe a culture of voluntarily maintaining and preserving their environment to create a beautiful and healthy city that we all can be proud of.”

The statement added that the State Government would henceforth be tougher in ensuring expeditious enforcement against contraventions of its policies and regulations and as such, residents should voluntarily comply with the necessary laws and support government in its bid to have a clean and healthy environment.

SIGNED
STEVE AYORINDE
COMMISSIONER FOR INFORMATON & STRATEGY
LAGOS STATE
NOVEMBER 23, 2016

 

Investigations into Nigeria’s water crisis and illegal fishing in South Africa win impactAFRICA contest

Groundbreaking investigations into illegal fishing off South Africa’s coast and challenges around access to drinking water in Nigeria were selected as the winning stories of the water and sanitation round of the impactAFRICA data journalism initiative. The three winning journalists will receive an all-expenses paid study tours to major newsrooms in the United States, as part of theimpactAFRICA data journalism initiative.

The winning stories are:

South Africa All At Sea by Sipho Kings writing for the Mail & Guardian won recognition for Best Community Impact for his reportage on illegal fishing along South Africa's coast. Kings’ reportage helped dispel public confusion around South Africa (a maritime country) and the protection of its maritime assets, and for the first time offered citizens compelling explanations about how illegal fishing in these communities affects their livelihood and the industry. Kings’ writing has been cited in several seminars - including by members of the South African Navy - and in public debates on the issue. The follow-up mass media coverage on the issue sparked by Kings’ reportage is credited for prompting the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the navy to increase naval patrols, which led to a string of arrests of illegal fishing trawlers and their operators.

Dam Data: Water Data for Nigeria by Abiri Oluwatosin Niyi writing for CMapITwon recognition for Best Use of Data. This tool tracks data related to the supply and consumption of drinking water in Nigeria. Niyi launched the project after discovering that there were no easily accessible official data sources about Nigeria’s challenge to provide citizens with water. The project uses real-time data gathering and sharing system from both dam operators and citizens to monitor water distribution and produce journalistic reports on the trends by making use of a mobile app. Citizens are able to report on the quality of water supplied to them, whether the service providers are meeting promises and whether they are experiencing water scarcity. The underlying data is made available free for download and reuse by other media and citizen groups. Citizens are also able to monitor government expenditure of taxpayers money and transparency in order to collaborate with regulators to ensure equal access to water.

Ibadan: A City of Deep Wells and Dry Taps by Kolawole Talabi writing for theInternational Centre for Investigative Reporting (iCIR) won recognition for Best Audience Engagement. Talabi’s investigation details how plummeting government revenues from oil sales have led to reduced public expenditure on water supply in Nigeria’s third largest city, Ibadan, resulting in rapidly worsening health and hygiene for three million people. The reportage sparked intense online public debate, followed by a wave of calls for government to either immediately improve funding or to privatise water infrastructure and services in Ibadan. At the time of application, this story was the most read on the iCIR website and the website continues to track follow up reports.

impactAFRICA is the continent’s largest fund for data-driven investigative storytelling, offering $500,000 in cash grants and technology support, along with editorial mentorship, across a series of funding rounds for pioneering journalism that uses data or digital tools to tackle development issues such as public healthcare, water, sanitation, the effects of air and water pollution on African communities, climate change and its effects on farming communities and food baskets, and other development issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This round saw journalists in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia investigate water and sanitation issues between March 30 and June 30, 2016.

impactAFRICA’s next deadline for newsrooms to receive funding and support for investigative data-driven story projects is November 15. Get the detailshere.

The partners

Code for Africa (CfAfrica) is the custodian of impactAFRICA and is the continent’s largest independent open data and civic technology initiative. It operates as a federation of autonomous country-based digital innovation organisations that support ‘citizen labs’ in five countries and major projects in a further 15 countries. CfAfrica runs Africa’s OpenGov Fellowships and also embeds innovation fellows into newsrooms and social justice organisations to help liberate data of public interest, or to build tools that help empower citizens. In addition to fellowships and CitizenLabs, CfAfrica runs the $1 million per year innovateAFRICA fund and the $500,000 per year impactAFRICA fund, which both award seed grants to civic pioneers for experiments with everything from camera drones and environmental sensors, to encryption for whistleblowers and data-driven semantic analysis tools for investigative watchdogs. CfAfrica also curates continental resources such as the africanSPENDING portal of budget transparency resources, the openAFRICA data portal, the sourceAFRICA document repository and the connectedAFRICAtransparency toolkit for tracking the often hidden social networks and economic interests in politics. CfAfrica is an initiative of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is at the forefront of the news revolution. Its programmes empower journalists and engage citizens with new technologies and best practices. ICFJ’s networks of reporters and media entrepreneurs are transforming the field. ICFJ believes that better journalism leads to better lives. Over the past 30 years, ICFJ has worked with more than 92,000 professional and citizen journalists and media managers from 180 countries. ICFJ work through strong local partners, such as Code for Africa, and a network of dedicated alumni. For more information, go to www.icfj.org.

IETF Veteran Recommends Reducing Protocol Complexity

Keep it simple. That’s the recommendation of a technical talk that headlined IETF 96’s plenary session in Berlin.

Ross Callon, a long-time participant who has attended 89 IETF meetings, said the IETF is developing too many protocols that do the same thing, creating unnecessary confusion and complexity. He gave the same talk about protocol simplicity at the Routing Area meeting, but he said his message is applicable to all areas of the IETF.

“Additional options and additional capabilities are being added to our protocols. While diversity in approaches is inevitable and valuable, too many options damages interoperability,” Callon said. “We have to be a little concerned about creating too many options because some vendors implement some, while some vendors implement others, and suddenly we don’t have interoperability.”

As an example, he pointed out the many ways the IETF has developed to encapsulate communications for virtual private networks. He explained that encapsulation can be done with or without connections. With connections, it typically is done over Multiprotocol Label Switching.

“There are three ways to signal your labels: Label Distribution Protocol, Resource Reservation Protocol, and Border Gateway Protocol. And there are some subtle differences when you get a label. DefinedOperations and Management protocols (such as Label Switched Paths, Ping, and Bidirectional Forwarding Detection) are ways to manage things and measure performance,” he said, adding that MPLS is “widely deployed all over the world and making money for a lot of service providers.”

He continued by saying the IETF also offers connectionless encapsulation, and he listed many options.

“You can take an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and encapsulate it in an IP header. There are four options just for that: IPv4 in IPv4, IPv4 in IPv6, IPv6 in IPv4, and IPv6 in IPv6. So if a vendor wants to implement all possible options, it really is four options,” he explained. “Given all those options, it’s hard to get one of them implemented and deployed everywhere.”

Callon said there are anywhere from 20 to 40 approaches total for connectionless encapsulation.

“You’re not going to implement 40 different ways to do encapsulation in an application-specific integrated circuit,” he said. “You run the risk that in some places in the world one gets implemented, and then somewhere else another gets implemented. You can end up with a loss of interoperability.”

Callon emphasized that the Internet is the largest machine ever made, with billions of users and hundreds of vendors. He said the Internet exists because of its multivendor and multiservice provider interoperability.

“No one vendor could have done this,” he said. “No one vendor could have implemented it, and no one vendor could have thought of it… In order for this explosive growth to occur, we need real, effective, well-written interoperability standards that everyone can implement.”

Callon reminded the audience that the motivation for companies and individuals to focus on interoperability instead of standards proliferation is that so many of them have done well because of the explosive growth of the Internet.

“We’re all better off because of the growth of the Internet,” he said. “It wouldn’t have happened if we had not had choices to do something, but it also wouldn’t have happened if we had 20 or 30 ways to do something.”

Callon made a strong case for the IETF being wary of creating too many unnecessary standards, and he urged each individual participant to focus on this problem. He said this problem can’t be solved by the IETF leadership, but instead needs a bottom-up solution.

“The IETF needs to find a way to avoid frivolous standards,” he said. “It is to the advantage of all of our companies and all of our research organizations and all of our government agencies that the Internet continues to grow. I’m asking everybody to think about this when a Working Group is considering a protocol: Is it really needed or can we use an existing tool?”

By: Carolyn Duffy Marsan

Nigeria can learn a thing or two from the Chinese government. 

Now, we move forward: Obama to Americans.

Opening the door to the stand, one would notice the chit-chat between the Obama and Biden was still burning and surprising. A lot of Americans woke up to the surprise that a woman lost a man, again. However, it was not just any man or woman, it was Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump, the underdog-look-alike.

It was tough election and trending in the heart of many. Apart from the gaffes from the FBI, nothing could have slowed Hillary down from taking the Oval Office. Many felt that while the Media rooted for Hillary, the FBI rooted for Trump. The theory is that Trump could never have won without the fear of uncertainty hanging around a Clinton aiming to break a record. Some say that America is not ready to be led by a woman.

While this may not be true, my opinion is that we have four (4) years to see the difference. Politics and propaganda go hand-in-hand. While the bitter rivalry between Democrats and Republican still brews on the lost, POTUS steps in with a speech.

Using the word 'coming together to unite as one', Trump made a pledge and still had a jab at the opposition. He stated that his bid was not a campaign but a movement to serve the people. He hopes to renew the American dream by bring the untapped potentials of the citizens to bear.in the country. When he decided to thank the secret service, one can presume it was in good faith or not? Well, we will leave that for the speech analyst.

Oh! He remembered his running mate.

While many may see a Presidential Trump take stand, Hillary concession speech shed lights to the preying eyes what it means to stand tall. She tried successfully to hold back her tears. She also apologised for losing the election. She set the record straight that she had the best of Americans to level with voting for the best. She called to fore the need to be civically responsible as stated in the constitution. She recognises the POTUS nd FLOTUS and the standing ovation was overwhelming.

Hillary accepts her success is not without setbacks, but always worth the fight. 'They are more seasons to come and they are . . .'' adequately states that we should be expecting a comeback in two (2) or four (4) years time to come.

All said and done, POTUS closes it all with a clarion call that 'now, we move forward'. A great nation with great people.

Congratulations to the new POTUS.



--------------------
Akinbo, Adebunmi Adeola is CEO, KOBOKINGs and the lead contributor on kBlogMaster. He is a seasoned journalist and ideapreneur. He runs a couple of blogs and small business. A communication technologist and Social Media Expert, Content and Brand Development, Graphics Consultant and SDGs Advocate.

*Twitter, Facebook, Instagram @aareakinbo

Free training for YALI Network members

What are the YALI Network Online Courses? YALI Network Online Courses are collections of video and audio lessons on specific topics or themes. Entrepreneurship, climate change, women's rights, and advocacy are just a few of the topics you can learn about through the YALI Network Online Courses. There is no time limit or restriction on the number of courses you can take. Watch the video, listen to the audio, or read the transcript, and then check out the discussion guides and additional resources that accompany each lesson. After you complete all of the lessons in each course, you will need to pass a short quiz to demonstrate what you learned in the course. As soon as you pass, you will be emailed a personalized course completion certificate that you can share on your social media networks or print to share with your family and friends!

What courses are offered? There is a wide range of courses available, covering everything from business and leadership to women’s rights and climate change. The complete list of courses is available on YALI website. Take a course. Click here.

Join the conversation by clicking Twitter or Facebook ! MyNOL . . . Nigeria needs Nigerian. www.mynol.org.ng

My Nigeria Online (MyNOL): Free training for YALI Network members

My Nigeria Online (MyNOL): Free training for YALI Network members: What are the YALI Network Online Courses? YALI Network Online Courses are collections of video and audio lessons on specific topics...

Synergies in the Fellowship: IYF President advise.

The International Executive of the Youth Fellowship of the Cherubin and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide (Ayo ni o) is advocating that more youths begin synergies that is home grown.

The President was responding to calls for empowerment projects like MMM that is been reference by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a ponzideal.

In a related statement, the International Secretary advised that members of the fellowship must promote business in accordance the rule of law. He believes that God will always guide us right.

A small company intended for members would be launched soon.


@iyfcsmc news sponsored by @ayonitiwao.

The many First of a New ICANN: Connect Remotely.

This is the first ICANN AGM under the new meeting structure, the first post IANA transition meeting, and the first one in Hyderabad. So much for all this first that it would come to nothing if the world does not understand the ideal working structure that stakeholderism built to ensure Accountability and Transparency when it comes to the way that the Internet works.

While the Internet of Things (IoT) is building a path for more policy concern to ensure the drop and prevention of cyber-attacks, hacks, privacy infringement, to mention but a few, one is also faced with the concern of how the new ICANN will handle politics within and around.

So much for you and I to do while the meeting kicks off today. ICANN is providing live stream and connectivity for you to participate in all the dialogues. Pick your room and make your point. See details below.


---

The 57th meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN 57) is taking place November 3-9 2016 in Hyderabad, India. Remote participation/webcast is available via Adobe Connect. Live english transcription plus up to 7 languages of audio streams are also available. There will be livestreams of certain sessions. Find a session on the schedule for details. Hyderabad, India is on IST, 9.5 hours ahead of NYC until Saturday, then 10.5 hours ahead (UTC+5.5)

What: ICANN 57
Where: Hyderabad, India
When: November 3-9 2016
Full Schedule: https://icann572016.sched.org/
Plenary sessions: icann572016.sched.org/type/general+session+%2F+plenary
ICANN Livestream channel: livestream.com/icannmeeting
ICANN YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/ICANNnews/videos
Twitter: twitter.com/hashtag/icann57
Facebook: facebook.com/hashtag/icann57
Welcome video:: https://youtu.be/29NhCIk-J60

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See you on the net!

-Akinbo Adebunmi Adeola, reporting from Africa. 

Grab your quickie here. lol.

The New Face of Google Plus . . .

Hey, check out the new G+.
Hurry now to get the unique feel of followership.
Waste no time and click here or go surfing it.

Google Plus . . .
https://plus.google.com/collections/

An open letter to you. | from Medium.com

Dear 2016 Election: You’ve made us laugh, you’ve made us cry, you’ve made us utter some phrases we never thought would cross our lips. But more than anything, you’ve made us think a lot—and that's paved the way for some of the greatest Open Letters of all time. And for that, thank you.

To Hillary: “Republicans are voting for you, but don’t think for a second that you have the ‘will of the people’ on your side.”

To Donald: “If you come to my city again, I invite you to get lost in my neighborhood.”

To Obama: “I’m a Republican, and I’ll admit it: I’m sad to see you go. I may disagree with you on many things but you’ve been a much better president than any of us ever gave you credit for.”

To your 13-year-old son: “Not all elections are like this.”

To those who don’t understand Trump supporters: “It’s not about who is smart and who is not smart—it’s about who is safe and who is not. Or at least, who feels safe and does not.”

To your feminist mom who’s voting for Trump: “I don’t recognize you these days... When will I get my mom back?”

To people who want to know where Trump’s strategy came from: “He mimics, almost to the letter, the tactics proposed by the left-wing radical Saul Alinsky, an intellectual mentor to both Clinton and Obama.”

To the Grand Old Party: “I’m beginning to think that Donald Trump will be the last Republican nominee for president — ever.”

And finally, from Obama to whoever wins: “The presidency is a relay race, requiring each of us to do our part to bring the country closer to its highest aspirations. So where does my successor go from here?”

The Farm House Reality TV Show

Ewuare II takes Staff of Office

The new Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare, has ascended the throne following his coronation today.


Erediauwa is ascending the 836-year-old throne of his ancestors which is the oldest and one of the most revered in Nigeria.

He has chosen the name Oba Ewuare Ogidigan II, meaning ‘the trouble has ceased’. Following his ascension to the throne, he will now be referred to as Omo N’Oba Ukakpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II.

Several dignitaries including Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo attended the coronation.

Oba gha to’ kpere! Ise!!

Lagos International Trade Fair is Thirty.

The Lagos International Trade Fair will be 30 this year and as such, is bigger and better than ever!

The fair which brings into focus the full potentials and business opportunities existing in Nigeria, also provides a platform for various trade groups, professionals and foreign companies to present new products and new ideas to the teeming visitors. 

The fair will be held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos for ten (10) days thereby presenting a unique opportunity for Exhibitors to advertise their products, services, inventions and innovations to both Nigerian and Foreign audience. 

The Fair is supported by the Federal and Lagos State Governments, and is always well attended by numerous Government agencies seeking new ideas, inventions and innovations necessary for the attainment of the objectives for which they were set up.


http://lagosinternationaltradefair.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/208632742896316/?notif_t=plan_user_invited&notif_id=1478114442792926

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www.koboki.ng 

ngNOG 2016 Conference

The ngNOG 2016 Conference is scheduled to take place at the Rockview Royale Hotel from 08:00 am on Monday 31st, October, 2016.

In a mail sent to stakeholders, Rashida Umar informed that the Conference is expected to have about 300 delegates from Tertiary Education Institutions, IT Industry, Private and Public Sectors. It will feature a full day of activities including a Keynote Address, Panel sessions, Lightning talks and Presentations that will engage stakeholders from different sectors. Schedule available here http://ngnog.forum.org.ng/agenda.html 

Each session provides for a five (5)-minute presentation by each panelist and thirty minutes to discuss issues arising on the floor. Panelists are from varying backgrounds like academia, government, and private sectors to provide a richer discussion and learning experience for delegates.

To apply for the Conference, click on the link http://ngnog.forum.org.ng/form.html

Please note that there are limited seats available. Applicants that register online ahead of the Event have higher priority.

Applicants attending the ngNOG Workshop are not required to fill the online applications for the Conference.

For further enquiries, reach the secretariat at ngnog@forum.org.ng 




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NB: KOBOKINGs Limited is just a participant contributing its quota for free to the success of the ngNOG 2016 Conference, unsolicited. 

Workplace by Facebook launches today

Workplace, by Facebook (formerly known as Facebook at Work) is launching today and will be available to any organization who wants access. Organizations will apply through the Workplace website and will be connected to a member of the Workplace team.

Workplace by Facebook is the business version of Facebook that allows companies to build more productive, efficient and collaborative workplaces. It is easy-to-use, secure and available on desktop and mobile devices.

The platform helps organizations collaborate better and makes it easier to get things done, all while using familiar Facebook features like News Feed, Groups, Chat, Live Video and more, and is mobile-first, so employees can use it to work with their colleagues from anywhere in the world. 

More than 1,000 organizations are using Workplace worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica, and more than 100,000 groups already in use. 

• Top 5 countries using Workplace are India, Norway, US, UK and France.
• Workplace is being used by organizations in every single continent except Antarctica.
• Workplace fulfills a key gap in the market – for people who don’t work at offices or at desks. These are retail workers, ship crews, baristas – all of whom did not have access to traditional workplace tools, but because our product is mobile – are driving adoption.

With today’s announcement, Facebook is also sharing a few other new exciting updates:

• Competitive Pricing. Facebook is announcing a competitive pricing model that is based on a monthly fee per active user (so companies only pay for what they use). The more active users an organization has, the less they pay per user.
• $3 USD first 1,000 monthly active users
• $2 USD 1,001 – 10,000 monthly active users
• $1 USD 10,000+ monthly active users
• Product enhancement
• Added significant number of features over the last 18 months including Multi-company Groups, Live, Reactions, Auto-translate, Video and group audio calling in Work Chat, Trending posts, Search filters and others
• Multi-Company Groups. These are shared groups that allow employees from multiple organizations to work together. All group members must be part of a Workplace community, and members from other companies won't be able to see any information from your company outside of the multi-company groups they are in with you.
• The Workplace Partner Program. This is a global ecosystem of partners, like Deloitte or Microsoft, to help customers get the most out of their Workplace. (For more information on a recent Deloitte survey of C-level executives that shows why Workplace is important to the future of work, see deloittedigital.com/us/workplace.)

Read more about today’s announcement on Facebook Newsroom post here or on Workplace’s website workplace.fb.com.

About Facebook

Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook has 1.04 billion daily active users on average worldwide and 7.2 million daily visitors from Nigeria.

About Red Media Africa

Red Media Africa (www.redmediaafrica.com [2]) is the PR & Empowerment Marketing division under the parent brand, RED. It focuses on using inspiration, empowerment and action to help brands and organisations connect with their audiences, enhance their bottom-lines and lead in their industries. It has 6 major practice areas: Corporate Practice, Technology Practice, SME Practice, Governance Practice, Faith Practice and the International Practice - with work for brands across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. RED owns the continent's largest portfolio of youth media brands. Its Content Division holds brands across TV, radio, online and events including Y! Magazine,YNaija.com, Rubbin' Minds, #YTech100 and the The RED Summit. It also anchors a development firm, The Future Project, which projects include Africa's leading youth platform, The Future Awards Africa, HowCanIGetInvolved.com and Aiki.ng, which is run in conjunction with Microsoft.‎​