Post by jojo on Aug 5, 2012 8:37:45 GMT
Many will have heard about the serious power shortages in India at the moment. All caused by incompetence and corruption.
What many might not know is that several African countries are currently suffering from a general computer shut down. This has been going on now for over two weeks.
I've been hearing from several member of my family, who live there, that there is some malware or other going around. Most say its a virus, but on the few occasions over the years, when I have looked, it was more like an advertising page that had installed itself.
The sad thing is, few Africans seem to understand computer security. The culture in much of Africa seems to promote an ambivalent attitude. Most people know about viruses. They know they need anti-virus software, but they will update it when they get around to it. More importantly, they don't seem to understand that a virus is not the only problem and virus scans won't repair everything.
It's easy for us to scoff, given the importance we place upon computers in our own lives, but for many in Africa, life has so much more and worrying about computers, let alone taking the time to learn about them is not a high priority. All they want to know is who to call when something goes wrong. DIY isn't very big.
Currently, those that do know about computers are making a fortune and taking an extraordinary amount of time going around, sorting things out.
And I can't Skype member of my family!
What many might not know is that several African countries are currently suffering from a general computer shut down. This has been going on now for over two weeks.
I've been hearing from several member of my family, who live there, that there is some malware or other going around. Most say its a virus, but on the few occasions over the years, when I have looked, it was more like an advertising page that had installed itself.
The sad thing is, few Africans seem to understand computer security. The culture in much of Africa seems to promote an ambivalent attitude. Most people know about viruses. They know they need anti-virus software, but they will update it when they get around to it. More importantly, they don't seem to understand that a virus is not the only problem and virus scans won't repair everything.
It's easy for us to scoff, given the importance we place upon computers in our own lives, but for many in Africa, life has so much more and worrying about computers, let alone taking the time to learn about them is not a high priority. All they want to know is who to call when something goes wrong. DIY isn't very big.
Currently, those that do know about computers are making a fortune and taking an extraordinary amount of time going around, sorting things out.
And I can't Skype member of my family!
