Avaya, iSON Technologies Partner on Digital Transformation across Africa

Avaya, a global leader in business communications software, systems and services, and iSON Technologies, one of Africa’s largest ICT services companies, announced that they are working closely on key strategic accounts across Africa to help customers achieve their digital transformation objectives.

Enterprises in Africa are looking at digitization strategies to drive operational excellence, improve customer satisfaction and expand to play a greater part in the global economy. Avaya and iSON Technologies are now working together in 16 countries across the continent, the two companies said today, helping to transform the customer experience in a range of industries, including telecoms, banking and financial services.

Avaya’s client-tailored and result-oriented digital & smart services elevate organizations of every scale, accelerating their digital growth journeys with vertical, industry-focused solutions and services. Avaya is the only company today that specializes in complex business communications – internal for companies’ teams and external for their customers – based on open, mobile software platforms, with the network infrastructure to meet customers’ underlying needs.

iSON Technologies is one of Avaya’s most valued partners in the  African region, a winner of the “Strategic Win of the Year Award” at the Avaya Partner Forum event in 2015,recipient of the  Avaya Contact Center Partner of the year in 2013 and an Avaya Platinum Partner, the highest level. iSON has won multiple awards for its work with Avaya, having successfully delivered customer experience transformation in key industry verticals in Africa, including with one of the world’s leading international banking groups.

“Avaya’s successful transformation into a customer-centric company focuses on software and services, and the strength of its solutions fit well with ISON’s strategy of customer experience management. Today, iSON and Avaya are providing contact center solutions to some of the largest mobile communications companies in the world. We have deployed Avaya Aura Unified Communications and Contact Centre solutions to the company’s operations in several countries, giving Avaya and iSON a presence in all the leading service providers in Africa,” stated Jitendra Israni, Chief Executive Officer, iSON Technologies.

“As African nations and businesses look to expand and grow their economies, Avaya, together with ISON Technolgies, is helping organisations across the continent to progress on their digital transformation journeys. With Avaya able to deliver a complete solution for the customer experience, including voice and data and offering stable, reliable solutions, we are keen to extend the partnership with ISON Technologies further,” said Danny Drew, Managing Director, South Africa, Avaya.


New Software Stops Ransomware
Scientists at the University of Florida (UF) say they have developed software that can stop the growing problem of ransomware in its tracks.

Ransomware encrypts computer files and is used by hackers who then demand money in exchange for freeing the content.

It is becoming a huge problem globally.

The solution - dubbed CryptoDrop - detected the malware and stopped it after it had encrypted just a handful of files, said its developers.

Patrick Traynor, an associate professor in UF's department of computer and information science, worked with PhD student Nolen Scaife and Henry Carter, from Villanova University, on the software.

"Our system is more of an early-warning system," Mr Scaife said.

"It doesn't prevent the ransomware from starting... it prevents the ransomware from completing its task… so you lose only a couple of pictures or a couple of documents rather than everything that's on your hard drive, and it relieves you of the burden of having to pay the ransom."

In tests, CryptoDrop had spotted 100% of malware samples and stopped it after an average of 10 files had been encrypted, researchers said.

In May, the FBI issued a warning saying that the number of ransomware attacks had doubled in the past year and was expected to grow even more rapidly this year.

It said that it had received more than 2,400 complaints last year and estimated losses from such attacks at $24m (£18m) for individuals and businesses.

Governments, large companies, banks, hospitals and educational institutions are all among the victims of such attacks.

Richard Cassidy, an expert at security firm Alert Logic said of CryptoDrop: "Whilst the step taken by researchers at the University of Florida are indeed a novel way in which to detect and contain ransomware, it doesn't serve as the 'silver bullet' for ransomware as a whole."

"There are new variants being written all the time and ransomware writers will indeed take the time to dissect and understand how this new technology operates, creating versions that will attempt to either bypass detection, or at the very least search more effectively for likely sensitive files, before encrypting them, with the hope of having the biggest impact of securing a ransom payment."

The team at UF currently has a prototype that works with Windows-based systems.

It is seeking a commercial partner for the software, having recently presented its paper on the technology at a conference in Japan.