Corporate Blog

Shaw continues to have problems receiving email

17 August 2022 11:36:57 +0000

We’ve posted countless times now about this, and really, this is likely to be the last time. Shaw’s email filtering sub-contractor continues to block legitimate email from NinerNet servers. This legitimate email includes messages from banks, universities and the like. We’re not talking about spam here, but legitimate financial and business email.

As we’ve said before, we strongly advise that you do not use automatic forwarding of all messages. There are actually very few, limited circumstances under which this is necessary. If you’re not clear on why, please contact us to ask and we’ll be happy to discuss this with you. There may be something related to email you’re not fully understanding.

In other Shaw-related news, NinerNet was not affected by the Rogers outage last month. This is Shaw-related because Rogers will very likely be taking over Shaw, which means that future Rogers outages will be spread, like a virus, to the Shaw system too. Thankfully, none of NinerNet’s systems rely on Shaw or Rogers at all. This is a design choice that we made long ago.

Tags: deliverability, email, reputation, rogers, shaw
Categories: Notices
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Quarterly kwacha rate review, Q3 2022

1 July 2022 00:00:05 +0000

Based on the current value of the Zambian kwacha in US dollars and recent trends, we are decreasing our retail kwacha prices effective today and until the next quarterly review by about 3%.

Some sample rates:

webONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 270.00
mailONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 180.00
gTLD domain (annually): ZMW 342.00

Our new kwacha rates will be online within 24 hours.

Tags: accounts receivable, billing, kwacha, quarterly kwacha rate review, rates, transparency
Categories: Notices
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Quarterly kwacha rate review, Q2 2022

1 April 2022 00:00:45 +0000

Based on the current value of the Zambian kwacha in US dollars and recent trends, we are increasing our retail kwacha prices effective today and until the next quarterly review by about 6%.

Some sample rates:

webONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 277.50
mailONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 185.50
gTLD domain (annually): ZMW 351.50

Our new kwacha rates will be online within 24 hours.

Tags: accounts receivable, billing, kwacha, quarterly kwacha rate review, rates, transparency
Categories: Notices
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Significant recent spam activity

16 March 2022 02:30:11 +0000

In the last 48 hours we have seen a significant increase in the number of email accounts that have been compromised due to the virus infection of a large number of our clients’ machines and/or devices. In one case that we know of, one of our resellers stated that they “have a company wide nightmare [of] machines spamming each other and everyone they have ever talked to via email.” This is not good. They have been working with their client to get a handle on this, and as of Tuesday their time this issue seems to be under control for them.

However, since then we have had multiple other email accounts compromised on multiple domains. Please note that email accounts are “compromised” when the machine or device on which the account is configured is infected with a virus. This is not under the control of NinerNet, but you and your employees and colleagues. Please ensure that you have updated anti-virus programs or apps installed, and please do not open attachments from unknown senders. Even attachments from known senders must be treated with extreme care, because viruses tend to come from other infected machines, and they could be the machines or devices of people you know.

Some reminders for all clients:

Please ensure you have anti-virus software (or an app) installed on all machines (computers) and devices (phones/tablets),
Please only open attachments after they have been scanned for viruses,
Please be extra careful of attachments sent from unknown senders, and
NinerNet’s mail server scans incoming and outgoing messages for viruses, but if the vendor of the software isn’t aware of the existence of the virus it may get through. If you also have anti-virus software installed, then that additional scan could make the difference between a normal day and an expensive day you’d rather forget.

At this point it looks like we nipped these outbreaks in the bud, so our mail servers are not in any additional blacklists. However, please do contact NinerNet support if you have any issues with outgoing email, or if you have any questions.

Thank-you.

Tags: email, reputation, security, spam
Categories: Notices, Warnings
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Quarterly kwacha rate review, Q1 2022

1 January 2022 13:22:10 +0000

Based on the current value of the Zambian kwacha in US dollars and recent trends, we are maintaining our retail kwacha prices until the next quarterly review.

Some sample rates:

webONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 262.00
mailONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 175.00
gTLD domain (annually): ZMW 333.00

Our kwacha rates are available on our website.

Tags: accounts receivable, billing, kwacha, quarterly kwacha rate review, rates, transparency
Categories: Notices
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Quarterly kwacha rate review, Q4 2021

1 October 2021 06:15:51 +0000

Based on the current value of the Zambian kwacha in US dollars and recent trends, we are excited to announce that we are lowering our retail kwacha prices (for the first time since 2017) effective today and until the next quarterly review by 26%!

Some sample rates:

webONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 262.00
mailONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 175.00
gTLD domain (annually): ZMW 333.00

Our new kwacha rates will be online within 24 hours.

Tags: accounts receivable, billing, kwacha, quarterly kwacha rate review, rates, transparency
Categories: Notices, Updated posts
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Office hours

17 August 2021 11:00:53 +0000

NinerNet‘s offices will be closed from Tuesday 17 August and will re-open on Monday 30 August. Emergency support will continue to be available 24/7, but routine emails and enquiries will be dealt with on Monday 30 August. Thank-you.

Tags: service hours, support
Categories: Notices
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Quarterly kwacha rate review, Q3 2021

1 July 2021 00:00:02 +0000

Based on the current value of the Zambian kwacha in US dollars and recent trends, we are increasing our retail kwacha prices effective today and until the next quarterly review by about 2%.

Some sample rates:

webONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 352.00
mailONE hosting plan (monthly): ZMW 235.00
gTLD domain (annually): ZMW 446.00

Our new kwacha rates will be online within 24 hours.

Tags: accounts receivable, billing, kwacha, quarterly kwacha rate review, rates, transparency
Categories: Notices
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Yet another note about scam emails

19 May 2021 07:36:15 +0000

Phishing scam email, 2021-05-12.

The scam and phishing emails continue to come in. The most recent example is particularly aggressive. Please do not fall for it.

NinerNet would never send out an email this aggressive or threatening.

Please review our last two blog posts about these kinds of emails. They are all 100% scams.

Another one of these emails had this “from” field:

From: Domain@nc036.ninernet.net, Admin@nc036.ninernet.net

The footer of the emails also contains a note that states, “example.com Webmail Support”, where “example.com” is the domain in the recipient’s email address. This is all automated, and doesn’t make it any more legitimate.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do contact NinerNet support. Thank-you.

Tags: scams, security, spam
Categories: Warnings
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Warning about sexual blackmail/extortion scam emails

13 April 2021 09:32:21 +0000

We have, in the past, warned of sexual extortion and blackmail emails. These reared their ugly heads in 2018, and have continued to circulate in various forms since. I have received them myself, and they are unnerving.

Today we warn you again, but with added urgency because we know of someone who has fallen for this scam. This is not unusual, because people fall prey to these scammers every day, but it is even more saddening when it’s someone you know.

Here is the email they fell for:

From: KJi
Sent: April 05, 2021 1:23 AM
To: Recipients
Subject: Evidences Against You

Hello,

It’s so shameful how people can’t be satisfied with their marriages.

We know you are cheating on your spouse and this has been backed-up with
evidences from your hacked mobile device for your fyi.

Just a little favor from you to me can go along way in esnuring things don’t
get bitter with your spouse finding out.

Kindly send an equivalent of 1200$ worth of bitcoin to this wallet
:bc1qt9fx8fz2fydy0q5h0ruvd30a7ujqxmx80hn3tn

Trust me, this is very little compared to what will happen if you don’t
cooporate with us and i believe you love your family no matter what.

In 48hrs time,if we don’t receive this token of 1200$ worth of btc from you,
you will receive pictures and screenshots via email and same will be sent to
your spouse as well.

Your time start counting now and note that any attempt to file a complaint
will not result to nohing as this e-mail cannot be traced and same as my
bitcoin id.

If, by any chance I find out that you have shared this message with anyone
else, I will make things go viral immediately

Rdgs,

KJ

Note all the spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors.

There is no way for this person to get their money back, as there is no way to find the scammer. And it is a scam; the sender does not have any “evidences”. It’s a shot in the dark, and the chances of their mass email finding someone who really is being unfaithful in their marriage — and are feeling guilty and don’t want to be outed — are actually pretty good!

Please take this warning seriously, and don’t be fooled by these emails. They are just scams. We strongly suggest that you circulate this information to your colleagues, co-workers, employees, family and friends. Knowledge is power against the scammers.

Tags: scams
Categories: Warnings
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