The US National Security Agency is rebuffing efforts by a leading congressional critic to determine whether it is continuing to place so-called back doors into commercial technology products.

Bitcoin advocates say this time will be different as the virtual coin surges back to price levels last seen in the wake of the collapse of the cryptocurrency market bubble almost three years ago.

Bank Zero has announced its account pricing as it edges closer to launch. The digital-only bank says “basic banking should be free and extras should be paid for – not the other way round”.

Sony is seeing “very considerable” demand for its PlayStation 5 console via pre-orders, its gaming chief said, as the technology firm targets pole position in the race to tap the growth of gaming globally.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has gone into self-quarantine after being exposed to a dinner guest at the weekend who has since received a positive diagnosis for Covid-19.

South Africa plans to slash its wage bill over the next three years, including a proposed pay freeze, as it earmarks massive expenditure cuts to reign in a soaring budget deficit.

Microsoft’s cloud computing business slightly re-accelerated and its Teams collaboration software won new users, as a pandemic-driven shift to working from home drove quarterly results ahead of investor targets.

Promoted Open-access fibre-to-the-home network operator Evotel has donned a new jacket to celebrate its growth over the past five years and reconfirmed its mission: to simplify fibre and bring it into every home in South Africa.

Promoted | Participants in a recent C-Suite roundtable discussion on IT modernisation hosted by Tech Central and sponsored by Okta and Obscure all described a long, slow journey that is still far from over.

Promoted | IT experts from leading businesses swapped ideas, discussed pain points and offered advice at a recent TechCentral CIO Perspectives Roundtable, sponsored by Pinnacle and Huawei, on data storage optimisation.