The fax reborn: How COVID-19 gave new life to an unlikely technology
With stay at home orders and the sudden need to securely share sensitive documents from employee’s homes, there has been a significant demand for a surprising technology: the digital fax. Despite industry-wide efforts to digitally transform, the physical fax is still a very common and necessary piece of technology for many organizations.
In fact, 89 percent of small to medium-sized businesses still use faxes in one form or the other, and faxing still dominates communication in several fields. For example, faxing accounts for 79 percent of all communication in the medical industry. These same organizations have been scrambling to support the abrupt shift to remote work and have had numerous roadblocks in the process.
How Artificial Intelligence is escalating in cybersecurity
When progressive technologies start to deliver on their potential, we can expect a wholesale shift of vendors looking to get on the bandwagon. First the technology enthusiasts and early adopters will come to validate the promises of the newest technology and hone its potential into something viable for the mainstream. Once that is done, the early majority, late adopters and finally, even the skeptics jump in as well.
Finally the time is here for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML) in cyber. There is a widespread move out of the early adopter stage and into the early majority stage of adoption. We need to get onboard if we are going to thwart cybercriminals. The good news is that the industry is recognizing the power and the value of AIML and is finally making investments in this space.
AI and what it means for humanity
We hear a lot about what artificial intelligence means for business and research, how it can speed up and streamline tedious processes and so on.
But if machine intelligence is going to be our new normal how does that affect what it means to be human? Emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford University, John C. Lennox has written a new book exploring these questions. In this exclusive extract he looks at how our brains compare to computers.
SoftMaker Office 2021 is a genuinely viable alternative to Microsoft Office
We may only be halfway through 2020, but SoftMaker Office 2021 is already here. After a period of beta testing, the office suite is ready for a full release on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Available either as a one-off purchase or on a subscription, SoftMaker Office 2021 is pitched squarely as an alternative to Microsoft Office. The office suite makes bold claims about competing with Microsoft's famous suite of tools, but the claims that more than stand up to scrutiny. This is an impressive selection of programs that has much to offer.
Tor Browser 9.5 arrives with the option to automatically switch to more secure Onion versions of sites
Increasing numbers of internet users are becoming aware of the privacy and security implications of being online, and it is for this reason that secure browsers such as Tor are growing in popularity. Now, with the release of Tor Browser 9.5, the browser features an option that can automatically switch to the secure .onion version of a site if one is available.
In short this means that sites are able to actively promote the fact that they have a secure .onion site available. Publishers now can advertise their onion service to Tor users by adding an HTTP header, so if someone visits the regular version of a website, a notification will appear informing them of the more secure option.
Achieving success during 'transparent moments'
There are certain moments throughout a businesses’ lifecycle where security leaders need to have a clear view into their cloud infrastructure. One example is during mergers and acquisitions processes, when it’s crucial teams not only understand their own organization’s security posture but also that of the company being acquired. Still, a recent Forescout survey of IT and business decision-makers found that 65 percent of respondents regretted an acquisition their company made because of an overlooked cybersecurity issue.
Marriott International’s 2016 acquisition of Starwood Hotels set the company up to become the world’s largest hotel chain. However, it later emerged that Starwood’s reservation system had allowed unauthorized access to cybercriminals since 2014, leading to a large-scale (and very expensive) data breach in 2018 -- a clear example of why transparency is key during M&A. If Marriott had known that Starwood’s IT infrastructure had been compromised, they could have sought ways to remediate or otherwise address the issue and revised the proposed transaction accordingly. Instead, they were penalized heavily by regulators and were hit with lawsuits from customers.
How CISOs can get their good days back
The recent reminder of the importance of basic hygiene has been glaring not only within the physical world, but also the cybersecurity one. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) understand this more than most, given the sudden surge in remote work and additional threats this has brought to their organizations. Because so many people have started working from home, corporate perimeters have expanded in a way that many security professionals were not prepared to manage but must now understand in order to effectively safeguard their organizations.
With pundits anticipating a lasting impact on the way we work brought on by the pandemic, CISOs must consider all of the necessary steps to manage cyber risk in what could be the "new normal." And, like nearly anyone following social distancing guidelines right now, a good CISO understands that good security is built on a foundation of good, basic hygiene.
How to ensure communication security when working from home
With millions working from home for the first time thanks to coronavirus, many businesses have had to act quickly in order to facilitate remote communication which may never have been an option before the virus struck. Though these businesses may have already made the switch to internet-hosted calls and communications at work, providing access to all employees from home will not have been common. One of the most common concerns of using internet communication software is its security capacity, so how secure is it? And how can business leaders ensure the highest levels of safety for a remote workforce?
From news stories of vulnerable video conferencing software to threats from less secure home networks, navigating the security issues of a remote workforce may be a trial by fire for businesses attempting to maintain levels of normality during this time. Therefore, it will be important to understand both the benefits and drawbacks of internet communications to know what to look out for and how to inform staff of the best practice.
Can AI bring back productivity that other technology has squandered?
How do you know you had a good day at work? If you did, how would your boss know?
These questions are especially important in the current environment where so many people are working from home without the insight that watercooler discussions, office pop-ins and other face-to-face contact would typically provide. Our reliance on technology to get work done has been growing for decades, but work-from-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic have accelerated that reliance even more.
6 tips to maximize security while working from home
Cyberattacks are on the rise as cybercriminals look to exploit the current COVID-19 pandemic which has left an unprecedented amount of people working from home which is highly unlike any normal working from home situation. As many begin to adjust to life away from the office, it is critical that people remain vigilant and have the knowledge of basic cybersecurity practices which can be easily implemented while working remotely.
Here are some of our top tips for how you can remain digitally secure while working from home and reduce your risk of becoming a victim of a cybercrime.
EssentialPIM 9.0 is here with added dark mode, new tagging options and additional mail rule options
A good personal information manager (PIM) is a great way to stay on top of the information you need on a daily basis, such as email, calendar, tasks and notes. EssentialPIM has long offered an approachable and powerful way to access such information, and now EssentialPIM 9.0 has been released with a range of new features.
From an aesthetic point of view, there's a new dark mode option, but this is a significant release which is about much more than just a new coat of paint. There are also new rules to help you manage an unruly inbox, bookmark-style anchors to make it easier to navigate notes, and a powerful tagging system that not only lets you organize a range of different data together, but also to quickly jump to it using keyboard shortcuts.
Cross-platform torrent client Transmission 3.00 arrives after two years of development
BitTorrent clients are plentiful, but many leave a lot to be desired. While numerous clients have fallen by the wayside, there are some names that have stuck around. One such client is Transmission, and after a two year wait, we're finally being treated to a new version.
Transmission 3.00 is a significant release, and there are numerous new options and features in the latest version of the open source, cross-platform client. Improvements have been made to the client across all platform -- Windows, macOS, Linux and the web -- including the option of allowing the RPC server to listen on an IPv6 address.
When your barista is a robot
As the name implies, a robot arm is identical to a human arm not only in appearance but also in its uses and functions. To carry out movements like that of a hand, the robot arm also has an end effector.
These machines are usually used for cutting, processing, and other industrial applications. But have you thought about combining it with a brewing device? This transforms the normal robot arm into a unique robot barista.
How COVID-19 has accelerated the move from a 'cloud first' to a 'cloud now' approach
Recent market data from Synergy Research Group via CRN suggests 2019 was a milestone for IT and that for the first time ever, enterprises are spending more money annually on cloud infrastructure services than on data center hardware and software. For example, total spend on cloud infrastructure services reached $97 billion, up 38 percent year over year, whereas total spend on data center hardware and software hit $93 billion in 2019, an increase of only 1 percent compared to 2018.
This means that many companies that have historically owned, maintained, and managed their own IT operations in their own data center are now evolving how they support their business operations by transforming their IT to cloud.
Securing the cloud for healthcare
The Cloud is a $200 billion business that analyst firm IDC expects to nearly double in valuation by 2022. It enables collaborative productivity apps, on-demand entertainment, and promises much needed advances in telemedicine. But all this potential will come crashing to a halt unless we take seriously the corresponding rise of cloud-based cybersecurity threats. The increase we have seen in cyber-attacks seeking cloud-based data is worrisome and the potential for crippling the healthcare industry is high especially given the current global climate and their dependency on cloud-based services.
Recent warnings and actual attacks are a prominent example of the active and persistent threats to our global healthcare networks, economy, and connected infrastructure. Organizations involved in national and international COVID-19 responses are being actively targeted by hacking teams and threat groups. This is according to a recent alert from DHS ‘s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) Europe’s largest hospital. In addition, the Czech Republic warned of expected cyberattacks targeting healthcare systems designed to damage or destroy computers in critical healthcare infrastructure. And last month, Interpol announced that its Cybercrime Threat Response team had detected a significant increase in ransomware extortion schemes against healthcare organizations and infrastructures. The list goes on…
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