You can't win: Learning to live with security pessimism

cybersecurity

Cybersecurity can, at times, feel like a thankless and invisible task. The punishment for a mistake is immediate and ruthless, the reward for success next to non-existent, because how do you recognize the absence of a breach? But this isn’t a new scenario; the IT industry has dealt with this outlook for decades. The job of an IT department is to be invisible, but when something does go wrong all eyes are inevitably on them to fix it.

In a threat landscape where there exists a constant push to innovate, adapt and breach, there are only three possible outcomes for the IT industry: defeat, indefinite struggle, or complete structural collapse.

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Why organizations are taking the leap to backup as a service (BaaS)

Backup as a Service BaaS

As one of the world’s most valuable commodities, data has increasingly been the focus of cybercrime over the past decade. As a core segment of a modernized organization, data-first approaches to business intelligence are extremely common. Its centrality in modern business has led to an average data breach costing over $4.4 million dollars for the attacked company. With this astounding penalty for poor security defenses, the need to backup and protect data has risen to an all-time high.

Typically, companies that wanted to protect their data through backups would do so by creating on-premise storage. However, due to the expanding amount of information that businesses commonly access and utilize, the scope of what organizations needed to save continued to increase. Instead of adding a few external servers and hard drives, or NAS (Network-attached Storage), they now needed to create entire systems, which were costly to install and maintain.

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Microsoft is dropping WordPad from Windows 10 and Windows 11

WordPad is going to die

Having just delivered an impressive update to the much-loved text editor Notepad, Microsoft has revealed that its (slightly) more advanced sibling, WordPad, is to be discontinued.

Serving as a halfway house between the barebones Notepad and a fully-fledged word processor, WordPad has been a feature of Windows for decades -- having been preceded by Write . But now Microsoft feels that the time has come to pull the plug, saying that the app is now longer being developed and will be killed ff.

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Microsoft reminds Windows 11 21H2 users of impending forced upgrades ahead of end of service

Windows 11 laptop

There is now a little over a month until Windows 11 21H2 reaches end of service. When October 10 rolls around, the operating system will no longer receive updates.

With just a few weeks to go, Microsoft has issued a reminder to users of this two-year-old version of Windows 11 that support is coming to an end. More than this, the company has warned users of Windows 11 21H2 that they should expect to be forcibly upgraded to a supported version of the OS very soon.

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Sabrent HB-6PNV is a 6-port USB-C hub with an M.2 SSD slot

USB-C has largely become the universal connector, merging power, data, and video into one. Sabrent, known for its reliable tech gear, has just released its new USB-C 6-Port Hub with an M.2 SSD Slot (HB-6PNV), a compelling offering that caters to both professional and power users.

The hub features an integrated USB-C cable, supporting data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) and up to 90W bypass charging via power delivery (PD3.0). This means you can juice up your devices quickly while transferring files at blistering speeds.

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Digital waste management in business [Q&A]

Waste management meeting

With 200 million tonnes of waste produced each year by the UK, digital waste management is set to revolutionize the sector, collecting and collating waste tracking data in one central location. The government plans to introduce mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK in 2024, which can help businesses analyze and accurately implement the right strategies to achieve their green goals.

Currently, waste tracking data is a mix of digital and paper-based, held mainly by private IT contractors with few centralized systems. As a result, it’s difficult to determine what happens to our waste and whether it’s been recycled, recovered or sent to landfill. The new system should therefore bring a new era of efficiency, accuracy and sustainability.

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A whole new ball game: How next-gen technology is revolutionizing sports

Sports and technology have long been intertwined, but the advent of next-generation technology is taking this relationship to new heights. Cutting-edge technologies like augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and remote collaboration are unlocking unprecedented opportunities for teams, players, and fans alike. These innovative solutions are changing the face of sports, giving teams a competitive advantage on the field while taking the fan experience to the next level.

As a wide variety of cutting-edge technologies gain importance in sports, it’s worth looking at how they are helping to improve and evolve our favorite games and what we can expect in the future.

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UK schools not doing their homework on email security

As students at schools and colleges in the UK begin to return after the summer break, new research shows that 96 percent of the top 50 state secondary schools, 92 percent of the top 50 sixth-form colleges and 80 percent of the top 50 universities in the UK are lagging behind on basic cybersecurity measures, leaving students, staff and partners at risk of email-based impersonation attacks.

The research from cybersecurity company Proofpoint is based on an analysis of DMARC adoption and reveals that 70 percent of UK schools are currently taking no steps to protect themselves from domain impersonation by having no published DMARC record.

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Instagram under Elon Musk's control as part of X, the 'everything app'? This is how it could work

The rivalry between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg is hard to miss. There was, for a while, talk of the two men having a cage fight -- although that predictably came to nothing -- and  Zuckerberg's Meta recently introduced its "Twitter killer" app, Threads, after perceiving weakness in Musk's own social media platform (now called X).

While Threads hasn't been quite the huge hit that Meta was hoping for (just yet at least), it has clearly had some impact on X. You should never bet against Elon Musk though. If you've ever wondered what Meta's Instagram might look like if Musk took over that as part of X's expansion of the "everything app", we have the answer.

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Zepp Health launches AI-powered Amazfit Balance smartwatch

Zepp Health Corporation has just tossed a new player into the smartwatch arena: the Amazfit Balance. It runs on the new Zepp OS 3.0, which boasts a range of apps focused on wellness and productivity.

This isn't just an upgrade from the company’s previous GTR and GTS models. Nope, it is going for something a bit more holistic here, targeting your overall well-being, both mentally and physically.

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Microsoft treats software stalwart Notepad to a long-overdue update

Notepad with automatic saves

Notepad is one of the longest standing Windows apps, having been around for decades. Over the years, there have been slow, gradual improvements and now Microsoft has delivered a much-needed update to the beloved text editor.

Bringing the app more in line with word processors like Microsoft Word, this latest update sees the arrival of automatic file saves and more.

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Why serverless platforms will unlock a new era of low-code development [Q&A]

As developers look for ways to improve productivity they're moving away from 'no-code' offerings and have their sights set on serverless platforms to help bolster their 'low-code' solutions.

Serverless platforms take tasks like managing application resilience, performance, security and compliance away from developers, allowing them to focus on functionality and innovation. We spoke to Briana Frank, VP of product at IBM Cloud to find out more about how serverless will unlock the next era of low-code.

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Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.73.0 with a wealth of updates and new Crop And Lock utility

PowerToys Crop and Lock

Kicking off the v0.73 release cycle, which is "focused on new features, stability and improvements", Microsoft has released PowerToys v0.73.0, complete with a new module -- Crop And Lock.

The latest addition to the PowerToys family is described as making it possible to "crop a current application into a smaller window or just create a thumbnail. Focus the target window and press the shortcut to start cropping". This update also includes a number of bug fixes and a range of new features for existing modules.

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Microsoft gives Windows 11's Snipping Tool an important ease-of-use upgrade

Snipping Tool menu

Microsoft has released an updated version of its screen capture and screen recording utility, Snipping Tool. As well as bug fixes there are improvements and additions to the Windows 11 tool.

The latest version of the app introduces a number of key changes including the arrival of the combined capture bar, something Microsoft says simplifies switching between screen grabbing and screen recording. There are also changes to audio recording options.

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Nintendo’s Mario Red OLED Switch is the perfect prelude to Super Mario Bros. Wonder

If you're a Nintendo aficionado like me, then you're probably already buzzing from Nintendo's recent Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct video. The presentation gave us a deep dive into the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which hits stores on October 20. The game promises to rejuvenate the 2D Mario experience like never before. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Nintendo also dropped a major bombshell — a new Mario-themed Nintendo Switch OLED Model is joining the fray!

Before we dive into the new Switch model, let's take a moment to marvel at the game that's causing all this excitement. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first 2D side-scrolling Mario game in over a decade, folks! With new gameplay elements, power-ups, and something called "Wonder Flowers" that bring unexpected transformations to the table, this game is slated to redefine Mario as we know it. A new Flower Kingdom awaits exploration, and a roster of playable characters ensures that the fun will be varied and endless.

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