• Article

As smartwatches take on more and more functions they are more likely to access business and personal data, so focus turns to their security.

Consumer authentication specialist Nok Nok Labs is launching the industry's first FIDO-based authentication solution for smartwatches in the form of its Nok Nok App SDK for Smart Watch.

Managing user accounts involves a range of tasks from access approvals to user credentials, compliance reviews and the perennially popular password reset.

Identity management company SailPoint is releasing results of its annual Market Pulse survey which finds many IT teams don't have enough time to get everything done and are looking to automate identity tasks.

With growing consumer awareness of data breaches and the potential for businesses to misuse data, a new survey looks at how this is affecting behavior.

The study from Ping Identity surveyed over 4,000 people around the world and finds 49 percent of respondents are more concerned about protecting their personal information than they were a year ago.

With a seemingly endless array of cloud storage services to choose from, you may well find that you want to switch allegiances at some point. Jumping from one service to another can be a pain, but with its purchase of Mover, Microsoft has just made it much easier to make the move to OneDrive.

Details of the deal have not been revealed, but Microsoft is keen for people to use the service to migrate from one several supported cloud providers to either OneDrive or SharePoint.

Mozilla has released Firefox 70.0 for desktop, along with Firefox for Android 68.2 and Firefox ESR 68.2.0.

Despite the landmark version number, Firefox 70’s most visible change is a refreshed icon and new welcome screen. Better support for your OS’s system dark mode is also unveiled, while Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) has now been made the default for all platforms and users.

The Sales and Marketing (SaM) environment has undergone a fundamental shift over the past decade, driven largely by the proliferation of accessible artificial intelligence (AI) toolsets. According to recent research, 40 percent of marketing and sales teams today recognize the importance of AI, and in particular machine learning (a subset of AI) in ensuring they are able to pursue and accomplish their growth goals.

But what makes this technology so powerful? The answer lies in automation. Namely, AI has the ability to automate tedious, complicated, and time-consuming tasks (which would otherwise be left to SaM professionals), leaving professionals to focus on more value-adding activities such as managing projects and making high-level strategic decisions.

Microsoft is partnering with PC manufacturers and chip-makers on a new initiative designed to make systems with firmware that cannot be hacked.

Called Secured-core PCs, the systems apply the security best practices of isolation and minimal trust to the firmware layer. This helps to protect systems from low-level interference by malicious code.

Apple has issued a warning to owners of some iPhones and iPads, advising them to update their operating system within the next two weeks. The company warns that devices that do not upgrade iOS will experience problems with GPS and incorrect date and times -- which in turn could cause problems with iCloud, email and other services.

The cut-off date is 12:00 a.m. UTC on November 3, 2019 and Apple is eager for users to upgrade as soon as possible as when the date rolls around it may not be possible for affected devices to receive OTA updates.

Believe it or not, there are people still running computers without a solid state drive. With prices so low nowadays, there is really no reason for your operating system to be installed on a mechanical hard drive. Seriously, folks, an SSD is one of the best -- and most cost effective -- upgrades you can make.

Today, Kingston unveils its new line of solid state drives. Called "KC600," the drives are designed for upgrades, as they feature a 2.5-inch form factor and SATA connectivity. In other words, it should be a simple drop-in when removing the old hard drive. Best of all, it is very affordable, with pricing starting under $50!

Folks involved in enterprise mobility and security have witnessed a long and growing list of breaches of consumer mobile devices. One in three organizations admitted to suffering a compromise due to a mobile device, according to a study by Verizon.

Today, it’s past the time for enterprises to become concerned, and nearing the time to become alarmed, as they’re forced to consider the possibility of similar breaches of the apps and devices they provision for their employees. "The popularity of mobile apps in conjunction with the emergence of their security flaws means that mobile is prime to be the next attack vector that threatens corporate data and user privacy," said Adam Ely, founder and COO of Bluebox. In these circumstances, enterprises have to confront their attitudes, and maybe their complacency, and determine if it’s time for a major overhaul of their mobile initiatives.

In information security, outside threats can get the lion's share of attention. Insider threats to data security, though, can be more dangerous and harder to detect because they are strengthened by enhanced knowledge and/or access.

Not only is it vital, therefore, to distinguish and prepare for insider threats, but it is just as vital to distinguish between different types of insider threats. A lot has been written about the different profiles for insider threats and inside attackers, but most pundits in this area focus on insider motive. Motive, however, doesn't matter. A threat is a threat, a breach is a breach. A vulnerability that can be exploited by one party for profit can be exploited by another for pleasure, by another for country, and so on. Instead of analyzing motives and reasons, it is far more useful to compare insider threats by action and intent.

Security firm Avast has revealed that it detected and intercepted suspicious activity on its network. The malicious attack is believed to have been instigated by hackers seeking to target the CCleaner software.

This is not the first time Avast and CCleaner have been targeted, and the company has revealed that an attacker had been trying to gain access to its network through its VPN as long ago as mid-May. The attacks -- dubbed "Abiss" -- continued until the beginning of this month.

The Internet Archive is a massive and incredibly useful resource that offers access to millions of books, games, software, audio and video files, and cached versions of websites via the recently updated Wayback Machine.

To use it, you need an internet connection, but that’s changing thanks to the creation of the new Offline Archive project.

The value of big data, we're told, is that it allows organizations to derive useful insights which can drive digital transformation projects.

However, a new study from cloud warehouse data transformation company Matillion and IDG Research shows that making data available for insights is a barrier for 90 percent of enterprises.

I'm an Apple iPhone user -- a rather satisfied one at that. More specifically, my regular day-to-day smartphone is the iPhone 8 Plus. Why haven't I upgraded to a newer model? Well, I didn't want to give up the Touch ID fingerprint reader, and I am not a fan of the notch. Not to mention, the iPhone 8 Plus is a great device that is still receiving updates. And so, I have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for Apple to convince me to upgrade -- the company has yet to do so.

When I got the opportunity to test Google's Pixel 4 smartphone, I was excited, but also, rather concerned. While I was glad the Pixel 4 didn't have a notch, I was worried about it not having a fingerprint reader. The more glaring issue, however, was the operating system -- moving from the iPhone 8 Plus to the Pixel 4 would be quite the culture shock.