Nextcloud works with governments to create MS Office rival for the EU
The European Union's relationship with big tech companies has long been a fractious one. Its Digital Markets Act is aimed at reigning in their power and, among other things, it's credited with forcing Apple to adopt the USB-C standard.
In the latest development a number of European governments are working with Nextcloud to create a 'digitally sovereign' office platform, the aim being to help governments regain their independence from a small number of tech giants and allow them to confidently roll out digitization efforts.
Key considerations prior to adopting SaaS
As organizations have adapted to the evolving digital landscape, there has been a meteoric rise in popularity of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a business model. This is best illustrated by Gartner’s predicted increase in worldwide SaaS end-user spending value to reach $176.6 billion in 2022. The analyst firm further predicts worldwide public cloud spending to reach almost $500 billion by the end of 2022.
Affordability and flexibility are the principal drivers for businesses to move their data environment and applications from their own infrastructure to centrally located services on a remote cloud network. However, trusting arguably their most important asset -- their data -- with an outside entity often raises some concerns around data governance, compliance, costs, and beyond. Before making an investment, it’s sensible to carry out a self-assessment process on the basis of ten most commonly asked questions:
How businesses can improve their cyber resilience [Q&A]
Governments are keen for enterprises to improve their cyber resilience, but research from Skurio finds just under half of private and public sector organisations surveyed say that lack of resources and in-house expertise prevent their organisation from keeping up with and protecting against new cyber threats.
We talked to Jeremy Hendy, CEO of Skurio, about the barriers to businesses becoming more cyber resilient and the calls to action for C-suite, info-security departments, and the industry
Why is the public sector a prime target for cybercriminals?
According to a report by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, almost half of all recorded UK cyber incidents between September 2020 and August 2021 targeted the public sector. Public sector cybersecurity is being put to the test and it’s imperative that public sector organizations properly protect the sensitive data that is in their possession.
Back in October 2020, Hackney Borough Council in London suffered a serious ransomware attack which took many of its services and IT systems offline. The attack cost the council millions of pounds and today, more than 18 months later, data is still missing across many services. In February 2022, the Information Commissioner’s Office ordered Hackney Borough Council to disclose information regarding what cybersecurity training its staff had received prior to the attack, when they were required to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Evervault is offering free encryption services to women's health apps
There have been several knock-on effects from the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade, but few people would have predicted a change in app use habits out of fear of criminal proceedings. But this is precisely what has happened as growing numbers of users are concerned about the potential for data stored in apps to be used against them
It's just one of the reasons there has been numerous instances of users either ditching period tracking apps altogether, or switching to options considered to be more secure. Now encryption firm Evervault has offered up another solution, announcing it will offer its encryption services free of charge to women's health apps.
New UK data laws set to make annoying cookie pop-ups crumble
Website pop-ups asking you to consent to cookies have become a regular -- if irritating -- feature for European internet users since the introduction of GDPR in 2018.
As part of a post Brexit shake up of data law the UK government has announced that its Data Reform Bill will cut down on the number of times these 'user consent' boxes will be shown.
What can be done about the digital trust deficit?
Data breaches are everywhere. They’ve become so common-place that according to a new Imperva research report, more than a quarter of us (27 percent) don’t even bother changing our passwords even if we know they’ve been compromised.
For many, insecurity has become the default -- something that we just have to live with. The idea that hackers could steal our data, our money, even our identity is the cost we accept in order to live in the digital world. If we want to use services like online banking or social media, we have no choice but to give up our data in exchange.
Prioritizing levels of risk in your cybersecurity assessment
Cybersecurity is one of the most pressing issues for businesses. For the first time, it has been identified by security professionals as the single biggest risk to an organization. Cybersecurity risks come in many forms but, while businesses need to protect against all threats, some are more urgent than others.
Prioritizing the levels of risk associated with cybersecurity incidents will help you protect your business from the most pressing threats first. For example, if you have an unsupported operating system (OS) on your PCs, they are very likely to get breached, whereas your up-to-date systems pose less risk. But how do you determine the biggest risks in your business? Read on to find out how.
What does the end of third-party cookies mean for consumers?
If all goes according to plan, Google will phase out third-party cookies by the end of 2023.
These cookies, which brands use to track consumers’ browsing habits across the web, have long been controversial. Recently, the developers of major browsers have begun to block them entirely, preventing websites from saving third-party cookies on users’ systems. The end of these cookies may have big implications for privacy on the web.
Why data lineage matters and why it's so challenging
Change introduces risk. It’s one of those foundational principles of software development that most of us learned very early in our careers. Nevertheless, it always seems to keep cropping up in spite of those repeated life lessons. Our inability to foresee the impact of changes, even small ones, often leads to negative outcomes.
As the complexity of interconnected IT systems has increased, this problem has grown worse. It’s harder and harder to predict how even a small modification might impact systems upstream or downstream of the change. Data lineage accomplishes that, but it’s extraordinarily difficult to do data lineage well.
Americans have their sensitive bits exposed over 700 times a day
Americans have sensitive data relating to their online activity and location exposed 747 times daily, almost twice as much as Europeans who have their data exposed 376 times a day on average.
A new report from Atlas VPN looks at real-time bidding (RTB), which runs in the background on websites and apps and tracks what you look at, no matter how private or sensitive it is.
Europe is getting tough on big tech -- when will the US do the same?
In March, the European Union (EU) took a significant step toward reining in Big Tech offenders with the Digital Markets Act. Targeting the gatekeepers of today’s digital economy, the law is a historic piece of legislation and is a critical next step in the broader fight to level the playing field.
However, this watershed moment has failed to reach the US, which continues to fall short in protecting consumers and innovative small businesses from predatory tech companies. Congress must stop playing catch up with Europe and take a leadership role to protect its constituents. Courage and cooperation across the aisle are needed to strengthen the laws that protect the majority. Big tech, their lobbyists, and those seeking to fund their next election are far too cozy as mega-companies continue to exploit their dominance and suppress innovation. The lack of US action is embarrassing, as our friends across the pond take decisive steps.
The changing role of the CISO [Q&A]
Digital transformation, a shift to hybrid and remote working, and increasing regulatory pressure have seen major changes to the enterprise IT landscape in recent years.
CISOs have been at the heart of this, facing new challenges and taking on additional responsibilities. We spoke to Ben Smith, field CTO of NetWitness, to discuss these changes and find out what makes a good, or bad, CISO.
SaaS and what it can teach us about human behavior [Q&A]
Software-as-a-service has become increasingly popular and the market for it is still growing -- expected to reach $264 billion (£207 billion) by 2026.
SaaS sales are being driven by more companies continuing to digitize their operations in a post-COVID-19 world. We spoke to Paul Quigley, CEO and co-founder of predictive, real-time media monitoring platform NewsWhip, to discover how using SaaS can improve operations for a company, help grow the business, and even offer insights into human behavior.
Get 'Privacy, Regulations, and Cybersecurity' ($27 value) FREE for a limited time
Privacy, Regulations, and Cybersecurity: The Essential Business Guide is your guide to understanding what "privacy" really means in a corporate environment: how privacy is different from cybersecurity, why privacy is essential for your business, and how to build privacy protections into your overall cybersecurity plan.
First, author Chris Moschovitis walks you through our evolving definitions of privacy, from the ancient world all the way to the General Law on Data Protection (GDPR). He then explains -- in friendly, accessible language -- how to orient your preexisting cybersecurity program toward privacy, and how to make sure your systems are compliant with current regulations.
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