The Snooper's Charter is now law, giving the UK some of the most extensive, invasive and draconian web surveillance powers in the world
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016, the Snooper's Charter, legalized spying: call it what you will, the UK now officially has some of the most extreme internet surveillance powers in the world. The Investigatory Powers Bill was today given royal assent, meaning it has now passed into law.
Unsurprisingly, there have been huge protests from privacy groups, and an online petition against the new powers has already gained more than 136,000 signatures. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 not only requires ISPs to store records of their customers' browsing history, but also make this data available to dozens of government agencies, and even permits state hacking of phones and computers.
Plagued by Apple Calendar spam? Here's how to stop it
Recently a lot of people have been complaining about spam calendar invitations in iOS, and it’s something I’ve experienced too -- particularly on Black Friday. "$19.99 Ray-ban&Oakley Black Friday In-Store & Online" said one unwelcome invitation.
While you can easily decline these invites, that’s not the greatest idea because -- just like responding to a spam email -- it has the side effect of telling a spammer that your account is active. Thankfully, there is an easy way to stop them.
Digital transformation is top strategic priority for half of execs
Digital transformation is at the top of the strategic agenda for enterprises, and half of executives surveyed believe the next two years will be critical for their organizations.
These are among the findings of a new report by Forbes Insights, in association with Hitachi Data Systems, which surveyed 573 senior executives worldwide as well as holding one-on-one conversations with top executives.
Sophisticated social engineering attacks target hotel chains
In the run up to one of the hospitality industry's busiest periods, cyber criminals are targeting hotel chains with a series of targeted attacks.
Cyber security company Trustwave has investigated the attacks, which combine social engineering with sophisticated malware, against a number of its clients in the past month.
TeamViewer 12 brings up to 20x file transfer speeds
TeamViewer has just released TeamViewer 12, the latest edition of its popular remote control package. Major performance improvements include up to 20x faster file transfers, and frame rates of up to 60 fps.
Connection settings can automatically adapt to network connections, giving you the best possible quality at all times.
Two factor authentication is not enough
The general consensus appears to be that two-factor authentication (2FA) is the answer to our authentication needs. Be that from usage of consumer sites in our personal lives or as part of our daily requirements when signing into enterprise infrastructure and applications at work.
However the cyber-attack on Three's customer upgrade database is yet another example of how 2FA is not enough. Organizations must move away from relying solely on usernames and passwords, as once again access was gained with a stolen employee login.
Sling begins rolling out cloud DVR beta for Roku users
Cord-cutters are certainly aware of services such as Sling TV and devices like Roku, the latter also being popular even with those who still retain a cable or satellite connection. There are drawbacks to some of this since you can't record a show you'll miss, though Sling does allow you to go back and watch what has already aired -- on certain channels.
Now Sling wants to change all of that, bringing a cloud DVR to its service. The new release is a slow roll out and is beta only. However, the stats on it are promising.
Samsung considering advice to split in two
Samsung is currently deciding whether or it not it should follow the advice of the US hedge fund management firm Elliott Management that has proposed that the company split its business in two, with one holding company for ownership and another for operations.
Elliott first proposed the split in October with the aim of boosting shareholder value. However, this move would also benefit the Lee family that owns Samsung as it would grant them tighter control over the company.
Cold War 2.0: Russia is borrowing the Great Firewall of China to implement greater state censorship and control
The Great Firewall of China is a famous tool of censorship and state control of the internet -- and Russia wants to throw up its own version of the web filtering system. Russia already operates the so-called 'red web' which is used to not only monitor what Russian citizens are up to online, but also implementing blocks and filters such as the recent ban on LinkedIn.
But now President Putin wants to step things up a notch. Russia and China have become close allies in recent years, particularly in the field of state control of the internet, and there are plans to roll out even greater controls over what web users are able to do and access online, ostensibly from fears of an uprising against the government.
Welcome to the Post-Decision Age
There are more things to talk about than Donald Trump, though I doubt that Donnie agrees with me. But we have to get on with our lives which, at least in my case, means getting on with my reading. Where does all the crap I write here come from but reading, talking to people, and waiting in line at Starbucks? Nowhere else! And if you want to be like me you may choose to read a new book by Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds. Of course the book is very good and it’s very well-written and it will tell you a lot about how decisions are actually made. But if we are looking forward instead of backward here, the book and its content don’t really matter that much because we don’t decide nearly as much as we think we do. We don’t decide as much as we used to. In fact I’m about to argue that we’re well into the Post-Decision Age. It’s pretty much out of our hands.
Lewis’s book explains. He’s not breaking new ground but rather rediscovering old ground and explaining why it matters. In this case his earlier book Moneyball explained how the Oakland Athletics baseball team used statistics to win baseball games while this new book essentially takes the other side and explains why most of us (including many baseball managers) are not like the Oakland A’s.
Ofcom to force Openreach to separate from BT
BT has been under pressure from industry regulator Ofcom to separate Openreach, its broadband telecoms network, from its retail business. Having failed to voluntarily cooperate, the company will now be forced to separate in order to address concerns about competition.
There have long been worries that BT's position of controlling the UK broadband network while simultaneously operating a retail business was a conflict of interest, and Ofcom recently informed BT that Openreach must be transformed into a "legally separate company" to BT. Ofcom believes that creating a separate Openreach will help in its goal of "better service quality and encouraging greater investment in networks".
The benefits of thin clients for IT administrators
IT administrators should no longer be shackled to the desktop, trapped in permanent rounds of helpdesk visits, security patches and upgrades. The future could be an estate of efficient and remotely managed desktops and mobile devices; freeing IT administrators to focus on deploying IT innovation for competitive advantage.
For many IT administrators the feeling of being shackled to the desktop will be all too familiar. An endless round of responding to helpdesk tickets raised by users, running security patches and rolling out upgrades. "Surely there must be more to life than this?", they ask as they trudge off to solve another user issue. And thank goodness there is.
Google releases 'Featured Photos Screensaver' app for Mac
Google and photography seem to go hand in hand. The company's new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones take very high-quality pictures, while its Photos app for Android and iOS is a brilliant way to both store and categorize images in the cloud.
Today, Google takes its passion for photography to another level with an all-new app for macOS. Dubbed 'Featured Photos Screensaver' it creates a screensaver using images that are sourced from user photos which were uploaded to Google+. Don't worry about privacy, folks -- these are images that users have agreed to share. Google+ photographers can choose to opt-out if they prefer.
UK businesses unprepared for virtualization security challenges
For UK companies with at least 1,000 PCs, virtualization is a "strategic priority", however, they are yet unprepared for all the different security challenges this approach brings. This is according to a new report by Bitdefender.
Surveying 153 IT decision makers in the UK, working in such companies, the report says hybrid infrastructures are the major common architecture in enterprise environments, as CIOs all over the world being to increasingly adopt them. The report sheds some light on the biggest fears and concerns IT decision makers have with the new infrastructure approach.
Security tips for 2017
In an increasingly digital world, criminals have the information and the means to ensure that high profile security breaches, involving major household names, continue to make the headlines.
As technology evolves, so do the threats being developed by hackers who have a whole host of motivations for wanting to disrupt businesses of all sizes. It’s a constant battle but thankfully one that has resulted in increasingly sophisticated security tools coming to the market.
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