Latest Technology News

Kingston has announced its latest security-focused drive: the IronKey D500S. This is not just another USB-A flash drive; it’s a marvel in hardware-encrypted data security, designed to provide military-grade protection for classified data in transit.

The D500S packs a punch with its FIPS 140-3 Level 3 (Pending) certification, aligned with the newest guidelines from NIST. These call for upgraded secure microprocessors to amplify protection against potential security threats, especially for government and military use. To further reinforce its robustness, the drive conducts self-tests upon initiation and is equipped with thermal and voltage safeguards that auto-shut when reaching a particular limit.

Apple today launched the Apple Watch Series 9, boasting a range of new features including a more powerful S9 SiP, a new double tap gesture, a brighter display, faster Siri, and Precision Finding for iPhone.

The device runs on watchOS 10, offering redesigned apps, new watch faces (including Snoopy, Palette, and Solar Analog), and improved cycling and hiking features.

As well as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, Apple today also unveiled the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Both devices come with an industry-first color-infused back glass with a textured matte finish, and a new contoured edge on the aluminum enclosure.

The two models also feature the Dynamic Island, introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro last year, and an advanced camera system designed to help users take high-quality photos of everyday moments. A powerful 48MP Main camera enables super-high-resolution photos and a new 2x Telephoto option, offering users three optical zoom levels.

Apple has unveiled its latest flagship smartphones, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, featuring a new design constructed from aerospace-grade titanium. This material, typically used in spacecraft, is both strong and lightweight, making these the lightest Pro models yet. The new design includes contoured edges and a customizable Action button, allowing users to personalize their iPhone experience.

The devices boast major camera upgrades, equivalent to seven professional lenses, including a more advanced 48MP Main camera system, improvements to Night mode and Smart HDR, and a new 5x Telephoto camera exclusively on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Cloud transition plans have dominated the CISO agenda for the past decade, accelerated by the rapid shift to working remotely. Now, cloud infrastructure and strategies have moved far beyond the initial reactive approach of the last few years and into a revenue-generating, proactive investment for all modern businesses. Communications service providers (CSPs) are aligning their services and networks to support this trend and most are reporting a positive outcome related to the cloud transition of their enterprise customers.

As technology evolves and digital transformation plans continue to accelerate, enterprises that want to stay competitive are transitioning a portion of their infrastructure to the cloud, focusing on finding the right mix of cloud services to support their mix of applications as well as their current and future plans. These enterprises are looking to communications service providers to help them manage a complex multi-cloud environment as well as including CSP cloud services in that mix.

IT and business leaders are largely allowing employee use of generative AI but the majority (66 percent) are concerned about the data governance risks from AI, including privacy, security and the lack of data source transparency in vendor solutions.

The latest 2023 State of Unstructured Data Management survey from Komprise is based on responses from 300 global enterprise storage IT and business decision makers at companies with more than 1,000 employees in the US and UK, and finds 90 percent of organizations allow employee use of generative AI.

Although most of us take access to the internet for granted and get annoyed and frustrated when we can't get online, there is still a sizeable number of people on the planet who aren't connected, and never have been.

According to the latest data from ITU, the UN tech agency, the global number of individuals without internet access currently stands at 2.6 billion.

According to 800 developer (DevOps) and application security (SecOps) leaders surveyed, 97 percent are using GenAI technology today, with 74 percent saying they feel pressured to use it despite identified security risks.

The research from software supply chain management company Sonatype shows 45 percent of SecOps leads have already implemented generative AI into the software development process, compared to only 31 percent for DevOps.

It won't come as any surprise that there's a thriving market among threat actors for the latest vulnerability exploits. A new report from Flashpoint lifts the lid on this world and reveals the exact vulnerability exploits that were listed for sale, purchased, and/or traded in the first half of 2023.

One of the most expensive was a remote code execution exploit for Adobe Commerce -- the eCommerce platform formerly known as Magneto -- which was listed for sale at $30,000. A Citrix ShareFile exploit was priced at $25,000.

Of over 200 IT security decision makers surveyed, data theft is cited as the biggest concern by 55 percent, followed by phishing (35 percent) with ransomware taking third place on 29 percent.

The study from Integrity360 shows that in terms of actual incidents phishing is the most common (46 percent), with data theft second on 27 percent. Ransomware, at only 15 percent, is ranked among the least common incidents being seen by businesses.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Mastercard, the result of a partnership with Barclays. The card will launch in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii later this month, and has no annual fee,

Initially available exclusively to Xbox Insiders, the credit card will ultimately be made available to everyone in the US. Aside from the lack of annual fee, there are other incentives for getting an Xbox Mastercard; every purchase made with the card earns points that can then be spent on games and add-ons at xbox.com.

As students start heading back to school, TUXEDO ushers in the third generation of their acclaimed Aura laptop line. These notebooks will provide high-quality Linux-optimized computing for the everyday user. Best of all, these computers are very affordable too.

Aura 14, the most compact of the series boasts an ultra-mobile, lightweight but durable partial aluminum frame. It's built to efficiently navigate everyday tasks, leveraging the strength of the Intel Core i5-1235U and its 2 performance and 8 efficiency cores. Users can select from a range of RAM options - 8, 16, 32, or even 64GB of speedy DDR4, complemented by an SSD that expands up to 4TB.

2024 is fast approaching, and it seems likely that the new year heralds the same torrent of sophisticated malware, phishing, and ransomware attacks as 2023. Not only are these long-standing threats showing few signs of slowing down, but they're increasing by as much as 40 percent, with federal agencies and public sector services being the main targets.

Meanwhile, weak points like IoT and cloud vulnerabilities are making it tougher for cybersecurity pros to secure the wide attack surface that these edge devices create.

Quite rightly, many businesses are excited about generative AI and the benefits it can bring. This year ChatGPT reported more than 100 million users, and the market value of generative AI is expected to grow year-on-year.

Currently, it makes sense that businesses want to get in on the act, but many are facing significant challenges navigating generative AI’s rapid emergence. There’s a risk of moving too quickly. It is difficult for businesses to confidently predict how beneficial generative AI will be. In some cases, it could even prove more of a hindrance than a help.

Transatlantic data flows underpin more than $7 trillion in cross-border trade and investment per year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The recently announced EU-US Data Privacy Framework (TADPF), in place as of July 10 2023, is expected to further promote opportunity and economic fruitfulness on both sides of the Atlantic.

However, many are rightfully questioning the staying power of this latest version of the TADPF. Will it be third-time lucky or Groundhog Day all over again? Against this backdrop of uncertainty, many companies must evaluate their short- and long-term regulatory resilience.