Latest Technology News

Bridging the gap to the C-Suite: Four tips to increase executive buy-in to disaster recovery

disaster plan

When it comes to communicating security concerns and the critical threat that cyberattacks and subsequent data loss pose to business, one of the core challenges that CISOs continue to face is bridging the considerable knowledge gap amongst senior level stakeholders.

Too often, organizations believe they have a comprehensive disaster recovery (DR) plan in place, accounting for and mitigating all potential risks and ensuring sufficient provision for a rapid return to 'business as usual'. But often the risks in terms of interrupted service, loss in revenue, potential supply chain disruption and damage to reputation, are not fully understood.

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Scraping is evergreen

Web scraping and crawling have played a major role in creating the internet we see today. While the technology, the process, and the results remain invisible to most, all of it is here to stay. I’d even say that scraping will never go "out of fashion", barring some extreme regulatory changes.

Of course, over its history, web scraping has undergone significant changes, primarily due to the ever increasing complexity of the internet. I think relatively few remember the magnificent simplicity of web pages from the 90s. Scraping was a little easier back then.

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Improving signal to noise ratio in Business Intelligence

Business intelligence is a catch-all word. If you were to ask a CEO whether they value business intelligence, they would likely say "yes". Once you start digging deeper into what it is, however, you often find confusion or platitudes that seem to say everything and nothing all at once.

Yet, the concept remains integral to business operations. In fact, most companies nowadays employ some type of business intelligence analysis. The question, however, is not "if", but rather "how well". The answer, unfortunately, is usually "not well".

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Microsoft and Google release emergency patches for security vulnerabilities in Edge and Chrome

Chrome / Edge fade

Google has released an emergency patch for the Windows, macOS and Linux versions of Chrome after the discovery of a zero-day vulnerability that the company says is being actively exploited.

The security fix comes as Microsoft releases a patch of its own for the same vulnerability (CVE-2022-1096) in Edge, its Chromium-based browser. While neither company has given much detail about the problem, Google describes it as being of high severity.

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Punishing employees won't improve password security

Proofpoint’s annual report on phishing recently revealed that the UK is by far the worst culprit for disciplining employees that fail cybersecurity tests. In fact, 42 percent of employers inflict monetary penalties on staff that engage with real or simulated phishing attacks and 29 percent even lay off staff. These figures are both far higher than the global averages at just 26 percent and 18 percent.

Unsurprisingly, the report also highlighted an increase in the number of attacks year on year. In the UK, 91 percent of respondents revealed that they had faced phishing attack and 84 percent reported seeing at least one email-based ransomware attack.

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Three myths about cloud costs debunked

Cloud dollars

With the increased investment in remote workforces since the start of the pandemic and subsequent acceleration in cloud adoption and digital transformation, cost reduction initiatives have grown in importance as a critical consideration for technology leaders and C-Suite.

According to research from Deloitte, two of three (66 percent) organizations globally are currently pursuing cost reduction strategies and, overall, cost reduction initiatives have dramatically increased -- by 74 percent -- since pre-COVID.  Within this, a common assumption is that migration to the cloud instantly translates to cost savings for a business. But without the right evaluation process in place, the true costs of cloud computing can add up fast.

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Meta is clamping down on irritating 'watchbait' videos on Facebook

Meta Facebook Instagram WhatsApp logos

The idea of clickbait is nothing new. Sensational headlines have been used since the early days of the press to draw in users, and it is something that has continued into the internet age. But there is also a related problem that blights social media platforms such as Facebook: watchbait.

The idea is much the same as a clickbait headline; videos are given misleading, overblown headlines and descriptions that often omit key details in a bid to get people to watch to the end. Now Meta has announced that it is taking action, including using an automatic detection system that will reduce the distribution reach of offending videos.

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FCC blacklists Kaspersky for posing an 'unacceptable risk to the national security of the US'

Kaspersky logo

The Federal Communications Commission has added Kaspersky to its blacklist in a move that has been branded as political. The FCC says that the Russian security firm has been "deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons".

What this means in practice is that Kaspersky is ineligible to receive FCC funding, joining companies such as Huawei and ZTE. Kaspersky has also been sanctioned by HackerOne, with its bug bounty program being indefinitely suspended.

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Avast Ultimate Security 2022 secures your entire household for two years for just $30

Security is always a hot topic, but recent world events have made it more critical than ever to review -- and potentially change -- the security you use to protect your PC. With governments worldwide reiterating their warnings about using Russian-made antivirus tools, now is the time to look for a trusted alternative, and we’ve got just the tool to protect your entire household for the next two years.

Developed in Europe, Avast Ultimate 2022 is designed to protect up to 10 devices across Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. It’s a suite of four products: Avast Premium Security 2022, Avast SecureLine VPN 2022, Avast Cleanup Premium 2022, and Avast AntiTrack Premium 2022. Combined, you get comprehensive protection from all kinds of threats, not just against malware.

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Why ransomware attacks steer clear of the cloud

Ransomware made news headlines worldwide earlier this month after a successful attack against one of Toyota Motor Corp.’s parts suppliers forced the automaker to shut down 14 factories in Japan for a day, halting their combined output of around 13,000 vehicles.

That attack was the latest example of the threat ransomware poses to all industries. The most recent edition of SonicWall’s annual threat report states that the volume of ransomware attacks in 2021 has risen 231.7 percent since 2019. And an advisory jointly issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI, and the NSA reveals the latest trend is ransomware as a service -- gangs of bad actors essentially "franchising" their ransomware tools and techniques to less organized or less skilled hackers.

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Cloud application delivery: Still a work in progress for many

cloud misconfiguration

It’s hard to overstate the key role of application reliability and performance for today’s organizations. To compete effectively and grow in modern digital markets, businesses must meet high customer expectations for a great experience. Hybrid workplace strategies and work-from-home policies make it all the more critical to deliver a consistent high-quality experience wherever people work. Rising cyberthreats and an expanding attack surface call for a heightened focus on security. And agility is a must to support innovation and keep pace with fast-moving markets.

To address these needs, organizations increasingly host their applications in hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments. In a recent survey, A10 Networks and Gatepoint Research asked senior technology decision-makers about their experiences delivering applications in the cloud, and what today’s organizations need to achieve the digital resiliency on which their businesses depend.

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DDoS attacks grow in size and complexity

DDoS attack

Though the overall number fell slightly, DDoS attacks became both bigger and more complicated in 2021 according to a new report from cloud-based managed security services platform F5 Silverline.

By the final quarter of last year the mean attack size recorded was above 21 Gbps, more than four times the level at the beginning of 2020. Last year also saw the record for the largest-ever attack broken on several occasions.

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Mozilla sets out its vision of the web of the future

Mozilla Labs

The future of the web, or the web of the future? Whichever way you look at it, the web as we know it is in a state of constant and necessary evolution. There are many companies contributing to this, but browser developers have major roles to play -- Mozilla included.

The Firefox maker has set out, in broad strokes, its vision of the changes wants to see. In all, there are nine key areas that Mozilla wants to focus its efforts on, including encryption, accessibility, privacy, and breaking down language barriers.

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Best Windows apps this week

Four-hundred-eighty-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft started to roll out a new search feature on Windows 10 and 11 devices that it calls Search Highlight.

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The challenge of hiring cyber talent in the Great Resignation [Q&A]

Vacant chair

Whether it's been triggered by the pandemic or other factors, the Great Resignation has led to new problems for businesses when it comes to finding and retaining staff.

This has been a particular problem in the tech sector where employees tend to be quite mobile anyway. We spoke to Amar Kanagaraj, founder and CEO of Protecto, to find out how businesses can meet the challenges of hiring tech talent.

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