Connecting the world: the role of technology in providing humanitarian aid [Q&A]

Person Protecting Human Figures Forming Circle

When a crisis occurs, telecommunications infrastructure can be partially or entirely destroyed, severing the ties between crisis victims and the outside world, and in some cases disconnecting them entirely from their loved ones.

We underestimate the importance of technology until it is taken away, and providing connectivity to affected communities as quickly as possible in times of crisis is extremely important.

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Misconfigurations leave internet-facing servers open to attack

Business database

Issues with server configuration remain a major problem. Researchers at Censys have identified over 8,000 hosts on the internet misconfigured to expose open directories.

These directories contain potentially sensitive data, such as database information, backup files, passwords, Excel worksheets, environment variables, and even some SSL and SSH private keys. Exposure of these types of data in such an accessible manner can offer threat actors an easy way into an organization's network.

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UK telcos not ready for 'One Touch Switching'

Technology center with fiber optic equipment

The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom's 'One Touch Switching' initiative -- intended to make it easier for consumers to change broadband providers -- has been delayed as service providers aren't ready.

Whilst it was announced in 2021 and meant to come into force this Monday (April 3rd), One Touch Switching has now been pushed back and Ofcom has begun an enforcement program.

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Disruptions to eCommerce cost businesses up to $1 million a month

women having problem buying on line

A new survey of retail and consumer brands shows that nearly 40 percent of all respondents suffer customer-impacting disruptions, which cost up to $1 million per month.

The survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Catchpoint, finds 61 percent of respondents say internet disruptions have resulted in lost revenue, while 64 percent report damage to their brand's reputation that led to lack of consumer confidence.

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Delivering good search results is essential but hard to do

Search Seo Online Internet Browsing Web

Whether you're trying to buy something or just looking for information, not being able to find what you want on a website is frustrating.

So it's not surprising that in a new survey of search practitioners from website search platform Lucidworks, 100 percent of respondents rank search relevance as being 'Highly Important'. What's more, 76 percent expect search relevance to become even more important in the future.

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Want cheap broadband? Head for Sudan

Sudanese business man in traditional outfit using mobile phone in office

Analysis of data on over 3,700 broadband packages from 219 countries around the world shows that if you want the cheapest deal you should consider moving to Sudan.

The study by Cable.co.uk shows Sudan offers the world's cheapest broadband, with an average cost of $2.30 per month. By contrast another African nation, Burundi, is the most expensive place in the world to get fixed-line broadband, with an average package price of $383.79 per month.

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Google kills off the Chrome Cleanup Tool for Windows

Cartoon Chrome logo

With the release of Chrome 111, Google is waving goodbye to the Chrome Cleanup Tool that has been available for a number of years.

After 8 years of service, Google has decided the Chrome Cleanup Tool -- which, the company explains, helps users to "recover from unexpected settings changes, and to detect and remove unwanted software" -- is simply no longer needed.

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Welcome to Twitter, who are you again?

twit

If you've visited Twitter this morning you may have found that the platform appears to have forgotten that you exist.

Users around the world are being presented with a friendly 'Welcome to Twitter' message urging them to find some people to follow, despite having been on Twitter for years and already following hundreds of people.

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Is it worth paying for an enterprise browser? [Q&A]

cloud storage finger keyboard globe

Why would you pay for a browser when all of the popular ones are available for free? If you're an enterprise it could be because a paid browser can address some key problems.

We spoke to CEO and co-founder of enterprise browser specialist Island, Mike Fey, to find out more about this category and what benefits it can offer.

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Ethical web scraping and data rights [Q&A]

streaming from the deep

Web scraping, automatically harvesting and extracting data from websites, can be a useful tool for businesses to learn about their customers.

But it's easy to fall into the trap of harvesting data just because it's there, leading to information overload not to mention privacy concerns for the consumer. To find out more about web scraping and how it can be used in an ethical way we spoke to founder and CEO of Rayobyte, Neil Emeigh.

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61 percent of Americans rely on free antivirus programs

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A new report on the antivirus market from Security.org reveals that almost three-quarters of Americans still strongly believe computers need antivirus to protect their devices and 61 percent are relying on free options like Microsoft Defender.

The number relying on free solutions has held steady, down only one point since 2021. Interestingly, only eight percent of free antivirus users have experienced a breakthrough virus in the past year, compared to 10 percent of paid users.

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Google is giving Chrome a new Password Manager -- here's how to enable it

Forgotten password

For anyone who struggles to remember the growing list of endlessly complicated passwords needed to gain access to the plethora of online accounts we all now have, a password manager is near-essential. Chrome, like many of the web browsers, has long-featured a tool for storing and automatically entering passwords, and now Google is giving it a much-needed upgrade.

Until now, Chrome's password manager has been functional, but far from being adorned with bells and whistles. Now Google is giving it a new user interface as well as an important injection of new features.

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Three out of four people feel unsafe online -- and cybersecurity doesn't help

Scared_Man_Laptop

A new report finds that even as internet users spend around a third of their lives online, most feel risks are increasing, and cybersecurity is too complex.

The report from F-Secure finds three out of four internet users worry about their safety online, while almost seven out of ten (69 percent) of those surveyed said they don't know who to trust online.

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Striking the right balance between development and security [Q&A]

tipping scales

Developers need access to many devices and internal services in order to build software. But many of these devices and services are exposed to the public web, creating gaps in security.

Add in the challenges of securing remote working and it's clear that there's a tricky balancing act needed to enable development while keeping the organization secure. We spoke to Avery Pennarun, CEO and co-founder of VPN service Tailscale, to find out how this can be achieved.

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Google launches new security and privacy features to mark Safer Internet Day

Google Chrome icon on mobile

Google is using today's Safer Internet Day to announce a number of new security and privacy initiatives.

Among these are new ways to fill out passwords easily and securely in Chrome, more privacy protection for the Google app, improvements to Google Password Manger, and an expansion of SafeSearch to protect against explicit images.

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