Category: Tech

A growing list of companies recently revealed that Technology may be the only solution as workers wait to return to their corporate workplace as the pandemic resurgence materializes in UK and other parts of the world.

Recently, Apple Stores tried to reopen but had to shut down again amid continuing COVID-19 infections. It only took a few weeks for Apple to close its retail stores after reopening to the public, sending its employees back to work from home. Many companies are likely to follow suit as coronavirus cases continue to spread.

For those business that got it right reopening their workplaces the first time around, they should be in pretty good shape for round two. But others that struggled to get a handle on operations will likely find themselves again in chaos — especially where IT is concerned for the transplanted work-from-home employees.

Unsolved challenges exist in either scenario. No one formula is an ideal approach for companies going back-and-forth between in-person and remote work. The lessons learned from the first transition suggest companies with the right tools and strategies in place will be significantly better off.

Most organizations will face common challenges with staff working in the same space again:

How do they use elevators in office buildings?
How do they cater in the cafeteria?
Do employees still have access to the break room with common appliances and a shared space?
How do employees organize meetings in conference rooms that are meant for a specific number of attendees?
These are the basic questions confronting business managers as they race to reopen their workspaces to large crowds of workers, observed Mounir Hahad, head of Juniper Threat Labs at Juniper Networks.

One of the serious challenges involves not only the health of employees but the health of company electronics. Those issues persist whether employees work from home or return to the office.

“Unfortunately, during these times when many organizations have been forced to shift to a more distributed business model, hybrid work practices are causing organizational challenges related to rising cybersecurity risk, defenses being tested, and weaknesses being exposed,” Hahad told TechNews.

Business continuity may lighten up or override previous security requirements to address system overload, which leaves vulnerabilities open. Companies must find a way to ensure cybersecurity remains a top priority and keep their guard up.

“It is especially important that organizations emphasize employee education around cybersecurity,” he urged.

Addressing Risks
Some advanced WiFi access points do have the ability to precisely monitor users’ locations throughout their workday as they move around the buildings and record the data for future use. This is of tremendous help to the security and safety team who can identify hot spots where employees tend to congregate, or to trace back the proximity of an infected employee to other employees or visitors, noted Hahad.

Additionally, hybrid work environments can identify new opportunities for organizations to reassess their business continuity plans and network security processes. As early experiences suggest, transparency, flexibility and iteration are key in return-to-workplace plans amid possibly several rounds of back-and-forth restarts, depending on COVID-19 infection rates.

“Businesses must continue to address the ways employees connect to the network and how to deploy technology to enable and protect those connections, regardless of work environment,” Hahad said.

Common Challenges
Navigating the remote-to-office scenario that companies face to regather their workforces is stressful for both the displaced workers and their company managers.

Coworkers will spend an inordinate amount of time reconnecting early on, which will likely have a large impact on productivity at first, suggested Chris Triolo, vice president of customer success at Respond Software.

“Employees may struggle with productivity as they adapt back to the office environment. The return of the commute may affect employees’ happiness temporarily and likely will result in fewer hours worked per day,” he told TechNews.

Two other primary issues surface in the WFH-to-office return flip flops. One is the Security Operations Center (SOC); the other is the deployment of corporate communications assets.

“While some industries are suited for remote work, there are several industries for whom this working style presents many problems,” Triolo noted.

For instance, cybersecurity operations is not an industry that should operate remotely long-term. Home offices tend to be on “unsafe” networks that lack all the security controls and technology that the corporate office maintains.

Another consideration is what to do with corporate assets, such as laptops and phones that were distributed. Are companies expected to collect them all upon return? A good deal of logistical work comes to mind with this scenario.

“While everyone I appreciate a change now and then, we risk employees’ focus, happiness, and productivity by see-sawing back and forth between in-person and remote work. While some companies have run a hybrid model all along, most employees who are new to the work-from-home and/or the hybrid structure may really struggle with it,” Triolo explained.

Lessons Learned
The first transition from office to WFH taught company managers some surprising lessons. Many companies learned for the first time that it is possible to have a remote workforce.

In addition, the productivity question was resolved: employees ended up just as productive — and in some cases more productive — than when they worked in the office full time.

“We also began to recognize that remote employees can reduce the costs of running our business, for example, with the leasing of office building space, decreased spending on utilities, and day-to-day overhead costs,” Triolo noted.

But businesses also learned that we had a lot of work to do to get our employees the tools they need to work from home safely. These include laptops, corporate VPNs, and other collaborative tools such as Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.

“There was an initial scramble to put the technology and policies in place, but now that we’ve done it, we can move from the office-to-home work lifestyle again much more easily,” he said.

The lessons businesses learned include a need for planning and major adjustment when it comes to making the switch between working at the business premises and remotely, according to Melissa Cadwallader, HR leader at ZenBusiness.

“Businesses were initially required to make provisions for continued communication with socially distanced employees. There has also been a need to focus on the health and safety of those workers expected to return after the months of isolation. The wearing of face masks and arrangement of worker shielding has become the new workplace norm, given continuing concerns over the pandemic,” she told TechNews.

The Journey Back
Transitioning back to the office will present companies with a need for the change and adoption of policies for the protection and engagement of employees going back and forth between in-person and remote work. There will also be a challenge when it comes to maintaining business as normal, Cadwallader offered.

“Employees have to adapt to different working practices. There may well be a decrease in productivity and engagement given the continued uncertainty over working arrangements,” she said.

The remote-to-office scenario poses serious challenges for companies from a health standpoint. It is opening more doors for COVID-19 contraction, warned Craig Williams, CIO at Ciena.

“If employees coming into work have been quarantined, making them come into the office raises the question we seem to forget in the equation — how did they get to work? If the answer is by public transportation such as a train or bus, then the risks of exposure are further expanded,” Williams told TechNews.

Then there is the liability issue that companies face in reopening corporate workspaces, warned Williams. Even if all the employees drove to work with their own cars so their exposure rates are low, without the right socially-distanced office setups — like plexiglass shields between cubicles — companies are facing immense liabilities by opening back up too soon and putting not only employees but their families at risk as well, he explained.

“The first transition has clearly outlined why it is too soon to open back office spaces without taking all the right precautions, and it has also shown that perhaps even with all the seemingly right precautions, the virus can still run rampant.

“Many employees are hesitant about going back to the office right now so companies must use this as an opportunity to listen and follow their lead,” he suggested.

Growing Opposition
Remote workers made to rush back to the office too soon may actually choose to quit instead. According to a survey by Azurite Consulting that tallied the views of 3,500 people, one-in-four office workers would quit if asked to return too soon. That includes 26 percent of employees and 21 percent of managers.

Key findings from that survey include:

54 percent of high-risk employees want to continue working remotely.
70 percent of Americans see taking public transportation to work as unsafe.
To foster a safe return, office workers want face masks and investment in better hygiene before they return. A majority (56 percent) want mandatory face masks, while 42 percent want sanitizers or disinfectants at their desks, and 36 percent want reduced office capacity at any given time.
15 percent want daily temperature checks, and 16 percent want weekly COVID-19 testing.
The Azurite survey also revealed:

54 percent of companies in major downtown centers have intent to downsize their footprint, and 55 percent plan at least some relocation of employees.
11 percent of urban dwellers contemplate a suburban move and 25 percent a rural move. Meanwhile, 28 percent er suburban dwellers contemplate a rural move.
“We are reaching a point where companies are looking to get people back in their office spaces, but clearly we can’t resume pre-pandemic practices. Leaders now have to manage the influx of people arriving to high-rise office buildings in densely populated cities like Chicago and New York. Workers need to access the building, go up elevators and get to the office as safely as possible,” Matt Fairhurst, CEO and cofounder, Skedulo — a deskless worker productivity software company — told TechNews.

Some spaces have made new rules limiting the number of people in an elevator or have enacted social distancing. Companies are taking it upon themselves to phase people back into the office. This involves limiting the capacity of employees allowed on a given day. “But how can we more effectively manage this?”, he questioned to illustrate the issues involved with return workers to corporate offices.

Potential Answers
Skedulo could have a solution to easing and managing the transition back to the office. The company is exploring the idea of applying high capacity-based scheduling technology, Fairhurst announced. That software automatically and intelligently helps organize large quantities of people using appointments to enter the office.

“Think about scheduling workers’ arrival times, limiting the number of people in elevators, and taking into account the total number in an office, especially for large companies with one central office. This can be overwhelming to manage,” he said.

If too many individuals arrive at once, people could congregate in the lobby, possibly breaking social distancing rules and increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19. Using capacity-based scheduling, an employee could check if a low volume window is available to work in the office, book his/her arrival time, check-in via a contactless QR code at the front desk, and ride up the elevator. All of that would follow appropriate social distancing measures with the knowledge you will not be turned away at the front door.

“The technology can automate appointments and triage if there is a backup somewhere, meaning if a cluster of people arrives at once, it can intelligently reschedule the rest of the day, helping reduce potential exposure,” said Fairhurst.

Information revealed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has shown that over 1,500 COVID-19-related calls were received and processed through the Commission’s Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) in the peak of the pandemic in Nigeria.

While speaking at the commissioning of another Emergency Communications Centre in Owerri, Imo State last week, Danbatta stated that the ECCs played a remarkable role by providing a platform for members of the public to seek lifesaving information or support and reporting COVID-19 related cases.

“I am happy to report to you that over 1,500 COVID-19-related calls were received and processed by the ECCs in the peak of the pandemic,” he announced.

He noted that Nigerians were able to dial ‘112’ from any of the networks at the peak of the lockdown as the ECC project is equipped with necessary Information Technology (IT) tools and personnel.

The NCC’s Emergency Communications Centres is a one-stop-shop through which members of the public can access help from any response agency, The centres are essentially aimed at enhancing the security of lives and property of the citizens.

Some of the response agencies are the Nigeria Police (NPF), the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Fire and Ambulance Services, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and all its affiliate State Emergency Management Agencies, among others.

While restating the Commission’s commitment to operationalise the ECCs in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the NCC Boss said 19 ECCs have been activated so far. The beneficiary states include Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Plateau, Enugu, Benue, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Oyo, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Adamawa, Kogi, Anambra and Imo States and FCT.

“We have no doubt that, if put to maximum use and kept functional at all times, the ECC facilities will serve to complement the State Government’s efforts at enhancing the security of lives and property of citizens,” he added.

The Commissioning of the ECC was done by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami.

The event which was hosted by the Executive Governor of the State, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, had in attendance, the Chairman, NCC Board of Commissioners, Prof. Adeolu Akande; Chief Uche Onwude, NCC Board Member; Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among other dignitaries.

In-person workout sessions these days might seem like a thing of the past, while solitary workouts at home replace gym visits as an ongoing result of the pandemic.

The use of artificial intelligence is not yet a common feature in fitness apps, but it is a main component in a popular India-based app now focused on growing users in the U.S. and Canada. Bringing AI to personal workout routines at home could provide gym-starved exercise enthusiasts something new to sweat over.

Fitness apps today have become as prolific on app store warehouses as games and phony ad-blockers. The Cure.fit personal home workout app uses AI to bring more effectiveness to users’ physical training.

Based in Bengaluru, India, in the center of the country’s high-tech industry, Cure.fit has raised US$400 million in funding. The developer’s app has become one of India’s leading fitness programs, claiming 300,000 subscribers. That popularity is spreading globally with more than 12,000 U.S. downloads since June.

Cure.fit may well be a few steps ahead of other fitness apps trying to bring new twists to humdrum exercise routines at home. The company leans heavily on big data and AI to drive user experience and growth.

The app lets users have a group workout session without leaving their homes. Many fitness apps have varying approaches to coaching users through their training sessions. So it may be marketing hyperbole to judge the excellence of one fitness app over others.

Artificial intelligence is only part of what drives Cure.fit, according to Shamik Sharma, head of international business at Cure.fit. While a number of fitness apps are available worldwide, what makes Cure.fit unique is that it focuses on everything having to do with the mind and body.

“The app offers holistic health offerings across physical fitness and workouts, healthy food, and mental well-being,” he told TechNews.

In regions outside of India, app users do not have access to those ancillary parts of what Cure.fit offers users in India, at least not yet.

Ahead of the Curve
AI is generally used in large scale, big data scenarios, according to Thomas Hatch, CTO and co-founder at SaltStack. This means that the results or outputs from AI are often used in consumer applications, but AI is not typically run in consumer applications.

“AI is not that common in fitness apps today, but we are starting to see it used more frequently to manage and track tracking fitness data and related trends. The use is emerging and becoming increasingly common,” he told TechNews.

If done properly, AI could be quite viable in consumer applications. But AI needs to be used in such ways to give real insights to users of these apps.

“Right now some of the best examples of AI in consumer apps are capabilities like Spotify’s ability to determine what songs to play or suggest based on listeners’ behaviors. In a similar fashion, AI could be used in fitness apps to suggest foods or help manage eating habits and generate optimal workouts for users,” Hatch said.

Promoting Good Health
Mukesh Bansal, who co-founded and serves as the CEO of Cure.fit, and co-founder Ankit Nagori, launched Cure.fit in 2016. Both are fitness enthusiasts who saw a need for something all-encompassing in the space.

They entered the crowded app field for fitness, recipes, and meditation; but noticed that none integrate all three of those elements together. They developed Cure.fit to fill that gap. The co-founders recently launched a freemium model to supplement the free app version.

The Cure.fit app is available globally. However, the company is currently focused on localizing it for the U.S. and Canada markets, said Sharma.

He described the company behind the app as a one-stop-shop that meets the demands of everyone’s self-care needs. As a newly launched app in the U.S., they are starting slow but plan to expand on a similar level as they offer in India.

In India, Cure.fit offers an additional vertical for healthcare where elite doctors are available for teleconsultations. No competitor in India does that, remarked Sharma.

“In India, we have gyms, kitchens that cook healthy meals, and a food delivery service that delivers meals and groceries — in addition to everything we offer on the app,” he said.

Viability of Fitness Apps
A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research says fitness apps absolutely do promote positive behavioral changes. Researchers surveyed 726 participants in three groups — current app users, non-app users, and former app users. The results showed that almost 75 percent of current exercise app users reported being more active, as opposed to less than half of non-users and former users.

Researchers concluded that exercise app users are more likely to exercise during their leisure time, as compared to those who do not use any apps. The research also found that exercise apps made it easier for users to overcome “barriers to exercise.” That is a polite way of saying non-users tend to procrastinate, lack motivation, and such.

That study did not consider the impact of artificial intelligence programmed into the exercise apps. Adding the AI element takes healthy exercise routines one step further — or maybe more.

Today 80 percent of Americans own smartphones, and 21 percent nationally have wearable fitness trackers. Smartphone, laptop, and tablet users have access to over 92,000 fitness apps available on U.S. app stores, according to industry reports.

One such report published on the Northwest Primary Care website, cites 93 percent of doctors surveyed believe that fitness apps can enhance users’ overall health. Many apps provide online communities, virtual challenges, and push notifications that remind the user to stay engaged.

A 2016 study by Mary Jung, then an assistant professor in Canada’s UBC Okanagan School of Health and Exercise Sciences, found that mobile apps provided an opportunity to provide real-time feedback and support to the public and specialized health populations. Her research found that fitness apps are more effective when they are personalized.

Online bandits are decreasing their schemes against businesses but increasing COVID-19 scams aimed at consumers, according to a report released Tuesday by TransUnion.

Suspected fraudulent digital transactions against businesses worldwide dropped nine percent from the lockdown phase of the pandemic (March 11 to May 18) to the reopening phase (May 19-July 25), noted the quarterly report on global online fraud trends by the Chicago-based transaction security solutions provider.

That contrasts with surveys done by TransUnion for the weeks of April 13 and July 27, which found a 10 percent jump in consumers targeted by digital COVID-19 scams.

“With the rush for businesses to go digital, as many were forced to go completely online almost overnight, fraudsters tried to take advantage,” Shai Cohen, senior vice president of global fraud solutions at TransUnion, said in a statement.

As those businesses ramped up their digital fraud prevention solutions, he continued, the fraudsters took their scams elsewhere.

“Conversely with consumers,” he added, “fraudsters are increasingly using COVID-19 to prey on those persons who are facing mounting financial pressures.”

Rejecting Layups
TransUnion’s findings suggest that there may not be as much low hanging fruit among businesses for scammers as there used to be.

“Businesses have become a bit more vigilant regarding cybersecurity at the present time,” observed Adam Laub, CMO of Stealthbits, a cybersecurity software company located in Hawthorne, N.J.

“What were layups for bad actors previously perhaps don’t work with the same degree of success because cybersecurity has become more top of mind,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Nevertheless, he cautioned that most organizations still suffer from the same vulnerabilities and exploits they had previously.

“It’s just a little bit harder to get through the front door,” he said. “Once in, however, attackers will traverse networks, escalate privileges and execute their missions with relative ease.”

Weaponizing Fear and Uncertainty
On the other hand, Laub continued, the closing of physical locations for shopping has increased e-commerce activity. “That makes consumers — just from a sheer numbers perspective — an easier target than business at this point in time,” he said.

“When businesses don’t have their eye on the ball, they are by far the more attractive target,” he added, “but when they do, they’re a much tougher nut to crack for the average cybercriminal.”

Melody J. Kaufman, a cybersecurity specialist for Saviynt, an application and infrastructure security provider in El Segundo, Calif. explained that businesses have quickly adapted their security measures to accommodate remote workers over the last few months.

“This security shift has improved processes and procedures in many areas over organizations including phishing training and awareness,” she told TechNewsWorld. “This level of awareness makes businesses harder targets now.”

That’s not the case with consumers, she continued, who — whether they’re savvy with technology or not — are generally not familiar with the wide varieties of phishing campaigns that exist such as smishing and vishing.

“Bad actors find it easier to weaponize the fear and uncertainty of national events, including COVID-19, and this helps their attacks and scams yield valuable results,” she said.

“Fraudsters enjoy times of uncertainty,” added Trace Fooshee, a senior analyst with the Aite Group.

“They flourish in times of crisis,” he continued. “They take advantage of crisis because crises tend to introduce a level of heightened emotion when people lower their guard a little bit. People can be more gullible when their emotions are being preyed upon.”

Data breaches were rampant in 2019, occurring at an unprecedented pace. However, the first half of this year has seen a reduction in the number of reported events. Reported being the operative word.

In the first six months of 2019, more than four billion records were exposed in 3,800 publicly disclosed breaches, according to cybersecurity firm NortonLifeLock.

A publicly reported data breach is one required by state law and reported by a government official; part of a public regulatory filing such as an SEC filing; listed on a company website, social media, news release or breach notice letter or published in an accredited media publication, or disclosed by a recognized cybersecurity researcher or firm, explained James E. Lee, Chief Operating Officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).

The Center is a non-profit organization established to support identity theft victims in resolving their cases and to educate the public and make it aware of identity theft and associated issues such as data breaches, cyber security, scams, fraud and privacy issues.

Breaches in 2019 included:

Bank holding company Capital One, in March: 106 million records;
Social-planning website Evite, in August: 100 million records; and
American Medical Collection Agency: more than 20 million records breached, which led to the firm’s filing for bankruptcy.
In all, more than 15 billion records were exposed in nearly 7,100 data breaches throughout calendar 2019.

Breaches Subside in 2020
This year however, the number of publicly reported data breaches has fallen.

“During this period, we saw less activity from many threat actors who would normally be making all kinds of havoc,” Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebytes Labs, told TechNewsWorld. Malwarebytes Labs is the intelligence arm of antimalware software firm Malwarebytes.

The ITRC says the number of data breaches between January and June fell by 33 percent year over year.

During that period, a little more than 163 million individuals were affected by breaches — 66 percent less than in January to June 2019.

Risk Based Security says publicly reported breaches in the first half of this year fell to a five-year low, but still showed a total of 2,037. It said more than 27 billion records were exposed during that period — 12 billion more than were exposed throughout the whole of 2019.

So what gives? Why this huge discrepancy in the numbers?

Differences in methodology, ITRC’s Lee told TechNewsWorld. Risk Based Security includes information from outside the United States, while the ITRC’s data is based only on events in the U.S.

Also, as a national non-profit that provides free services to victims of identity crimes or compromises, “our focus is on the number of people impacted, not the number of records exposed,” Lee noted.

“In mass data breaches or exposures there are multiple records per person, which always means the number of records exposed will almost always be an order of magnitude higher than the number of people impacted,” he said. “There is no one-to-one correlation between people and records.”

Russia, China, and Iran have been caught conducting cyber espionage related to the US presidential race.

by Patrick Howell O’Neillarchive page
September 10, 2020
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia
Russian military hackers responsible for cyberattacks against Democratic targets during the 2016 American election are now targeting over 200 organizations in the United States (including political parties, think tanks, and consultants serving both Democrats and Republicans), according to Microsoft, which is increasingly calling out Russian cyber espionage.

In the final weeks before the November 3 election, the Russian hackers are employing new tactics, tools, and ways to disguise their role in the attacks, Microsoft vice president Tom Burt wrote on Thursday. Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign was specifically targeted by the Russian hackers, according to an earlier report from Reuters, via phishing attacks against the campaign’s communications advisors, SKDKnickerbocker. None of the attacks were successful.

This particular Russian hacking group, called Strontium by Microsoft, is more widely known as Fancy Bear or APT28 and is believed to operate out of Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU. The details of these incidents recall the sustained hacking and information warfare carried out in favor of Trump against former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

Fancy Bear has long relied on spearphishing, a hacking tactic that tricks a targeted individual into giving up key passwords. This time, the group is taking a different approach with brute-force and password-spraying attacks, a shift in tactics that allows for both larger-scale attacks and greater anonymity for the attackers.

Microsoft has also spotted state-sponsored hackers in China and Iran targeting individuals involved in both Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns. But experts say Moscow is the adversary that worries them the most, given Russia’s lengthy track record.

“Multiple cyber-espionage actors have targeted organizations associated with the upcoming election, but we remain most concerned by Russian military intelligence, who we believe poses the greatest threat to the democratic process,” said John Hultquist from the cybersecurity firm FireEye. This particular Russian hacking group is responsible for some of the most provocative and aggressive cyber operations of all time.

“APT28’s unique history raises the prospect of follow-on information operations or other devastating activity,” Hultquist explained.

The newly disclosed hacking attempts underline threats to American election security with the vote less than two months away.

On Wednesday, a new report revealed that a senior Homeland Security official said he had been ordered to stop intelligence reports about current Russian election interference because it “made the president look bad.” According to a newly published whistleblower complaint (pdf), former DHS intelligence chief Brian Murphy claimed he had been asked to stop providing reports of Russia’s activity and encouraged to focus on threats from China and Iran instead.

The department denies the complaint, which arrives against a backdrop of controversial election security moves including the Trump administration’s decision to stop providing the full Senate with briefings on the issue.

At the same time, the US Treasury department announced new sanctions against four Russian-linked individuals for attempts to interfere in the upcoming American election. Three people are allegedly members of the Internet Research Agency, the notorious Russian group conducting malicious information operations on social media.

Apple and Google have announced they’re expanding their coronavirus exposure warning system so health agencies can take part without needing to create a customized app. It’s a significant upgrade to the system, which uses Bluetooth to work out if people have spent extended periods of time near each other and then notifies the close contacts of someone who tests positive for coronavirus. The original system launched in May and has since been adopted by six states in the US and at least 15 countries. Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, DC, will be the first to sign up to use the revamped system, Apple and Google said in a conference call.

How it works: In states or regions that have enabled the “Exposure Notifications Express” tool, a prompt will flash up on phones with the latest version of Apple or Android’s operating system, informing the user that it’s available. Apple users just need to tap the screen to enable it. Android users will still have to download an app—however, the app is automatically generated for public health authorities by Google. All the agency has to do is provide Apple and Google with some basic information and set up servers to host Bluetooth keys and exposure verification.

Why it matters: It’s a promising development at a time when excitement around contact tracing apps has distinctly cooled. Anything that makes it easier for agencies to set up these apps should help boost adoption in the population at large, which is crucial if they are going to help break the chain of infections. However, it’s still not a panacea. These apps will only ever be part of the overall fight against covid-19, which still heavily relies on manual contact tracing, social distancing, and mass testing.

Zoom, video teleconferencing platform has made
a u-turn, to offer end-to-end encryption

Prasid Banerjee
Chief executive officer, Eric Yuan, had in an earnings call said the company does not plan to offer end-to-end encryption to free users as it wants to work with the law enforcement if someone uses its platform for illegal activities

But in a new announcement, the tech platform says it will provide end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to all its users, free and paid. The company said it will do so to to avoid abuse of its platform.

The move is a turn from what the company had said during its earnings call recently. Chief executive officer (CEO), Eric Yuan, had said the company does not plan to offer E2EE to free users as it wants to work with the law enforcement if someone uses its platform for illegal activities. The company faced criticism from both users and experts for the same.

According to Zoom, users on its free/basic plan who want E2EE access will have to participate in a one-time process that will ask for additional pieces of information. This includes verifying the user’s phone number through a text message. The company will also be implementing risk-based authentication “in combination with the current mix of tools” that includes a function to report users.

The early beta of its E2EE feature will begin next month, though Zoom didn’t announce the exact date for this right now. All users will continue getting access to the AES 256 GCM transport encryption by default on the platform, irrespective of whether they use E2EE or not. The primary difference with E2EE is that it stops man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, where a hacker places themselves between the user and the server, allowing them to eavesdrop on conversations. It also means Zoom itself cannot listen to conversations on its platform.

Further, Zoom says E2EE limits some meeting functionalities so it will remain an optional feature. Hosts will be able to toggle the feature on and off and account administrators in enterprises will also have the ability to enable and disable E2EE at the group account level. The statement concludes

Though 5G deployment kicked off in 2019, you’ll see even more 5G phones throughout this year and next. In the US it’s currently live in select cities for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and other regional carriers. The 5G networks for all four major carriers in the UK are live too.

Though it won’t replace 4G in its entirety, 5G is the next generation of mobile connectivity. 5G works super-fast and many industries will benefit from the new network, including the Internet of Things, drones and self-driving cars. Samsung, the most popular maker of 5G phones, has several under its belt including the Galaxy Note 20 phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G and the more budget-friendly Galaxy A71 5G.

Most people will likely experience the benefits of a robust 5G network only through a 5G phone. After all, the grand promises carriers and chipmakers are making with 5G coverage don’t mean much if you can’t access 5G service with your own device. To help you keep tabs on all the latest 5G phones and when we can expect more, here’s what the major phone-makers are offering

While staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic isn’t something we’d ordinarily want to do, a lot of us have found creative ways to curb the boredom by creating routines and finding joys in the little things that ordinarily brought us joy before now. So whether it’s trying out new recipes on that YouTube channel or baking banana bread, all of these are valid reasons to stay busy until we’re expected to go out.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve spent time watching shows and catching up on exciting films on the platform. Before the coronavirus, Netflix had made a move to launch officially in Nigeria. According to most pundits, this move is expected to translate to the onboarding of more Nigerian content on the platform. All of this is strategic, seeing as Netflix recently rolled out two African original series – Queen Sono and Blood and Water, both set in South Africa.

So TechTV Entertainment binge-watched all of the Nollywood films on Netflix and ranked the top ten:

10. The Figurine (2009)
In Kunle Afolayan’s film, two friends find a mystical sculpture that bestows good luck for seven years but has dark consequences in the years that follow. This film is refreshing and offers a breath-taking feel of a very traditional story from a more modern lens. It features the likes of Ramsey Noauh, Omoni Oboli and Funlola Aofiyebi.

9. October 1st (2014)
Nigerian Eye
Again, Kunle Afolayan’s October 1st has been called many things, including a “masterstroke for Nollywood” by Pulse Nigeria and indeed, there’s an element of truth in it. The film, set in 1960, tells the story of a Nigerian police detective dispatched to investigate the murders of women in a small community. It stars veteran actor Sadiq Daba alongside Kehinde Bankole and a host of other stars.

8. Lionheart (2018)
Lionheart
Lionheart crossed off a few firsts in the Nollywood industry – it was the first original Nigerian film by Netflix, the first film to ever be submitted for an Academy Award and the first time that the ‘Julia Roberts of Nollywood’, Genevieve Nnaji, was behind the scenes as a director. Like Genevieve, Adaeze, the film’s lead, is looking to prove her worth and steps up to the task when met with not-so-pleasant scenarios.

7. The Wedding Party (2016)
It is not a reach to say that the Wedding Party ushered a new audience of Nigerian cinemagoers. Till today, the film holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all-time. Directed by Kemi Adetiba, this film gives you a look into everything that is the typical Nigerian wedding, offering you humour and colourful scenes to go.

6. Phone Swap (2012)
Kunle Afolayan’s 2012 film that was originally meant to be an advertising concept is definitely on this list. This film tells the tale of two people from different walks of life who accidentally switch phones and tread in each other’s shoes. Phone Swap is fresh and exciting.

5. King of Boys (2018)
Eniola Salami, a businesswoman and philanthropist with a checkered past is drawn into a power struggle that threatens everything she holds dear. She has to fight and prove herself to be the king of boys in a Kemi Adetiba classic that lasts for about three hours. King of Boys features Sola Sobowale and Adesua-Etomi Wellington, reuniting off their Wedding Party chemistry, as well as stars like Toni Tones, Jide Kosoko and Reminisce.

4. 93 Days (2016)
When the deadliest infectious disease, Ebola, known to man arrives in Lagos, 21 million people are put on the edge. 93 Days chronicles the events surrounding the importation and defeat of the virus, and, in a way, pays tribute to Dr Stella Adadevoh. The film was directed by Steve Gukas and features Bimbo Akintola, Somkele Iyamah and Bimbo Manuel.

3. Isoken (2017)
Isoken
Jadesola Osiberu’s debut is a typical story of most Nigerian women – has a good l…
[15:55, 9/12/2020] Don 2: Galaxy Backbone Explains Role in NICTIB Phase II Loan to Nigeria

Galaxy Backbone has clarified its role in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project as technology implementation agency of the federal government.

This is coming against the backdrop of recent reports carried by some media organisations on the alleged discovery by the Federal House Of Representatives (HoR) Committee on Treaties, Protocols & Agreements on some identified clauses in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project which, according to the report, could threaten the sovereignty of our country Nigeria.

In a press statement, Galaxy backbone noted that the said report is not only mis-leading to the reading public but was never a true reflection of the deliberations in the session that Galaxy Backbone had with the Committee on Treaties, Protocol and Agreements.

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) stated that NICTIB Phase II project is a sovereign loan of National scope and for National Infrastructural development in the area of ICT National Broadband between the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning) and China Exim Bank, representing the Republic of China.

According to the statement, “Galaxy Backbone is only an implementing agency under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to oversee the full implementation of the project.

“It is important to note that NICTIB Phase II project is one of the projects in the National Borrowing Plan recently approved by the National Assembly and is yet to commence. It is therefore unlikely and out of place to have insinuation that the National Assembly will raise such allegations.

“Nigeria’s Federal House Of Representatives has through its Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, which is currently reviewing the nation’s loan agreements with nations across the world, on the 28th of July, invited the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy (Supervisors of Galaxy Backbone, the implementing agency) to discuss the loan agreements in respect of NICTIB phase II and its project implementation.”

The statement added: “in the about 30 minutes engagement between Galaxy Backbone and the House Committee members, the issue of clauses in loan agreement and their potential implications for the Nigerian sovereignty never came up for discussion. The Committee requested for and received updates on the loan bothering on amount involved, maturity date and counterpart funding.

“The attributable loan agreement on NICTIB Phase II, like any other sovereign loan is packaged by relevant and capable legal authorities/institutions of Nigeria which, definitely isn’t Galaxy Backbone.

“Galaxy Backbone as the technology implementing agency of NICTIB Phase II loan and Nigeria ICT Broadband facilitator for National development is committed to the full implementation of the NICTIB phase II project which at its completion, will deepen the Broadband penetration in Nigeria and improve the Internet and Network Communications experience of not just agencies of government, but of the entire nation

Worldwide spending on artificial intelligence (AI) is forecast to double over the coming for years to hit $110 billion by 2024, according to new data from IDC.

The figure, which comes from the analyst firm’s latest Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide, calculates a CAGR of 20.1% as adopting AI becomes a ‘must’ in the enterprise.

In particular, companies will utilise AI to deliver a better customer experience, as well as help employees to become better at their jobs. Automated customer service agents, sales process recommendation and automation, as well as automated threat intelligence and prevention, are the primary use cases outlined by IDC.

Retail and banking are the two industries most likely to splurge in the coming years. The former, unsurprisingly, will focus more on customer experience, while the latter will invest on fraud analysis and investigation, as well as program advisors and recommendation systems.

Other industries have hit something of a proverbial wall, primarily as a result of Covid-19. Transportation, as well as the services industry – including leisure and hospitality – have already struggled with the pandemic. Naturally, IDC argued, AI investments will be on the back burner here in 2020. Yet the pandemic has seen some innovation; the research specifically noted hospitals who were using AI to speed up Covid-19 diagnosis and testing.

“Companies will adopt AI – not just because they can, but because they must,” said Ritu Jyoti, program vice president for artificial intelligence at IDC. “AI is the technology that will help businesses to be agile, innovate, and scale. The companies that become ‘AI powered’ will have the ability to synthesise information, the capacity to learn, and the capability to deliver insights at scale.”

In other words, leading organisations will be able to use AI to convert data into information and insights, understand those relationships and apply those insights to business problems, and then support decisions and bring through automation

Italy’s national broadcaster Rai appears to be looking at in buying into the country’s single high-speed network, and there is interest from the private sector too.

Rai’s board is due to meet later this week to discuss the possibility of taking part in the single network plan, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The paper claims the state-owned broadcaster’s directors will give the nod to chief executive Fabrizio Salini to make contact with the relevant parties to talk about Rai gaining a seat at the AccessCo table.

AccessCo is the name given to the proposed single network in Italy that will bring together the fixed access network assets of incumbent telco TIM, dubbed FiberCorp, with the rival fibre network Open Fiber, rolled out by state-owned players Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The plan has been under discussion for a number of years, with the issue of control of the entity proving a particular hot potato, but last week TIM gave the go-ahead to an arrangement that will see it own at least 50.1% of the venture but share governance with the other players.

In preparation for the creation of the joint network, TIM has agreed to sell a stake in FiberCorp, an entity that will house its FTTx business and its FlashFiber joint venture with rival Fastweb, to KKR. The private equity firm will pay €1.8 billion for a 37.5% holding, leaving TIM and Fastweb with 58% and 4.5% respectively.

Rai’s first port of call to get in on the act will be talks with CDP, Il Sole 24 Ore reports, which has been a crucial player in negotiating the various facets of the deal so far. As 50% owner of Open Fiber and also a TIM shareholder – it holds just under 10% of the telco – CDP has a foot in both camps.

However, utility company Enel is perhaps the most likely to sell shares. Having once insisted that it would not sell out of Open Fiber, Enel has recently been linked with Australia’s Macquarie, although it has made no formal comment on that score.

You could view Rai’s interest as a further shoring up of the state’s position in the new network, but it makes more sense to look at it from a business point of view, especially in light of the fact that commercial broadcaster Mediaset has also put itself forward as a potential AccessCo participant in recent days.

Rai and Mediaset could look to capitalise on a recent European Court of Justice ruling that essentially overturns an Italian law preventing firms from holding shares in both telecoms and media companies. That ruling was in favour of Vivendi, which has been at loggerheads with Mediaset over its participation in shareholder meetings; Vivendi holds a 28.8% stake in Mediaset (but just 9.98% of its voting rights), as well as being TIM’s largest single shareholder with just under 24%.

In an age in which telcos are increasingly encroaching on the content and media space, rolling out their own TV offerings and snapping up premium content rights, it is hardly surprising that the TV giants are keen to hit back and grab a piece of the fibre action. Or, it could simply be a case of wanting to capitalise on the strong investment potential that network assets offer.

Either way, we could soon the Italian telecoms and media landscape become a whole lot more complicated than it is now. And that’s saying something

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns have been targeted, Microsoft says
Hackers with ties to Russia, China and Iran are attempting to snoop on people and groups involved with the US 2020 presidential election, Microsoft says.

The Russian hackers who breached the 2016 Democratic campaign are again involved, said the US tech firm.

Microsoft said it was “clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts” targeting the election.

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns are in the cyber-raiders’ sights.

Russian hackers from the Strontium group have targeted more than 200 organisations, many of which are linked to US political parties – both Republicans and Democrats, Microsoft said in a statement.

The digital services in the country have contributed over 45% to the gross domestic product [GDP]. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, made this known recently while reacting to the second quarter GDP statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS]. Dr. Pantami said the contributions of digital services were not factored into the figure released by NBS.

The NBS recently released 17.83 per cent as the contributions of ICT. But Dr Pantami said the ICT has been the enabler of every other sector as the public and private sectors now rely on digital services to achieve their goals. He added that if digital services were factored into the GDP computing, the digital services alone would be contributing over 45 per cent. “The 17.83 per cent GDP contribution for ICT was just for ICT as a standalone sector, this did not include the digital services. The digital economy sector could be more than 45 per cent. The sector is the key enabler of other sectors.

“For instance, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has gone digital to improve their tax collections; the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has also gone digital to improve their revenue collections, and likewise businesses in all other sectors. “This is impossible without technology and with that, digital services are contributing beyond 45 per cent to the GDP,” he said. Dr Pantami said the main challenge confronting the ICT sector is the higher importation against locally produced technology.

“We must increase the percentage of what we produce, we cannot continue to be a consuming nation. In the next few years, we must significantly reduce the percentage of importation, we must come up with policy strategies to achieve this,” he said. The Minister advised corporate organisations in the country to embrace the use of local technologies. “As organisations, let us embrace indigenous solutions, it might give us challenges, this is how other nations developed. Let us give priority to what we produce in Nigeria,” he advised.

Earlier, the Minister had described the Q2 ICT contribution to the GDP as unprecedented. According to him, “the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP is a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. “The strategic policy directions of the Federal Government include the inclusion of Digital Economy in the mandate of the Ministry, the unveiling and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan, amongst others.

“As of July 2020, the broadband penetration in the country was 42.02 per cent, translating to a percentage increase of almost double digits in less than 1 year. This is another remarkable achievement. “The unprecedented contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP can also be attributed to dynamic and results-oriented leadership which has been acknowledged and appreciated by a wide spectrum of the stakeholders in the sector.” Pantami added that the support of President Buhari has contributed immensely to the impressive developments in the sector.

NBS in the second quarter’s statistics had noted that the non-oil sector contributed 91.07 per cent to the nation’s GDP in Q2 2020 as opposed to the 8.93 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector. “It is worthy of note that the ICT sector contributed 17.83 per cent to the total real GDP in Q2 2020, 20.54 per cent higher than its contribution a year earlier and in the preceding quarter, in which it accounted for 14.07,” the NBS stated.

NBS said, “Nigeria’s GDP decreased by –6.10 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, largely attributable to significantly lower levels of both domestic and international economic activity during the quarter, which resulted from nationwide shutdown efforts aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.”