AnswerRocket redefines research in era of AI

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 20, 2026 by itnerd

Basis Global today announced a strategic partnership with AnswerRocket, an enterprise AI solutions consultancy, to redesign how market research insights are created and delivered to clients. Most AI adoption in research has optimized for efficiency rather than better outcomes, producing faster surveys, quicker summaries, and dashboards that still leave teams debating what to trust and what to leave out. For years, the industry has treated the tradeoff between depth, speed, and practicality as inevitable. This partnership takes a different approach: rethinking how market research could be improved using AI, so that tradeoff no longer holds.

First Initiative: A New Researcher + AI Approach for Brand Tracking

The partnership’s first initiative introduces a new Researcher + AI approach to brand tracking at Basis Global. Brand tracking datasets have grown so large and complex that no research team could realistically explore every dimension of the data manually. AI makes it possible to systematically analyze the full dataset, testing hundreds of hypotheses across markets, audiences, and time periods to uncover patterns that would otherwise go undetected. Researchers remain at the center of the process, designing the research framework and translating those findings into clear strategic guidance. Basis calls this combination of AI-powered scale and human judgment Integrated Intelligence. The approach also lays the foundation for a connected data ecosystem combining survey, social, and search signals to create a more complete view of brand performance.

For clients, the difference shows up in the work itself. Guided by the researcher, the AI develops a comprehensive analysis plan and systematically evaluates the data, with each insight verified against the evidence for accuracy. What clients receive is a more complete understanding of their brand, backed by traceable data, and delivered as actionable guidance from senior researchers who know their business.

An Innovation Roadmap Shaped by Industry Needs

Brand tracking is the first application in the partnership’s innovation roadmap. Basis Global and AnswerRocket will convene client roundtables bringing together research and insights leaders to examine where AI is creating real value, where skepticism remains, and what the industry needs next. For participants, that means a curated peer group, early access to innovations before they go to market, and a direct voice in the partnership’s development priorities.

To learn more about the partnership, visit https://basisglobal.co/news-and-awards/basis-answerrocket-partnership.

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TELUS unveils the world’s first smart home AI assistant with Generative UI

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 20, 2026 by itnerd

TELUS has launched the world’s first smart home AI assistant with Generative UI, rolling out to SmartHome+ customers over the coming weeks. The TELUS SmartHome Assistant processes voice, images, sensor feeds and videos in real time to dynamically create a personalized interface based on user needs. It addresses the smart home industry’s biggest challenge — a fragmented user experience across disparate devices and apps from various brands. Rather than toggling between different apps, the TELUS SmartHome Assistant provides one intuitive interface that truly understands and responds to the user and the entire connected home. TELUS is making it possible to unify more than 2,000 device models, including many of the biggest brands, into a single intelligent interface that makes the connected home experience even better.

The TELUS SmartHome Assistant is evolving in real time as more connected devices are added and it continuously improves its own performance based on experience. If you ask it to disable the TV during homework time, it won’t just tell you it did, it will build the automation UI visually, so you can edit and confirm the new routine with just a few taps. Take a photo of a device that isn’t working and get an instant troubleshooting guide. Ask it if your dog walker showed up on schedule and it checks your cameras to tell you when they arrived and shows you a clip of them leaving the driveway. Rush out the door to get to work, and ask it to turn off the lights, make sure the iron’s unplugged, set the thermostat to eco mode, and lock the front door — then get it to create a routine, so you can set it and forget it. By understanding multiple types of input, the assistant can provide tailored solutions, with a dynamic interface, in real time.

Since launching SmartHome+ in late 2024, TELUS has rapidly expanded the platform with industry-leading innovations, including Automation, Video, SmartEnergy, and now its AI-powered assistant, the TELUS SmartHome Assistant — all accessible through the TELUS SmartHome+ app.

TELUS SmartHome Assistant is available now to all Canadians, and new subscribers to SmartHome+ can save up to $125 on smart devices and 50 per cent off professional installation when they sign up and stay subscribed for 24 months, making it more affordable than ever to transform a residence into an intelligent, cohesive and connected home.

For more information about SmartHome+ and to subscribe to any or all of the Automation, SmartHome+ Video and SmartEnergy subscriptions, visit telus.com/SmartHomePlus.

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Freedom Mobile Appears To Have Been Pwned AGAIN

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 20, 2026 by itnerd

As frequent readers of this blog might be aware, I am a Freedom Mobile customer. Their pricing and amazing roaming options are what attracted me to the carrier. But I have to admit that I am now rethinking my life choices as based on this Reddit thread as some Freedom Mobile customers are getting an email that says that between January 12 and 18, 2026 the telco got pwned and the following data was swiped:

  • First and last name
  • Home address
  • Email address
  • Date of birth
  • Phone numbers (home and/or cell)
  • Freedom Mobile account number

This was further backed up by this post on the Freedom Mobile website that showed up on March 18th. And based on the data that was swiped, highly targeted phishing attacks are likely on the horizon for Freedom Mobile customers. Something that I should point out is that only Freedom Mobile customers who have been affected got an email. But you should not assume that if you are a Freedom Mobile customer and you didn’t get an email that you are in the clear.

For those keeping score at home, this is the third time that Freedom Mobile has been pwned. They have been pwned in December 2025, and they were pwned in 2019. Thus proving that what I said about how substandard their security is was accurate. Freedom Mobile honestly needs to justify why their customers should continue to be their customers because this telco clearly has a problem that they can’t or won’t fix. So Freedom, are you going to do that and detail how you are going to ensure that there is not a fourth go round of getting pwned? Or are you going to simply stay silent and hope that this simply goes away? I’ll be watching to see which route you take. And so will your customers. Choose which path you take wisely.

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Apple Warns iPhone Users To Stop Running Older Versions Of iOS

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

If you’re running an older version of iOS, you may want to update to the most recent version of iOS that your device supports ASAP. I say that because in a support document Apple is telling people to update to the latest version of iOS that is available for your device to protect yourself from exploit kits that are effective against older versions of iOS, like this exploit kit. This is the advice that Apple is offering:

If your iPhone has an older version of iOS, update to protect your data:

  • Devices with the latest, updated versions of iOS 15 through iOS 26 are already protected. If you have not updated your software recently, update iOS on your iPhone.
  • We released a software update for iOS 15 and iOS 16 on March 11, 2026, to extend protection to older devices that cannot update to the latest version of iOS.
  • Devices with iOS 13 or iOS 14 must update to iOS 15 to receive these protections and will receive an additional alert to install a Critical Security Update in the next few days.
  • Apple Safe Browsing in Safari is on by default and blocks the malicious URL domains identified in these attacks.

Note: Users who are unable to update their device can consider enabling Lockdown Mode (if available) to protect against malicious web content and other threats.

Apple normally doesn’t put out statements like this, so I would take this very seriously and take action ASAP. Because it is highly likely that the exploits that Apple is warning you about are widespread. Which makes them a today problem.

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FBI seizes Handala data leak site after Stryker cyberattack

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

You might recall that a med tech company named Stryker got pwned in epic fashion by Iran based threat actors. Click here if you need to get the details on that. Now there’s news that the FBI has seized two websites used by the threat actors behind this attack who are known as Handala:

As of Thursday, the contents of a website where Handala publicized its hacks, as well as another website that the group used to dox dozens of people over their alleged ties to the Israeli military and defense contractors, such as Elbit Systems and NSO Group, were replaced by a banner announcing the law enforcement action. 

The seizure announcement did not say why the FBI and the Justice Department took down the websites. But the language in them appears to indicate U.S. authorities believed these sites were run by hackers linked to a foreign government.

“Law enforcement authorities determined this domain was used to conduct, facilitate, or support malicious cyber activities on behalf of, or in coordination with, a foreign state actor,” read the seizure announcement. “The United States Government has taken control of this domain to disrupt ongoing malicious cyber operations and prevent further exploitation.”

Brian Bell, CEO of FusionAuth, has provided the following commentary: 

“The Stryker attack demonstrates that authentication and authorization are not the same thing. Attackers didn’t need to break in. They walked through the front door with compromised credentials. The missing safeguard is contextual: organizations need systems that can recognize when a privileged action is anomalous and require additional verification at that moment, not just at login. Risk-based, step-up authentication is a necessary architectural layer for organizations managing sensitive infrastructure, not just a ‘nice-to-have.’ The FBI’s seizure of Handala’s infrastructure is welcome – but the next group will find a new front door. The architectural fix has to happen on the defender’s side.”

I applaud this. Actions like this won’t stop these groups, but it will make their lives a bit more miserable. But it would be better if organizations defended themselves so things do not escalate to this level.

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Unit 42 Analyzes The Use of AI in Malware

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

While less sophisticated attackers are using LLMs to help write functional malware, we’re still seeing attackers having challenges deploying local models to a target environment or embedding into a malware sample for local decision making. This research analyzes two samples of malware leveraging AI for remote decision making: 

  1. AI Theater: An Infostealer’s Illusory LLM Features: A trio of highly similar .NET information stealer samples that incorporate the OpenAI GPT-3.5-Turbo model via HTTP API. We will explore the implementation and assess the practical impact of its AI integration.
  2. AI-Gated Execution: Malware Dropper’s LLM-Based Environment Assessment: A malware dropper written in Golang that leverages an LLM to evaluate a system and provide a decision on whether to proceed with an infection. The sample was initially highlighted on X as a dropper for Sliver malware.

Some key takeaways:  

  • The current state of AI in malware is characterized by experimentation and uneven integration, but the potential for AI to aid in malware creation highlights a concerning issue of lowering the barrier to entry for less-skilled threat actors. 
  • Unit 42 anticipates a future where AI plays a greater role in both malware creation and execution. As local model deployment becomes more feasible, we may see malware samples with embedded AI capabilities (especially code generation) that can more dynamically adapt to their environment, evade detection and optimize malicious activities in real-time.
  • The rise of AI-assisted malware could manifest in the form of increased feature cadence and reliability. It will be crucial to monitor these advancements and develop defenses that can effectively counter an evolving AI-driven threat landscape.

You can read the research here: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/ai-use-in-malware

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Ricoh and Brother join forces to offer expanded print portfolio in Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

Ricoh Canada and Brother International Corporation-Canada today announced that the companies have entered into a strategic alliance in Canada, building on an existing partnership in the U.S. to provide a comprehensive portfolio of complementary print solutions.  

Empowering print modernization for Canadian businesses

Under this joint agreement, Ricoh will offer the Brother Exclusive Series to expand its portfolio of A4 office print solutions. With Ricoh’s robust, solutions-oriented A4 imaging devices complemented by Brother’s cost-effective, multi- and single-function desktop printers, businesses will now have access to a unified and complete portfolio of print solutions from Ricoh, with more options to modernize print infrastructures and enhance workflows in hybrid and distributed work environments.

Why hybrid work requires a broader A4 strategy

According to a Robert Half survey, 53% of employers in Canada offer hybrid work options to those in leadership roles, with an additional third of employers offering hybrid options to all regular employees regardless of seniority. Driven by the rise of hybrid and remote work, businesses need more compact print devices in decentralized setups. Ricoh will add the full Brother Exclusive Series lineup, https://www.brother-usa.com/business/printers/brother-workhorse-seriesincluding models such as the Brother MFC-L6915DW and Brother HL-L6415DW, to complement and expand its A4 portfolio, which includes award winning models like the RICOH IM C320F and RICOH P C375.  

More options to support diverse workplace needs

With the Brother Exclusive Series now part of its A4 print portfolio, Ricoh will create more opportunities for businesses of all sizes to acquire affordable, high-quality imaging devices that seamlessly integrate with digital workflows and offer secure, mobile and cloud print solutions to accommodate flexible workplaces. The expanded portfolio adds new, increased options for document-intensive work environments, such as healthcare, legal, financial, and retail organizations, to manage their complete print infrastructure through a single vendor, using a common print management platform — RICOH Streamline NX — that is being adapted to support Brother devices.

To learn more about Ricoh’s print solutions, click here.

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Secure.com Analyzes How To Design Security Workflows Humans Don’t Hate

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

Dubai-based Secure.com has just published – “Designing Security Workflows Humans Don’t Hate” based on input from organizations across more than 30 countries. 

CEO Uzair Gadit advocates for human-first security workflows, designed around how people actually work, not how tools were built. The human-first approach surfaces what is relevant, removes friction from the right actions, and puts human judgment where it is needed most, instead of everywhere.

He said: “Most security workflows treat people like machines. They expect analysts to process hundreds of alerts, jump between tools, and make fast decisions under pressure all day, every day. Over 70% of SOC professionals say they have considered quitting due to stress and unmanageable alert volumes. That isn’t  a sign of weak teams. It’s a sign of broken workflows.”

The brief analysis examines:

  • Why most security workflows drive people away, amplifying rather than reducing risk;
  • Elements of human-first security design; and
  • Human-in-the-loop versus automation – where it works, where it doesn’t.

You can read the analysis here: https://www.secure.com/blog/human-centered-security-workflows

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Teleport Launches Beams, Trusted Agent Runtimes For Infrastructure

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

Teleport today announced Beams, a trusted runtime designed to solve the security and IAM challenges blocking teams from designing and running AI agents in production infrastructure. Beams runs each agent in an isolated Firecracker VM with built-in identity. Each Beam is connected to infrastructure and inference services without secrets, with audit and access control.

Beams addresses a key challenge engineers face when designing agentic workflows for infrastructure. Engineers want to develop, test and deploy agents, but they need to do this in a secure environment. Today, launching agents means stitching together IAM, infrastructure, and secrets by hand — with no consistent identity, no visibility into agent actions, and every team building its own container or VM workflows from scratch. Beams eliminates that operational drag by providing ephemeral, isolated environments that are fast to start, locked down, and wired into Teleport’s identity and audit trails.

Each Beam runs in a Firecracker VM with full file system and networking isolation. Beams inherit delegated identity so they can authenticate to registered services and inference endpoints without using secrets, with fine-grained networking control over external and internal services. Every action is audited, giving teams full visibility into what agents access and when.

Beams are built for a range of agentic use cases — from internal agents that need access to production services, to agentic ephemeral workflows where developers build against staging without exposing secrets, to multi-agent production pipelines requiring hardened, reproducible isolation.Beams will launch as an MVP on April 30, 2026. Engineers interested in early access can register at https://www.beams.run.

Teleport will demonstrate Beams at both RSAC (Booth S-3111) and KubeCon (Booth 840) during the week of March 23.

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AI Fraud Now Moves at Machine Speed — Can Enterprise Defenses Keep Up?

Posted in Commentary on March 19, 2026 by itnerd

Fraud has quietly entered a new era—and most organizations are still defending themselves at human speed.

Daon, a leading provider of digital identity solutions that help businesses verify, authenticate, and secure customer identities through biometric and multi-factor authentication, published a new analysis showing how AI‑driven fraud is no longer just faster; it’s fully autonomous. 

Attackers are now using AI agents that can jailbreak commercial models, write custom exploits, harvest credentials, and breach systems with minimal human oversight. In one recent case, attackers used a jailbroken Claude Code instance to infiltrate four global organizations—scanning networks, identifying high‑privilege accounts, creating backdoors, and exfiltrating data almost entirely on its own.

The report outlines a stark shift:
AI has collapsed the entire attack lifecycle—reconnaissance, exploitation, credential harvesting, and persistence—into a single automated workflow. Human defenders simply can’t match that velocity.

Key points to note:

  • AI fraud now operates at machine speed. Stanford’s ARTEMIS agent outperformed human penetration testers while running parallel attack paths and spawning sub‑agents to investigate vulnerabilities in the background.
  • Sophistication without expertise. Amateur attackers can now deploy professional‑grade exploits—AI writes the code for them.
  • Deepfake voice and video attacks are exploding. With as little as 10 seconds of audio, attackers can impersonate executives in real time.
  • Fraud infrastructure is now AI‑generated. Fake crypto wallets, banking portals, and password managers are being spun up and SEO‑optimized automatically.
  • Credential exploitation is now systematic, not opportunistic. AI tests thousands of leaked credentials across services simultaneously and maps privilege‑escalation paths autonomously.
  • Regulation is lagging. Even the new AI Scam Prevention Act doesn’t address the technical realities of AI‑driven fraud.

If attackers are using AI to automate and accelerate fraud, the only viable defense is AI‑powered identity verification and real‑time authentication that can match attacker velocity. Daon argues that the future of fraud prevention hinges on continuous, AI‑driven identity assurance—not static credentials or rules‑based systems.

You can read the analysis here: How Fraudsters Use AI to Get Ahead – Daon

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