Archive for December 15, 2020

BREAKING: Gmail Is Having Some Sort Of Catastrophic Failure

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

If you’re trying to send an email to a Gmail account, you are likely getting this error message:

550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.”

This is to a valid Gmail address that I have been sending email to for years.

I have seen this since early this evening and Google confirms this on its services dashboard, writing at 1:30 PM Pacific that they’re impacting a “significant” number of users. But they also claim that the issues are resolved. However, I’m not seeing that as I still can’t send emails to Gmail users. So maybe Google is as premature as a virgin by declaring this as fixed. I’ll continue to watch this and update accordingly.

UPDATE: Gmail seems to be working as per this Tweet from Proton Mail:

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Hyper Scape Coming To Epic Games Store On Thursday, December 17

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

Today, Ubisoft® announced that Hyper Scape will release on Epic Games Store on Thursday, December 17th. In addition, console crossplay is now available alongside Hyper Scape’s Winter Festival. Along with these major updates, new improvements have been made to the Team Deathmatch Mode (Beta)  that was recently added to Hyper Scape, but also to combat, Arcadium free roam mode, and the marketplace as part of the Title Update that released December 10th. Additional details on Title Update 3 can be found here.

CONSOLE CROSSPLAY

Console crossplay is now available for Hyper Scape, allowing matchmaking between PlayStation and Xbox players across all modes of Hyper Scape, including Crown Rush Battle Royale modes and Team Deathmatch. This includes players on both current and next-gen consoles. PC players will be able to party up with console friends in the same squad, in this case the full squad will be placed in the PC matchmaking pool.

EPIC GAMES STORE

Hyper Scape will be available on the Epic Games Store starting December 17th. PC players will now be able to download, install and play Hyper Scape for free on both Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store.

WINTER FESTIVAL

Winter is coming in the Hyper Scape from December 15th to December 29th! Discover a snow-covered Neo-Arcadia and brand new festive cosmetics to partake in the holiday celebrations.

TEAM DEATHMATCH (BETA)

Following a first release on November 18th, improvements have been made to the Team Deathmatch Beta in the December 10th Title Update:

  • Random Map Rotation: Random map rotation available to feature three Team Deathmatch maps (The Foundry, Hillside, Bus Depot)
  • New Score Cap: Kill cap for a match has been increased to 50, and max match length extended to 12 minutes
  • Activated Challenges: Standard challenges are now enabled in Team Deathmatch

For more information about Hyper Scape, please visit: hyperscape.com

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Limbitless Solutions Announces New Bionic Arm In Association With Ubisoft

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

Today, Limbitless Solutions announced that beginning in 2021, recipients of 3D-printed prosthetic arms from UCF’s Limbitless Solutions get to choose new bionic designs from the world of Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey. Kassandra, a main character in the universe, is an elite warrior whose resilience and strength enabled her to change the world and Ubisoft and Limbitless Solutions hope the detailed and expressive design will inspire bionic kids and adults to discover their inner strength – just like the Spartan heroine.

Since its founding, Limbitless Solutions’ artistic designs for the bionic arms have been a key focus. In 2019 the first of its kind clinical trials featured unique interchangeable expressive arm designs. When the opportunity arose for a collaboration between Limbitless Solutions and Ubisoft on a new design to empower the users of the bionic arms, the team was excited to bring the design to life.

Developed by Ubisoft Quebec in association with eight other Ubisoft studios, Assassins Creed Odyssey takes players on a heroic voyage through Ancient Greece amidst the Peloponnesian War. 

The unique arm design customization portal allows Limbitless Solutions’ participants to express personal style by selecting different designs and color treatments for unique designs. Each participant received two customized designs when receiving their bionic arm. Different zones on the arm can be uniquely selected for more detailed personalization.

For more information about the Assassin’s Creed collaboration and Limbitless Solutions, please visit https://limbitless-solutions.org.

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Microsoft Class Action Settlement Is Available In Canada….. This Is Not A Joke

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

An unexpected new National Class Action Settlement has been announced. From a consumer standpoint, it is the single largest class action in the history of Canada. Naturally, many are questioning if this is indeed a legitimate campaign. The answer is a resounding yes after doing some research on this.

Here’s the deal.

As part of a nation-wide legal settlement, Microsoft has agreed to reimburse Canadians for their old PC software. If you bought PC versions of eligible Microsoft software, like Windows, Office, Word, Excel, or MS-DOS between 1998 and 2010, you should be eligible for compensation. You could receive up to $250 in cash for individual licences or up to $650 in vouchers for Volume Licences, without proof of purchase. All you need to do is fill out the online claim form and attest it to be true.

Microsoft denies any wrong-doing and has not admitted liability.

Canadians are invited to visit www.ThatSuiteMoney.ca to see if they meet the criteria for eligibility. If they do, a claim must be submitted by September 23, 2021.

UPDATE: Some people asked for some more detail. So here it is. The class-action lawsuit alleged that Microsoft and Microsoft Canada were involved in a conspiracy to illegally increase prices for the company’s products. Microsoft agreed to the settlement but denies any wrongdoing and has not admitted liability.

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Guest Post: Atlas VPN Highlights That The Global Cybersecurity Industry Faces A Workforce Gap Of 3.12 Million

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

More than half of the world’s population is connected to the internet. Countless new companies pop up every day that use the power of the web to sell their goods and services. 

In response, cybercrime is also at an all-time high, bringing the need for cybersecurity professionals. Unfortunately, the supply of skilled workers did not keep up with the demand.

The Atlas VPN team found that the global cybersecurity workforce gap hit 3.12 million in 2020.

Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN, shares her thoughts on the gap in the cybersecurity workforce:

“The data reveals that it is necessary to incentivize people to take up cybersecurity as their career. Without sufficient security coverage, organizations run the risk of falling victim to cybercrime.”

The number of vacancies in internet security varies widely by region. in internet security varies widely by region. Over 2.04 million job offers are available in the Asia-Pacific region, representing 66% of the total workforce shortage.

The biggest shortage is in the US

Let’s dissect the problem in more detail by analyzing which countries struggle most with information security vacancies. 

Even though the biggest workforce gap is in the Asia-Pacific region, most job vacancies are in none other than the US, with more than 359,000 jobs available. Not only that, but the US employs most cybersecurity professionals in this list, at 879,157. 

On the other side of the Rio Grande river, there is a need for 196,594 internet security professionals. Mexico also employs a significant number of online security experts, having 421,750 workers.

To read the full report, head over to:
https://atlasvpn.com/blog/global-cybersecurity-industry-faces-a-workforce-gap-of-3-12-million-in-2020

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TikTok Supports Community Well-Being With Refreshed Policies & Features

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

As the first vaccines get distributed in Canada, TikTok is fighting misinformation by adding commonly asked questions and answers about COVID-19 vaccines from public health experts to its in-app coronavirus resource hub. 

TikTok’s COVID-19 hub is accessible from the Discover page, search results, and banners on COVID-19 and vaccine-related videos and has been viewed over 2 billion times globally over the last six months.

In addition, TikTok is announcing refreshed Community Guidelines, along with resources and tools to support the well-being of the community. 

TikTok’s Community Guidelines play an essential role in their mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. They want everyone to feel comfortable and confident expressing themselves exactly as they are. This announcement highlights some of the policies that they have strengthened to better support the well-being of their community in areas like harassment, eating disorder content, and self-harm.

They are also announcing three new features to further support community well-being, including:

  • Updated resources to support people who may be struggling which they developed with guidance from leading behavioral psychologists and suicide prevention experts. Now, if someone searches for terms like “selfharm” or “hatemyself” they’ll see evidence-based actions they can take along with access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Crisis Textline for emergency support.
  • Opt-in viewing screens on top of videos that some may find graphic or distressing. These types of videos are already ineligible for recommendation into anyone’s For You feed, and this feature aims to further reduce unexpected viewing of such content by offering viewers the choice to skip the video or watch it.
  • Commonly asked questions and answers about COVID-19 vaccines from public health experts will be added to their in-app coronavirus resource hub. Their COVID-19 hub is accessible from their Discover page, search results, and banners on COVID-19 and vaccine-related videos and has been viewed over 2 billion times globally over the last six months.
  • Text-to-voice: TikTok continually works to make TikTok more accessible for everyone. They recently announced new tools to support people with photosensitive epilepsy, and They are starting to roll out a text-to-voice feature that allows people to convert typed text to voice that plays over text as it appears in a video. 

Keeping the TikTok community safe is a commitment with no finish line, and they hope these updates help people have a positive and meaningful TikTok experience.

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Digital Defense Joins Microsoft Intelligent Security Association

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

Digital Defense, Inc., a leader in vulnerability management and threat assessment solutions, today announced its membership in the Micrcosoft Intelligent Security Association(MISA) and technology integration between its Frontline Active Threat Sweep (Frontline ATS) and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. The combined solution increases Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s proven security coverage and efficacy beyond other endpoint detection and response solutions, offering comprehensive endpoint protection for joint clients.

MISA is an ecosystem of independent software vendors and managed security service providers that integrate their security products and solutions with Microsoft’s to better defend against a world of increasingly sophisticated, fast-moving threats.

Frontline ATS complements Defender for Endpoint capabilities by identifying passive or dormant attacks that leverage dwell time to evade traditional security monitoring solutions. As a result, users no longer have to wait for an indicator of compromise to determine that their systems are infected. With the combined capabilities, customers have one of the most proactive solutions for identifying compromised systems and enabling security teams to be even more proactive in preventing breaches.

Additional joint solution benefits include:

  • Better visibility and early detection of passive and active threats.
  • Enhanced threat detection by combining targeted active threat scanning with AI-based behavioral anomaly detection, malware signature and file analysis.
  • Rooting out of small passive attack artifacts that are extremely difficult to find and planted by attackers for infecting or even re-infecting assets.
  • Identification of out-of-date or disabled endpoint protections to quickly flag at-risk devices and prioritize investigation and remediation.
  • Immediate clean-up of infections before patching efforts can be implemented.
  • Proactive analysis of assets for indications of a malware infection before other agent-based security tools can be deployed.

For more information about the Digital Defense Frontline Active Threat Sweep and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint integration, visit: https://www.digitaldefense.com/partners/technology/frontline-ats-microsoft-defender-for-endpoint/ or the Microsoft AppSource: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/web-apps/digitaldefenseinc.ddi-frontline-ats-1-defender-atp?tab=Overview.

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81% Of Canadian Businesses Don’t Inform Website Visitors of Third-Party Tracking: Zoho

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 15, 2020 by itnerd

Data privacy and online surveillance transparency continue to be serious issues for Canadians. A newly released survey reveals that a vast majority of businesses in the country do not inform their website visitors of third-party tracking.

The November 2020 study – conducted by CRM Essentials and sponsored by Zoho – surveyed 429 Canadian business leaders and employees and found that only 19% of respondents inform their website visitors that they use third-party tracking codes.

The data being collected and leveraged by third-party tracking can include IP addresses, behavioural data, social activity, transactional data, feedback, application usage data, and even information about a user’s devices and browsers. While this data is most often used for the purposes of personalizing ads, other uses can include developing analytics about user behaviour, allowing social media sharing, and more.

Key survey findings:

  • Only 38% of Canadian businesses have a well-defined, documented policy for customer data privacy that is strictly applied.
  • Only 19% of respondents inform their website visitors that they use tracking codes from third-party companies. 
  • As many as 23% of Canadian businesses did not know that third parties can install code on their website without consent.
  • Only 11.8% of Canadian businesses are completely comfortable with how third parties use the data.
  • Only 21.6% of Canadian businesses say that third-party companies have done a good job of explaining what they use their customer data for.

The most common purposes that Canadian businesses allowed third parties to install code on their websites were:

  • Sharing content on social media (26.6%)
  • Gathering analytics on who is consuming content (23.1%)
  • Tracking advertising campaigns (21.4%)
  • Tracking affiliate relationships for transactions (15.2%)
  • Plugins to perform functions like SEO, security comment capture, and more (13.8%)

Canada Compared to the United States

Almost twice as many Canadian businesses surveyed (22.4% CDN vs. 11.4% U.S.) said that they were unaware that third parties could install coding on their website without their consent as compared to U.S. businesses. Additionally, American businesses are more than three times as likely (31.8% U.S. vs. 10% CDN) to be very comfortable with how third parties use their customers’ data.

Canada vs. the U.S highlights:

  • Canadian businesses are almost twice as likely not to be aware of third-party software they’ve deployed on their sites.
  • U.S. businesses are more than three times more likely to be very comfortable with their customer data being accessed by companies they do not have a direct relationship with.
  • U.S. businesses are more than twice as likely than their Canadian counterparts to spend at least 50% of their marketing budget on digital ad platforms. 
  • U.S. businesses are 88% more likely than Canadian businesses to say digital ad platforms are a primary factor in meeting company sales objectives.

Report Methodology

Conducted in November 2020 by CRM Essentials, LLC, this study surveyed 1,416 individuals across the United States and Canada. Participants of the study included a range of business leaders from manager roles to the C-level at small and large enterprises across a variety of industries.

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