Archive for February, 2021

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Software Update For Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 Now Available

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Widely used in corporations and higher education institutions, TeamConnect Ceiling 2 has become a leading microphone solution for conferencing audio in business and distance learning applications. Now Sennheiser is opening a new chapter for its ceiling microphone array. A free firmware update brings TeamConnect Ceiling 2 into the heart of a voice amplification system: TruVoicelift ensures clearly audible in-room audio for classrooms, lecture halls, and boardrooms, with many easily controllable features that make for a pleasant and clear listening experience.

A free update for clear in-room audio

For existing TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC2) implementations, users can now add the TruVoicelift functionality simply by installing the free firmware update (1.6.4) via the new version of the Sennheiser Control Cockpit app (4.3.0).

New users gain two solutions in one from the start and will be delighted by the ease of installation, freedom of movement and clear audio that TCC2 offers. Depending on the size and configuration of the room, additional TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphones can be installed as audience mics, thus creating a completely touchless microphone solution that reduces potential hygiene risks.

Clever features for an even better listening – and presentation – experience

TruVoicelift is powered by an advanced frequency shift algorithm that delivers a few crucial extra dB of gain – an enhancement that could make all the difference to perfectly hearing the lecturer or CEO. At the same time, TruVoicelift also includes a “feedback prevention mute” function – if levels should get too loud, TCC 2 briefly mutes to prevent any feedback. Speakers can therefore relax and focus on their presentation, knowing that TeamConnect Ceiling 2 will provide optimum audio for their audience.

During pauses in speaking, if a pre-defined audio threshold is not reached, a noise gate will be activated that mutes TeamConnect Ceiling 2 to prevent any background noise from being amplified.

All TruVoicelift settings can be conveniently controlled via the Sennheiser Control Cockpit app. The app also allows you to easily create “priority zones”, i.e. areas where audio is predominantly picked up. This is helpful for any set-ups where audio usually comes from a defined place, such as the front of a lecture hall. Also, you can define “advanced exclusion zones”, enabling you to target and exclude noise sources with pinpoint accuracy, such as air conditioning or ventilation equipment.

You can get the Sennheiser Control Cockpit update (4.3.0) here.

You can get the TeamConnect Ceiling 2 firmware update (1.6.4) here.

You can find out more about TruVoicelift here.

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Self-Sovereign Identity Solutions Provider Northern Block Selects Acuant For Identity Verification & Compliance

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Acuant, a leading global provider of identity verification solutions, today announced that Northern Block has seamlessly integrated its Identity Proofing and Compliance technology to offer their customers best-in-class Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and Verifiable Credential solutions. With Acuant solutions implemented, Northern Block customers have the confidence to accurately verify identities across all channels and provide a faster and more secure process for clients with high-value transaction requirements.

Northern Block helps companies acquire new customers with an improved onboarding experience that builds confidence and trust in the brand to increase the lifetime value of customers. Products including Acuant are easily integrated to existing systems in as little as one week, providing companies outstanding ROI.

Northern Block assessed multiple vendors to meet its fraud prevention and privacy expectations while offering a secure, user-centric experience. It selected Acuant due to the accuracy of its identity verification technology, the fact that their identity document library is composed of more than 6,000 ID types (covering more than 200 countries and territories), and critically, that Acuant does not store user data. Both companies share data privacy as a key imperative and are members of the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) which is committed to securing the future of digital identities for both consumers and businesses.

Acuant is a leading global provider of identity verification, regulatory compliance (AML/KYC) and digital identity solutions. Our Trusted Identity Platform is powered by AI and human assisted machine learning to deliver unparalleled results and operational efficiency. Omnichannel deployment delivers seamless customer experiences to fight fraud, increase conversions and establish trust in seconds. With leading partners in every major industry and completing more than 1billion transactions in over 200 countries and territories, Acuant is the leader in global coverage.

Northern Block is a leading global provider of self-sovereign identity, blockchain, verifiable IDs & documents and automated business workflow technology headquartered in Toronto, Canada. We work with visionary companies that want to implement transformative business processes using the above-mentioned technologies. Northern Block is active in the decentralized identity community, contributing to the Trust over IP Foundation, the Digital Identity and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) and the Digital Identity Lab of Canada.

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Toronto’s Top Super Bowl Ordering Trends On SkipTheDishes

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Super Bowl LV may look a little different this year but one thing we can count on—the snacks. SkipTheDishes is delivering from your favourite Toronto restaurants, going beyond the endzone and right to your door for the big game this Sunday.

To kick-off the celebration, SkipTheDishes tackled the data on Toronto-area ordering trends for last year’s Super Bowl. The huddle is real on these numbers:

  • There was an almost 15% increase in Toronto orders during Super Bowl 2020 compared to the week before…looks like Torontonians were in total feast mode for the game!
  • When we stack up the numbers on total burgers vs. wings ordered across the Skip network, it’s a dead heat—at just over 11,000 orders for each, this one is too close to call. We’ll leave it up to a coin toss for who wins this one! 
  • For game-day favourites, some of the most popular nacho orders across Canada included nachos grande, chili cheese and an honourable mention for nachos fries, while the MVP of wing flavours was the always-classic hot wings
  • Torontonians were wide-open for deliveries at game time with 64% of orders placed on Superbowl Sunday happening during the game! 
  • Toronto’s top three items during last year’s game were:
    • Chicken burgers
    • Wings
    • Chicken nuggets

Will this year’s deliveries break 2020’s record of kilometres travelled, or yards gained, for 2021 orders? SkipTheDishes be watching the data to find out!

To make this year’s game extra special, you’ll see SkipTheDishes on your TV’s throughout the pregame and throughout the game with their new Jon Hamm spot going live during the game.

And throughout COVID-19, SkipTheDishes has been hungry to help—that’s why they have given over $43 million million back to their restaurant partners and communities through commission rebates and order-driving initiatives across the country since March 2020. 

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Super Bowl LV Starts On TikTok

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Super Bowl Sunday will look different this year, but TikTok is making sure it’s still going to be a party! With the NFL, TikTok will host their first-ever #TikTokTailgate, a two hour, virtual pregame experience featuring a live performance by the one and only Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus).

The musical performances will take place in front of 7,500 vaccinated health care heroes the NFL invited to attend Super Bowl LV, but fans across the U.S. and Canada can join the party by tuning into @NFL on TikTok, starting at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT.

#TikTokTailgate will be hosted by Steve Harvey (@steveharvey) and MJ Acosta (@mjacostatv), the TikTok community can expect LIVE appearances from Rebel Wilson (@rebelwilsontiktok), Adam Devine, Kane Brown (@kanebrown), Ajani Huff (@ajani.huff), Dave Jorgenson (@washingtonpost), “TikTok’s most popular QB” Trace McSorley (@tracemcsorley), and more as they discuss their favorite tailgate food, who they think will win Super Bowl LV, and what the perfect touchdown celebration looks like. TikTok foodies and creators including our very own Canadian celebrity chef @mattymatheson, along with @chefcuso, @goodeatswithtati, and @acooknamedmatt will also share their best game day recipes so fans can recreate the tailgate dishes they’ve been craving.

The TikTok Tailgate will culminate in a LIVE concert from Grammy-nominated artist  Miley Cyrus, who will also be performing in front of 7,500 vaccinated health care heroes the NFL invited to attend Super Bowl LV in Tampa starting at 3:30PM ET/12:30PM PT.

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Trend Micro Highlights 4 Challenges Of Cloud Migration For Healthcare Organizations

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Trend Micro has found that healthcare organizations (HCOs) have accelerated their spending on cloud migration, but many may be over-estimating their ability to protect these environments.

Trend Micro commissioned Sapio Research to survey more than 2,500 IT decision makers in 28 countries, including Canada, across several industry sectors. For HCOs in particular, The results revealed that 88% have accelerated their cloud adoption because of the pandemic, on par with the global finding. Globally, remote working, cost savings and improved IT agility were three main reasons for the switch to cloud-based infrastructure.

According to the survey findings, rapid shifts to the cloud may leave organizations at higher risk of cyber threats. Here are four challenges HCOs in Canada are reportedly faced when moving to cloud-based environments:

  • Skills shortages: Half (49% vs. 43% globally) revealed that skills gaps are a persistent barrier to migrating to cloud security solutions.
  • Day-to-day operations: Setting and maintaining policies (32% vs. 34%), patching and vulnerability management (29% vs. 32%), and misconfigurations (35% vs 32%) were challenges of protecting cloud workloads.
  • Increased costs: 43% (same as global result) have spent more on capital expenses and paying for contracted out services, while 43% (vs. 39% globally) have spent more on operational and training costs since migrating.
  • Security responsibility: Over one-third (37% vs. 48%) are confident they understand their part of the Shared Responsibility Model.

While cloud migration isn’t simple, it can be enabled and improved using the right security tools.

The healthcare sector has been on the frontline in the struggle against COVID-19, and digital transformation can make a positive impact on productivity and patient care during this time of critical need. However, it is essential that the broader attack surface of an expanded digital infrastructure is given due consideration.

With the right cloud-ready solutions in place, HCOs can maximize cloud benefits without putting mission-critical systems or patient data at risk. Such tools can also minimize skills challenges by spotting misconfigurations, automating patching and policy management, and integrating security into DevOps, across both cloud and on-premise environments.

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Surprise! Clearview AI Broke Canadian Privacy Laws…. Not That They Care

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

Clearview AI is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. It has come to light in the last 24 hours that the company who is known for scraping social media for pictures so that it can use them to power its facial recognition tech for various law enforcement agencies has a product that is effectively illegal in Canada according to a joint investigation involving the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, and the Information Privacy Commissioner of Alberta. The report put out by this group is pretty damming and doesn’t paint Clearview AI in a positive light and the company really is giving Canada the metaphorical middle finger:

In disagreeing with our findings, Clearview alleged an absence of harms to individuals flowing from its activities. In our view, Clearview’s position fails to acknowledge: (i) the myriad of instances where false, or misapplied matches could result in reputational damage, and (ii) more fundamentally, the affront to individuals’ privacy rights and broad-based harm inflicted on all members of society, who find themselves under continual mass surveillance by Clearview based on its indiscriminate scraping and processing of their facial images.

In terms of remedies, noting that it had withdrawn from the Canadian market during our investigation, Clearview stated that it was “prepared to consider” remaining outside of the Canadian market for a further two years, while our Offices developed relevant guidance. Clearview suggested that it would be appropriate for our Offices to suspend our investigation and not issue this final report, and that during such a suspension, it “would be willing to take steps, on a best efforts and without prejudice basis, to try to limit the collection and distribution of the images that it is able to identify as Canadian” [emphasis added]. Clearview has not committed to following our recommendations. The Offices view it as inappropriate to suspend the investigation and not issue this Report. We therefore find the matter to be well-founded and restate the recommendations in our preliminary findings.

It’s nice to know that Canadian authorities aren’t willing to take Clearview AI’s bulls**t. Which is what this company is pedaling at this point based on their blog. It really seems that Clearview AI is going out of their way to defend their behavior. In fact that they use the age old technique of justifying it by claiming that they put the bad guys in jail and said bad guys would otherwise go free if it were not for their technology. To me that’s really lame. And they really need to address the fact that they have broken the law in Canada if they want to be seen as a good corporate citizen. Until then, Canadian authorities need to keep putting the pressure on Clearview AI to change it behavior. Especially since getting any photos that the company has of you out of their database is a challenge that the company appears to be unwilling to address.

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Cisco AppDynamics Delivers Industry-First Solution For Application-Led Security

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 4, 2021 by itnerd

AppDynamics, a part of Cisco and the world’s #1 APM solution and full-stack, business-centric observability platform, today announced Cisco Secure Application, the industry’s first solution to drastically simplify vulnerability management, defend against attacks and protect applications – from the inside-out. Co-innovated with the Cisco Security business, the world’s largest enterprise security company, this new solution correlates security and application insights through a single solution. Built natively into the AppDynamics platform, users benefit from reduced alert fatigue, real time threat detection, and automatic breach prevention. The result is businesses’ confidence in application performance without the fear of significant damage to brand reputation and customer trust.

Organizations are increasingly reliant on applications to engage with and deliver services to customers, which leads to huge volumes of personal user data being housed within the application. As a result, organizations face increased vulnerability to cyber threats and security incidents. This challenge is further exacerbated as they continue to support more employees working from home who are using laptops and devices connected to the public internet. This is testing the limits of monitoring practices and vastly expanding the IT perimeter, creating new weaknesses and vulnerabilities in even the most secure IT estates. Failure to have the right processes and solutions in place to safeguard data housedin applications not only puts brand reputation and consumer trust at risk, but also may cost organizations millions of dollars in the event of a breach.

With applications now running anywhere from on-premise to multi-cloud and cloud-native microservices, combined with accelerated innovation, the need for an application-led approach to security is paramount. This critical shift will enable technologists to identify vulnerabilities within the application during production, correlate vulnerabilities and breaches with business impact, and bring together Application and Security teams to facilitate speedy remediation.

With Secure Application, IT teams will no longer sacrifice security for velocity. Secure Application is the only solution that uniquely brings together business performance and security insights with zero friction​ to protect brands against slowdowns and exploits.

With Secure Application, enterprise IT teams will have access to:

  • Automatic runtime protection: Visibility into an application’s true behavior to easily detect attacks, identify deviations, and block attacks automatically.
  • Simplified vulnerability management: Access at the code level to detect dependency and configuration level security vulnerabilities in production.
  • Security insights informed by business impact: Security details correlated with the application topology to apply business relevance to security events and helps teams focus on the incidents that matter most.
  • Collaboration between Application and Security teams: Shared context for Application and Security teams for optimal collaboration, improved security posture, and healthy digital business.

AppDynamics with Cisco Secure Application is currently accessible through early availability. Learn more about Secure Application here.

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somm: An App That Elevates The Culinary Experience

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 3, 2021 by itnerd

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a strong test of the resilience of the hospitality and beverage alcohol sectors. 

As they continue to battle through the effects of the economic restrictions, the timing of the arrival of the innovative new app somm™ couldn’t be better. 

somm™ is the first of its kind B2B and B2C foodtech company that accurately automates food and beverage pairings for every situation, location and context. Starting with wine, the team is creating the world’s first intuitive virtual sommelier (thus the name somm™) for consumers, intuitive digital menus for hospitality partners and a logistics-free marketplace for everyone. 

Through AI and Machine Learning technology, sommTM solves known, common problems for consumers and the hospitality industry alike. somm™ takes the guesswork out of wine – no matter where its users may be – at home, a restaurant or a store. Even the LCBO. It’s user experience is simple and seamless, and its partnerships across the hospitality sector are designed to be accretive and complementary. 

Conceived in summer 2020, with its Toronto launch in December, the company closed its Angel financing round last year and is now embarking on its first institutional venture capital raise. Since incorporating the company only six months ago, the group has swiftly moved to establish relationships with some of Toronto’s most well known hospitality players including Ascari Group, Distillery Group, Happy, Pearl Morissette, Cave Springs and Boxcar Social, among others.  

somm™ takes advantage of three main pillars in the market: i) hospitality’s catalytic embrace of technology, ii) an archaic regulatory framework that is ripe for disruption, with positive change already happening as a result of the pandemic, and  iii) shifts in consumer behaviour towards e-commerce and local discovery. 

The company is proudly founded by women, led by women and to date, has been largely financially backed by women. It’s a rare trifecta that makes  somm™ stand out — globally.  Chief Executive Jennifer, 32, has a capital markets background and is a former VP for the algorithmic trading team at TD Securities. She was the recipient of Canada’s Women in Capital Markets Emerging Leaders Award in 2016 and the New York-based Markets Media & Traders Magazine Rising Star Award in 2017.

Alongside Jennifer, the team includes technologists from some of Canada’s tech darlings like Shopify and Wealthsimple, as well as three esteemed hospitality professionals — a former GM of Alo, a Sommelier from Relais and Chateaux Property, Langdon Hall, and one of only five Master Sommeliers in the nation. 

An exciting future lies ahead for somm™ with downloads growing by the day and a national expansion plan in the books for the year ahead. 

somm™ is available across Canada on both Android and iOS. Learn more about somm™ at bethesomm.com; or join the somm™ social community on Instagram @bethesomm, Twitter @bethesomm or Facebook at /bethesomm. 

Based in Toronto, somm™ is a tech company founded, led and majority invested in by women to revolutionize and democratize wine for everyone. somm™ is the smarter way for you to pick wine, regardless of your knowledge, your location, budget, occasion or food options. No more staring blankly at restaurant wine menus, feeling anxious or overwhelmed by the world of wine, and no more aimless meandering around wine shops without really understanding what you’re doing and what you want. somm™ is all about simplifying wine, and making it more approachable, inclusive and accessible to everyone.

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Microsoft Defender ATP is Detecting Yesterday’s Chrome Update As A Backdoor Trojan

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 3, 2021 by itnerd

While there are some that say Google’s software is a backdoor to them gathering as much info on you as possible, this is the first time that I have ever heard of antivirus software actually flagging Google software as a backdoor trojan. Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), the commercial version of the ubiquitous Defender antivirus and Microsoft’s top enterprise security solution, is currently having a bad day and labeling yesterday’s Google Chrome browser update as a backdoor trojan:

The detections are for Google Chrome 88.0.4324.146, the latest version of the Chrome browser, which Google released last night. As per the screenshot [embedded in the linked story], but also based on reports shared on Twitter by other dismayed system administrators, Defender ATP is currently detecting multiple files part of the Chrome v88.0.4324.146 update package as containing a generic backdoor trojan named “PHP/Funvalget.A.” The alerts have caused quite a stir in enterprise environments in light of recent multiple software supply chain attacks that have hit companies across the world over the past few months. System administrators are currently awaiting a formal statement from Microsoft to confirm that the detection is a “false possitive” and not an actual threat.

The consumer version isn’t behaving the same way. Thus my assumption is that this is a mistake by Microsoft in terms of it’s detection engine and we should have official confirmation of that at some point. Until then, the safe thing to do is to wait until Microsoft comments publicly on this just in case it is a real threat.

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Guest Post: Atlas VPN Says Over 300 Million Individuals Affected By US data Leaks In 2020

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 3, 2021 by itnerd

The year 2020 was full of challenges. The global pandemic threatened our health and digital safety as cybercriminals took advantage of the worldwide uncertainty for a quick gain.

According to the data analyzed by the Atlas VPN team, over 300 million individuals were affected in 1,108 US data breach and exposure incidents in 2020.

While last year’s data breach and exposure numbers are impressive, the number of such events actually went down by nearly a fifth (19%) from 1,362 in 2019 to 1,108 in 2020. The number of affected individuals also dropped by 66%, from over 887 million in 2019 to more than 300 million in 2020. 

Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN, shares her thoughts on the decline in data breaches and exposures in 2020:

“While data breaches and exposures declined in 2020, other research sources reveal that the number of actual data records leaked reached record-highs last year. Cyberattacks are growing more sophisticated as cybercriminals find new and more effective ways to exploit organizations and consumers.”

Cyberattacks were the primary reasons behind such data infringements. They made up the majority — 79% of all the root causes and hit close to 170 million individuals. Phishing, including smishing and business email compromise, was by far the most common cyberattack method behind 44% of such breaches.

Other reasons behind data breaches and leaks last year included human and system errors (14%), as well as physical attacks (7%).

Name and Social Security Number was most commonly leaked data

While data breach and exposure incidents declined in 2020, they still caused tremendous damage, as cybercriminals managed to get a hold of a wide array of sensitive personal information.

The most commonly leaked personally identifiable information type was a name. It was involved in 973 or 88% of last year’s US data infringements.

Up next is the Social Security Number (SSN). There were 556 data breaches and exposure incidents where full SSN was revealed or stolen. Such events made up nearly half of all breaches and data exposures in 2020.

To read the full report, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/over-300-million-individuals-affected-by-the-us-data-leaks-in-2020

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