Archive for December 22, 2022

Google productivity expert offering Inbox organization tips for a more productive new year

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

With 2023 around the corner, there is no better time to reset and look at ways to be more productive and efficient at home and at the office so that people can spend more time on the things that they love. 

Laura Mae Martin, Executive Productivity Advisor at Google, suggests that if Canadians are looking to boost their productivity in the new year – the best place to start is their email inboxes, a place where many of us spend too many hours each day. Her tips include:

  • How to use filters and AI to stay clear of spam as a way to avoid scams and annoying emails flooding your inbox
  • Smart archiving in bulk techniques to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed by a crowded post-holiday inbox
  • Muting email threads so you don’t have to see every update on less-urgent conversations pop into your inbox, giving you the opportunity to catch up when it’s convenient for you
  • Creating multiple email addresses with a plus sign to streamline and categorize your email. Sign up for different things like “online shopping” or “gym memberships” things using different forms of your email address with a simple plus sign – youremailaddress+gym@gmail.com
  • Looking at privacy as well as clutter by taking advantage of free tools and resources like Security Checkup and a Privacy Checkup to kick off your new productive inboxes in a safe way

If you are interested in learning more, check out Google’s latest blog post on the topic.

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Uber Eats reveals the top 2022 health and wellness trends and items for New Year’s Resolutions

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

Come January 1st, many Canadians will wake up with the realization: “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” Cue the abrupt annual pivot from holiday overindulgence to “New Year, New Me” intention-setting. 

Igniting your inner wellness maven can feel daunting, but have no fear! Uber Canada is providing some much-needed inspiration by revealing the top wellness trends from 2022. This latest data pull showcases how Canadians are investing in their physical, mental, sexual and even spiritual wellness through the Uber Eats app – after all, you really can get anything you need through Uber Eats. 

Canadians’ favourite self-care products from 2022 run the gamut of holistic wellness. Vitamin C & D and protein powder & supplements took the top two spots, with vibrators and personal lubricant, eucalyptus essential oils and sheet face masks also cracking the top ten. The most popular fitness products were dumbbells, fitness and yoga matts. 

Check out some highlights from the Uber Eats’ New Years Resolutions insights below. Uber is also sharing some wellness product recommendations (including mocktails and non-alcoholic beer options!), which will make sticking to those 2023 resolutions easier than ever. 

Top 10 Popular Self-Care Items from 2022

  1. Vitamin C & D supplements
  2. Protein shakes & powder
  3. Aloe vera hand soap
  4. Personal lubricant 
  5. Epsom salt
  6. Cocoa butter body lotion
  7. Vibrators 
  8. Hydrating sheet mask 
  9. Eucalyptus essential oils
  10. Coconut body washes & scrubs

Top 10 Fitness Items from 2022

  1. Dumbbells
  2. Fitness mat 
  3. Yoga mat
  4. Tennis balls
  5. Soccer ball
  6. Jump rope 
  7. Resistance bands
  8. Basketball
  9. Swim goggles
  10. Volleyball

Top 5 Wellness Books from 2022 

  1. F*ck Off, I’m Coloring by Dare You Stamp Co.
  2. The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
  3. 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
  4. The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest
  5. Atomic Habits by James Clear

Top 10 Grocery Items from 2022 

  1. Banana  
  2. Strawberries  
  3. Cucumbers 
  4. Milk
  5. Eggs 
  6. Green onions 
  7. Raspberries 
  8. Tomatoes 
  9. Water 
  10. Lemons 

Top Wellness Recommendations section 

Top 5 interesting things to help you with your New Year’s Resolutions: 

  1. Dry January
    1. Mocktails 
    2. 0% beer 
  2. Healthy eating
    1. Groceries 
  3. Fitness
    1. Weights 
    2. Yoga mats 
  4. Wellness
    1. Candles 
    2. Essential oils
    3. Vitamins 
  5. Mental health
    1. Books 
  6. Skincare
    1. LED face mask 
    2. Serums
    3. Sheet masks

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New SecOps Research: Top 2023 Cost Drivers, Layoffs & Uncertain Regulatory Pressures Cause Concerns

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

Deepwatch has released a new report that finds security teams will focus on improving response capabilities over detection improvements amidst concerns about rising costs, a challenging talent shortage, and uncertain regulatory environment pressures and changes. 

The findings from the year-end SecOps pulse survey on challenges and strategies for 2023 include:

  • SOC staffing remains a challenge for 95% of organizations with experts most difficult to hire/train
  • 82% of security professionals are looking for managed services to support their security operations
  • 78% expect breach and incident reporting requirements to create more work for their teams

You can read the report here.

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Elon Musk’s Troubles Just Got A Lot Worse As Germany Calls For EU Action On Twitter

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

Elon Musk is likely waking up to a major headache. And that headache is being caused by Germany who is’s calling for the EU to take direct action against Twitter:

A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech. 

Sven Giegold, the state secretary in charge of competition policy at Germany’s economy ministry, pointed to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of journalists’ accounts and restrictions on the access to some links.

In a letter to two European Commissioners, Giegold called on the EU to launch an investigation and said the Commission should act to prevent what he called Twitter’s “anti-competitive behaviour”. 

Twitter and the EU did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

“General terms and conditions that change almost every hour, erratic justifications for extensive restrictions on links and the blocking of journalists threaten freedom of competition and pose a risk to freedom of expression, information and the press,” Giegold wrote on Twitter, while sharing his letter.

And Elon isn’t going to like this either:

German regulators are already pushing government institutions to stop posting announcements exclusively to privately-held platforms, touting alternatives like the fledgling decentralised social media network Mastodon. 

According to the Commission’s new regulations on digital markets, it will take over the supervision of large platforms such as Facebook and Google, Giegold said. 

“However, Twitter is not yet classified as a dominant digital platform, also because the company’s sales are still too low,” he said. “Nevertheless, Twitter exerts a great influence on shaping public opinion worldwide and also in Europe.”

The fact that the Germans are pushing Mastodon is significant. Germany is a big member of the EU bloc. And if they do something, others are likely to follow. And that will make Elon’s life even more miserable than it already is. Because that will drive eyeballs away from Twitter, and his behaviour will under much greater scrutiny by a bloc that has a history of lowering the boom on big companies. That’s not a place that I would want to be if I were Elon. But then, the only person to blame when it comes to Elon Musk being in this situation is Elon Musk.

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Apple Pulls Option For HomeKit Users To Upgrade to New Home Architecture

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

One of the things that Apple touted when iOS 16 and macOS Ventura were announced were that they were moving HomeKit to a new Architecture. Apple in typical Apple fashion didn’t give details on what this meant as Apple doesn’t want you looking behind the curtain so to speak. But they did promise improved reliability and performance of your HomeKit setup. This option was finally released in iOS 16.2 and almost instantly there were reports of issues. Lots of issues. And I do mean a lot of issues. Now I was going to update to the new home architecture over the holidays because I tend to wait for a bit to see what issues others are having. And I am glad that I did based on the above.

Now it seems that Apple has pulled the option to upgrade entirely. When you go into software update in the Home app, you should see the option to upgrade. But as of last night you don’t:

The option should be above the automatic updates for HomePod option. But it’s disappeared as of last night. And Reddit users are reporting the same thing. Thus it’s clear that Apple has pulled this option. This brings forth a pair of questions:

  • What happens if you have already upgraded?
  • When is it coming back?

Apple hasn’t commented on this, because Apple never comments on anything that they screw up unless they are forced to. So we may never find out. But it would be nice if they did say something.

How about it Apple?

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Okta Pwned…. Source Code Stolen

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

Bleeping Computer is reporting that threat actors have managed to hack into Okta’s private GitHub repositories and swipe source code:

BleepingComputer has obtained a ‘confidential’ security incident notification that Okta has been emailing to its ‘security contacts’ as of a few hours ago. We have confirmed that multiple sources, including IT admins, have been receiving this email notification.

Earlier this month, GitHub alerted Okta of suspicious access to Okta’s code repositories, states the notification.

“Upon investigation, we have concluded that such access was used to copy Okta code repositories,” writes David Bradbury, the company’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) in the email.

Despite stealing Okta’s source code, attackers did not gain unauthorized access to the Okta service or customer data, says the company. Okta’s “HIPAA, FedRAMP or DoD customers” remain unaffected as the company “does not rely on the confidentiality of its source code as a means to secure its services.” As such, no customer action is needed.

At the time of writing our report, the incident appears to be relevant to Okta Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC) code repositories, but not Auth0 Customer Identity Cloud product, given the email wording.

Well, given that Okta provides authentication services and Identity and Access Management services to major companies around the world, this isn’t good. Neither is the fact that this isn’t the first time that Okta has been pwned. Craig Burland, CISO of Inversion6 had this to say:

This continues an awful year for Okta in terms of cybersecurity, adding to high-profile issues in March and September.  While these events appear to be disconnected, it seems possible that the breaches could be part of a larger event, foreshadowing a significant supply chain attack for organizations reliant upon Okta for identity and access services.

As an Okta customer, I would be worried about three things: 1) Is there a fundamental problem with how Okta is managing their environments?  2) Has the Okta platform been somehow compromised that would threaten my operation?  3) What, if anything, can I do quickly to minimize or mitigate the risk to my organization?

How Okta responds to this event and reassures its customers will set the tone for 2023 and may be telling about Okta’s future as the premier provider in this space.

At this point, seeing as Okta can’t secure itself, you have to wonder if they can secure their customers. Because I am questioning that at this very moment.

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Guest Post: Cybersquatting cases reach record highs in 2022

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 22, 2022 by itnerd

Domain names help us navigate the vastness of the world wide web and find the information and services we are looking for. However, malicious actors abuse the importance of domain names by registering ones that are identical or similar to existing trademarks, company names, or personal names, hoping to profit from the confusion. It is called cybersquatting.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team based on the information provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), cybersquatting cases reached record highs in 2022.

In total, 5,616 cybersquatting disputes were filed to the WIPO this year — nearly a 10% rise from 2021.

If we look at the historic numbers of cybersquatting complaints, they have been steadily growing over the past six years. Compared to 2000, cybersquatting disputes have risen by a whopping 202%. 

In total, 61,284 cybersquatting complaints have been filed to WIPO from 2000 till now.

After registering the look-alike domain names, cybersquatters may attempt to sell them to the trademarks they are copying or use similarities in domain names to attract traffic to their own website. Among the latter are those that use domains to lure victims into phishing attacks.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/cybersquatting-cases-reach-record-highs-in-2022

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