Archive for January 7, 2026

UK invests £210M on Action Plan to Strengthen Public Sector Cybersecurity & Software Supply Chain

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

The UK has unveiled the Government Cyber Action Plan, a key element of which is the creation of a new Government Cyber Unit which will coordinate cyber risk management, improve visibility of risks across government, and oversee incident response and recovery. The Plan is backed by £210 million in funding, aimed at strengthening cybersecurity and digital resilience across government departments and public services.

The Plan reads:  “To protect our critical national infrastructure, defend public institutions and maintain public confidence in essential public services, we must achieve a radical shift in approach and a step change in pace.” Its goals:

  1. Better visibility of cyber security and resilience risk
  2. Addressing severe and complex risks
  3. Improving responsiveness to fast moving events
  4. Rapidly increasing government-wide cyber resilience

The Cyber Unit will drive progress towards these strategic objectives by working with NCSC, departments, devolved governments, and suppliers, and will lead cross-government delivery in phases:

  • By April 2027 – build a new model for government cyber
  • By April 2029 – scale and leverage this new model
  • By April 2029 and beyond – use the model to continuously improve government-wide cyber security and resilience

The Action Plan is published alongside the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which defines expectations for suppliers and organizations providing services to government, and includes initiatives like the Software Security Ambassador Scheme to strengthen the software supply chain. 

Here’s input from cybersecurity experts on the Action Plan.

Ted Miracco, CEO, Approov (UK mobile security expert):

    “The UK government is right to invest £210 million to fix the ‘fragile foundations’ of its legacy systems. However, the plan leaves blind spots as it pushes for faster and more accessible digital services without setting concrete, mandatory rules for mobile devices or the data connections (APIs) they rely on. Currently, this plan groups mobile security under a voluntary Software Security Code of Practice and general Secure by Design goals. This is risky as the government acknowledges that ‘generative AI’ is a top-tier threat, yet it hasn’t established specific defenses for the mobile interfaces that AI tools will inevitably target next.”

Michael Bell, CEO, Suzu Labs:

    “The UK government published a cyber strategy that names the problem. They explicitly acknowledge that government cyber risk is “critically high” and legacy systems “cannot be defended by modern cyber security measures.” The new Government Cyber Unit brings centralized coordination for risk management and incident response, which addresses the fragmented responsibility that has left departments making security decisions in isolation. The four-year implementation timeline is ambitious for government, but the phased approach is realistic. What matters now is execution, specifically whether departments actually replace legacy systems and implement the security controls the strategy mandates.”

Jacob Krell, Senior Director: Secure AI Solutions & Cybersecurity, Suzu Labs:

   “The plan being proposed is timely given today’s cyber threat landscape. Heightening geopolitical tensions worldwide, combined with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, are materially changing both the volume and sophistication of cyber attacks.

   “Threat actors continue to operate with increasingly greater capabilities, in an increasingly structured and organized space. Initial access vendors and ransomware creators now go as far as offering 24/7 customer support.  This increasingly hostile environment has shifted cyber risk from a primarily technical concern that fell on IT, into a persistent strategic pressure on governments and societies.

   “The line between the public and private sectors is also increasingly thin. Essential public services depend heavily on privately operated companies, meaning failures in one domain quickly affect the other. Treating private sector cybersecurity as a national security concern is therefore both forward-thinking and prudent.”

Approaching cybersecurity in this manner is a great move. Hopefully this is announcement that has substance behind it rather than being an announcement for show.

Hisense Debuts 116UX and XR10, Advancing RGB Mini-LED into a New Era at CES 2026

Posted in Commentary on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Hisense, a leading brand in global consumer electronics and home appliances, unveiled the 116UXS RGB Mini-LED TV and Laser Projector XR10 at CES 2026, placing display innovation at the centre of its global showcase and highlighting its latest breakthroughs in human-centric display technology.

As the originator of RGB Mini-LED technology, Hisense introduces RGB Mini-LED evo ­— a system-level evolution that advances beyond conventional parameter-driven upgrades toward fundamental innovation in backlight architecture. Building on the traditional red, green and blue backlight structure, RGB Mini-LED evo is the industry’s first to introduce a Sky Blue-Cyan fourth LED into the Mini-LED backlight system, completing one of the most commonly missing portions of the natural light spectrum. 

With the advanced 134-bit colour control and a colour coverage exceeding 110% of BT.2020, RGB Mini-LED evo enables more faithful reproduction of skies, water and cyan-green tones, and it also delivers professional-grade colour accuracy at approximately ΔE 0.6 through enhanced system-level colour calibration. Furthermore, its optimized light-source design reduces harmful blue light by up to 80 per cent, supporting a more comfortable and natural long-term viewing experience on ultra-large screens.

The 116UXS, the first product powered by RGB Mini-LED evo, represents a decisive shift toward structure-driven display innovation — placing colour fidelity, visual comfort and real viewing experience at the centre of next-generation large-screen television design. This is where extreme performance truly meets lasting comfort.

UR8 and UR9 are Hisense’s core RGB Mini-LED TV lineups, designed to bring true RGB Mini-LED performance to more consumers through mainstream pricing and the widest size coverage.

Building on this technology leadership, Hisense takes responsibility not only to lead the category, but to scale it. UR8 and UR9 deliver flagship-level picture fundamentals — true RGB Mini-LED and AI-driven colour and scene optimization — while extending accessibility across 55-inch to 100-inch sizes, making them the best RGB Mini-LED choice for the majority of households.

For ultra-large-screen home cinema scenarios, Hisense further extends its leadership through TriChroma laser technology. Making its global debut at CES 2026, the XR10 delivers cinematic-scale visuals with high brightness, rich colour expression and stable long-term performance, offering an immersive home theatre solution for projections up to 300 inches.

Together, RGB Mini-LED for ultra-large TVs and TriChroma Laser for home cinema projection define Hisense’s large-screen display strategy, addressing both premium living-room viewing and immersive cinematic experiences. Anchored by the debut of 116UXS and XR10, this approach brings the CES 2026 theme “Innovating a Brighter Life” to life through display innovation designed to feel more natural, comfortable and relevant in everyday use.

For more information, please visit hisense-canada.com.

Logitech Lets A Certificate Expire And Hoses macOS Users In The Process…. Cue The Outrage

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Well, I would not want to be anyone who works for Logitech right now as macOS users are really mad at them at the moment. That’s because the company let a certificate expire. That in turn broke both its Logi Options+ and G HUB configuration apps for macOS. Which in turn locked users out of configuring their Logitech devices.

You can have a look at the Logitech subreddit for yourself where the rage was on display. But if anything deserves the #EpicFail hashtag applied to it, this certainly does.

Now the good news is that Logitech has released a patch that fixes this. And the company has admitted on Reddit that it dropped the ball. The latter is a good thing as I have seen many companies dodge responsibility when they screw up like this. But my question is if you are a Logitech user, are you good with this? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Ridge Security Achieves ISO/IEC 27001 Certification

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Ridge Security today announced that it has achieved ISO/IEC 27001 certification, the globally recognized standard for information security management systems (ISMS). The certification comes ahead of the company’s upcoming RidgeBot 6.0 platform release, which introduces enterprise-scale enhancements for AWS and Windows security validation.

ISO/IEC 27001 certification provides Ridge Security with a competitive advantage by meeting these rigid requirements, helping accelerate sales cycles and supporting expansion into new global markets. Achieving this certification validates Ridge Security’s commitment to safeguarding sensitive information, continuously improving its security posture, and operating with long-term resilience and accountability.

The new certification applies to all Ridge Security products, including the company’s flagship platform, the upcoming RidgeBot 6.0, a leading agentic AI-based adversarial risk validation platform that supports continuous threat exposure management programs. It is designed for continuous security validation and risk-based vulnerability management, scanning IT environments, discovering attack surfaces and validating weaknesses using real proof-of-concept exploits with zero false-positives.

Additionally, RidgeBot can safely simulate real-world adversarial attacks. RidgeBot 6.0 integrates with AI frameworks such as RidgeGen, enabling advanced capabilities including exploit chaining, contextual reasoning, PII detection, and detailed remediation guidance. These features allow enterprises to conduct frequent, scalable testing beyond traditional manual methods.

More information on RidgeBot 6.0 is available at https://ridgesecurity.ai/ridgebot/.

Canada’s Fastest-Growing Jobs for 2026, What’s Driving Demand According to LinkedIn

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Canada’s job market continues to evolve, with technology, infrastructure investment, and essential services shaping where opportunity is growing. To help job seekers make sense of these shifts, LinkedIn has released their annual Jobs on the Rise ranking for 2026, highlighting the fastest-growing roles across Canada and the trends defining the future of work.   

This year’s list points to two clear trends. AI-driven roles continue to grow as technology becomes embedded across industries, alongside sustained demand for jobs that support Canada’s energy systems, healthcare services, and major construction projects.  

The top 5 roles in Canada include:  

  • AI engineers  
  • AI consultants & strategists  
  • Power systems engineers  
  • AI/ML researchers  
  • Commissioning managers 

LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2026: Canada (Top 15)  
  

  1. AI engineers  
  2. AI consultants & strategists  
  3. Power systems engineers  
  4. AI/ML researchers  
  5. Commissioning managers  
  6. Chief product officers  
  7. Clinical services managers  
  8. Fraud investigators  
  9. Construction managers  
  10. Founders/Entrepreneurs   
  11. Car sales managers  
  12. Cardiologists  
  13. IT support specialists  
  14. Psychotherapists  
  15. Database analysts  

Methodology  

LinkedIn Economic Graph researchers examined millions of jobs started by LinkedIn members from January 1, 2023 to July 31, 2025 to calculate a growth rate for each job title. To be ranked, a job title needed to see positive growth across our membership base and sufficient job postings in the past year, as well as have grown to a meaningful size by 2025. Identical job titles across different seniority levels were grouped and ranked together. Internships, volunteer positions, interim roles and student roles were excluded, and jobs where hiring was dominated by a small handful of companies in each country were also excluded. 

Grok AI Creates Highly Objectionable Content…. WTF?

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Grok AI which is Elon Musk’s AI chatbot has been found to digitally undress women and children. From CBC News:

A Reuters review of content on X, xAI’s social media platform, found more than 20 cases in which women — and some men — had images digitally stripped of clothing using the AI company’s flagship chatbot, Grok.

Ministers in France have reported sexually explicit content generated by Grok to prosecutors, saying in a statement on Friday that the “sexual and sexist” content was “manifestly illegal.” The ministers said they had also reported the content to French media regulator Arcom for checks on whether it complied with the European Union’s Digital Services Act.

India’s IT ministry, meanwhile, said in a letter to X’s India unit that the platform failed to prevent misuse of Grok to generate and circulate obscene and sexually explicit content of women. It ordered X to submit an action-taken report within three days.

When contacted by Reuters for comment by email, xAI replied with the message: “Legacy Media Lies.”

Well, that’s pretty bad. What is worse is that Elon and company have even announced having raised $20bn in its latest funding round in spite of the backlash. That kind of suggests where his priorities lie.

Jurgita Lapienytė, chief editor at Cybernews, warns that “every woman with a photo online is now a target, unless Grok acts immediately.” She also says this:

“If regulators don’t force X to disable this immediately, we’re looking at the normalization of on-demand sexual exploitation at a scale we’ve never seen before. Right now, creating a deepfake requires some technical know-how or payment to shady websites. Grok has made it simple to post such images on one of the world’s largest platforms. If X gets away with this, every other AI company will see there’s no consequence for building similar tools. Within months, we could see this weaponized for revenge porn, sextortion, harassment of minors, and blackmail. The technology doesn’t go back in the bottle, but we can still decide whether it lives on mainstream platforms or stays in the dark corners of the internet where it belongs.

I for one hope that Elon and company get smacked down over this. This is completely unacceptable and needs to be dealt with.

Nikon Releases the NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1 lens

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

Nikon Canada Inc. has announced the versatile NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1 standard zoom lens for Nikon FX-format/full-frame mirrorless cameras. This new lens features a broad 24-105mm wide-angle to medium-telephoto focal range, making it simple to capture all kinds of scenes and subjects, from expansive landscapes, distant landmarks, food, friends, street snapshots, travel and more.

This highly versatile and compact lens is easy to carry all day for any excursion, with a weight of only 12.4 oz / 350 g. It features a minimum focus distance of just 0.2 m at the wide-angle end and 0.28 m at the telephoto end, so users can achieve attractively blurred backgrounds, with closeup shooting for impressive rendering that highlights the primary subject.

Features of the NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1

  • The versatile wide-angle 24mm to medium telephoto 105mm range of focal lengths is optimal for a wide range of scenes and subjects.
  • Lightweight design of only 12.4 oz / 350 g is comfortable to use all day.
  • The short minimum focus distances of 7.9 in. / 0.2 m at the wide-angle end and 11 in. / 0.28 m at the telephoto end, combined with a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.5× (at focal lengths of 70mm to 105mm), facilitate close-up shooting.
  • Use of a stepping motor (STM) ensures fast and quiet autofocusing for smooth video recording.
  • Zoom capability can be expanded to the equivalent of a maximum 210mm range of focal lengths, without sacrificing resolution, using the Hi-Res Zoom  feature of select Nikon cameras.
  • Equipped with a customizable control ring to which focus (M/A), aperture, exposure compensation, or ISO sensitivity can be assigned.
  • Designed with consideration of dust and drip-resistance.

The NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1 lens will be available in mid-January 2026 for a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $679.95.

For more information about the latest Nikon products, including the vast collection of NIKKOR Z lenses and the entire line of Z series cameras, please visit www.nikon.ca.

Russia’s Anti-Ukraine Cyber Propaganda Machine: NoName057(16) DDoSia

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 7, 2026 by itnerd

 The SOCRadar threat labs team has published a highly in-depth analysis on the pro-Russia hacktivist group NoName057(16) and its DDoSia Project. 

DDoSia is a custom denial-of-service tool used to disrupt online services for governments, public institutions, media outlets, and organizations that support Ukraine or otherwise oppose Russian political interests. 

According to the analysis — which breaks down noName057(16)’s tactics, M.O., recruitment, collaboration efforts, as well as the DDoSia Project’s capabilities, attack vectors, and victimology — DDoSia operates as a voluntary botnet that allows people with limited technical skills to contribute to this propaganda machine. 

Overall, NoName057(16) demonstrates a high level of organization and adaptability. As long as the Russia–Ukraine conflict and related geopolitical tensions continue, the group is likely to remain active and further enhance its operational capabilities.

For full details, here’s the analysis: https://socradar.io/blog/noname05716-and-ddosia-project-analysis-russia/