Stingray Karaoke Available for the First Time on Select Ford Vehicles

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

Ford is announcing today that the Stingray Karaoke App will be available to Ford owners, starting with F-150 Lightning and followed by Mustang Mach-E.

Owners, their friends, and their family can enjoy karaoke, courtesy of the Stingray Karaoke App, right from the in-vehicle screen while parked and on the go. While parked, the lyrics of the selected song will show on the in-vehicle screen. Ford engineers, in collaboration with Stingray, also developed a unique drivetime experience for friends and family sitting in the passenger seat to enjoy. 

The Stingray App will roll out via a Ford software update first to eligible F-150 Lightning owners and then soon after to Mustang Mach-E owners where vehicles are available in U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe. This will be a staggered rollout by model year starting with 2024 F-150 Lightning.  

The Stingray App will also be available to download at a later date on vehicles with the Ford and Lincoln Digital Experience including: 2025 Ford Explorer, 2025 Lincoln Navigator, 2025 Lincoln Aviator and 2025 Lincoln Nautilus.   

Leave a comment »

Meta To Ban Russian State Media On Their Platforms

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

In another move that I am sure is meant to keep the US Government from beating it senseless metaphorically speaking, Meta who owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads is announcing that they are banning Russian State Media from their platforms:

Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks, alleging the outlets used deceptive tactics to carry out influence operations while evading detection on the social media company’s platforms.

The ban marks a sharp escalation by the world’s biggest social media company against Russian state media after it spent years taking more limited steps like blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” the company said in a written statement.

Enforcement of the ban would roll out over the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta’s apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.

I am guessing that much like this case of Instagram putting limits on teens activity on the platform, Meta must have seen the writing on the wall and decided to do this to avoid something worse being forced upon it. The Russians are understandably not happy about this. And I suspect that the rhetoric between Russia and the US is about to escalate massively because of this.

Leave a comment »

Synergy between Hybrid, Multicloud Environments is Key to Unlocking True Cloud Maturity: CDW Canada Report

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

 CDW Canada has released the 2024 CDW Canadian Hybrid Cloud Report which explores the current state of cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) adoption among Canadian organizations. Conducted with additional support and analysis by IDC Canada, the report independently surveyed over 700 Canadian organizations between March 2024 and April 2024.

Organizations are increasingly adopting hybrid, multicloud ecosystems for security and control. However, challenges like complex infrastructure, data management and shortage of skilled workers present opportunities for organizations to realize the full potential of these ecosystems.

The report found that while 59 percent of Canadian organizations plan to leverage multiple public clouds over the next two years, 34 percent report little to no interoperability between these environments, leading to data silos and inconsistencies in governance. Additionally, 35 percent of organizations said scarce IT staff, talent and skills are major operational challenges for adopting hybrid, multicloud environments. Addressing these challenges is vital for organizations looking to achieve true cloud maturity in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Unified management platforms are essential

As organizations navigate the complexities of hybrid, multicloud environments, the adoption of a unified management control plane and cloud management platform has become critical. These tools enable organizations to effectively manage, monitor and control their infrastructure across public and private clouds, reducing costs and enhancing security.

Despite the advantages, only 36 percent of Canadian organizations currently use a unified cloud management platform, while the remaining 64 percent rely on a mix of native cloud tools, open-source solutions and custom-built systems. This fragmented approach often leads to increased complexity and operational challenges. Organizations must look to unified management platforms to maintain operational resilience in these complex environments.

The rise of AI in hybrid cloud strategies

The democratization of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI (GenAI), is reshaping how Canadian organizations compete by driving productivity gains, cost optimization and innovation. Although 55 percent of organizations are investing in AI, significant challenges remain, particularly around privacy, scalability and data governance. Concerningly, only three percent of Canadian organizations report having fully prepared data infrastructure to handle these AI challenges, including integrating privacy, traceability and security to support governance and compliance.

Cybersecurity remains a concern in IoT investments

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has expanded the threat landscape as new and vulnerable entry points via these devices continue to increase. It is essential for organizations to strengthen their security measures and resiliency at the edge, considering 81 percent of Canadian organizations have IoT projects in production.

Cybersecurity remains a critical issue, with 46 percent of businesses reporting rising cyberthreats as a major concern in their IoT deployments. Fortunately, 32 percent of organizations said improving edge infrastructure security and resiliency was the most important investment needed to ensure IoT and edge infrastructure. This highlights that some organizations recognize the importance of cybersecurity at the edge to maximize the flexibility and scalability of IoT within their hybrid, multicloud approach.

To learn more about the opportunities and challenges of hybrid, multicloud adoption for Canadian organizations, download the report here.

Leave a comment »

Instagram Makes Major Changes To How Teens Use The Platforms To Keep Governments And Regulators At Bay

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

In a move that is likely meant to stop them from being sued by regulators and or governments, Instagram which is owned by Meta who also own Facebook had made a move to make teen accounts on Instagram have the following restrictions:

  • Private accounts: With default private accounts, teens need to accept new followers and people who don’t follow them can’t see their content or interact with them.
  • Messaging restrictions: Teens will be placed in the strictest messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.
  • Sensitive content restrictions: Teens will automatically be placed into the most restrictive setting of our sensitive content control, which limits the type of sensitive content (such as content that shows people fighting or promotes cosmetic procedures) teens see in places like Explore and Reels.
  • Limited interactions: Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow. We’ll also automatically turn on the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so that offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests.
  • Time limit reminders: Teens will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day.
  • Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode will be turned on between 10 PM and 7 AM, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.

And:

Teens may lie about their age and that’s why we’re requiring them to verify their age in more places, like if they attempt to use a new account with an adult birthday. We’re also building technology to proactively find accounts belonging to teens, even if the account lists an adult birthday. This technology will allow us to proactively find these teens and place them in the same protections offered by Teen Account settings. We’ll start testing this change in the US early next year.

And when can you expect to see these changes?:

We plan to place teens into Teen Accounts within 60 days in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and in the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will start to get Teen Accounts in January. We’ll also bring Teen Accounts to other Meta platforms next year. These are big updates that will change the Instagram experience for millions of teens, and we need to make sure they work correctly.

This is all stuff that to be frank, Instagram should have done years ago. But instead of making these changes, they’ve resisted. Likely because there was a financial incentive to resist. Clearly Meta feels that the chances that a government or regulator coming in and putting a metaphorical gun to their head is such a threat to them that they’ve stopped resisting. My question is if this goes far enough? Or will Meta find that governments and regulators say “too little, too late.” Stay tuned to find out.

1 Comment »

Today Is National IT Professionals Day (#ITProDay)

Posted in Commentary on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

National IT Professionals Day (#ITProDay) is coming up on September 17. It is a day, according to National Today, “created in 2015 in an effort to show appreciation for the tech wizards who take care of the nuts and bolts so that the average worker’s station stays hooked up to the company network and operates flawlessly.”

Executives from Other World Computing (OWC), Foxit, and Datadobi had this to say in appreciation for these oftentimes unsung heroes: 

Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing:  

“On National IT Professionals Day – and all year long, for that matter – it’s crucial that we recognize the indispensable role our IT teams play as the virtual backbones of our organizations. As such, these dedicated professionals help to ensure our apps and systems run optimally remain highly available, scalable, and secure, not to mention that our data is protected. Working tirelessly, oftentimes behind the scenes, their work is foundational to the success of our operations.  

Yes, a simple ‘thank you’ and/or a thoughtful gift is likely appreciated, however, one of the best ways to truly show our gratitude is by empowering IT with the tech and decision-making authority they need to excel in their roles. That is truly the key to enabling them to continue to deliver the high-quality support that keeps our organizations running.

And, let’s not forget that when our IT professionals are equipped to do their best work, they in turn, empower the entire organization to do likewise. By ensuring that our knowledge workers have access to the tools and technology they need, IT professionals free them to focus on what they do best – driving innovation, productivity, and competitive advantage.”

DeeDee Kato, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Foxit: 

“What would we do without IT professionals? What would we do without their management of everything from high-profile, front-and-center infrastructure and systems, to the critical tools we rely on daily – like PDFs and e-signature solutions – that may be taken for granted, but are in fact essential to our productivity, and even security? 

IT professionals don’t just maintain our systems – they are strategic decision-makers who help shape the future of our companies. Their choices about what technologies to invest in are critical to ensuring that we have the solutions we need to do our best work, and create value for our business. The best? They do their homework – evaluating carefully every option to ensure they’re investing in technology that meets (or better yet, exceeds) our expectations, and offers the best return on investment.

We extend our deepest gratitude on National IT Professionals Day to all IT professionals for their dedication, expertise, and the pivotal role they play in our success. Your work is absolutely essential, and we appreciate everything you do to help us thrive.”

Manu Heirbaut, Vice President of Engineering, Datadobi:

“On National IT Professionals Day we are reminded that we should recognize the indispensable role that IT professionals play in our organizations – not just on this day, but all year long. Indeed, they are the unsung heroes consistently making sure that systems, apps, and data are available and functioning perfectly. While they likely work behind the scenes in your organization, please don’t let their contributions go unnoticed. Their impact should be felt every time you log in without a hitch, your systems run without interruption, or you access your data quickly and securely. Without their skills and dedication, that would not be possible. In fact, they are one of the key reasons that operations keep running, enabling organizations to continue to drive innovation, meet evolving requirements, and leverage opportunities. 

Of course, to truly empower our IT, we must provide them with the tools and tech they need to excel. By equipping them with the most proven, cutting-edge solutions, we not only enable them to protect our data from risk and control costs, we also help them to derive the max value from our data. 

So, on IT Professionals Day, let’s commit to supporting these vital team members, ensuring they have everything they need to continue driving success.”

Leave a comment »

Apple Has Finally Fixed A Major HomeKit Annoyance With iOS 18

Posted in Tips with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

HomeKit users who have been around for a while have had one major complaint about how HomeKit operated. And I outline that complaint here when I covered my HomeKit setup two years ago:

Another thing to point out about home hubs is that if you have more than one, they are used in an “Active/Standby” configuration. As in if you have two home hubs, one is actively controlling everything. But if something happens to it, the second one will take over. 

And:

You can’t choose which HomePod Mini is the one that is the “connected” one. Which seems at first glance to be a #Fail. But what I believe that Apple is doing behind the scenes is picking the home hub with the best reception and performance to the router. I’ve observed that it tends to gravitate towards making the living room Home Pod Mini the connected one. I suspect that’s due to the fact that it is connected to an ASUS mesh WiFi node that is in close proximity (as in two feet away) to the Home Pod Mini in question which has direct access to the Internet. That would make that one the logical choice to be the one that runs the show. The HomePod Mini in the den is physically closer in proximity to the ASUS mesh WiFi node that’s in the den versus the one in the living room. But because the node in the den has to connect to the node in the living room to get out to the Internet, it’s not as good of a choice to be the connected Home Pod Mini as it has to make a extra hop to the Internet that the HomePod in the living room doesn’t have to make. And the one in the bedroom is the worst choice of the three as it is a room away from the ASUS mesh WiFi node in the den which is where it connects to the Internet from. All of that means that its reception isn’t as great as the first two HomePod Mini units on top of the fact that it has to make an extra hop to get to the Internet.

That’s a lot to take in. But let me boil this down for you and tell you why you should care. If you have more than one device that could be a Home Hub, as in a HomePod, HomePod mini, or Apple TV, one of them will get nominated by HomeKit to be the “active” Home Hub. Any others will be on standby in case that one fails. And you can’t define which one is the “active” Home Hub. Here’s a couple of examples of why you might want to do that:

  • Let’s say you have a HomePod and an AppleTV that is wired into your network. Seeing as the HomePod is always going to wireless, the AppleTV that is wired will provided better performance for HomeKit. So you should be able to choose that as your “active” Home Hub for that reason.
  • Let’s take my use case of four HomePod mini units, all on WiFi. The one that is closest to the WiFi access point that is connected to my Internet connection should be the “active” home hub as that will get better performance to and from the Internet as it will make less hops to get to and from the Internet.

When iOS 18 rolled out yesterday, Apple finally gave you the means to set your own Home Hub. Which to be frank, is long overdue. Here’s how you do that:

NOTE: Your HomePods and AppleTVs need to be running HomePod Software 18 and tvOS 18 respectively.

  • Open the Home app on your iPhone that is running iOS 18
  • Tap the “hamburger menu” which is the three dots with a circle around them.
  • Choose Home Settings
  • Choose Home Hubs And Bridges

You’ll be taken to this screen:

Now you’ll note that in my case, the Den HomePod is the active Home Hub. In this case, that HomePod mini needs to connect to the WiFi access point in the den, then use that to get to the WiFi access point in the living room that is connected to my Internet connection. That’s three hops. So I’m going to change it to the one in the Living room by turning off Automatic Selection.

Here’s where Apple could make a minor improvement. The HomePods in the living room are a stereo pair. The one that is the left channel in the stereo pair lives two or three feet above the living room WiFi access point that is connected to my Internet connection. The one that is the right channel in the stereo pair is about seven feet to the right of the first one. That means that the HomePod mini that is the left channel is the “correct” choice to be the “active” Home Hub. Realistically, it likely makes zero difference which one I pick as they both connect to WiFi via the same access point, and they are both on UPS units which will keep them powered in the event of a power outage, and whatever speed difference that the left one has over the right one is likely irrelevant because its so small. Having said that, it would be nice if Apple did identify which was which for those who care about this sort of thing. In any case, I chose the first living room HomePod so that the checkmark was next to it:

You can then hit the back arrow and you’re done. Now I was wondering what would happen if I unplugged both of the HomePods in the living room to simulate them losing power during a power outage, or being disconnected from the Internet. Here’s what I discovered:

First of all I got this notification to let me know that the HomePod that I set as “active” was no longer responding. And to test to see if I could still access my HomeKit devices from outside the home, I turned off WiFi on my iPhone to simulate yours truly being outside the home. I was able to access all my HomeKit devices just fine.

This is further validated by the fact that the “active” HomePod is now the Den HomePod. From here, I plugged in one of the two HomePods, and it turned out that I chose the one that was furthest away from the WiFi access point. So I switched which living room HomePod was active and declared victory.

So, will you be using this functionality? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Leave a comment »

JP Morgan Chase Is Being Used In A Banking Credentials Phishing Email… Which Goes Nowhere

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 17, 2024 by itnerd

When I do these looks at scams and phishing emails, I often focus on Canadian companies as well as Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. Some Americans have asked me to show more American companies. So I’ll do that with this phishing email that hit my inbox:

I’ll get to the punchline. This email is meant to take you to a website where you will enter your banking credentials. And then the threat actors will use them to steal your money. While this looks like a decent replication of an email this bank, here are the things that should have you hitting the delete button should you get this email:

  • The bad quality of the English language in this email. For example: “Click on the secured link below and sign-on and follow every required steps.”
  • In something that is new for me, the email suggests”We also recommend  you don’t change your  username and password while verification is being carried out.” That’s likely there because the threat actors need time to drain your bank account. And they couldn’t do that if you go off and change your password or username.
  • There’s zero personally identifiable information. As in a card number, your name, etc. That’s because this is being mass mailed out to thousands of people.

Plus there’s this:

That’s clearly not coming from jpmorganchase.com. So it’s a scam. Which means that the normal person should delete this and move on with their day. But since I look into this stuff, I am going to go click the “Verify Now” button which you should never, ever do.

Well this is disappointing. Though it’s still instructive. The website address at the top is clearly not JP Morgan Chase. Which means the threat actors either had the scam shut down by this host in Argentina (the hint that this website is being hosted in Argentina is the .ar domain), or the threat actors haven’t fully set this up yet. Either way, nobody is getting scammed today. Which is a good thing given how prevalent scams are.

1 Comment »

Horizon3.ai Publishes Details On An Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance Vulnerability

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

Horizon3.ai Chief Attack Engineer Zach Hanley has just published “CVE-2024-8190: Investigating CISA KEV Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance Command Injection Vulnerability” 

Ivanti’s advisory reads: Ivanti has released a security update for Ivanti CSA 4.6 which addresses a high severity vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to the device running the CSA. Dual-homed CSA configurations with ETH-0 as an internal network, as recommended by Ivanti, are at a significantly reduced risk of exploitation.

An OS command injection vulnerability in Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance versions 4.6 Patch 518 and before allows a remote authenticated attacker to obtain remote code execution. The attacker must have admin level privileges to exploit this vulnerability.

Zach said: “The description definitely sounds like it may have the opportunity for accidental exposure given the details around misconfigurations of the external versus internal interfaces.”

His investigation details how, putting together the pieces, Zach and team achieved a command injection exploit, and looks at Ivanti’s configuration guidance for insight into how some of their clients were being exploited in the wild. Zach’s post also includes indicators of compromise.

Links:

CVE-2024-8190: Investigating CISA KEV Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance Command Injection Vulnerability: https://www.horizon3.ai/attack-research/cisa-kev-cve-2024-8190-ivanti-csa-command-injection/

Security Advisory Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance (CSA) (CVE-2024-8190): https://forums.ivanti.com/s/article/Security-Advisory-Ivanti-Cloud-Service-Appliance-CSA-CVE-2024-8190?language=en_US

CISA KEV – Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance OS Command Injection Vulnerability: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/09/13/cisa-adds-one-known-exploited-vulnerability-catalog

Leave a comment »

Salesforce Enhances Team Productivity With New Slack Innovations

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

To answer the need for a better, more efficient way for teams to work together, Slack is releasing new AI enhancements set to improve team collaboration and data integration.

These enhancements follow a recent report from Salesforce which highlighted that Slack AI integrations saved50,000 hours of work in just one quarter. With the innovations announced today, customers can centralize everything they need to get work done more efficiently.

Key innovations include:

  • Agentforce in Slack: With a new user interface (UI) for agents, teams can now talk to their data, surface insights, and take action on tasks in Slack with Salesforce’s Agentforce Agents.
  • Third-party AI agents: AI agents and assistants from partners like Adobe, Anthropic, Cohere, Perplexity, and more can be deployed in the same trusted, secure environment in Slack.
  • Salesforce channels: A new type of channel that connects Salesforce CRM records to channel-based conversations in Slack gives teams a comprehensive space to collaborate on every account and opportunity, increasing alignment to move work forward. Coming soon, Salesforce channels will be embedded in the Salesforce user interface.

New enhancements in Slack also include purpose-built AI functionality across search and automation as well as new solutions-based templates to unlock productivity for every use case and line of business. 

  • New Slack AI features: Enhanced capabilities like huddle notes, simplified automation, and improved search allow teams to work smarter, faster, and with greater focus.
  • Slack templates: Collections of ready-to-use templated channels, canvases, lists, and automated workflows make work in any department and for any task faster and more productive.
  • AI Workflow Builder: Generates workflows with simple conversational prompts so users can easily automate their tasks.

Availability: 

  • Third-party agents are available now in the Slack Marketplace, with more coming soon.
  • Agentforce (formerly Einstein Copilot) in Slack will be available in beta in October 2024.
  • Slack AI is available now as a paid add-on for all paid Slack plans.
  • Salesforce channels are available to Slack Sales Elevate customers now and will be included in Salesforce Starter Suite in the coming months.
  • Slack templates will be available in October 2024.

Explore more:

Leave a comment »

IDs, Driver Licenses & More Exposed By Fuel Industry Software Provider 

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

A data breach involving FleetPanda (FuelPanda), a software and technology company providing services and support for the petroleum and fuel industry, was discovered and reported to WebsitePlanet by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler. 

What happened: 

A non-password-protected database containing 780,000 records, including invoices, driver applications, images of driver licenses, and background checks with PII, was exposed. 

Why it matters: 

The exposure of internal documents poses a significant risk for invoice fraud, where criminals could trick organizations into paying fraudulent invoices by posing as legitimate vendors or suppliers. Additionally, personal data and documents could be exploited for identity theft, financial fraud, social engineering phishing attacks and more cyber threats. 

If you want to understand what was at stake and the risks of leaving such information exposed, you can find their report with more details here: https://www.websiteplanet.com/news/fleetpanda-breach-report/

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »