This week Reddit announced Reddit’s Official Partner Badging Program that offers their agency partners exclusive badges for completing Reddit Ads Formula certifications. Agency partners like Tinuiti and GroupM are investing in deepening their knowledge of Reddit ads, and SMBs increasing their spend by an average of 88% within 2 months after completing the certification.
You can find the full blog post here with all the details.
Abnormal Security has released its H2 2024 Email Threat Report, revealing the growing threat of file-sharing phishing attacks, whereby threat actors use popular file-hosting to manipulate victims into revealing confidential information or downloading malware onto devices.
The report calls attention to the shift from traditional threats to behavior-based attacks, strongly emphasizing the need for organizations to focus on protecting humans as their most vulnerable targets.
Key highlights from the report showed:
Download the full H2 2024 Email Threat Report, “Bait and Switch: File-Sharing Phishing Attacks Surge 350% ”, here.
A reader sent me this Windows Latest article on the latest iteration of Windows 11 which is called 24H2. A lot of this was not that interesting. Then I spotted this:
BitLocker isn’t a new feature, and it’s typically turned on by default in Windows 11 version 23H2 on new flagship products, such as the HP Spectre.
Currently, it’s not turned on by default for most devices, but this changes with Windows 11 24H2, which turns on encryption automatically during reinstallation.
During the Windows 11 24H2 fresh/clean installation process, BitLocker encryption is enabled in the background, not just on Windows 11 Pro or higher editions but also on Windows 11 Home if the manufacturer has set a flag in the UEFI.
This encrypts all drives on the hardware and affects two editions of Windows 11: Home and Pro (Professional).
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a smart idea. But let’s dig into this a bit more:
It does not affect devices upgraded to Windows 11 24H2 using Windows Update.
That’s good. Microsoft likely didn’t want to anger a bunch of people who woke up one morning and found that BitLocker was turned on. That likely would not go over well. Next is this:
While automatic encryption starts during setup, it is only fully activated after the user signs in with a Microsoft Account.
Devices using local accounts won’t have automatic encryption, but users can still manually turn on BitLocker through the Control Panel.
That’s also good as well. But I still have a bit of a problem with this. Even though I believe that encryption of devices is a very good idea. The reason I have a bit of a problem with this is that Microsoft appears to be moving people down the road to having BitLocker turned on by default on every device that runs Windows. That’s not a good idea for home users who would be more likely to lose their BitLocker recovery key, meaning that if the need to recover data from an encrypted drive ever arose, they are screwed if they don’t have a back up. And a lot of home users don’t do backups, so you see where this is going. And some corporate environment want nothing to do with BitLocker, and choose self encrypting hard drives instead as they are perceived to offer better levels of encryption. That potentially means more hoops to hop through for those users to get the encryption that they want.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. While I don’t expect this level of pushback from users. I expect some to question why Microsoft is doing this. And Microsoft may have to answer some questions because of that.
TELUS Esports Series powered by TELUS Arena, a nationwide gaming platform that supports and empowers esport players, returns this fall. In partnership with Android, TELUS Esports Series is opening the tournament to gamers across North America for the first time, featuring Apex Legends, Rocket League, and Valorant. Canadian and American gamers aged 15 and up can register and qualify at www.telus.com/tes4 by September 22 at 11:59 p.m. EST to play for a chance to win from a $50,000CAD cash prize pool.
Since the first TELUS Esports Series in 2021, TELUS has been dedicated to creating products, services, and premier gaming events that provide Canadians meaningful opportunities to participate in organized esports. With its leading PureFibre Internet solutions to best-in-class award-winning 5G mobile networks, TELUS has become the preferred choice for Canadian gamers.
In addition to the tournament, TELUS is extending its digital literacy program, TELUS Wise™, to all gamers in Canada, offering online tips and tricks to foster healthy gaming habits. Players on TELUS’ PureFibre Internet network will also benefit from low latency and the fastest upload and download speeds, for the most responsive gaming experience.
Registration for TELUS Esports Series is now open to all players in Canada and the United States aged 15 and up. Players of all skill levels from casual gamers to seasoned professionals can join this inclusive gaming experience. To sign up for the tournament and learn more about prizing, visit www.telus.com/tes4.
Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), today announces new enhancements and updates for Sage Intacct customers globally, to streamline financial operations and enhance security worldwide.
As part of this major expansion, Sage Intacct is rolling out AP Automation globally. In the US, businesses are already processing over 10,000 bills per month using this innovative tool, which utilizes AI to halve the time taken for accounts payable processes while saving organizations over $100,000 per year. AP Automation streamlines financial workflows by automatically creating draft bills from uploaded documents, promptly identifying issues such as duplicates, and significantly reducing data entry efforts and costs.
Sage Intacct Product Release 3 2024 Enhancements Also Include:
Horizon3.ai today announced their partnership with FedHIVE, a leading cloud service offering for federal agencies, government contractors, and commercial organizations. FedHIVE, which holds an active Joint Authorization Board (JAB) Authorization to Operate (ATO) at the FedRAMP® High level, is set to incorporate Horizon3.ai’s NodeZero™ SaaS-based platform into their ATO framework.
The NodeZero autonomous penetration testing platform empowers the public and private sectors to continuously assess their exploitable attack surfaces. It is the flagship product of Horizon3.ai, founded in 2019 by former industry and U.S. National Security veterans. NodeZero helps organizations see their networks through the eyes of the attacker and proactively fix problems that truly matter, improve the effectiveness of their security initiatives, and ensure that they are prepared to respond to real cyberattacks.
FedHIVE was the first small business provider to secure FedRAMP High Impact Baseline ATO for its SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS capabilities. This collaboration will allow more federal organizations to utilize Horizon3.ai’s NodeZero platform to view their environments from the attacker’s perspective, while adhering to the stringent requirements of federal customers.
The FedHIVE secure cloud service offering provides Government (Federal and State), Government Contractors and Commercial Customers a compliant, scalable, and secure IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS; enabling and supporting Governments’ mission platforms or software required for their business or mission success. FedHIVE is a Compliance company providing Compliance as a Service (CaaS), secure hosting, storage and processing service; intentionally designed to meet and exceed the FedRAMP High Impact Baseline and DoD Cloud Computing Security requirements.
As a result, demand for NodeZero is surging as autonomous penetration testing was recognized as a new category in the U.S. Department of Defense Tech Watchlist. Customers in 50 industries across 25 countries, including government, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, education, and other industries currently use NodeZero to continuously assess their internal, external, and cloud infrastructures using the same tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) attackers use.
Myriad360, a leading global systems integrator, today announced a new collaboration with VAST Data, the AI data platform company. By becoming a VAST partner, Myriad360 aligns with VAST Data’s mission to provide state-of-the-art data management software and will leverage its expertise in designing and implementing complex technology solutions to enhance the reach and impact of VAST Data’s offerings.
This collaboration is driven by Myriad360’s goal to enhance its storage solutions portfolio by offering VAST Data’s high-performance, scalable, and simple VAST Data Platform. By leveraging Myriad360’s industry expertise and customer relationships alongside VAST Data’s innovative technology, Myriad360 can deliver significant value to the enterprise by catering to their evolving data storage needs.
Key customer benefits of the Myriad360 and VAST Data collaboration include:
Visit: https://myriad360.com/partners/ to learn more about Myriad360’s other partners.
SITA, a leading technology company in the air transport industry, will be leveraging Cradlepoint, part of Ericsson, technology as part of its transformative cloud-based secure mobile to Wi-Fi solutions.
SITA Mobile to Wi-Fi includes Cradlepoint routers and NetCloud Manager, a cloud-based network management platform, that will ensure best-in-class customer service and network performance through a fully managed service. SITA Mobile to Wi-Fi provides everything from initial ordering through delivery, implementation, support and on-going maintenance.
Some of the uses for this new solution will include: off-airport passenger processing operations, SDWAN backup for remote sites, quick access for new airline routes, pilot/crew access in cockpit and aircraft data connectivity.
Cradlepoint’s fixed and mobile routers leverage precision GPS, AVL and telemetry data to transform operational efficiency, improve management decision-making and other functions for on-time service sustainability, thus improving each passenger’s travelling experience.
SITA will also be offering the new technology to clients across the travel and transport sector moving forward.
You might remember that Elon Musk tried to organize a launch event for then presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, and that turned into a train wreck next to a dumpster fire from a tech perspective. Well, it’s happened again with current presidential candidate Donald Trump. This “interview”, note the quotes because Elon is really trying to help Trump’s floundering campaign and not ask the tough questions, started about 42 minutes late as evidenced by Tweets like this:
Now I didn’t watch the interview. Because to be frank, there’s zero need for me to do so. But if you want a recap, here’s one option, and here’s another. But back to whatever issues that Elon had getting this interview going. He said it was a cyberattack that caused his tech issues. I call BS on that. What likely happened is that the same issues that Elon had in terms of the platform being able to scale to meet the volume of people who wanted to watch the DeSantis launch reappeared here. Highlighting the fact that if you fire 90% of the people in an organization, and you don’t spend money to be able to deliver services reliability, bad things happen. But I guess it’s better for Elon’s fragile ego to blame a cyberattack rather to admit that his decisions are at the heart of what happened last night.
Regardless, what last night guarantees is that no organization will want to broadcast anything on Twitter because the platform can’t handle it. And you have to wonder if this will affect advertising on Twitter by pushing more advertisers out the door. Time will tell on that front.
Bluesky Sees Massive Signups From The UK Because Of Elon Musk’s Stupidity
Posted in Commentary with tags Twitter on August 15, 2024 by itnerdElon Musk has shot himself in the foot again. This will take a bit of time to explain, so stick with me.
Last month, three girls were murdered in Northern England. That triggered days of far-right rioting which was triggered by online misinformation. And some of that misinformation was amplified by Elon Musk himself. This genius decided to share misleading information with his millions of followers, including one post suggesting civil war was “inevitable” in Britain. That made Prime Minister Keir Starmer react to that and his government rolling out laws to police online content as a result.
The other thing that has happened is this:
It appears that Twitter competitor Bluesky is seeing a significant bump in signups from the United Kingdom since Elon decided to be stupid. The word on the street is that even UK politicians are abandoning Twitter for Bluesky. That’s not a good look for Elon.
Elon really is playing a game that he can’t win. Between this and the EU saying that he has to police misinformation on Twitter, to which Elon responded with a meme from the movie Tropic Thunder, Elon is just asking to get slapped with something that is really going to hurt him. The UK and the EU aren’t going to put up with his antics and are certain to punish him. Or put a more contemporary way, Elon is playing a game of FAAFO. Which is an acronym for F**k Around And Find Out. And one suspects that he’s not going to like the Find Out part of that.
I hope this was worth it Elon. Because right now, you look like a real loser.
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