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/.

Leave a comment »

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. 

Leave a comment »

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.

4 Comments »

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.

Leave a comment »

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/

Leave a comment »

Leaseweb Appoints Jan Willem des Tombe as Global Strategic Relations Director

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 6, 2026 by itnerd

Leaseweb today announced the appointment of Jan Willem des Tombe as its new Global Strategic Relations Director, reinforcing its strategic ambition to accelerate growth and strengthen its position in the hybrid cloud and sovereign infrastructure landscape. Des Tombe will focus on developing and strengthening Leaseweb’s global market narrative, increasing industry visibility and recognition, and supporting strategic growth initiatives across marketing, communications, sales, partnerships, and M&A.

With over two decades of experience in the TMT, SaaS, IT Managed Services, Cloud, Workspace, and E-commerce sectors, des Tombe brings extensive leadership expertise in scaling businesses, developing commercial strategy, and guiding organizations through transformation. He has previously worked with organizations including Reckitt Benckiser, Tripolis Solutions (now Spotler), and KPN Interned Services, and founded and chaired public-private industry platforms DHPA (now Dutch Cloud Community) and DINL.

Leave a comment »

Hisense Showcases a Full-Scenario Home Ecosystem at CES 2026 

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 6, 2026 by itnerd

Hisense, a leading brand in global consumer electronics and home appliances, showcases a full-scenario smart home ecosystem at CES 2026, demonstrating how advanced display technologies and AI-powered home appliances come together to enhance everyday life.

Designed around real-life home scenarios, Hisense’s CES booth brings premium large-screen entertainment together with intelligent kitchen, air and laundry solutions. Large-screen TVs anchor shared family moments, while AI-enabled appliances demonstrate how technology integrates seamlessly into everyday living. Also making its debut is the Humanoid Service Robot Harley. With 31 degrees of freedom, Harley delivers lifelike gestures and interactions to boost engaging and enhancing on-site experiences. Alongside this, the humanoid robot R1 (A2) and the home companion robot Beta are also on display.

In displays, Hisense highlights RGB Mini-LED evo, a true system-level evolution in large-screen TV technology, led by the debut of the 116UXS RGB Mini-LED TV, the first product powered by this tech. RGB Mini-LED evo introduces an industry-first Sky Blue-Cyan fourth LED into the backlight, expanding colour coverage to up to 110% of BT.2020 while delivering more natural colour expression and improved viewing comfort through genuine system-level evolution. 

Hisense also globally debuts the Laser Projector XR10, delivering 6,000 ANSI lumens to create a professional-grade home cinema experience. Designed for immersive viewing up to 300 inches, XR10 brings enhanced brightness and rich colour performance to dedicated home theatre environments. Together with RGB Mini-LED TVs, TriChroma Laser extends Hisense’s large-screen display offering from premium living-room viewing to dedicated home cinema environments.

Building on the evolution of the VIDAA OS, Hisense announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to integrate Copilot’s generative AI capabilities into V homeOS, advancing next-generation TV experiences for large-screen home environments. The collaboration also extends to Xbox cloud gaming, bringing world-class game titles directly to Hisense TVs — no console required.

Hisense is dedicated to enhancing everyday life with a range of AI-powered home appliances. The PUREFLAT SMART SERIESrefrigerator features an integrated large smart display with a built-in ConnectLife Hub, delivering a modern, connected kitchen experience by streamlining appliance interaction and smart home control. Meanwhile, the Red Dot Award-winning Air Conditioner Air Master features a high-precision sensing system that can adjust airflow, temperature and humidity for optimal indoor comfort. Its intelligence is further supported by a smart voice assistant and an automatic energy-saving mode. 

Hisense’s presence at CES 2026 is further underscored by four CES Innovation Awards. Among the winners, 163 MX has received the CES 2026 Best of Innovation Award in its respective field, recognizing Hisense’s leadership across display and home appliance categories.

Through “Innovating a Brighter Life,” Hisense continues to demonstrate how human-centred innovation can transform advanced technology into more comfortable, connected and meaningful home experiences.

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

Leave a comment »

Forcepoint Names Eva Klein as Chief Customer Officer

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 6, 2026 by itnerd

Forcepoint today announced Eva Klein has joined the company as Chief Customer Officer. Klein will lead Forcepoint’s global customer success organization, overseeing onboarding, adoption, retention and long-term value realization as customers operationalize data security in the AI era. She reports to Rick Hanson, President of Go-to-Market.

As sensitive data moves across cloud platforms, SaaS applications, endpoints and AI-driven workflows, organizations face mounting pressure to turn security investment into measurable outcomes. Agentic AI and the rapid growth of synthetic data are accelerating how data is created, shared and reused, often beyond traditional controls. Visibility alone is not enough; customers need confidence that insight leads to action and that protections adapt as risk and regulatory demands change for enterprises and governments.

Forcepoint’s AI-native Data Security Cloud helps organizations identify sensitive data in context, understand how it is accessed and shared and adapt protection in real-time through a unified, single-policy framework. The platform is built to close the visibility-to-control gap facing organizations as they scale AI adoption to support back-office processes, infrastructure management, vibe coding and beyond.

With more than 25 years of experience spanning customer success, partner enablement and sales, Klein will focus on strengthening the customer journey as a continuous loop of ‘always-on’ operational excellence.  Most recently, she served as Vice President of Global Customer Success at Mimecast, where she led global teams focused on customer retention, value delivery and operational scale. Prior to Mimecast, she held senior customer leadership roles including Vice President of Customer Success at HubSpot and Vice President of Customer Experience at Rapid7, building and leading organizations through periods of rapid growth and platform expansion.

Leave a comment »

DryRun Security Builds Momentum with Breakthroughs in AI-Native Code Security Intelligence

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 6, 2026 by itnerd

DryRun Security has completed its first year out of stealth with strong corporate momentum. Over the past twelve months, the company delivered major product innovations, industry-leading vulnerability research and laid the groundwork for securing autonomous software development in the age of agentic AI.

Early last year, DryRun Security closed an $8.7 million seed funding round, accelerating investment in product development, go-to-market expansion, and customer success. Enterprise and mid-market adoption is accelerating, with customers running more than 250,000 code reviews every month with DryRun Security, more than any other AI-native Code Security Intelligence provider.

Product Innovation Built for Agentic Development

Over the last twelve months, DryRun Security doubled down on product innovation to address a growing gap in traditional application security tools. The company’s AI-native Contextual Security Analysis (CSA) engine was purpose-built to support agentic code security intelligence, delivering security that understands code behavior, execution context and autonomous decision-making across both human-driven and AI-driven workflows.

Powered by this core technology, DryRun Security introduced the following innovations:

  • Natural Language Code Policies (NLCPs): allows security teams to define secure coding requirements in plain English. These policies remove the complexity of rule-based configuration and enable faster alignment between security intent and real-world development practices, an essential capability for governing autonomous coding agents. Policies are no longer ignored in an old share site, but live in every pull request.
  • Custom Policy Agent: enforces natural language policies directly within developer workflows, scanning every pull request and providing inline, actionable feedback. Acting as an autonomous security guardrail, the agent helps ensure that both human developers and AI coding agents operate within approved security boundaries.
  • Code Insights MCP: securely connects DryRun’s Code Insights to MCP-compatible AI assistants, enabling natural language search, summaries, and trend reporting across pull requests and repositories. This gives security and engineering leaders fast visibility into high-risk changes, emerging patterns, and audit-ready evidence, without living in yet another dashboard.

Industry-Leading SAST Accuracy Validates Contextual Security Approach

DryRun Security’s contextual analysis approach delivers measurable accuracy gains. In the 2025 SAST Accuracy Report, DryRun detected 88% of seeded vulnerabilities out of the box, outperforming five leading static analysis tools, particularly on complex logic and authorization flaws. These results further validate why DryRun’s AI-native approach is essential as applications grow more complex and less deterministic, especially in AI-rich environments.

LLM & Agentic Applications Expose AppSec Blind Spots

The implications of these findings are even more pronounced in LLM-powered and agentic applications. In its research report, “Building Secure AI Applications,” DryRun Security found that more than 80% of vulnerabilities in LLM-enabled applications go undetected by traditional static analysis tools.

As execution paths become dynamic and code is increasingly generated or modified by autonomous agents, the shortcomings of legacy AppSec approaches are amplified, creating new classes of risk that demand a fundamentally different security model.

Leave a comment »

Ledger confirms customer data accessed

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 6, 2026 by itnerd

Ledger has confirmed that customer data was accessed following a security incident at its ecommerce and payments partner, Global-e Exposed information includes customer names, contact details, and order data such as purchased products and pricing, though Ledger says no financial data, passwords, or recovery phrases were compromised. Global-e began notifying affected users on January 5 and warned that phishing campaigns are already underway, with attackers impersonating both companies. Ledger has urged customers to be vigilant, emphasizing it will never request recovery phrases, send replacement devices, or ask users to scan QR codes. Security researchers have already observed real-world phishing attempts exploiting the breach.

Bleeping Computer has the details here: Ledger customers impacted by third-party Global-e data breach

Anders Askasen, VP of product marketing, Radiant Logic has this comment:

“This incident shows why identity risk extends far beyond credentials. Contact and order data, when paired with brand trust, is sufficient to drive highly effective phishing. That data typically sits scattered across third-party platforms, outside direct control and with little governance. Without unified identity and data observability, organizations discover phishing only after attackers have already weaponized their data.”

Will Baxter, Field CISO, Team Cymru adds this:

“What stands out here is how quickly threat actors pivoted from data exposure to active phishing campaigns. That speed highlights the need for continuous and proactive threat intelligence to spot emerging lures, spoofed domains, and brand impersonation infrastructure as soon as it appears. Organizations should not rely solely on customer warnings, but proactively monitor for brand abuse tied to known incidents. Early detection means faster takedowns — and better protection for users — even when the initial breach occurs through a third-party partner.”

We’re six days into the new year and we have a supply chain attack with a side of phishing tossed in. Thus proving that if you’re one of the good guys, you need to make sure that you’re looking for threats that will come at you from multiple sources as that’s how the bad guys roll these days.

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »