WestJet and TELUS unite rewards programs

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

WestJet and TELUS, two of Canada’s most trusted and iconic brands, have linked their loyalty programs to deliver industry-leading value and flexibility to their members. Starting today, WestJet Rewards and TELUS Rewards members who link their accounts can earn, transfer and redeem points across the programs, unlocking exclusive travel and connectivity benefits. They will also automatically receive WestJet seat selection vouchers and TELUS Roaming Passes, helping them travel comfortably and stay connected. 

The linked loyalty platforms means members who link their accounts can:

  • earn WestJet points on their TELUS bills;
  • redeem WestJet points towards their TELUS services and the TELUS Rewards catalogue; and 
  • convert their TELUS Rewards points into WestJet points, unlocking flights, vacation packages and more through the new WestJet Rewards eStore.

As an added bonus, members who link their accounts before November 30, 2025 will receive a free entry into a contest to win an all-inclusive WestJet vacation for two to Mexico.

Both TELUS and WestJet launched transformed rewards programs in 2025, redefining customer loyalty with enhanced member recognition and value. TELUS unveiled the most comprehensive transformation of TELUS Rewards in the program’s history, now engaging customers from coast-to-coast with a revolutionary tier-based system that rewards customers based on the number of products and services they have, unlocking elevated status and exclusive perks at every level. WestJet announced the most significant enhancements to WestJet Rewards in the program’s 15-year history, making it easier than ever for members to earn and redeem points and save on flights, vacations or enhanced travel experiences.

Currently, WestJet Rewards members can enjoy WestJet Wi-Fi, presented by TELUS, delivering high-speed internet on more than 100 of WestJet’s narrowbody fleet, letting guests stream video, work and stay connected. By the end of 2025, WestJet expects the entire narrowbody fleet in scope will be outfitted with this fast and free Wi-Fi.

WestJet Rewards and TELUS Rewards members can link their accounts today at either westjet.com/telusrewards or telus.com/my-rewards. For full contest terms and conditions please click here.

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Saviynt Unveils Major AI Capabilities for Identity Security

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

Saviynt, the leader in AI-powered identity security solutions, today unveiled groundbreaking advancements to its platform that redefine how enterprises manage and secure identities in the AI era. These new enhancements address two of the most pressing challenges facing enterprises today: the inability to onboard and govern all applications; and the lack of secure management for all identities – human and non-human, including AI agents.

Saviynt’s new AI-driven capabilities address these long standing challenges by accelerating and simplifying application onboarding, enabling all apps to be managed from a single, unified identity security platform, and extending Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) to include every identity – human, non-human and AI agent – to help organizations strengthen their overall security posture.

Onboard All Applications with Agentic AI

Comprehensive application onboarding has long been one of the biggest roadblocks to realizing the full value of an identity security program. In fact, a Ponemon study found that 49% of organizations don’t even track how many disconnected apps they have – creating dangerous visibility gaps and expanding the attack surface.

Saviynt’s new Agentic AI Onboarding for Applications solves this challenge by harnessing agentic AI to accelerate and simplify the integration of both connected and disconnected applications across hybrid environments. The result is that every application – no matter where it resides – can now be seamlessly onboarded, governed, and secured under a single identity platform.

Secure All Identities — Human, Non-Human, and AI

As artificial intelligence transforms how enterprises operate, identity ecosystems are expanding at an unprecedented pace. Non-human identities and AI agents now outnumber human identities by more than 82 to 1, underscoring their explosive growth and the urgent need for stronger governance and control.

While AI agents are fueling major productivity gains, they also introduce a new class of identities that widens the attack surface. Most organizations lack the visibility and oversight to manage them effectively, leaving hidden risks across critical systems.

Saviynt is addressing this challenge head-on by extending its Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) capabilities to cover all identities – human, non-human, and AI. These enhancements empower enterprises to confidently adopt AI while maintaining full visibility, governance, and compliance.

New capabilities include:

  • Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) for AI Agents: Provides comprehensive visibility, governance, and audit readiness for AI agents and their core components – such as MCP servers and tools – through simplified discovery, prioritized risk insights, and integrated access maps enriched with signals from leading security solutions like CrowdStrike.
  • ISPM for Non-Human Identities (NHI): Enhanced NHI capabilities now include a unified inventory for all NHIs, their access policies, and detected violations, with support for one-click remediation.

Built for an AI-Driven Future

Together, these AI-driven capabilities enable unified identity security across all environments, simplifying application onboarding and extending protection to every identity.

Saviynt’s AI-powered platform seamlessly integrates identity governance, application governance, privileged access management, and security posture management for all identities. With the addition of AI-native capabilities, organizations can proactively reduce risk, accelerate decision-making, and enhance operational agility.

By unifying human and non-human identity security under a single platform, Saviynt empowers enterprises to achieve true Zero Trust at scale and ensure continuous compliance in today’s AI-driven world.

For more information on Saviynt’s AI-powered identity security platform, read the new blog. Saviynt will also showcase these new capabilities during its 2025 UNLOCK Roadshow, taking place in six cities around the world over the next two months.

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OpenText Unlocks the Power of Secure Information Management

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

 OpenText today announced the release of Cloud Editions (CE) 25.4, introducing innovations that help organizations securely unlock the value of their  information and put AI to work with industry-specific, use-case-driven solutions.

With CE 25.4, customers can move from “Content in Context” to “AI in Context,” putting trusted data at the center of their AI strategy. With enriched and governed enterprise data in various OpenText platforms, organizations can accelerate AI readiness and benefit from operational productivity. CE 25.4 helps customers discover hidden data, transform raw content into intelligence, and curate information with business context.

Trusted AI-Ready Data

CE 25.4 recognizes that AI depends on three critical types of data:

  • Human-generated content: Structured data and unstructured data such as files, emails, images, texts, and audio created by users.
  • Machine-generated content: Log files from IT monitoring, security systems, network operations, endpoints, QA testing, and more.
  • Content between organizations: Data from B2B integrations, supplier networks, and commerce flows.

According to IDC, 90% of the world’s content resides behind enterprise firewalls and this private data is essential for deploying effective AI. In fact, 89% of CIOs say their AI strategy hinges on robust information management according to OpenText’s recent survey. Connecting all three types of data into AI-led cross-functional workflows is the competitive advantage OpenText can bring customers — ensuring private intellectual property remains secure, is governed by the right permission settings, and is ready to fuel powerful AI outcomes.

New AI in Context Innovations with CE 25.4

With OpenText’s latest release, customers can gain access to a suite of enhancements designed around three principles:

  • AI Ready: Tools and services to uncover hidden data, enrich it with business context, and prepare it for AI consumption.
  • AI in Context: Functional role specific AI solutions built on curated, governed data that meet industry standards.
  • Secure, Governed, Compliant: Advanced protection for sensitive data, identities, and endpoints, with intelligent threat detection and behavioral analysis.

CE 25.4 introduces new Aviator capabilities across a wide range of specific business roles including:

  • Policy & Compliance Management: Automatically identify and update non-compliant documents, behaviors, or trade transactions.
  • Document Classification and Management: Auto-tag and store documents according to business context. Archive and dispose of documents per records retention rules.
  • Service Management: Enhance service quality and reduce resolution times.
  • Quality Control Management: Generate QA scripts and automate testing of user stories.
  • Text-to-Code Conversion: Enable non-technical users to query databases.
  • Audit Preparation: Accelerate audit readiness by identifying gaps in documentation.
  • Anomaly Detection: Spot unexpected changes in supply chain transactions that signal business issues.
  • Carbon Emission Calculations: Help clients reduce emissions by aggregating data across trading partners and systems.

New Advisory & Support Services

To help customers maximize the value of CE 25.4, OpenText is launching a comprehensive suite of services:

Upgrade to CE 25.4 Today

OpenText Cloud Editions 25.4 is available now. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to take advantage of the latest innovations and prepare their organizations for the future of AI.

Engage Our Experts

To learn more about CE 25.4 visit here and see how OpenText can help your organization become AI-ready. Contact our advisory team today.

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Epson Holiday Gifts: High-Tech, Eco-Friendly & Perfect for Everyone on your list 

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

This holiday season is all about intentional gift-giving. From practical, eco-friendly picks to smart home tech that makes life easier, Epson’s curated gift guide blends sustainability with convenience, offering thoughtful options for premium gifting.

And with select models on sale during Black Friday and throughout December, there’s no better time for Canadians to get a head start on their holiday shopping.

The Epson EcoTank ET-2980 Wireless All-in-One Colour Supertank Printer (MSRP: $399.99 CAD)  

Designed for easy use, the ET-2980 is perfect for busy homes with a variety of printing needs.  With Epson’s innovative cartridge-free EcoTank technology, families can print thousands of pages in black and colour without worrying about expensive, wasteful ink refills, which is useful when printing anything from end-of-year reports to holiday cards.

EcoTank ET-4950 Wireless All-in-One Colour Supertank Printer (MSRP: $599.99 CAD)

For the ultimate home office upgrade, gift yourself the ET-4950. This printer has a sleek and sophisticated design and comes with enough ink to last up to 3 years . This model offers advanced productivity features like auto duplex printing, copying and scanning, helpful for both students and professionals alike.

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System (MSRP: $849.99)

The sentimental family member is always one of the hardest people to shop for. The Epson FastFoto FF-6680W photo scanner is the perfect gift to help them embrace their nostalgic side. In addition to quicky scanning and digitizing old photographs, users can enjoy the Epson FastFoto app, providing the ability to add voice and text over their photos, or create slideshows, right from their smartphone.

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EnGenius Launches ECC500: Scalable 8MP AI Surveillance with Advanced Face & License Plate Recognition

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

EnGenius Technologies is pleased to announce the release of the ECC500 AI Surveillance Camera, a powerful 8-megapixel solution engineered to deliver enterprise-class scalability, high-performance recognition, and next-generation AI intelligence. The ECC500 is designed to help organizations achieve faster, smarter, and more flexible security across complex environments.

Equipped with advanced on-device and Cloud AI, the ECC500 leverages transformer-based deep learning models that go beyond traditional vision analytics. This allows the camera to understand faces, license plates, and objects with greater accuracy and context awareness — even in challenging conditions. Its high-performance edge inference ensures real-time recognition without depending on external servers, while the cloud-native design guarantees seamless scaling.

Face Tracking with EnGenius Cloud Timeline

With ECC500 integrated into the EnGenius Surveillance Cloud, organizations gain powerful face tracking capabilities. The cloud timeline function enables security teams to:

  • Identify exactly when and where a person appeared
  • Correlate appearances across multiple cameras and locations
  • Build a chronological path of movement for investigation or auditing purposes

This feature streamlines complex investigations by eliminating guesswork, empowering users to rapidly track and verify activities with precision.

License Plate Recognition for Smarter Traffic Enforcement

The ECC500’s LPR capability transforms how governments and municipalities can manage urban safety. By capturing and recognizing license plates in real-time, ECC500 supports:

  • Automated traffic violation enforcement (e.g., speeding, illegal parking, restricted zone access)
  • Improved traffic flow monitoring through automated data collection
  • Enhanced public safety with accurate identification of suspect or unauthorized vehicles

With ECC500, law enforcement agencies and city planners gain a scalable, cloud-managed solution for smarter traffic governance and road safety.

Cloud-Powered Scalability

Through the EnGenius Surveillance Cloud, organizations can:

  • Search faces or license plates across entire deployments in seconds
  • Remotely view and manage video streams anytime, anywhere
  • Scale from small to enterprise-wide networks effortlessly, with centralized cloud management and elastic performance

The ECC500 AI Surveillance Camera will be available from EnGenius authorized resellers and distribution partners by November 2025. For additional product specifications and purchasing information, visit: ECC500

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LinkedIn’s Top Startups 2025: The Canadian companies defining the future of work

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

Today, LinkedIn released its annual Top Startups list, spotlighting the 15 Canadian companies redefining innovation across AI, tech, health, and finance. These fastest-growing startups are creating jobs, attracting top talent, and shaping the country’s next wave of growth.  

Nearly 70 per cent of this year’s honorees are new to the list, underscoring how quickly Canada’s startup landscape is evolving. From AI copilots and fintech disruptors to health tech breakthroughs, these companies reflect the country’s rapid renewal and the new frontiers of opportunity for Canadian professionals.  

Top 15 Canadian Startups 2025:   

  1. Pine 
  2. Hiive 
  3. Manmade 
  4. Vosyn 
  5. Motion (Creative Analytics) 
  6. Beautifi 
  7. PostGrid 
  8. Orchestry 
  9. Quandri 
  10. Orennia 
  11. Tali AI 
  12. Waabi 
  13. Cozey Canada 
  14. Traferox Technologies Inc. 
  15. Alli Therapy 

Methodology 

LinkedIn’s methodology is based on growth and demand — two key attributes that are synonymous with successful startups. We look at unique LinkedIn data across four pillars:

  • Employment growth: Percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%, over the methodology time period
  • Engagement: Non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. 
  • Job interest: Rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. 
  • Attraction of top talent: How many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups.

The methodology time frame is July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. 

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Outpost24 Strengthens Global Brand Leadership with Appointment of Liz Drysdale as Chief Marketing Officer

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

Outpost24, a leader in exposure management and identity security, today announced the appointment of Liz Drysdale as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Liz brings over 25 years of international marketing experience, including a decade in cybersecurity, to drive Outpost24’s next phase of growth and global brand expansion.

Recognized by The Enterprise World Magazine as one of the “Most Influential Business Leaders to Watch in 2024,” Liz has a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams. Her deep specialization lies in ensuring marketing functions are strategically aligned with sales and product engineering to accelerate business growth across global markets. Prior to joining Outpost24, she held senior leadership roles at market-defining cybersecurity pioneers, including SentinelOne, BeyondTrust, and CyberArk, where she drove successful go-to-market strategies for complex security portfolios.

At Outpost24, Liz will lead global marketing strategy, focusing on scaling brand impact and expanding market reach to reinforce the company’s position as a trusted partner in exposure management and identity security. Her mission involves overseeing all aspects of brand strategy, demand generation, product and channel marketing, specifically by translating Outpost24’s advanced technical capabilities into compelling value propositions that ensure customers and partners can effectively operationalize modern risk reduction practices.

Liz’s appointment follows several key executive hires, including a new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Chief Corporate Development Officer (CCDO), reinforcing Outpost24’s commitment to advancing its technology leadership, operational excellence, and strategic growth.

Backed by a dynamic executive team and a strong European presence, Outpost24 continues to solidify its position as a trusted partner for thousands of customers worldwide seeking to operationalize modern Exposure Management and Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) practices.

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Review: 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch – Part 2

Posted in Products with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

Interior wise, the Ford Expedition King Ranch is something else. Let me walk you through it and you will see why that is very quickly.

Let’s start with what the driver has to work with. And I will get this out of the way very quickly. Yes the steering wheel is oval. It was done to enhance the visibility of the driver when it comes the the upper screen of the two screens that this vehicle comes with. But this shape works as your hands are basically in a 10 and 2 position. Turning the wheel is a non issue as well. In fact, if you try this wheel out, you’ll find that you won’t be thinking about it after 15 minutes into your test drive. The driver display which is the upper screen is 24″. Meanwhile the lower display is 13.2″. Back to the steering wheel for a bit.It’s wrapped in Mesa Del Rio leather with Kingsville Stitching. Not to mention that it is heated.

The transmission is controlled by this knob on the left that has a manual mode. Said manual mode is controlled by the plus and minus buttons to the left of that knob. There’s a volume knob in the middle. And then various buttons to the right. For the record, that’s real wood and aluminum. And this is one of the few places that you will see shiny hard plastic. The fact that there is a minimal amount of shiny hard plastic earns Ford some bonus points as I truly feel that shiny hard plastic is massively overused in cars these days and is also impossible to keep clean.

There’s a cluster to the lower left that has the buttons for the different 4 wheel drive modes as opening and closing the rear hatch and the parking brake.

Now let’s move to the centre console. There’s two cupholders on the right that will hold Venti sized Starbucks coffee cups with ease. To the left, you have the control for trailer functions, a wireless charger on the right side, as well as a USB-A and USB-C port. You will notice an up and down arrow in the middle. Press the up arrow and you get this:

It slides the entire centre console and that does a bunch of things:

  1. It moves the cupholders further back for second row passengers.
  2. It creates extra storage space for front seat occupants.
  3. It offers a semi secure space to put a bag or purse into that you can close by moving the centre console forward. And it’s only accessible when the car is on. My wife used this to put her purse into when we went on a hike in Owen Sound on the weekend.

The armrest has a rather deep storage area with a tray to hold change for parking or a pen or two.

The second row passengers have a pair of cupholders. Above those cupholders is a slot that you can put an iPad into.

The doors have pretty deep pockets in them. A water bottle will easily fit into them.

This specific trim level comes with captain’s chairs in the second row that are heated and have Del Rio Leather. They move forward and back and easily flip down. More on the flip down part in a bit. I didn’t take a picture of the front seats, but they have the same leather and are heated and cooled and are power adjustable.

There’s a pair of USB-C ports on the back of each front seat.

Between the captain’s chairs are HVAC controls for the second row passengers along with a 110V AC outlet. For the record, this vehicle has three zones for climate control.

Above you is an insanely massive sunroof.

The third row actually fits adults. I acted as the designated driver for pub night and was able to bring five people back to the respective homes with no complaints. You have to duck your head to get back there. But once you’re back there, you’re good. The seats also split 40-20-24 to allow you maximum flexibility when it comes to cargo.

The liftgate is actually in a clamshell configuration. Again, giving you the maximum amount of flexibility when it comes to cargo. Plus you can sit on the lower part as well.

Storage space behind the third row is decent but not huge. However there’s some buttons on the left side of the cargo area that can help you with that.

These buttons can help you to flip down both the third and second row. Plus there’s a lighting button on the top in case you need some extra light. And there’s a storage area there as well as some tie downs to keep you cargo from rolling around.

Flipping down the seats opens up all sorts of room for your cargo. Given that this SUV is huge, that’s a lot of cargo space that you have access to.

On the right side of the cargo area you get two USB-C ports, a 12V outlet along with a 110V outlet.

This interior is impressive. I can’t find any area where I could criticize Ford for anything. It’s truly impressive and it’s a highlight of this vehicle. But let’s see if Ford is so lucky when it comes to the tech. That’s the next part of this review and I will have a fair amount to say about the tech that the Expedition rolls up with.

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Windows 10 Support Ends TODAY

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 14, 2025 by itnerd

As of today, Microsoft’s has ended Windows 10 support. And according to Roger Grimes, CISO Advisor at cybersecurity company KnowBe4, that could leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks.

“Windows 10 was released over 10 years ago, so it doesn’t surprise me that Microsoft is finally sunsetting it. Competitors like Apple and Linux often only support the latest versions for a few years, so ten years of support is extraordinary. With that said, there are tens of millions of Windows 10 users (there are also hundreds of thousands to millions of even earlier Windows users out there), and Microsoft can’t simply abandon them.

But what does support look like when Microsoft no longer provides support? If history is any indicator, in the past Microsoft was forced to release a few critical patches that were being widely exploited in the world, but the practical reality is that any Windows 10 user needs to move to a newer version or use something else. If they can’t and there are very valid reasons why a customer MUST continue to use Windows 10 and must accept the risk. That’s life. But those Windows 10 users should isolate Windows 10 computers off the network and Internet if they can, or significantly isolate them using other domain isolation techniques (e.g., firewalls, IPSEC, etc.) and enable aggressive security monitoring. A Windows 10 computer is a high-risk computer and needs to be treated like it.”

Now updating to Windows 11 is the clear answer to this dealing with Windows 10’s demise. But that’s not always easy as it is entirely possible that you have to replace hardware, or some piece of software that you rely upon might break and not have an easy path to update. Assuming that an update path exists.

But there’s another option if you must run Windows 10. You can extend its lifespan with the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program by paying Microsoft. More details can be found here. Interestingly EU customers don’t have to pay for this. At least for the first year. That’s the benefit of living in a jurisdiction that takes cybersecurity more seriously than we do. Having said that, this is a viable option if you must run Windows 10 beyond today.

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October Patch Tuesday Commentary From Fortra

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 14, 2025 by itnerd

By Tyler Reguly, Associate Director, Security R&D, Fortra

Today is a record setting day, one that should likely concern everyone in a few different ways. Today, Microsoft addressed, via direct and third-party CVE assignments, 196 CVEs. Since Microsoft moved away from security bulletins and toward security guidance in 2017, the record CVEs in a single month was 161 in January of this year. Today, however, Microsoft beat that record with a more than 20% increase.

Why should everyone be concerned? First, that is a lot of vulnerabilities to address and there’s definitely a few oddball issues this month that we don’t normally see. Today, for example, I learned about a new OS called IGEL OS. According to CVE-2025-47827, this vulnerability allows for a Secure Boot bypass. Similarly, there’s a vulnerability in the Trusted Computing Groups TPM2.0 reference implementation defined by CVE-2025-2884, which could lead to information disclosure. Not only are these issues we don’t normally see in a Patch Tuesday drop, but they are also issues that were disclosed months ago. The IGEL OS issue was disclosed in May, while the TPM2.0 issue was disclosed in June. Yet, Microsoft is just getting out patches for these issues now. If you’re a CISO, you might want your teams to ask your Microsoft TAMS why it took so long to get out updates.

One of the updates that I find more interesting this month is the fix for a set of privilege escalation vulnerabilities in the Agere Modem Driver that ships with Windows. These attacks, one of which has already seen active exploitation, can work even if the modem is not being used and will elevate the attacker’s access to administrator privileges. The fix, however, caught my attention because Microsoft is simply removing the driver, ltmdm64.sys, from the system. This driver removal addresses both CVE-2025-24990 and CVE-2025-24052.

CISOs this month may want to ask their teams if they are using Azure’s Confidential Computing (ACC) AMD-based clusters, due to the AMD processor vulnerability assigned CVE-2025-0033. Updates for this are currently in development, so there is no resolution process available right now. Instead, customers need to monitor their Azure Service Health Alerts to watch for notifications letting them know that they need to remove their ACC resources. If your teams are using ACC, you’ll want to check in regularly to ensure that they are paying attention for that reboot notification, so that you will ultimately know when this publicly disclosed vulnerability is resolved.

CISOs may also want to question their Microsoft contacts on the three Copilot vulnerabilities that were resolved this month. This is a time when an executive summary would be very useful, but unfortunately Microsoft did not include one for any of these three issues. Instead, all we know is that there were three spoofing issues, two within M365 Copilot Business Chat (CVE-2025-59286 and CVE-2025-59272) and one within M365 Word Copilot (CVE-2025-59252). I would want to ask three questions:

  1. What was the issue?
  2. What were the risks associated by the issue?
  3. Are there any ways that I can tell if my organization was impacted by the issue?

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not address this and simply lets us know that they have fully mitigated the issue and that there is no action that we need to take. With all the implementations of AI within organizations, I would think that CISOs would like a little more than, “There was a risk, we fixed it,” if they want to sleep better at night.

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