ComputerWorld – Page 8 – PossibleThreat Articles

UK's controversial online safety bill set to become law

September 20, 2023 0 Comments encryption, Privacy, regulation, Technology Industry

Four years after it started life as a white paper, the UK government’s controversial Online Safety Bill has finally passed through Parliament and is set to become law in the coming weeks.

The bill aims to keep websites and different types of internet-based services free of illegal and harmful material while defending freedom of expression. It applies to search engines; internet services that host user-generated content, such as social media platforms; online forums; some online games; and sites that publish or display pornographic content.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Jamf: Generative AI is coming to an Apple IT admin near you

September 20, 2023 0 Comments Apple, generative ai, it skills, Mobile, Security, small and medium business

Imagine running fleets of iPhones that alert you when unexpected security-related incidents take place, or when otherwise legitimate service requests arrive from devices at an unexpected time or location. Imagine management and security software that not only identified these kinds of anomalies but gave you useful advice to help remediate the problem.

This, and more, is the kind of protection Jamf hopes to deliver using generative AI tools.

Generative IT for Apple admins

Jamf believes generative AI can be a big benefit to tech support and IT admin, and talked about its efforts at the end of an extensive Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) keynote. Akash Kamath, the company’s senior vice president, engineering, explained that just as the Mac made computing personal, genAI makes AI personal.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Critical updates for Microsoft Office and Visual Studio drive September's Patch Tuesday

September 15, 2023 0 Comments Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Security, small and medium business, Windows

Microsoft released 59 updates in its September Patch Tuesday release, with critical patches for Microsoft Office and Visual Studio, and continued the trend of including non-Microsoft applications in its update cycle. (Notepad++ is a notable addition, with Autodesk returning with a revised bulletin.) We’ve made “Patch Now” recommendations for Microsoft development platforms (Visual Studio) and Microsoft Word.

Unfortunately, updates for Microsoft Exchange Server have also returned, requiring server reboots this time, too.

The team at Readiness has created this infographic outlining the risks associated with each of the September updates.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Message to IT: Update all your Apple devices right away

September 8, 2023 0 Comments Apple, iOS, MacOS, Mobile, Security, small and medium business

Apple has pushed out an essential security update to defend against yet another attack by an out-of-control mercenary surveillance group.

Like a bad smell, NSO Group has clawed its way back into the spotlight with yet another unprincipled attack against free speech and citizens’ rights, as revealed by Citizen Lab. The security researchers found this latest example of a sinister, yet egregious zero-click attack while checking the device of an “Individual employed by a Washington DC-based civil society organization with international offices.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

UK rolls back controversial encryption rules of Online Safety Bill

September 6, 2023 0 Comments encryption, regulation, Technology Industry

The UK government has conceded one of the more controversial parts of its Online Safety Bill, stating that the powers granted by the legislation will not be used to scan encrypted messaging apps for harmful content until it can be done in a targeted manner.

Companies will not be required to scan encrypted messages until it is “technically feasible and where technology has been accredited as meeting minimum standards of accuracy in detecting only child sexual abuse and exploitation content,” said Stephen Parkinson, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts and Heritage, in a planned statement during the bill’s third reading in the House of Lords on Wednesday afternoon.

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ComputerWorld Independent

GenAI in productivity apps: What could possibly go wrong?

September 5, 2023 0 Comments Artificial intelligence, enterprise applications, generative ai, productivity software, Security

We’re in the “iPhone moment” for generative AI, with every company rushing to figure out its strategy for dealing with this disruptive technology.

According to a KPMG survey conducted this June, 97% of US executives at large companies expect their organizations to be impacted highly by generative AI in the next 12 to 18 months, and 93% believe it will provide value to their business. Some 35% of companies have already started to deploy AI tools and solutions, while 83% say that they will increase their generative AI investments by at least 50% in the next six to twelve months.

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ComputerWorld Independent

With BYOD comes responsibility — and many firms aren't delivering

August 31, 2023 0 Comments Apple, enterprise mobile management, Mobile, mobile device management, Security, small and medium business

Apple deployments are accelerating across the global enterprise, so it’s surprising that many organizations don’t properly recognize that change. Even when companies put Macs, iPhones, and iPads in the hands of their employees, they are failing to manage these deployments. It’s quite shocking.

That’s the biggest take-away from the latest Jamf research, which warns that almost half of enterprises across Europe still don’t have a formal Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy in place. That’s bad, as it means companies have no control over how employees connect and use corporate resources, creating a nice, soft attack surface for criminals and competitors alike.

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ComputerWorld Independent

New law could turn UK into a hacker's playground

August 25, 2023 0 Comments Apple, Operating Systems, Privacy, Security

It looks as if people are at last waking up to a second extraordinarily dangerous requirement buried within a UK government bill designed to promote the nation as a surveillance state. It means bureaucrats can delay or prevent distribution of essential software updates, making every computer user far less secure.

A poor law

This incredibly damaging limitation is just one of the many bad ideas buried in the UKs latest piece of shoddy tech regulation, the Investigatory Powers Act. What makes the law doubly dangerous is that in the online world, you are only ever as secure as your least secure friend, which means UK businesses will likely suffer by being flagged as running insecure versions of operating systems.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Why and how to create corporate genAI policies

August 21, 2023 0 Comments Artificial intelligence, chatbots, Data privacy, Emerging Technology, generative ai, Security

As a large number of companies continue to test and deploy generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools, many are at risk of AI errors, malicious attacks, and running afoul of regulators — not to mention the potential exposure of sensitive data.

For example, in April, after Samsung’s semiconductor division allowed engineers to use ChatGPT, workers using the platform leaked trade secrets on least three instances, according to published accounts. One employee pasted confidential source code into the chat to check for errors, while another worker shared code with ChatGPT and “requested code optimization.”

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