Microsoft has announced that higher demand for cloud services resulting from home and hybrid working is the reason why it will delay its planned commercial price increases for Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

Two Week Grace Period  

An announcement posted in the ‘Partner Center’ section of Microsoft’s website states that the commercial price rises announced back in August will now be subject to a two-week grace period. This means they will come into effect after March 14 rather than on March 1.

Microsoft says the grace period will provide partners with additional lead time for adapting business processes and placing orders for “six Modern Work products” – Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3.

This means that all CSP new commerce transactions for these products submitted into the system no later than March 14, 2022, 5 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or 12 a.m. UTC on March 15, 2022, will be invoiced at the February 2022 pricing. Those submitted after this cut-off point will be invoiced at the increased March price list pricing.

Price Increases  

As announced back in August, the new prices for Microsoft’s commercial products which were originally due to come into effect on March 1, 2022, range from increases of 9 per cent to 25 per cent depending on the product. The increases, as listed on Microsoft’s website are:

– Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 USD to $6 USD per user).

– Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $ 20 USD to $ 22 USD).

– Office 365 E1 (from $8 USD to $10 USD).

– Office 365 E3 (from $20 USD to $23 USD).

– Office 365 E5 (from $35 USD to $38 USD).

– Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 USD to $36 USD).

Why?  

Microsoft has justified the prices by saying that although there hasn’t been a substantive price rise for 10 years, users have benefitted from many extra services and more value being added to services. For example:

– Since the introduction of 365, the company has added 1,400 features, and 24 apps to the suites.

– Microsoft 365 has added security capabilities including data loss prevention (DLP) for email and documents, sensitivity labels, and message encryption to help guard valuable company data.

– Content Search, eDiscovery, and core Litigation Hold have been added to help users with compliance.

– Built-in mobile device management (MDM) and other management tools like Microsoft Endpoint Manager have been added to, as has Microsoft Teams to help support remote and hybrid workforces. Teams, for example, has been particularly helpful to many businesses during the pandemic.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The price increases were announced 6 months ago, so were expected. A grace period, albeit just a couple of weeks is, of course, welcome. It is true also that there have been no major price increases in 10 years, which is a long time in the tech world, and many businesses will acknowledge that Microsoft 365 is better than it used to be. It is also much better for Microsoft to now have customers on their SaaS models. The cloud and apps like Teams have proven to be very important to users over the lasts two years of remote and hybrid working and, Microsoft says, it is the popularity of hybrid working that is behind the decision to give a grace period before the price increases. Of course, Microsoft needed to invest heavily on innovation to keep its products relevant and, over the last couple of years, to stay ahead of competitors in the collaborative/remote working market (Google, Zoom and Slack), which is another justification for its commercial price rises.

In this article, we look at what Starlink is and why it has been making the news in the last couple of weeks.

What Is Starlink? 

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company uses a constellation of low orbit satellites around the earth (launched by SpaceX rockets) to provide broadband internet. Starlink provides satellite Internet access coverage to most of planet and is particularly useful for areas where connectivity is unreliable or completely unavailable.

Starlink says that users of its satellite broadband can expect to see download speeds between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s and latency as low as 20ms in most locations.

Sent A Kit 

Starlink customers are sent a kit which includes the Wi-Fi router, cables and base that enables them to connect to their satellite broadband. Being a satellite connection, however, users need to have a clear view of the sky to connect and need to download the Starlink App to determine their best install location.

Can Be Seen In The Night Sky 

Starlink’s satellites can be seen with the naked eye as a bright, equally spaced line of star-like objects orbiting in a line/train. This has led to criticism by astronomers that the SpaceX satellites are ruining their observations. Astronomers also say that in addition to the amount of light reflected by the satellites, there are also the problems of diffusion of background light and the radio noise from the satellites. Back in June 2020, SpaceX responded to the criticism by developing a new strategy to reduce the amount of light Starlink satellites reflect down to Earth. Starlink says that it now leads the industry in innovations to reduce satellite brightness, minimising the impact on astronomy. The company says that it is also testing rolling satellites, so the vector of the Sun is in-plane with the satellite’s body, i.e., so the satellite is knife-edge to the Sun.

Satellites Destroyed By Solar Storms 

Starlink suffered a costly setback recently after 49 satellites it launched in one mission were burned up in the earth’s atmosphere only days later costing the company $50 million. The failure was caused by a sun storm/geomagnetic storm. These storms, sometimes called ‘space weather’ happen because of explosions of plasma from the surface of the Sun and solar winds escaping Sun’s outer atmosphere. The result of these fluctuations is that electrons, protons, and other particles are blasted out from the sun into space. When this happens, as in the case of the recently launched satellites, the earth’s atmosphere absorbs the solar storm’s magnetic energy, heats up and expands upward. This expansion creates drag on satellites, and it was this drag (while the new batch were in their lower dropping off orbit i.e. between 60 and 120 miles/100 and 200 km) above the Earth’s surface, that caused them to fall towards earth and burn up.

Is This Your Space Junk? 

So-called ‘space junk’ (debris orbiting the earth/orbital debris) is a big problem. NASA (2021) said that the Department of Defence’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors are tracking more than 27,000 pieces. Also, the European Space Agency estimates there are now 36,500 pieces of space junk larger than 10cm. These pieces of natural meteoroid and artificial (human-made) orbital debris include non-functional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragmentation debris. The significant dangers are that are that debris and spacecraft are traveling at orbital speeds (approximately 15,700 mph in low Earth orbit), and any impact of even a tiny piece of orbital debris with a spacecraft could create catastrophic problems.

Recently, astronomers accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm as being the company responsible for an abandoned three-tonne rocket part that they had been tracking since 2015 and which was on a collision course with the moon, travelling at 5,500 miles per hour. On colliding with the moon, the part is reported to have left 65ft crater. Elon Musk has confirmed that the part did not belong to SpaceX, and it is now believed that it was a part of a Chinese rocket.

Needed In Ukraine 

Starlink also made the news last week after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for Starlink internet terminals to be sent as Ukraine’s broadband infrastructure was damaged in Russian attacks. As well as being able to work in any areas where there is a clear view of the sky and not dependent on ground base infrastructure (apart from somewhere to mount the dish) President Zelensky has also commented that Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. Elon Musk, who communicated personally with President Zelensky, has now donated Starlink satellite internet terminals to the embattled country.

Thanked, But A Warning 

Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted his thanks to SpaceX’s billionaire chief executive officer Elon Musk for help, including a photo of the truck, loaded with terminals. President Zelensky has also expressed his thanks.

There have however been warnings via Twitter from Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab project, that the terminals could become targets and beacons for Russian air strikes. Concern has also been expressed that the dishes would need to be installed in vulnerable locations for the system to work.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The crisis in Ukraine has highlighted how useful the often-criticised Starlink system can be and has illustrated its advantages overs traditional ground-based systems operated often through state control. Although it can’t fully replace terrestrial internet on a large scale, it is likely to provide vital communication links where they’re needed. The speed with which Elon Musk responded and the fact that he became personally involved, which could hold a risk for him in the future, is also likely to have a positive impact on his public image which could rub off on his SpaceX and Starlink businesses. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Starlink terminals, and even the Starlink satellite operations end up being targeted by physical and or cyber-attacks.

In this article, we take a brief look at what agile working is, plus how technology contributes to it.

Agile

Agile working refers to the idea of connecting processes, people, technology, time, and place to create a dynamic workforce. By giving workers the freedom and maximum flexibility to work where and when they want, thereby minimising constraints, this can improve productivity and performance. Other results of agile working can include the creation of a more responsive, efficient, and effective organisation that has more balanced, motivated, innovative, and productive teams and individuals working within it.

There are models to help with agile working, such as core and flex and activity-based working.

Difference Between, Agile, Flexible, and Hybrid  

Whereas flexible working is primarily about working hours, and hybrid working is primarily about the mix of where work is carried out (home or office), agile working is a whole strategy which could include flexible and hybrid as components. Agile working, however, is more about removing traditional barriers and adopting new practices to enable staff to work at their best and most efficient.  

Challenges  

Examples of some of the main challenges to successfully introducing agile working include:

– Culture and mindset. Agile working means fully embracing an agile agenda where people are the organisation and are empowered in a relationship of trust and responsibility.

– Resistance to change from some key individuals and management not fully accepting the idea.

– Preserving outdated legacy systems.

– Inadequate resource planning and ignoring the cultural and change-management aspects of its introduction.

– Insufficient training and inadequate experience with Agile approaches.

Technology’s Contribution To Agile Working  

Agile working (being a whole strategy and approach) means that simply buying new technology is not enough, although there are many ways that technology can be used strategically to help to contribute to successful agile working. These include:

– Digital transformation to give workers fast access to information.

– Cloud-based technology. This facilitates the use of collaborative working platforms, real-time communication, and digital canvases that work groups can use, and can be updated in real time.

– Using wireless and plug-and-play solutions (in offices) to facilitate collaboration between workers.

– The early adoption and use of ‘disruptive technologies’ e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, the IoT and robotics.

– Agile working tools e.g., Kanban, and scrum/project management tools e.g.,  ActiveCollab, Jira, Pivotal Tracker, Trello, GitHub, also collaborative working, and comms platforms e.g., Teams, Slack, and Zoom.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?  

Agile working is a commitment to a new way of thinking and operating with the promise of being able to increase the speed and flexibility of the workforce, aimed towards improving productivity, performance, efficiency, and innovation which can all add value and create competitive advantages. The cloud is major contributory technology to operating agile working as are many of the agile working tools that operate in it to enable a dynamic approach that is being adopted by

There has been a warning that a banking trojan (malware) named SharkBot, which can steal financial details and initiate money transfers from compromised devices is spreading via fake Antivirus Apps. The apps, reported to be available in the Google Play Store, have been identified as Antivirus Super Cleaner, Atom Clean-Booster Antivirus, Alpha Antivirus Cleaner, and Powerful Cleaner Antivirus.

If you’re finding that you’re keeping up with the news more lately, try using ‘Widgets’ to catch upon the news at a glance in Windows 11. Here’s how:

– Sign into your Microsoft account.

– To show or hide the widgets board, select the Widgets icon on the taskbar, press the Windows logo key  + W, and click or tap anywhere outside the widgets board.

– To add widgets, select the ‘Add widgets’ button at the bottom of widgets board and follow the instructions to add widgets.

– To personalise your news feed widgets, go to ‘Manage your news and interests’ in the Widget settings dialog box. This will open the ‘My Interests’ page in Microsoft Edge.

– Use the search box to find topics or publishers you want to follow e.g., war in Ukraine.

– To fine tune your news feed, select ‘Tune your feed’ on the left side of the ‘My Interests’ page to be guided through the steps to set up your news feed.

Tesco and Asda have announced that they are to trial the use of a coating for fruit that’s made from the same materials found in peels, seeds, and pulps as a way to extend shelf life, fight food waste, and reduce the need for packaging.

Tackling Food Waste 

The UK throws away a staggering 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste a year! 400,000 tonnes of that is fruit. For example, each day we throw away an average of 720,000 whole oranges. Much of this fruit is thrown away because it has perished, e.g. gone mouldy or started to decay. This is why there is room for a solution that can cut down on food waste but doesn’t involve extra packaging.

Tackling The Challenge of Plastic Pollution From Food Packaging 

Also, the results of a study by The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), has led to some recommendations related to fresh fruit and vegetable retail packaging. The recommendations are that:

– Fresh fruit and vegetables should be sold loose where possible, unless it is shown that plastic packaging reduces overall food waste.

– Unless it can be shown that a ‘Best Before’ label reduces overall food waste, date labels should be removed. WRAP says this would prevent 14 million shopping baskets worth of food from going to waste and 1,100 rubbish trucks of avoidable plastic simply by allowing people to buy what they need.

– Customers should be helped to understand the benefits of storing appropriate fresh produce in the fridge, set at the right temperature (i.e. below 5°C). This could help prolong the life of fresh fruit and veg and help reduce food waste.

WRAP has also called for the removal of more unnecessary and problematic single use plastic items under The UK Plastics Pact, including wrapping on multi-packs of tinned food and sauce sachets in restaurants.

Apeel Coating Trial 

It is with tackling these issues in mind that Tesco and Asda have agreed to trial a new coating for fresh fruit and vegetables. The invisible, tasteless, odourless coating called ‘Apeel’ is made from plant-derived materials, lipids, and glycerolipids that exist in the peels, seeds, and pulp of all fruits and vegetables. Coating fruits (and vegetables) in Apeel (spraying, dipping, or brushing) is claimed to slow spoilage by helping to keep moisture in and oxygen out. It is also claimed that Apeel will reduce reliance on refrigeration, thereby increasing its green credibility. The makers of Apeel claim that the coating makes produce lasts twice as long.

Asda has announced that it will soon be using the Apeel coating on citrus fruit and avocados in more than 150 stores. Tesco has announced that it will be using Apeel to coat oranges and lemons sold in 80 stores in the Peterborough area and will be studying the difference that the coating makes to the fruits’ shelf life.

Promising 

Sarah Bradbury, Tesco Group quality director, said “Apeel could be a powerful tool in helping us cut waste in our supply chain and help customers reduce it in their homes”.

Asda’s senior director, Dominic Edwards, said “During this programme, we will be learning more about the benefits of longer-lasting produce for our customers, and we are looking forward to seeing what further developments this could lead to in the future”. 

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

The UK produces far too much food waste and there is a cogent argument that UK supermarkets are still selling products with too much unnecessary (plastic) packaging, all of which is bad for the environment. If Apeel, which is made from natural ingredients anyway, really can make fresh produce last twice as long, this could be one great way to tackle three big problems at once – reducing the need for packaging, reducing the need for refrigeration, and reducing fresh food waste. This will be good news for the supermarkets in terms of lowering costs and helping them to meet their environmental targets. It would also be good news for consumers by reducing their shopping costs (less waste, food lasting longer), and giving a safe, environmentally friendly choice in their shopping (if they were made aware of the benefits of the coating). For other fresh food businesses this coating is likely to be of interest, and now it remains to be seen if the claims match up to the results as noted by Asda and Tesco at the end of the trial.

In this article, we look at how, in addition to the devastating missiles, rockets, bombs, tanks and other weapons, Ukraine has also been the subject of cyber-warfare and we look at how these and other war-related issues could be cause for concern across Europe.

War In Ukraine

At the time of writing this article, as Ukraine has come under attack from Russian forces from the sea, ground and air, with reports indicating that:

– Russian troops are still trying to take Ukraine’s two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv.

– An estimated half a million refugees have left Ukraine.

– There are news reports that residential areas in Ukranian cities are now being hit with attacks such as cluster-bombs.

– The first round of talks about a ceasefire have been held.

– Satellite images have shown large columns of Russian armour and other military vehicles heading into Ukraine.

– Sanctions on Russia have caused the value of the Ruble to crash, leading to long queues at Russian banks.

Cyber Attacks – A Part of ‘Hybrid Warfare’ 

State-sponsored cyber-attacks are now also very much an ongoing threat faced by all countries but, specifically in the case of Ukraine, they are being used against them as a weapon of war.  Part military strategy, first proposed by Frank Hoffman, and highlighted in a NATO review last year, ‘hybrid warfare’ is described as an “interplay or fusion of conventional as well as unconventional instruments of power and tools of subversion” which are “blended in a synchronised manner to exploit the vulnerabilities of an antagonist and achieve synergistic effects.”  In short, it’s a combination of conventional and unconventional strategies, methods, and tactics which includes cyber-attacks. These cyber-attacks are now used to support the ‘hard power’ of military action by disrupting vital services like power and communications to create more fear and confusion.

A Feature of Previous ‘Hybrid’ Methods Believed To Have Involved Russia 

Russia has been blamed for the use of cyber-attacks against states before, including Ukraine, especially during military conflicts. For example:

– Russia has been blamed for DDoS attacks on both Georgia and Crimea during the incursions in 2008 and 2014.

– In December 2015, Ukranian power stations were hacked and taken offline. It was also reported that the telephone lines had been disrupted so that the engineers couldn’t make calls. The result was huge disruption for hours for homes, businesses and other entities.

– In June 2017, the software used for Ukraine’s tax return filing system was hacked and companies were attacked with ransomware. The malicious software also spread to other countries, including the UK, as well as causing huge disruption to merchant shipping. The cost was estimated at $5-10 billion.

– In 2019, Russian military intelligence was blamed for cyber-attacks (DDoS) on 2000 websites in Georgia. The websites affected included the presidential website and the country’s national TV broadcaster.

Recent Cyber Attacks 

The hard power of military attacks against Ukraine are reported to have been accompanied in recent weeks by cyber attacks. For example:

– In mid January, Ukraine blamed Russia for attacks on 70 government websites (the largest attacks on Ukraine in 4 years) including the Diia website. This system, linked to government services, is where personal vaccination data and certificates are stored.

– In mid-February, Ukraine reported that two state-owned banks, PrivatBank and Oschadbank, had been hit by large-scale DDoS attacks and other failures which interrupted banking services.

– Last week, there were reports of Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and “wiper” attacks against Ukrainian organisations. These attacks have destroyed data on infected machines. Experts believe that the Wiper attacks may have been planned as far back as December.

– Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has reported that hackers from the Belarusian military (a group code-named “UNC1151”) have been targeting the private email addresses of Ukrainian military personnel “and related individuals”. The attacks have involved using password-stealing emails to break into Ukrainian soldiers’ email accounts and using the compromised address books to send further malicious messages.

Defence – The Rapid Cyber Response Team 

Countries have their own cyber protection units, usually linked to intelligence services/agencies, and the military. In terms of Ukraine’s defence against cyber-attacks, help could come from:

– The CRRT. Following a call for help from Ukraine, it has been reported that a rapid-response team (CRRT) is being deployed across Europe to help defend against Russian cyber-attacks which are accompanying (and preceded) the ground war. The team is reported to be made up of 12 experts, from Lithuania, Croatia, Poland, Estonia, Romania, and the Netherlands.

– Like the UK’s own Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) which was set up in 2013, Ukraine has its own CERT-UA.

Should We Be Concerned About The Spread of The War? 

While thoughts are of course with the people of Ukraine, there has been much speculation and some warnings which indicate how the war could spread. For example:

– Neighbouring countries are preparing for the possibility of attacks, invading forces, or events that could spill over into their territories, e.g. Poland, Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and even Finland.

– Russia’s president Putin said that he has put Russia’s nuclear force on high alert. This, however, has been dismissed by many as a distraction attempt.

Should We Be Concerned About The Spread of the ‘Cyber War’? 

At the beginning of February, oil facilities in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands being targeted by cyber-attacks, thought to be of Russian origin, were seen as a way of Russia exerting pressure on Germany and came at a time when Russia was threatening to close its oil pipelines. Also, at the end of January, UK businesses were warned by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to bolster their cyber defences in case Russia widened its attack scope to NATO countries and/or because of the spread of malware related to attacks on Ukraine. The NCSC has given advice about how to prepare here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/actions-to-take-when-the-cyber-threat-is-heightened

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

In addition to the terrible consequences of war for Ukraine’s citizens, there is uncertainty and fear about what happens next, and what could happen to escalate the conflict. Also, with more than one-third of Europe’s natural gas coming from Russia there are, of course, concerns about how the conflict could begin affecting other countries and there are bound to be big knock-on consequences for supply chains and other industries across the world. In terms of technology, there are clear risks of more Russian cyber-attacks being launched against NATO countries and the US and, as NCSC has warned, UK businesses now need to pay special attention to strengthening their cyber defences, not least to protect against malware attacks. Large UK companies and organisations involved with vital UK infrastructure could now face serious cyber-attacks (e.g. DDoS attacks) and, if not properly protected, this could have wider effects across the country for businesses and homes.

A study by security firm ‘Proofpoint’ has revealed that 82 per cent of UK organisations whose systems were infected by ransomware in 2021 opted to pay the ransom.

Much Higher Than The Global Average 

Despite cybersecurity and government agencies warning against paying, Proofpoint’s ‘2022 State of the Phish’ report states that this UK figure for 2021 is the highest in any region surveyed and is 40 per cent higher than the global average.

Phishing Attacks & Ransomware 

Phishing attacks are one of the main ways that criminals deliver ransomware (and other malware) or direct victims to a site where they download the ramsomware that allows criminals to access their networks. Proofpoint’s report showed that more than three-quarters of organisations (78 per cent) saw email-based ransomware attacks in 2021 and 91 per cent of UK organisations reported facing bulk phishing attacks in 2021. In fact, In the first three quarters of 2021, 15 million phishing messages with malware payloads were linked to later stage ransomware. For example, these malware families included Dridex, The Trick, Emotet, Qbot, and Bazaloader.

Why Not Pay? 

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) states that “even if you pay the ransom, there is no guarantee that you will get access to your computer, or your files” and that “occasionally malware is presented as ransomware, but after the ransom is paid the files are not decrypted. This is known as wiper malware.” 

Also, organisations that pay the ransom will still have infected computers, will be paying criminal groups allowing them to continue and bring suffering to others, and it makes organisations that are known to pay to be more likely to be targeted in the future.

What Does The Survey Say Happened To Those Who Paid? 

As the Proofpoint study showed, 60 per cent of organisations chose to at least negotiate with the attackers, and 82 per cent paid.  However, despite advice against paying, only 4 per cent of those organisations who paid a ransom were unable to retrieve their data. This is likely to be either because the key didn’t work properly, or the attackers had simply made off with the money.

Is No Backup A Reason To Pay The Ransom? 

It would seem logical that a lack of an effective back up may be a reason why organisations would pay a ransom. A report by cyber security company Emsisoft (2020), however, showed that some victims of attacks have been capable of restoring their networks from backups but have still opted to pay the ransom.

It should also be noted that one tactic that ransomware attackers often use is to threaten to publish an organisation’s data if the ransom isn’t paid.

Protecting Your Business From Ransomware Attacks 

Ways in which businesses can protect themselves from falling victim to ransomware attacks include:

– Educating staff about the risk of phishing emails and emails carrying malware, how to spot phishing/suspicious emails, and to never open emails that appear suspicious.

– Make regular backups of the most important files, keep them off-site (e.g., the cloud) and make multiple copies of files using different backup solutions.

– Make sure that the devices containing the backup are not permanently connected to the network, scan backups for malware before files are restored, and regularly patch products used for backup.

– Stop malicious content reaching company devices – e.g. by filtering to only allow file types you would expect to receive, blocking websites known to be malicious, actively inspecting content, and using signatures to block known malicious code.

– Prevent attacks via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), or unpatched remote access devices by disabling RDP if it’s not needed, enabling MFA at all remote access points into the network, using a VPN, and patching known vulnerabilities in all remote access and external facing devices.

– Prevent malware running on devices – e.g. by centrally managing devices to only allow trusted apps and disabling or constraining scripting environments and macros.

– Plug vulnerabilities in devices – e.g. by installing security updates as soon they are available and enabling automatic updates for operating systems, applications and firmware.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Making sure there are strong security measures in place (particularly where email is concerned) and checking data is definitely being backed up securely on a regular basis (and that it is accessible when needed) can help towards effective ransomware protection. Attackers can pressurise businesses into paying (e.g. by threatening to destroy and/or publish data), and an attack may simply come at a bad time for a business where a long disruption could seem less costly than paying. The fact is, however, that paying may not guarantee the return of data and may make a business more likely to be attacked again because they paid. Ultimately, businesses will, as the stats show, make their own decisions, but by their very nature, attackers can’t be trusted and paying now could lead to even bigger problems later, and will fuel the continuing cycle of attacks for others too.

With reports that Microsoft Edge is about to beat Safari to become the second most-popular browser, we take a brief look at what different browsers have to offer.

Google Chrome  

The most popular browser with a 65.38 per cent share of the market, Google Chrome is supported by Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS. Its popularity may be closely linked to Google’s long-running effectiveness in terms of the quality of its search engine results.  Some of its best features include the extensions and add-ons, the autofill features, cross-platform support and sync, and live captions. It also has some powerful security features – blocking dangerous mixed content (scripts an images) and warning if email has been compromised. Some tech commentators point to its main downside being that it can be resource (memory) hungry.

Microsoft Edge

Edge is supported by Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, (with Linux coming soon), and bundled as part of Windows. With Chromium at its core, it is fast, has good privacy and security measures, some useful add-ons (e.g. password manager) and plenty of customisation options. It also has an “Install this site as an App” feature to allow a site to be installed as an app on the desktop with a shortcut so it can work as an app, and not a browser tab or window. One of the main criticisms of Edge is that it keeps asking to be the default.

Safari  

Safari, now almost the second most popular browser (already the most popular for iPhone and iPad) is fast, works well with Apple devices, and has a clean look that users like. Also, its Handoff feature allows users to continue a browsing session between different Apple devices and it offers some good privacy protection features, such as  Privacy Browsing mode and a Privacy Report tool that uses machine learning. Some of the more popularly voiced disadvantages include the fact that it’s only for Apple now, it has limited synchronisation options and a limited choice of extensions, customisation options are limited, there are few software updates, and some security measures may be lacking, e.g. notifying users whenever they access unencrypted web pages.

Opera  

Supported by Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS it is Chromium-based so it is fast and allows add-ons from the Chrome library. Opera also has built-in ad blocker, a built-in VPN, a crypto wallet, and supports integrated apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Disadvantages may be that it’s not as fast as Chrome, it’s not as clean and uncluttered as Chrome or Edge, and it may be lacking some features like social media sharing tools.

Firefox  

Mozilla Firefox is fast (just behind Chrome) and has good built-in security tools such as Google safe browsing, a native pop-up blocker, excellent levels of support and warnings about whether there is SSL or TLS encryption on a website. Firefox also offers add-ons or browser extensions. Its disadvantages may include its system requirement requires a lot of resources, plus it has experienced a decline in recent years which may lead some to question its longevity.

Some Privacy-Focused Browsers….  

DuckDuckGo  

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-centred search engine / privacy browsing app, which is available as a download for mobile devices and as a Chrome extension. DuckDuckGo retains a user’s privacy by not saving the user’s browser history, forcing sites to use encrypted connections, blocking cookies and trackers (including ‘hidden trackers’ before they load), and by stopping a user’s searches being sold to third parties for profiling and advertising. It also uses Smarter Encryption which utilises a list of millions of HTTPS-encrypted websites, which has been generated by continuous crawling the of the web instead of crowdsourcing, thereby keeping it current.

Epic

This is another privacy and security focused browser gaining in popularity that blocks ads, trackers, fingerprinting, crypto mining, ultrasound, signalling, and offers free VPN (with servers in 8 countries).

Tor  

Tor (short for ‘the onion router’) is a browser that uses a distributed network (randomly selected nodes) to anonymise the user’s IP address. Tor encrypts traffic and makes it very difficult for a user’s web traffic to be traced or for users to be tracked unless they reveal their IP address by enabling some browser plugins, downloading torrents, or opening documents downloaded using. Although it’s good for avoiding censorship (among other things), Tor is, however, used to access the Dark Web.

Brave  

Brave is another privacy-focused browser that is fee, open-source, and based on Chromium. It blocks ads and trackers and allows users to use a Tor in a tab to hide history, and masks location from the sites a user visits by routing a user’s browsing through several servers before it reaches its destination.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?  

Chrome is still by far the most popular browser and how it links up with Google’s other suite of useful tools (e.g. analytics and AdWords), means that it’s likely to be widely used by most UK businesses and organisations. Edge has adopted Chromium and, as such, is a big improvement on Explorer, but Safari seems to be gaining in popularity, fuelled by the popularity of Apple devices. At a time when privacy and online protection is valued more than ever, some organisations may be looking at the value of more privacy-focused browsers for certain tasks and situations e.g., DuckDuckGo, just as they value the encryption privacy of apps like WhatsApp. The browser battle is always ongoing and although Google’s Chrome is far ahead, there is closer competition behind which gives today’s users more choice.

If the Online Safety Bill is passed in its current form, it could mean that the main social networks will be forced to filter out any unverified accounts.

One Of Two New Duties Added To The Bill 

Last Friday, the government published details on its website of two new duties to its Online Safety Bill that are designed to strengthen the law against anonymous online abuse and protect people from online trolls. The first of the two new duties will force large, popular social media sites (‘category one’ companies with the largest number of users and highest reach) to give adult users the ability to block people who have not verified their identity on a platform.  The large social media companies have been singled out because the government says they pose “the greatest risk”.  The government says that the big social media platforms must now offer ways for their users to verify their identities and control who can interact with them.

How? 

The government’s suggestions for how this could be done include:

– Users ticking a box in their settings to receive direct messages and replies only from verified accounts.

– The platform providing users with an option to verify their profile picture to ensure it is a true likeness.

– The use of two-factor authentication where the platform sends a prompt to a user’s mobile number for them to verify.

– People using a government-issued ID such as a passport to create or update an account.

Why? 

The government says that too many people currently experience online abuse, and that anonymity may be fuelling this, with offenders having little to no fear of recrimination from either the platforms or law enforcement.

Examples include England’s Euro 2020 footballers suffering racist abuse, female politicians receiving death and rape threats, and ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ people being subject to coordinated harassment and trolling.

The Responsibility Of Tech Firms 

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said of the new duties in the Bill:

“Tech firms have a responsibility to stop anonymous trolls polluting their platforms” and “people will now have more control over who can contact them and be able to stop the tidal wave of hate served up to them by rogue algorithms.” 

The Second New Duty 

The second of the two new duties added to the bill will require platforms to provide users with options to opt out of seeing harmful content. This duty has really been introduced to the bill to help tackle a growing list of toxic content and behaviour on social media which falls below the threshold of a criminal offence, but which still causes significant harm. This includes, for example, racist abuse, the promotion of self-harm and eating disorders, and dangerous anti-vaccine disinformation.

The government has suggested that this could be achieved by the larger social media platforms making available settings and functions where users can choose whether they want to be exposed to any legal but harmful content where it is tolerated on a platform.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

With the government hoping to introduce the (draft) bill as law soon, and with social media platforms very much in their sights, the ‘category one’ companies are unlikely to be surprised by these extra responsibilities that it would be hard to argue against, in theory.  It has not yet been decided, however, which methods the household-name platforms will provide to be compliant (e.g., settings tick boxes and filtering tools). Also, the Bill would not stop people making anonymous accounts and posting abuse but would force the social media platforms to give users the option to opt out of not seeing material posted using unverified accounts. The sanctions that come with the bill (i.e. imposing criminal sanctions on named tech executives) also look unlikely to actually be imposed for another 2 years ‘grace period’. All in all, measures that reduce the ability of online trolls and those spreading hate to reach their victims must be a good idea in principle and it now remains to be seen what else may be added to or removed from the bill before it comes into force in the next few months.