Figures from software technologies company ‘Check Point’ show that an upward trend of malicious activity through 2020 reached a peak of 925 cyber-attacks a week per organisation at the end of 2021. The result of this trend was a massive 50 per cent increase in cyber attacks on corporate networks in 2021, with education and research the most attacked sectors.
All posts by Paul Stradling
Tech Tip – Making Your Browser Remember Your Passwords
Your browser may have a Password Manager but sometimes an issue (e.g., conflicting extensions) may cause the browser not to save or remember your passwords. Here’s how to fix the issue for popular browsers Chrome and Edge:
For Google Chrome:
– Open the Chrome menu (the three dots top right) and select ‘Settings’.
– Select ‘Autofill’ on the sidebar.
– Choose the option labelled ‘Passwords’ (left side of the Settings screen).
– Turn on the ‘Offer to save passwords’ switch.
For Microsoft Edge:
– Open the Edge menu (the three dots top right) and select ‘Settings’.
– Select ‘Passwords’.
– Turn on the ‘Offer to save passwords’ switch.
Sustainability : Solar Powered Pavements Made From Waste Plastic
The Platio company in Hungary is making solar panels out of plastic waste that can be used as pavement slabs, adding an extra clean energy source to buildings and other facilities when placed outside.
How?
Platio uses a special pressuring method to turn 400 otherwise non-recyclable plastic bottles into very strong and durable one-square metre pavement slabs/’solar paver’ frames into which are fitted solar panels. The high-performance solar cells fitted into the composite waste-plastic paving slab frames are protected by heavy-duty, anti-slip, scratch and impact-resistant glass panels which means that they are walkable and can even take the weight of a truck.
Where?
The company says that this innovative solar technology can be made part of modern architecture for offices, residential buildings, port infrastructure, and smart cities. The solar pavers are suitable for all surfaces and for use in terraces, driveways, and marinas, pavements, or even on driveways as part of energy generation for EV charging.
Platio also says that the solar pavers can be installed where conventional solar technologies cannot be deployed such as windy (tornado-prone) areas, in landscape protection zones, and around wooden buildings or buildings with lightweight roofs.
Sustainability
Platio highlights on its website how the solar pavers have a green advantage over cement production which, per ton made, creates around a ton of carbon dioxide, thereby making cement and concrete production, which accounts for 7 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, Platio estimates that using its solar pavers rather than a cement/concrete surface could save the environment from approximately 25 kg of greenhouse gas emissions per square metre.
Advantages
The advantages of the solar pavers include:
– Flexibility in scope as to where and how they can be used.
– A productive green use for otherwise non-recyclable plastic bottles that are available cheaply and in abundance.
– Having a complementary green energy source to add to those already used on a building e.g., rooftop solar panels.
– Finding a way to save space while introducing new solar technology as the slabs are laid as part of the existing built environment i.e., they don’t take up additional, valuable space.
– They are quick and easy to install, and easy to maintain (or replace).
– The panels are durable – they have high resistance to load, strike, scratch, weather, and vandalism, thereby making them a good green investment when considering the energy they create over time.
– The panels are safe due to low voltage and a slip-resistant surface.
– They are making use of existing technology and, therefore, can be deployed now.
– The solar pavers are designed to be 95 per cent recyclable at the end of their life cycle.
– The modern high-power solar panels are very efficient at producing green energy.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Those in the construction industry, planners, architects, cities, and those planning their own builds may find these pavers to be an innovative but cost-effective way to create sustainable architecture, transform existing areas into spaces that contribute to lower energy costs, lower carbon, and ecological footprints, and give a sustainable source of green energy going forward. The solar pavers appear to represent a new way to generate power, by using existing technologies, to tackle plastic and other waste challenges while meeting green energy and environmental targets at the same time. Their flexibility, practicality, and potential contribution to a greener smarter, more sustainable future are bound to generate interest as well as electricity.
Tech News : From 7 Mins Download … To 0.12 Secs (ish!)
Nanjing’s government-backed Purple Mountain Laboratories claims to have made a 6G breakthrough by recording the fastest real-time wireless communication speed ever recorded.
For reference, 6G is likely to be around 50 times faster than 5G, which itself is around 20 times faster than 4G. Whilst this is very approximate, this could mean that a film that may take (say) 7 minutes to download via contemporary 4G would take 6 seconds with 5G (the newest standard currently being rolled out) and circa 0.12 seconds with 6G.
Highest Ever Reported
Working in collaboration with Southeast University, Pengcheng Laboratory, Fudan University, and China Mobile, the lab claims to have achieved a single-wavelength net rate of 103.125 Gbps and a dual-wavelength terahertz wireless transmission (in a lab environment) with a net rate of 206.25 Gbits/sec. As well as being the highest transmission terahertz real-time wireless communication ever publicly reported, this has the potential to increase the speed of 5G transfers, which are already 20x faster than previous standards
What Does This Mean?
Purple Mountain has said that this terahertz frequency band (300GHz~3THz), is considered to be the foundation of 6G mobile communications. The implications of the lab achieving a speed/wireless transmission rate this high could be:
– The replacement of the existing mobile optical fibre network, reducing the amount of data centre cables and power costs, and integrating with the existing optical fibre network to bring ultra-high speed outdoor and indoor wireless access.
– Installation on satellites, drones, and airships to help boost wireless communication between satellite clusters, the sky, and the Earth, or between separate satellites.
6G
6G is expected to be around 50 times faster than 5G with faster data rates and lower latencies. Even though 5G wireless technology is still only just being rolled out in many countries, 6G is expected to be its successor. Huawei Technologies Co estimates that 6G will enter the market around 2030 but an agreement is still to be reached on the technical standards that could support 6G frequencies, signal modulations, and waveforms.
Others Testing 6G
Purple Mountain Laboratories is not the only one to be testing 6G and claiming breakthroughs. Back in August, for example, LG, in partnership with Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Germany, claimed to be the first company to successfully transmit data across 6G outdoors. Also, back in June, a Samsung prototype was reported to have demonstrated successful 6G data transmission on terahertz (THz)/6G frequencies.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
For UK businesses, it’s likely to be frustrating that 5G hasn’t been successfully rolled out yet and there’s already news of the development of its successor 6G and how businesses in other countries (e.g. China) look set to be able to benefit from it. In global terms, it is of course good news that there have been breakthroughs in wireless technology that could, in several years, bring many advantages. Lack of agreement, however, on standards to support 6G frequencies or any kind of official road map for 6G are also challenges to businesses being able to start using and benefitting via 6G any time soon.
Tech Insight : What Was New at CES?
In this tech insight, we take a look at a selection of the latest B2B and B2C tech products and gadgets on show at the recent CES® tech trade show.
Examples
The more business-focused devices, hardware and software on show included:
Laptops And Other Devices
As you may expect, many new laptops and other devices were unveiled at CES®. These included new EliteBook 605 Series PCs (aimed at hybrid workers), and Lenovo’s new ThinkPad Z Series laptops (134 and 16) aimed at the business market.
New Routers For Small Offices/Remote Working
Netgear’s new tri-band Orbi Pro SXK50 mesh router is designed to give rapid Wi-Fi speeds for small offices and remote working, and offers 5.4 Gbps, has Wi-Fi 6, and can manage up to 75 concurrent devices with a coverage area of 12,500 square feet.
TP-Link ‘s new Wi-Fi 6E router has antennas that rotate automatically to give the best signal based on the location of the user’s devices and can deliver total speeds of over 10 Gbps.
New Webcams
Examples of new webcams previewed at CES® include Jabra’s PanaCast 20 4K HDR video business-focused webcam which uses AI to ensure that the user is always perfectly in frame with the right lighting levels. Also, the Anker Video Bar comes with its own adjustable lighting, as well as a built-in mic and speaker array making it ideal for video conferencing.
New Monitors
Dell’s new UltraSharp U3223QZ business monitors include a new 4K webcam built-in, two echo-cancelling mics, two 14W speakers, IPS Black panel technology, and are certified for collaboration software Microsoft Teams. This clearly positions them as products aimed at improving remote/hybrid working.
Docking Station For Multiple Monitors
Plugable’s new docking station can support three 4K monitors at once, has three 4K HDMI ports and three 4K DisplayPort ports, plus the docking station lets users mix and match monitors with different connectivity standards.
Blackberry Security Software
Blackberry showcased the fact it has shifted from being a smartphone company, through a range of partnerships, to supplying the BlackBerry Jarvis software composition analysis tool. Its job is to help embedded software developers whose products are used by the US Federal Government to spot any potential security issues.
Some of the many ‘gadgets’ on show at CES® included:
Immersive “Virtual Ride” OLED Fitness Bike From LG
LG’s “virtual ride” immersive fitness bike sits the user on an exercise bike in front of three, large, arched, 55-inch OLED panels which bend vertically over the user. The high-quality visuals e.g., riding along a forest path give the user the feeling of cycling through a real environment. The panels are an alternative to a VR headset, but the user would need somewhere with plenty of space to set up this particular product.
Smart Dog Collar
French company Invoxia’s ‘Smart Dog Collar’ claims to be the “first biometric health collar for dog”. The collar monitors a dog’s vitals, activity, and location 24/7. It has already won 2 CES® Innovation Awards and allows the owner to track their dog’s heart and respiratory rate, check their activity levels and eating habits, and uses a radar, a buzzer, and GPS to track a dog and/or locate the dog if it’s lost or stolen.
Samsung C-Lab’s Zamstar Digital Guitar
The Zamstar guitar from Samsung C-Lab uses LEDs on the fretboard to show finger positions and an accompanying app to help users to learn their favourite riffs and songs.
Health Tracking Lightbulb
The smart, health-monitoring light bulb from Sengled uses radar sensors to track the heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs of people in the home. If several Smart Health Monitoring Light bulbs are used in the home, for example, they can connect via Bluetooth to create a health-monitoring map of the occupants of a house.
Finger-Nibbling Animal Robots
Japanese company Yukai’s cute, cuddly animal robots use different algorithm-driven nibbling patterns such as “Tasting Ham”, “Massaging Ham”, and “Suction Ham” to give the user the feeling that a baby or pet is nibbling their fingers when they put their fingers in the robot’s mouth.
The Lili Lamp For People With Dyslexia
Lili’s lamp, which the company says is “based on French scientific discoveries” emits flashes of light, almost invisible to the naked eye, which are designed to make the perception of writing more precise for the majority of people with dyslexia, and help their reading to become smoother, faster, and less tiring.
iPhone-Finding, Eco-Friendly Backpack
The Cypress Hero Backpack with ‘Find My’ technology built-in is an eco-friendly backpack that allows the user to ping their iPhone if they’ve lost it and set up geofencing alerts which sound an alarm if the backpack is moved out of a certain area.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
The effects of the pandemic on working have clearly affected the types of new products (and their marketing) being released with many companies focusing on their usefulness for remote and hybrid working. Also, as expected, the continued growth of the IoT with a variety of smart gadgets, many of which have a health focus, and the inclusion of AI technology were very much in evidence. This reflects how important the IoT and AI have become in our business and home life and what a big market there is now for health-related wearables. Although some big companies were not ‘in-person’ at CES®, it was still able to reveal how tech companies can innovate and use multiple technologies to create new products, enhance existing ones, and help businesses and consumers to meet needs in new and interesting ways. The hope is, of course, that Covid will not prevent in-person attendance at the next show although the tech industry is probably the best prepared to go virtual if needed.
Featured Article : The Essentials Of A ‘BYOD’ Policy
In this article, we look at what BYOD is, why a BYOD policy is important, and what elements form the essential blueprint of a BYOD policy.
What Is BYOD?
The term Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been around since 2004 when it was first coined as an expression. With BYOD, employees can bring and use their personally owned laptops, tablets, sometimes USB drives and smartphones to work and use them for work-related activities. The activities could be accessing company emails and information, connecting to the company network, and accessing company apps and data, and using their own device to solve work problems. Smartphones are the most popular BYOD device.
Types
It should be noted that there are different types of BYOD. These include corporately owned/managed, personally enabled (COPE), choose your own (company) device (CYOD), personally owned, partially enterprise managed, or personally owned, with managed container application.
Why?
The benefits of BYOD underpin why it has become so popular. For example:
– Convenience. We now have more personal devices and that these devices have the capacity to do many of the things that work PCs would have done. Most people, for example, now bring at least their own smartphone to work. LaptopsDirect research found that 84 per cent of British employees now use their smartphones at work. The same research showed that those in the marketing, information and communications, creative and photographic industries (and within professional services) are the top smartphone users. Also, many businesses, particularly smaller ones, have simply come to rely on the fact that employees’ own devices are available for work use.
– Increased Productivity. Employees often work faster (with less training needed) using their own devices and, therefore, becoming more productive.
– Costs savings. For example, a much-quoted Cisco report from 2016 estimated that with a BYOD policy in place, companies save an average of $350 per year.
– Speed. It has been estimated that using portable devices for work can save employees 58 minutes per day (Samsung + Frost and Sullivan).
– Harnessing the skills of tech-savvy employees.
– Innovation by finding new, better, and faster ways of getting work done.
– Improved morale and employee satisfaction, and productivity gains.
– Reduced IT Dependence. BYOD typically means fewer IT-related issues for the business to deal with, therefore saving on IT resources.
Why Do You Need A BYOD Policy?
Having a BYOD policy is a way of ensuring that employees use the right, approved security practices when connecting to the company network. A BYOD is a document that outlines how employees (and who) are permitted to access corporate digital assets using their personal devices.
Setting out the company’s/organisation’s rules of acceptable use of the technology, how to operate it and how to protect the company from cyber threats in an enforceable BYOD policy, which employees must agree to comply with. For example:
– Protect the company/organisation’s infrastructure and data from cyber threats e.g., ransomware, hacking, data breaches.
– Ensure legal compliance and meeting contractual obligations.
– Enable the smooth running of flexible, remote and hybrid working.
– Give users the ability to use IT confidently and comfortably.
The Essentials
The essentials of a BYOD policy, and developing that policy, should broadly include the following:
– An audit of the existing system to establish threats, risks, and opportunities for using BYOD.
– Establishing goals for BYOD based on the audit.
Based on these two stages, a BYOD policy that works for both the business and the employee can be developed which could incorporate:
– A statement of the aims of the policy to help employees understand its purpose and importance.
– An outline of the scope of the policy i.e., who it applies to (which staff and/or third parties), and the systems it applies to.
– A definition of what constitutes the acceptable use of personal devices for business activities. This could include, for example, the types of supported mobiles/devices that have been approved by IT, and the approved security software that must be installed on the user’s device (mobile device/application management tools).
– Permitted and non-permitted tasks.
– Other security measures that must be taken e.g., password requirements, verification and encryption requirements, biometric security, and any time-out period to locking.
– User responsibilities relating to how their device is used when accessing the company’s/organisation’s network. This could include informing IT if they leave employment and compliance with relevant legislation (including not using BYOD while driving).
– A statement of who is responsible for cost, e.g. for the purchasing, running, repairing, and replacing of personal devices used in BYOD plus the nature of any incentives or cost reimbursements offered to employees who use their personal data plans in the course of using their device for work activities.
– The company’s/organisation’s position on liability for any loss or damage of personal devices and data used with BYOD.
– How monitoring will take place e.g., checking the make and model of devices and whether operating systems are up to date, and any spot checks. This statement could also include details of what IT personnel can access e.g., details on usage of corporate applications via the BYOD, not personal details.
– Control limits over devices e.g., whether they can be accessed and wiped remotely by managers.
– Details of enforcement measures, what happens if employees fail to comply with the policy e.g., access to BYOD services being withdrawn.
– A definition of the termination policy and an exit plan for employees who no longer wish to participate in BYOD.
Guidance
There are many online resources providing guidance and help with BOYD and developing an effective policy. For example, both Microsoft and Google have provided online guidance for BYOD:
Microsoft – Office 365 UK Blueprint – BYOD Access Patterns.
Google – 6 ways that G Suite helps IT admins safely use BYOD.
Also, there is the UK National Cyber Security Centre guide.
Solutions and Software
There are also many different solutions and software options to enable the management of BYOD. These include CrowdStrike Falcon for mobile, SolarWinds RMM, ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager Plus, AirWatch Workspace One, and more.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
With remote working and hybrid working, having an effective, well-communicated and regularly updated BYOD policy in place has never been more important for businesses. It should be remembered that having a good BYOD in place doesn’t just help with security but can also facilitate improved productivity and can make for a smarter, more agile business. The starting point of developing a BYOD policy is a full assessment of the risks, challenges, costs, and resource implications, plus an understanding of its goals and benefits. An effective BYOD policy should be designed to work for both the employee and the business and be supported by appropriate and effective monitoring, feedback, and enforcement.
Tech News : Want a Payrise? Apple Boss Earned $100 Million in 2021
A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Apple CEO, Tim Cook, earned $100 million in 2021.
1,477 Times Higher Than Average
The filing showed that his pay, fuelled by stock awards, if compared to the new median pay for employees of $68,254, was 1,447 times that of the average employee at Apple.
Considerably Higher Than 2020
The filing appears to show that Mr Cook’s $98.7 million salary was so much higher than his $14.8 million in 2020 because he received $82.3 million in stock awards, $12 million for hitting Apple’s targets, and $1.4 million for air travel on top of his $3 million basic salary.
Home Working Has Boosted Demand
Apple was reported to have first become a trillion-dollar company as far back as August 2018, and in its first day of trading in 2022 became the first company to hit a $3 trillion stock market value (albeit briefly as stocks dipped at the end of the day). The company’s revenue received a considerable boost of more than 30 per cent to $365.82 billion in 2021 due to increased demand for its products thanks to the home working caused by the pandemic lockdowns.
First Since 2011
Mr Cook taking over for Steve Jobs in 2011 led to an initial 1,000 per cent stock surge, and Mr Cook has not, until last year, received restricted stock units since 2011.
Donate Wealth To Charity
Back in March 2015, Mr Cook announced that he planned to donate his $800m fortune to charity before he dies, with the money to go to many social causes, and to his nephew’s education.
Not The Richest
Tim Cook is certainly not the richest man compared if to Tesla founder Elon Musk whose fortune was boosted recently by a $ 32.6 billion rise in share price due to strong Tesla car sales in 2021 to $ 304.2 billion.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Evidence of the personal wealth and salary increases of big tech company bosses, particularly over the last 2 years, highlights the strength of the market position of their companies, the increased demand for tech/digital products and services with home working during the pandemic, and of course, obvious inequalities in society. Apple has clearly strengthened its market position during 2021 and Cook has been rewarded for his leadership through stock units, albeit for the first time since he took over. It’s difficult for many business owners to imagine the kind of remuneration figures that big tech bosses and rich-list people receive although, thankfully, it is not unusual for some to spend substantial amounts on worthy causes (Bill Gates), and it is heartening to hear that Tim Cook plans to donate so much to social causes, albeit after his death. Apple’s good profit news is a far cry from its 2020 fine for the ‘batterygate’ scandal and, with its new ‘Business Essentials’ service and ‘Self-Service Repair’ programme for iPhones beginning this year, plus the continued demand for its products, 2022 looks set to be another good year for Apple and its CEO.
Security Stop-Press : Phishing And Malware Threat Though Google Docs Flaw
Email security specialists Avanan have reported that hackers have been leveraging the comment feature in Google Docs to target primarily Outlook users. The attack works by hackers adding a comment to a Google Doc mentioning the target with an @. This automatically sends an email from Google to that target person’s inbox which contains bad links to malware or phishing sites. To protect themselves, users should cross-reference the email address in the comment to ensure it’s legitimate, scrutinize links and inspect grammar, and deploy protection that secures the entire suite.
Tech Tip – 3 Top Google Maps Tricks To Try
The Google Maps mobile app now has many useful and surprising features. Here are 3 top Google Maps tips you may like to try:
1. Remember Where You Parked
– When using Google Maps on Android, on reaching your destination, tap the blue location dot.
– Select ‘Save your parking,’ which adds a label to the Maps app, identifying where you parked.
– Tap that to add details e.g., car park level, or amount of time left before a meter expires (you can also set meter reminders or add a photo).
– To find your car later, tap the search bar up top and select ‘Parking location.’
– For iOS, tap the little blue location dot when you arrive, in the pop-up, tap ‘Set as parking location.’
– In the app, a ‘P’ icon will appear alongside a note that says, “You parked near here.”
2. Add Multiple Locations e.g., If You Have Several Stops To Make
– In the Google Maps mobile app, enter your starting point and your ultimate destination.
– Click the three dots (top-right).
– Select and click on “Add stop” and add details of the next stop on your route.
– Different stops can be dragged and dropped within your itinerary.
3. Measure Any Distance
– Right-click on a point on the map.
– Select ‘Measure distance’ from the list. A dot and a black line will appear.
– Click anywhere else on the map, and the distance between the points will be calculated (multiple points on a route can be added and the total distance calculated).
Tesco Set To Be First To Use Fully Electric Commercial Articulated HGV Trucks
Tesco has announced that, from this month, it is launching the UK’s first commercial use of fully electric, heavy freight articulated trucks.
Two For Use In Wales
In partnership with logistics and international freight forwarding company FSEW, the first of the electric fleet to take to the road will be two new 37 tonne DAF electric vehicles used to transport food and other products from the Wentloog rail terminal near Cardiff to Tesco’s distribution centre in Magor, Wales.
Charging Points
The Wentloog – Magor route is 30 miles each way and logistics partners FSEW has installed charging points at its site in South Wales that provide enough energy to power the lorries for 100 miles before needing to charge again.
Clean, Green Energy
HGVs make up only 5 per cent of vehicle miles but a disproportionately greater contribution to the UK’s domestic transport emissions of around 16 per cent. Tesco says that these first two lorries will be able to replace around 65,000 diesel-fuelled road miles with clean green energy, removing 87.4 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Could Help Meet Zero Emission Targets
It is hoped, therefore, that these newly commissioned EVs could help demonstrate that electric HGV transportation is commercially viable, and in doing so, encourage wider investment in technology and innovation. Electric HGV transportation could play a key role in accelerating not just the haulage industry’s transition to zero emission transport over the next few years, but also Tesco’s own target of reaching net zero emissions in its operations by 2035.
Progress
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said: “We’ve already made progress by starting our switch to electric home delivery vans and rolling out electric vehicles charging points for our customers. I’m excited that Tesco can also lead the way in electric haulage innovation, helping to tackle this last source of road transport emissions with the support of FSEW.”
Renewable Energy Partnership Too
Tesco already has a partnership with renewable energy investor, Low Carbon, to create three new solar farms in Essex, Anglesey, and Oxfordshire which can generate up to 130GWh of energy per year, enough to power 44,828 three-bedroom homes, helping the retail giant to procure more renewable energy and contribute to the grid.
Tesco has committed to use 100 per cent renewable electricity across the whole Tesco Group by 2030 which could save 30,308 tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 14,457 cars off the road.
What About The Other Supermarkets?
Back in July 2021, Sainsbury’s announced that it had become the first UK retailer to introduce fully electric refrigerated trailers to its delivery fleet. The fridges don’t release carbon emissions or particulate matter such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke into the air and have low noise emissions, thereby reducing the overall environmental impact of the retailer’s delivery vehicles.
Also, in July 2021 Morrisons announced the addition of ultra-fast electric car charging points to 100 stores to help build the biggest supermarket charging network in the UK, with the electricity used for charging coming from zero-carbon energy sources like wind and solar.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
There is broad agreement that EVs are the way to tackle transport emissions particularly those made by disproportionately larger polluting vehicles such as HGVs. This move from Tesco and its logistics partner FSEW is, therefore, very promising and if the initial experiment demonstrates a solid commercial case for these electric HGVs, investment, expansion, and similar moves by Tesco’s competitors will most likely follow. Although the costs of replacing HGV fleets with new EVs is high, supermarkets like Tesco have already committed to net zero targets and these vehicles will represent a way to help them reach the targets much more quickly. All businesses with a transport/delivery element will need to think about the move electric vehicles in the coming years and for many smaller businesses, current high costs of EVs and the availability of enough charging points are major considerations. Having many more electric HGVs on the road as replacements for the current diesel fleets is likely to something welcomed by all for environmental and public health benefits.