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Weekly News: The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech

The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech; why ransomware attacks keep on happening ; and how VR could change real estate.

The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech

Regulating Big Tech. Big The popular Chinese short-form video app TikTok has been making headlines since its origins back in 2018. The reasons behind its quick ascend to fame are a no-brainer.

TikTok lets anyone produce and edit videos effortlessly, and is
powered by an incredibly effective recommendations algorithm that makes
scrolling down its feed highly addictive.

The platform has also become a meeting place for younger
generations that had so far eluded traditional social media outlets like
Twitter and Facebook. And brands love that.

Given its huge monetization potential, then, it’s no surprise
that TikTok’s has also attracted the attention of powerful interests. For good
and for ill.

After threatening to ban the app under suspicions of Chinese-sponsored espionage, the U.S. government –and Trump– had a new message:

It’s okay as long as Microsoft buys TikTok’s U.S. business before mid-September. Oh, and the government should get a cut of the benefits.

Only that now it appears that Microsoft might want to buy TikTok’s entire global business.

The new episode of this serialised drama comes just a week after Big Tech leaders appeared before U.S. Congress to defend themselves against accusations of monopoly and unfair competition. Now one big tech company might get even larger.

Whatever it takes to win a trade war and fatten the national coffers.

And that’s why ransomware attacks keep on happening

This past month has
been a busy one for cybersecurity.

First Twitter got hacked by what turned out to be an
amateur group of teenagers. Then the
smartwatch maker Garmin was knocked out by a ransomware attack that kept its
services down for days.

Well, new information emerged this week suggesting that Garmin
paid a multi-million dollar ransom in
exchange for a decryption key to recover its files.

Garmin would have supposedly made the payment through an
intermediary, Arete IR, which provides ransomware negotiation services.

A great ending for EvilCorp, the Russian hacking organisation
thought to be behind the attack. Or maybe not?

In fact, Arete IR claims that WastedLocker, the ransomware
strain used in this occasion, is not consistent with the Russian group’s modus
operandi. Another player might be responsible.

Whoever is the real culprit, the fact that a large multinational company like Garmin has opted to pay the ransom sets a dangerous precedent in the fight against cybercrime.

No wonder these attacks keep on happening.

Also read our Weekly News: A Ransomware Attack, Self-Taught Robots and Online Abuse: The Week in Tech News

How VR could change real estate

Taking a virtual
reality tour of a new apartment or office is nothing new. The technology has
existed for some time now. They were simply not that many incentives to make it
a widespread thing.

With the pandemic, however, shopping for a home without leaving
the sofa has acquired more of an appeal. Especially considering that lockdown
has left many hungry for a change of scenery.

Too much time trapped in between four walls tends to make you
want to at least change those for walls.

Although, as the BBC shows in an article published this week,
the number of apartment offerings that incorporate a VR tour option remains
marginal, things are quickly picking up pace.

The property listing company Zoopla says the coronavirus crisis
has tripled the number of virtual viewings for new properties.

This goes in line with developers and the broader real estate industry, which for years now have been allocating a part of the construction budget of new buildings to developing a VR experience.

There’s only one big caveat: visiting an apartment in this manner requires you to have a VR headset at home, and they are expensive. At least for now.

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7th August 2020
Weekly News: Rise and Fall of a Hacking Empire

Bringing to light an international hacking empire

More often than not, reality
overcomes fiction. Why bother with whodunnit novels books when you can read
newly-unsealed court documents?

An estimated $1.5 million in profits. Over 300 target companies across 44 countries. Under the moniker “Fxmsp,” a hacker made global headlines last year for stealing and selling source code and customer access to MacAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro.

More importantly, the hacker built backdoors into enterprise
networks and then made them invisible to the system. He then sold these through
Russian hacking groups for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece.

Meet Andrey Turchin, a 37-year-old man from Kazakhstan whose name has just been made public by a U.S. court. He established a full-blown business almost overnight, even employing another reputed hacker as his sales manager.

Read the full story before Hollywood makes a movie out of it.

More on cybersecurity

Another week goes by,
leaving us with new record-breaking cyber incident metrics.

British security provider Sophos published a comprehensive cloud security study, revealing that 70% of companies hosting data or workloads in
the public cloud experienced a breach in the past year.

Businesses in the multi-cloud received almost twice as many attacks compared to those using a single cloud provider, highlighting why companies should be more worried about their cloud data.

On another note, be advised that there is a new kid on the block. A novel strain of ransomware called Conti can use 32 simultaneous CPU threads to encrypt your data.

The most in-demand IT pros

Remote work is here to stay, and that is
re-shaping the IT talent needs of companies looking to remain competitive in
this new reality.

Unsurprisingly,
being knowledgeable in collaboration tools like Zoom or Teams comes in handy.
So does expertise in cloud-based business suites like Microsoft 365 and G
Suite.

Networking and infrastructure skills are also in high demand, as companies need to build stronger ecosystems that are able to withstand the surge in remote work and cyber attacks.

But general business acumen takes the spotlight in the post-COVID world. Here are the most sought-after business skills of the moment.

News from Microsoft

We got some updates from the
Redmond-based company this week.

The wave 2 release plans for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform are now available. Be sure to review all the upcoming changes and additions ahead of the October roll-out. Early access begins on August 3rd.

Also — Microsoft Teams will now present your team in a fake auditorium during video calls. It certainly looks strange, but apparently our brains process it better than the rectangular grid with everyone’s face on it.

10th July 2020
Weekly News: How Tech Is Rewiring our Brains

How Tech is rewiring our brains, a few bumps on the road for data science, new AI beats historic videogame trap; and the newest new Internet… Discover our weekly news about Tech & IT.

How Tech Is Rewiring our Brains – ‘We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.’

How Tech is rewiring our brains?

‘We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.’ Often mistakenly attributed to the philosopher Marshall McLuhan, this quote by John Culkin has become a symbol of the symbiotic relationship between humans and tech.

Science writer Nicholas Carr took the concept to a new level in
his 2010 book The Shallows:
What the Internet Is Doing to our Brains. It was not that well-received at the time. But with every new
app that changes the way we communicate and consume information, it gets
clearer how relevant Carr’s work was and remains.

In the book, Carr leaves moral judgements aside and urges us to
approach technology from a position of understanding.

Our brain is being rewired, pushed towards shorter attention
spans and shallower forms of reading by feeds and visuals. Only by being aware
of these effects, we will be able to stay in control.

Ten years after the book’s publication, Vox’s Ezra Klein sits down with Carr to discuss where we stand today.

An interview worth checking out.

A few bumps on the road for data science

A new report by software provider Aanaconda sheds some light on the current
state of data science and its role in the enterprise. Far from being a
consolidated part of today’s business world, the discipline has yet to overcome
a few key challenges before reaching maturity.

Problems demonstrating ROI across the organisation. Difficulty integrating open-source tools. Attracting and retaining top talent. Tackling AI bias and ethics — quite the line-up.

Thankfully, the report also provides specific recommendations on how to overcome these challenges. Taking a look at them won’t hurt.

New AI beats historic videogame trap

First released in 1979, Zork set a new
standard for interactive, story-driven videogames. Rich in storytelling and
equipped with advanced language syntax recognition, this text-based adventure
prompted players to input actions at every step.

Now, a new AI built by Georgia Tech and Microsoft Research has become the first to overcome one of the game’s most iconic bottlenecks (i.e. times where players tend to get trapped and die).

Named Q*BERT, the AI leverages NLP and reinforcement learning to avoid getting eaten by a ‘Grue’ monster whenever it moves without any lights around the game’s dungeons.

Also read our article: The Task of Rebuilding AI Infrastructure: Machines and the New Reality

The newest new Internet

Blockchain-powered Dfinity
proposes a decentralized and non-proprietary type of network that takes the
power away from existing monopolies.

It does this by allowing for apps to be built and run on the
network itself, rather than exist in data centres that are increasingly
controlled by large companies like Facebook and Amazon.

This so-called ‘Internet Computer’ is now open to third-party developers and entrepreneurs in a bid to spur a new era of connectivity and development.

Dfinity launched a privacy-friendly version of TikTok named CanCan to illustrate the platform’s power. Thanks to its architecture, the app is said to do in 1,000 lines of code what Facebook does in 62 million.

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Also discover our Weekly News: How brain-like should AI be?

3rd July 2020
Weekly News: Remembering the Father of Mechanical Brains

Remembering the father of ‘mechanical brains’

British mathematician
Alan Turing would have celebrated his 108th birthday this week.

Regarded as the father
of computer science and artificial intelligence, Turing played an instrumental
role in deciphering the Nazi Enigma code during World War II. The
communications intercepted thanks to his computational machine are said to have
saved millions of lives.

Sadly, Turing was
never recognised in life for his many contributions to humankind — all on the
basis of his sexual orientation. He died at a young age in tragic
circumstances, after years of prosecution and forced chemical castration.

Thankfully, our society has made major progress since then. But, as we celebrate Pride month, let his story serve as a reminder of why we need to keep fighting for universal LGTBQ rights.

If you are curious to see how little importance was given to Turing’s legacy at the time of his death, here’s the obituary that The Guardian wrote for this creator of ‘mechanical brains’.

Tech execs are regaining confidence

A new survey by
global industry association CompTIA revealed that tech executives are feeling
confident about an imminent return to normality. Around two-thirds of
respondents believe things will be back on track by August, with business
volume already beginning to pick up.

Despite most companies have experienced at least some degree of client loss and restructuring, the sector has shown its resilience by maintaining solid activity levels throughout this crisis period. Training is a focus for 70% of respondents, with soft and business skills being prioritized. Discover what business skills are the most demanded right now.

Apple has news for devs

After months of rumours and speculation,
Apple finally announced it is abandoning Intel chips in favour of its own
ARM-based processors. The custom-built silicon, which will debut in new systems
by the end of the year, is said to deliver better performance at lower power
consumption.

The company is releasing a developer transition kit (DTK) to let developers familiarize themselves with the new architecture. It’s basically a Mac mini on steroids, preloaded with everything you’ll need to start building your software.

Find out how to request a unit.

Please find our secrets attached

COVID came and cyber security got trickier with the surge in remote employees and potentially hackable access points. This week, a WSJ survey revealed another major cause for concern for companies: rogue employees.

About 70% of companies are worried about malicious employees leaking proprietary data or helping attackers get into enterprise networks. For all the advancements in security tools, limiting the harm that can be done by individual employees remains a challenge for most big companies.

Ironically, the study was made public less than a week after a poll by Nordlocker showed that a preoccupying number of employees regularly share sensitive and confidential files via email. Not with malicious intent, though.

News from the frontlines…

What’s tech doing this week about the
coronavirus? If it’s the U.K. we are talking about — starting again from
scratch.

Last week we wondered why the country’s
authorities were silent regarding their NHS-sponsored app. Well, it turns out
that the government is abandoning the app altogether, pursuing instead a new
one based on the Apple-Google technology.

However, the new app is not likely to come in time to be of any significance in the fight against the second wave of the virus this Fall.

But there’s more — allegations have surfaced regarding the NHS’ obsession to shut down rival apps while its now-failed one was in development. Live and let live, as they say.

26th June 2020
Weekly News: Robots take the streets

Robots take the streets; Contact tracing apps are here; The cloud’s about to burst; News from the frontlines… Discover Weekly Tech & IT News.

Robots take the streets & make their first en-masse appearance

A news article on pizza-delivering robots.
Amazon and its flashy drones. That friendly robot shaking your hand at an
industry conference.

Robots had long appeared ready to make the
jump to public life. But it took a pandemic to finally start turning the hype
into reality. That is, of course, aside from industrial automation.

As humans fled streets and public buildings
seeking refuge from the virus, robots started pitching in and even replacing
them. Grocery delivery, temperature screening, sanitation, information — you
name it.

However convenient robots might be, their growing presence has some people worried. One can understand why when learning about Singapore’s park-patrolling, robotic dogs, which kindly remind you of your social distancing obligations whenever you get to close to another person.

Here’s The Guardian’s look at that and other examples of this rise of the machines.

Contact tracing apps are here

After much debate and speculation around the
viability and safety of relying on mobile apps to carry out large-scale contact
tracing, the use of these apps is spreading.

Germany launched
this week its own version, which is based on the platform created by the
Apple-Google partnership. Switzerland, Ireland and Austria are conducting
testing, while Japan is expected to announce a Microsoft-powered solution later
this week.

Unfortunately, not everything is going well for all those in these arena. After starting testing in the Isle of Wight, the U.K. has gone quiet about its NHS-developed app. Experts in the matter point at the lack of adoption and Bluetooth problems as the most likely culprits behind the authorities’ silence.

Meanwhile, Norway has put on hold its centralized app after a privacy watchdog denounced its unnecessary use of users’ GPS.

The cloud’s about to burst

We recently discussed the
cloud’s key role in a post-COVID business world. New developments and information keep highlighting the surge in
cloud adoption.

A new
study by O’Reilly Media published this week revealed
that over 88% of businesses are on the cloud, with most of them expecting to
grow their usage in the upcoming months. Furthermore, a staggering 25% of
respondents said their companies plan to move all their applications to the
cloud in the near future.

Beyond these headline findings, the survey confirms the popularity of the multi-cloud and of microservices. Amazon AWS reigns supreme, followed by Microsoft Azure.

Just this week, Microsoft provided more details on how the increase in cloud demand is affecting its infrastructure, forcing the company to expand Azure capacity and implement smarter workload distribution.

Discover our article: Data security : Is your cloud data secure?

News from the frontlines…

A look at what how technology can help in the
fight against the virus.

AI can be used in a number of ways to limit the spread of infections, carry out faster diagnostics and provide better patient treatment. From optimizing the use of human resources at the hospital level to the triage of patients, here’s what AI can do.

Amazon revealed a new AI-powered monitoring tool to help its warehouse employees maintain social distancing. The system, which gives live feedback via TV screens, has been met with backlash by workers and the public alike.

Discover our article about AI for recruitment: How AI will allow recruiters to focus on people

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19th June 2020
Weekly News: Artificial Stupidity and Racial Bias

Artificial Stupidity and Racial Bias: discover our Weekly News about Tech & IT.

Artificial Stupidity and Racial Bias

Microsoft’s AI news editor confuses mixed-race singers

Last week, The Guardian revealed Microsoft’s
plans to fire the human editors in charge of its MSN.com news portal. Their
replacement? A new artificial intelligence software.

Unfortunately for the company, the decision
took less than a week to backfire. Instead of delivering proof of Microsoft’s
AI prowess, the move served as the perfect example of the dangers of AI’s
racial bias.

In the midst of a global call for racial equality, Microsoft’s robot editor sparked public outrage when it illustrated a news story about racism with the picture of the wrong mixed-race member of the band Little Mix.

Lots to think about here.

Oops

Microsoft’s demise might have provided the
perfect opportunity for IBM to score major PR points against one of its main
competitors.

The company had earlier announced it was halting
its facial recognition initiatives,
citing concerns around racial profiling and surveillance by law
enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately for IBM, only hours later, its cloud platform suffered a serious global outage, bringing down customer websites and other services.

Back to square one.

Don’t neglect cyber security

Japanese car maker Honda was hit
by a cyber attack that
impacted worldwide operations.

The attack, thought by security experts to
have been caused by Ekans (or Snake) ransomware, spread quickly throughout the
company’s network, allegedly affecting production, sales and development.

Cyber attacks are on the rise since the start of the pandemic, highlighting the importance of having a proper risk management strategy in place.

Worried about cyber security? Take these 10 simple steps to protect your organisation.

News from the frontlines…

Technology is playing an important role in
the fight against the virus.

The U.K.’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, praised tech’s COVID-19 response during his talk at CogX, an annual global leadership summit focused on artificial intelligence. Hancock declared tech the backbone of the country’s testing program and discussed its upcoming contact tracing app.

A new study commissioned by Kaspersky Labs revealed how technology is helping people overcome loneliness by keeping them connected through the pandemic.

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12th June 2020
Weekly News: We’re Okay with Surveillance Tech Now

Just a few months ago, criticism was mounting in the U.K. around
the facial recognition technology being tested by London’s Metropolitan Police
to safeguard the city streets.

Then came COVID-19 and our focus and
priorities changed. But as many non-essential stores get ready to re-open in
mid-June, the general public is again facing the dilemma of adopting monitoring
tech.

Only this time is a more contested dilemma.

A recent Intu survey revealed that 60% of shoppers actively encourage stores to implement surveillance technologies that help make shopping safer. The proposed measures include temperature scans at entry points and CCTV to control crowds.

It’s not facial recognition. But we’re getting there. No wonder security experts are concerned that surveillance might be here to stay.

Switching focus to cyber viruses

One thing can’t be denied about the global
response to the pandemic: we weren’t ready for it although we had been told to
expect it.

To help avoid future catastrophic mistakes,
the World Economic Forum has issued a call to action for
businesses and institutions to prepare for the cyber pandemic we know will
come.

In today’s interconnected world, a global cyberattack with a behaviour similar to COVID-19 (highly infectious and with high rates of asymptomatic infections) could lead to major cyber outages costing $50 billion per day.

WannaCry and other large-scale breaches were the wake-up call, just like SARS and MERS foretold the current crisis. Let’s do something about it this time.

Building a solid AI foundation

Many are the companies looking to jump on the
bandwagon of the AI boom. Sometimes even too quickly.

Stephanie Overby at The Enterprisers Project shares some counterintuitive tips on how to implement artificial intelligence into business processes. Building a solid foundation is the crux of proper AI adoption.

Key points include taking time to evaluate current needs, as well as investing in talent and skills before tools.

Discover 5 Online Courses to Get You Up-To-Speed with AI

News from the frontlines…

This is what the tech world is doing to help
fight the pandemic:

Biotech entrepreneurs are proposing another
approach to mass testing: biosensors. Different sensor technologies currently
under development could be advantageous over existing
testing methods like the PCR test, providing faster and more
accurate results. At a privacy cost, of course.

Also, a new wristband helps
avoid blood clots in patients that remain immobilised for long periods of time
due to COVID-19.

—

? ? ?

Finally, tech has always been about
connecting people. But how about connecting people and animals? Folks in Palo
Alto have created a website through which you can feed a flock of happy chickens in
real time.

And don’t worry –
it’s animal safe, solar-powered and you can even donate money to a pet rescue
organisation.

5th June 2020
Weekly News: Hybrid Cloud Reigns Supreme

A new global study by data
virtualisation company Denodo identifies hybrid cloud as the most widespread
deployment path.

Hybrid configurations account for 42% of all
deployments. Public cloud takes second place with an 18% share – head-to-head
with private cloud, which accounts for 17% of enterprise configurations.

Companies pursue the hybrid approach for its versatility, which allows them to mix and match resources and IT skills to obtain the best of both worlds.

Two-thirds of respondents (66%) use the cloud for analytics and business intelligence, while 42% of companies leverage the technology for logical data warehousing. Data science applications are the focus of 41% of respondents.

Choosing the right AI stack

Research firm IDC released two new
reports that shed some light on how to choose the best AI
infrastructure stacks for your company.

IDC thinks it is a good idea for
organisations to invest in full stacks from a single vendor, as it can help
speed up deployment and promote the universal adoption of AI.

That is, of course, as long as every element in the package is thoroughly vetted to ensure proper performance and the compatibility of all elements across the board.

The company defines an interoperable framework, called the AI Plane (AIP), to help companies evaluate the myriad of AI offerings out there and choose the right one.

News from the frontlines…

One more week means one less week until
things start looking normal again. This is what the tech world is doing to help
in the fight against COVID-19…

Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York are using AI to identify COVID-19 in patients. The research, published recently in Nature Magazine, describes how the scientists are leveraging AI analysis of CT scans and clinical data to quickly detect potential infections.

Wearables like smart wristbands and watches are being used to stem outbreaks of the virus in adult care homes. The system allows staff to track contact among elders within the centre, helping curb the virus spread by isolating those infected.

29th May 2020
Weekly News: How brain-like should AI be?

How brain-like should AI be? Cloud and clear, Microsoft… News from the frontlines… Discover our Tech & IT weekly news.

How brain-like should AI be?

What constitutes intelligence and how do we
replicate it? Computer experts and neuroscientists have long been after a
universal theory of intelligence. The idea is simple — the more we understand
how the brain works, the better our AI will be.

Well, not exactly.

Kelly Clancy, a neuroscientist working with
Google’s DeepMind, delves deep into the issue in this WIRED article. Her
main point? Two different roads often lead to the same place.

AI developers should keep in mind that what works for our brain might not work in machines, and vice versa.

Not enough AI in your life? Here’s a list of books on artificial intelligence that you can read.

Learn more about Microsoft with our Microsoft Technologies Careers Guide

Cloud and clear, Microsoft

Speaking of AI – during its annual Built
conference, Microsoft unveiled a new partnership
with OpenAI to develop an Azure-hosted AI supercomputer.

The computer will be among the 5 most
advanced supercomputers in the world. It will be deployed to test large-scale
models and advance towards general artificial intelligence.

Microsoft also announced its first industry-specific cloud offering for the healthcare sector. The solution, which is now available in public preview, connects products like Microsoft 365 for marketing and customer service and Azure IoT.

Use cases include the development of a “patient journey” that helps manage patient care and maximises positive outcomes.

News from the frontlines…

One more week means one less week until
things start looking normal again. This is what the tech world is doing to help
in the fight against COVID-19…

If the pandemic has taught us anything about
retail IT is that, unlike larger companies, SMEs don’t always have the means to
shift to digital operations when needed. In what is big news for e-commerce,
Facebook has launched Shops, a new
service that will allow companies to sell products on its platforms.

The debate over the effectiveness of contact tracing technology rages on. Industry competitors and researchers are teaming up against all odds to create apps that respect user privacy, but poor adoption could undermine all these efforts. Nature magazine takes an in-depth look at the issue.

Plenty going on with tech these days. Even Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, used his keynote speech at this year’s Build to congratulate the tech industry’s response to the global crisis.

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Also discover our Weekly News: How Tech Is Rewiring our Brains

22nd May 2020
Weekly News Digest #9

In the wake of International
Women’s Day, the creator of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has issued
a warning in an open letter marking the web’s 31st birthday.

“The world has made important progress on gender equality thanks to the unceasing drive of committed champions everywhere. But I am seriously concerned that online harms facing women and girls – especially those of colour, from LGBTQ+ communities and other marginalised groups – threaten that progress.”

Berners-Lee makes this warning just a year after launching the Contract for the Web, an action plan to prevent the world from turning into a “digital dystopia.”

Remember when Amazon started testing
its cashierless technology in Seattle?

If you
don’t, don’t worry. It’s easy to get the gist — You walk into the store,
grab whatever you need, put it in the bag and simply walk out. The tech takes
care of all the rest.

While we all thought the move spelt doom for other retailers, as of this week, the company is selling the solution to competitors.

Interesting strategy for market penetration.

Finally, the UK will be rolling out in April
a new digital services tax aimed at US tech giants.

The measure will impose a 2% levy on British revenues of search engines, social media services and online marketplaces. It is expected to raise up to £280m in its first year.

With this tax, the UK follows the lead of France, which implemented similar measures last year.

12th March 2020