IT & Security News

deadbots

What Are ‘Deadbots’?

Following warnings by ethicists at Cambridge University that AI chatbots made to simulate the personalities of deceased loved ones could be used to spam family and friends, we take a look at the subject of so-called “deadbots”.  Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars  The Cambridge study, entitled “Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars: on Responsible Applications of Generative AI in…

CymruSOC

Wales Has Put A SOC In It

The UK’s first national security operations centre (SOC) known as CymruSOC, has launched in Wales to protect the country’s local authorities and fire and rescue services from cyber-attacks.  SOC  The Welsh government has announced that the new SOC service will be managed by Cardiff-based firm Socura, with the intention of ensuring key organisations can continue offering critical…

OpenAI Uses Stack Overflow

OpenAI Boosts Training Via Stack Overflow Data

A partnership deal between OpenAI and Stack Overflow (the question-and-answer website for programmers and developers) will see the Stack overflow Q&A data used to train and improve AI model performance, potentially benefitting developers who use OpenAI’s products.  Stack Overflow  Stack Overflow is the world’s largest developer community, with more than 59 million questions and answers.…

Rampant Referrals

Referrals for MSPs – Part 10

As a quick recap, last time we looked at the product matrix : – What you do sell– What you could/should sell– Outlining where the Gaps are on the Matrix– Reviewing increasing Sales  – Increasing Value x Volume– Increase prices of items within the basket– Increasing the average size of existing items within the basket…

streetname

Apostrophes Dropped From Street Signs

North Yorkshire council has said it’s having to drop apostrophes from its street signs to avoid problems with its computer database!  Must Meet BS7666  The reason given for North Yorkshire council for dropping the apostrophes (e.g. in its street name signs), is that including apostrophes can affect geographical databases and that when street names and addresses…

Apple Buyback

Apple’s $110 Billion US Stock – Biggest Buyback Ever

Apple Inc’s Board has just approved a $110 Billion Stock buyback which will be the biggest buyback in US history. Apple is already responsible for the top six of the 10 largest share-repurchase announcements ever made in the US, and this announcement beats its own previous record for the largest buyback value from 2018 when…

New UK Password Law

New UK Law To Eradicate Weak Passwords

Here we look at the new UK cybersecurity law that will ban device manufacturers from having weak, easily guessable default passwords, thereby providing extra protection against hacking and cyber-attacks.  The Problem  With 99 per cent of UK adults owning at least one smart device and UK households owning an average of nine connected devices, but…

Microsoft Renewable Energy

Microsoft’s $10 Billion Renewable Energy Deal Fuels AI & Cloud Needs

Microsoft has agreed to back $10bn in renewable electricity projects by Brookfield Asset Management to help it meet clean-energy commitments and provide its data-centres with the extra energy requirements of cloud and AI.  Global Framework Agreement  The deal, which is a five-year agreement called the “global framework agreement” (“the agreement”) is a commitment by Microsoft, working in…

WhatsApp Ban

Millions Defy WhatsApp Bans

In a recent BBC World Service interview, Head of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, claimed that tens of millions of people in countries where WhatsApp has been banned continue to use it.  Where Is WhatsApp Banned And Why?  WhatsApp is banned Iran and North Korea, has been blocked at times in Syria, Senegal, and Guinea, and recently…

Rampant Referrals

Rampant Referrals Part 9 – Communication Sabotage (Subsection D)

As a quick recap from last time, we looked at the ‘why’ of the question-qualifiers Why, What, Who, How and When and Where : In this section, we’ll be covering referral sabotage around the ‘what’, i.e. what it is that you actually offer. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s pretty frustrating when you hear that…

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