IT & Security News
Dealing With Social Media Addiction
With TikTok announcing new features for teens and families, including a 60-minute daily screen time limit, we look at the issue of social media addiction and ideas for tackling it. TikTok Time Limit (Short) video sharing app TikTok has just announced that every account belonging to a user below age 18 will automatically be set…
Even After Opting Out, Your Data May Still Be Shared
A recent US research paper entitled “Opted Out, Yet Tracked: Are Regulations Enough to Protect Your Privacy?” highlights how, in many cases, user data is still being collected, processed, and shared, even when users opt out through a Consent Management Platform (CMP). The Issue The research was based around developing a framework to measure how well Consent…
Could ‘Organoid’ Computers Be Next?
Researchers from the John Hopkins University working with Dr Brett Kagan (chief scientist at Cortical Labs in Melbourne) have reported that brain ‘organoid’ biocomputing devices could be the next ‘big thing’ in computing. What Is A Brain Organoid? Computers powered by brain cells could use ‘brain organoids’, which are (pen) dot-sized clusters of cell cultures made…
Benefits of Including Guest Content In Your Emails
It’s obviously a good idea for a managed service provider to ensure that they send a regular email newsletter to their clients and prospects. Not only does this help with a DRIP campaign (differentiate, remind, inform, persuade) but it also offers another (often undervalued) benefit as well, namely credibility. This is especially true for the…
Throttling And The “Big Switchoff”
With OpenReach now ‘throttling’ broadband speeds and limiting phone calls as measures designed to gently “nudge” customers to upgrade as the “Big Switchoff” approaches, we look at exactly what’s happening, why, and when. What Is The Great Switchoff? The “Big Switchoff” refers to the switch from the old copper phone network to a new ‘Digital Voice’ alternative. Back…
TikTok Trouble?
Following the banning of Chinese short video sharing app TikTok from EU and US government devices, plus more trouble on the way in Canada, we look at some of the reasons why. Banned From EU Government Devices The European Commission recently decided to ban the TikTok app from staff phones (work and personal devices). EC…
New Meta Verified Blue Badge Subscription Service
Meta has announced it’s launching its own version of Twitter’s Blue Tick called ‘Meta Verified’ for Facebook and Instagram where users pay a monthly subscription to be verified on the platforms. Announcement On February 19, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Meta is starting the rollout of its new ‘Meta Verified’ subscription service for Facebook…
IT Security Threatened By Professional Burnouts
A Mimecast spokesman has warned that in a labour market already stretched by shortages, Dutch digital resilience could be threatened if more attention isn’t paid to the mental well-being of cyber security professionals. Wanting To Change Jobs Recent research commissioned by Mimecast in the Netherlands showed that a quarter of Dutch IT professionals are considering…
Hashtag Homework
The humble hashtag has a long and varied history. It’s technical term is ‘octothorpe’ and it can be traced back to ancient civilizations where it was used as a symbol for weight or measure while in the middle ages, it was used in music notation to indicate a sharp note. Recent Hashtag Updates In the…
What Are SPF, DKIM, And DMARC Records?
In this insight, we look at the popular email authentication protocols SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, how they work, why they’re important, and what happens if they’re not set up properly. What Is SPF? SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, is an email authentication protocol used to verify the sender of an email message. It is used…
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