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IT Management News

  • AMD Continues to Chip Away at Intel’s Server Dominance

    AMD Continues to Chip Away at Intel’s Server Dominance

    AMD is continuing to make inroad against Intel in the server market, chipping away (pun intended) at the latter’s lead.

    Intel was once the undisputed king of the semiconductor market. While that was true across the entire PC industry, it was especially true in the server market, where the company’s market share was 98% as recently as five years ago. According to Mercury Research (via Network World), as of Q122, AMD’s server market share is now 11.6%, dropping Intel’s to 88.4%.

    AMD has its Epyc line of processors to thank for the success it’s enjoying.

    “It’s been a long, gradual increase. If you look at the data set now, AMD has completed their third consecutive year of having on-quarter gains in share,” said Dean McCarron, president of Mercury Research. “The main driver there is that AMD has its Epyc processors … and each generation has been a little bit more successful than the prior one.”

    See also: Linus Torvolds Switches to AMD, Slams Intel

    AMD’s reputation for consistently delivering quality products is also helping the company gain new business.

    “This isn’t the first time [AMD]’s had success in the market, they had success more than a decade ago, and now they’re getting back in,” McCarron added. “The key here is that they’ve established a pattern of delivery on product reliability.”

    McCarron’s comments confirm the issues Intel has had in recent years. Dell, one of Intel’s most loyal partners, had to look to AMD in 2019 as a result of Intel’s supply issues. Similarly, Cloudflare pivoted away from Intel in late 2021 because AMD’s Epyc processors were much more energy efficient. Google Cloud also moved to AMD, thanks to the performance gains it offered over Intel.

    AMD’s performance has also helped it achieve the highest share of the x86 processor market in its history, according to TechSpot. As of Q122, AMD has 27.7% of the overall market, and 18.3% of the x86 desktop market.

    Under CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel is determined to turn the tide back in its favor, with Gelsinger even going so far as to say “AMD [is] in the rearview mirror.”

    Unfortunately for Gelsinger, the facts don’t support that claim just yet.

  • TrenDemon CEO: We Connect Content Marketing to Sales

    TrenDemon CEO: We Connect Content Marketing to Sales

    The CEO of TrenDemon, Avishai Sharon, says that they created their cloud-based software solution in order to help companies prove that the marketing content they produced also achieved business goals and sales. In order to show this correlation, the TrenDemon software analyzes all of the different touchpoints the customer has had over his lifecycle and then reverse engineers those successful journeys in order to find out what content is working.

    Avishai Sharon, Co-founder & CEO of TrenDemon, discussed their software on ILTV:

    How Do You Connect Content Marketing to Sales?

    My personal background was heading a marketing agency for many years and one of my biggest struggles was how do I prove our value and our effort to our customers and how do you connect the impact of what we call content marketing to business goals and to sales? When we couldn’t find an easy way to show that correlation three and a half years ago we went ahead and founded TrenDemon to help companies do just that.

    We connect their marketing efforts, which today rely mostly on content, you want your audience to consume valuable content, as opposed to just advertising. The big challenge is how do you attribute those efforts to sales? There’s actually a prior problem, how do you actually map the customer journey? How do you track those different touch points into one picture?

    Reverse Engineering Successful Customer Journeys

    The first thing we do is look at all the different touchpoints that a customer has had over his lifecycle. We ask the question, not just where do they come from, but how deep was their engagement? Did they actually watch the video? Did they actually read the article? Then you can start reverse engineering those successful journeys and say what’s common about all of these successful journeys.

    What we found, and this is the interesting thing, we’re working with over 90 companies today worldwide and the vast majority of content the companies produce, over 90 percent, is ineffective at driving business goals. As you guys know it’s very expensive to create quality content and it takes a lot of effort.

    If People Read the Right Content They Will Covert to a Sale

    The second interesting thing is that if you do manage to find those 10 percent and you find a way to get it in front of the right people you’re actually able to improve dramatically your results. So there’s not just a correlation between what buyers did beforehand, there’s also a causation, a causal relationship, that if people read the right content at the right time they’re more likely to follow a path. We’re not probably as sophisticated as we believe that we are.

    We’re a SaaS company, a cloud-based solution. We’re working a lot in the US and one of our biggest markets and growing markets is Japan. They’re investing a lot of content and a lot on technology. Essentially, because we look at the customer journey and not necessarily specific languages we can operate in any environment which allows us to grow pretty much anywhere. As long as they have content, which means that they’re producing something other than just advertising, they want people and audiences to actually engage with what they’re producing and they do have some business outcomes that they’re looking to measure.

    About TrenDemon:

    Founded in 2013, TrenDemon is the world’s leading content marketing attribution and optimization solution, helping marketers prove and improve their content’s impact.

    TrenDemon insights can help you uncover your content marketing ROI, impact on business goals, and engagement to help guide the content strategy. Our optimization units will help you increase conversions and shorten time to convert on your owned assets.

    TrenDemon proudly serves a wide range of customers, from Fortune 500s and brands to SaaS, B2B, and financial companies and is backed by leading VCs.

  • Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Security Experts Managed Services

    Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Security Experts Managed Services

    Microsoft is moving further into the realm of cybersecurity, unveiling new managed services to help its customers tackle security challenges.

    Microsoft is already one of the leading companies fighting cybersecurity threats. In fact, Microsoft Security blocked 9.6 billion malware attacks, as well as more than 35.7 billion phishing and malicious emails in 2021 alone. The company is now using that expertise to launch its Microsoft Security Experts managed services to help its customers.

    The company has unveiled three new services. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting will help customers “proactively hunt for threats across Microsoft Defender data, including endpoints, Office 365, cloud applications, and identity.”

    Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR is a “managed extended detection and response (XDR) service” for companies that need to expand their own internal security operations.

    Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise is a comprehensive solution for large enterprises that want their entire security service managed by experts.

    Microsoft is also committed to working with “an ecosystem of partners and technologies” in an effort to provide the best possible service.

    “Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help our customers and their partners meet today’s security challenges,” writes Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Security, Compliance, Identity, and Management. “We secure devices, identities, apps, and clouds—the fundamental fabric of our customers’ lives—with the full scale of our comprehensive multicloud, multiplatform solutions. Plus, we understand today’s security challenges because we live this fight ourselves every single day.”

  • Tableau Bears the Brunt of Salesforce Layoffs & Reorganization

    Tableau Bears the Brunt of Salesforce Layoffs & Reorganization

    Salesforce may have spent $15.7 billion to acquire Tableau, but the division is bearing the brunt of Saleforce’s recent issues.

    Salesforce announced Wednesday that it would be laying off roughly 10% of its workforce. According to Bloomberg, however, Tableau has seen a larger percentage of its workforce laid off than the rest of Salesforce.

    The gutting of Tableau is being seen as a lack of confidence in the division, given Tableau’s performance issues.

    “It makes a lot of sense to me that Tableau would have a disproportionate contribution to this layoff,” John DiFucci, of Guggenheim Research, told Bloomberg. “That company was not growing new business when they bought it, and they paid a lot.”

    The cuts come on the heels of most of Tableau’s top leadership exiting the company. The latest departure was CEO Mark Nelson in December and, according to Bloomberg, the majority of top execs that were with the company when Salesforce acquired it have left.

    With the economy in a downturn, it seems that Tableau doesn’t measure up to Salesforce’s current needs.

  • How Enterprise Performance Management Solutions Help Unlock Growth

    How Enterprise Performance Management Solutions Help Unlock Growth

    As markets become more competitive and customers demand more value, businesses must find ways to increase their productivity and performance.

    Enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions help businesses unlock growth by providing visibility into goals and objectives, optimizing the key performance indicators (KPIs), and revamping the strategic planning processes.

    With such crucial information, businesses can make informed data-driven decisions that will improve overall productivity and efficiency.

    EPM software can also help identify opportunities and threats to the organization so that necessary changes can be made in a timely manner.

    In this article, I will discuss how EPM software can help to improve your business performance to take your company to the next level.

    Let’s begin with the basics first.

    What is Enterprise Performance Management?

    Enterprise performance management is a process that helps organizations manage and improve their performance. It involves setting goals, measuring progress, and making adjustments to achieve desired results. EPM solutions are tools that businesses can use to support their EPM process.

    Components of an Enterprise Performance Management System

    EPM software is typically composed of three components:

    ● Planning – The planning component helps organizations create realistic plans and forecasts by incorporating data from past performance.

    ● Execution – The execution component helps companies track progress and identify areas for improvement.

    ● Reporting – The reporting component provides visibility into performance data, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about where to allocate resources.

    This modular approach allows businesses to customize their EPM solution to fit their specific needs.

    Advantages of EPM Software for Businesses

    EPM software offers a number of benefits that can help businesses unlock growth.

    Here are five ways in which EPM software can help businesses grow:

    1. Operational Efficiency

    In order to grow over time, businesses must be able to produce more with the same or fewer resources. By identifying areas of inefficiency, businesses can make changes to their operations to improve productivity.

    EPM tools can help businesses optimize their operations by providing insights into performance data. This data can help organizations identify inefficiencies in their processes and make changes that improve productivity.

    Also, by automating repetitive tasks, they can free up time for employees to focus on more productive activities. In this way, EPM solutions can help businesses save time and money, which can be reinvested in growth initiatives.

    2. Strategic Decision-Making

    Growth requires business leaders to make tough decisions about where to allocate their resources.

    EPM software can help businesses make better strategic decisions by providing clarity into past performance and current productivity levels. This information can help businesses identify trends and patterns, which can then be used to develop strategies that focus on areas with the greatest potential for growth and allocate resources more effectively.

    Improved decision-making can lead to improved operational efficiency and increased growth. Also, businesses can understand their current position, which areas are performing well and which areas need improvements.

    With this data-driven approach, businesses can make informed decisions about where to invest their resources for the greatest impact and improve their chances of success.

    3. Goal Achievement

    In order to achieve goals, businesses must focus on their core competencies. Core competencies are the activities that a business does better than its competitors.

    EPM solutions can help businesses focus on their core competencies by providing them with insights into where they are excelling and where they need to improve. This information can then be used to develop plans to improve performance and achieve desired results.

    EPM software can also help businesses track their progress towards specific goals and make changes as needed to stay on track. Dealing with factual data can help businesses improve their chances of achieving their goals and unlocking growth. In addition, EPM tools can help businesses identify new revenue streams and growth opportunities.

    With the right EPM software in place, businesses can unlock their growth potential and increase their revenue thus attaining and exceeding their financial goals.

    4. Improved Customer Satisfaction

    In today’s competitive environment, businesses must provide excellent customer service to grow. EPM software can help businesses grow by making it easier to retain and attract customers through providing insights into customer behavior.

    Businesses can use performance data to identify areas where their operations need to be improved as it is available. This data can also help businesses understand what customers want and need – and make changes to their operations to improve the customer satisfaction and loyalty.

    Companies can also customize their products and services to better meet customer needs and grow their customer base.

    In turn, increased customer satisfaction can lead to increased growth as customers are more likely to continue doing business with companies that they are satisfied with.

    5. Transparency Increase

    The most apparent benefit of EPM tools is the increased transparency that they provide in an organization’s performance.

    By consolidating data from different parts of the organization into a single location, EPM solutions allow businesses to see how every department is performing relative to their goals. This increased transparency can help businesses improve communication between different departments and levels of management.

    In turn, this improved communication can lead to better decision-making and a more cohesive strategy. By allowing businesses to see their performance in real-time, EPM programs can also help businesses identify problems early and prevent them from becoming bigger issues.

    Ultimately, this increased transparency can lead to increased growth as businesses are able to better utilize their resources.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, enterprise performance management solutions offer a number of benefits that can help businesses unlock growth.

    By providing insights into performance data, EPM solutions can help businesses identify areas where they need improvement and develop plans to improve their operations.

    In addition, EPM tools can help businesses track their progress towards specific goals and make changes as needed to stay on track. Finally, EPM can help businesses grow by making it easier to retain and attract customers through providing insights into customer behavior.

  • Slack’s GitHub Repositories Were Stolen

    Slack’s GitHub Repositories Were Stolen

    Slack has revealed that some of its private code repositories were stolen, although the company says no customer data was impacted.

    Slack is one of the most popular messaging platforms. Like many companies, it relies on GitHub repositories to help manage its code base. GitHub notified the company of suspicious activity on an external repository, leading to the discovery of the breach.

    The company outlined the details in a blog post:

    On 29 December 2022, we were notified of suspicious activity on our GitHub account. Upon investigation, we discovered that a limited number of Slack employee tokens were stolen and misused to gain access to our externally hosted GitHub repository. Our investigation also revealed that the threat actor downloaded private code repositories on 27 December. No downloaded repositories contained customer data, means to access customer data or Slack’s primary codebase.

    The company reassures users that the issue is not an inherent vulnerability within Slack, and that no other information was accessed:

    When notified of the incident, we immediately invalidated the stolen tokens and began investigating potential impact to our customers. Our current findings show that the threat actor did not access other areas of Slack’s environment, including the production environment, and they did not access other Slack resources or customer data. There was no impact to our code or services, and we have also rotated all relevant credentials as a precaution.

    Based on currently available information, the unauthorised access did not result from a vulnerability inherent to Slack. We will continue to investigate and monitor for further exposure.

    Hopefully Slack’s initial investigation is correct and no further breaches are discovered.

  • Twitter Ad Engineers Get the Axe

    Twitter Ad Engineers Get the Axe

    Twitter ad engineers are the latest to be laid off, an odd choice given Elon Musk’s determination to improve ad revenue.

    Twitter has engaged in a number of layoffs since Musk bought the company, as the new CEO has worked to slash costs in the interest of profitability. One of the major challenges the company has faced is the loss of advertisers over some of Musk’s more controversial decisions.

    Given Musk’s need to gain and keep new advertisers, one would think that ad engineers would be the one jobs safe from layoffs. Unfortunately, according to The Information, that is not the case, with some 40 ad engineers and data scientists being laid off.

    The layoffs targeted areas that Twitter’s leadership considers to be failing, such as the ads product, and unimportant, such as data science, the person said. Twitter’s ad revenue has reportedly plunged in recent months, as advertisers respond to Elon Musk’s loosening of rules around content moderation and the general chaos as Musk shakes up the company.

  • Oracle Poised to Be Big Cloud Winner in 2023

    Oracle Poised to Be Big Cloud Winner in 2023

    Oracle is poised to be a big winner in the cloud industry in 2023, thanks to a combination of factors, including its “modest valuation.”

    Oracle is not one of the cloud market’s Big Three — AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — but has nonetheless made significant headway in the market, including scoring major contracts and poaching customers from its larger rivals.

    According to Seeking Alpha, Monness, Crespi, Hardt analyst Brian White said the company was “well positioned” going into 2023. In particular, the company was a “steady hand in a treacherous market,” seeing less of a stock decline than many in the tech industry.

    “In our view, no company is immune to an economic downturn; however, we believe the tailwind of the Oracle Cloud and the stock’s modest valuation provide some downside protection,” White wrote to clients.

    Oracle’s stature was also boosted by its inclusion in the $9 billion multi-vendor Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC), the successor to the abandoned Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contact.

    White called it a “prestigious win” and says it shows just how much progress Oracle has made in the cloud market.

  • COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO

    COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO

    “We have seen significant acceleration since the COVID-19 pandemic,” says DocuSign CEO Dan Springer. “A significant portion of that (increase) was due to increased use cases from customers driving that digital transformation faster with services like DocuSign. We don’t see customers going back. Once they’ve got the benefits from that efficiency in their business, the better customer experience, and the better employee experience, they’re going to stay in a digitally transformed world.”

    Dan Springer, CEO of DocuSign, discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and he says that businesses are not going back to a manual world:

    COVID Pandemic Accelerated Digital Transformation

    We’ve been really pleased with the growth we’ve had since going public a few years. We have also seen significant acceleration since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s obviously a horrible pandemic and our number one priority has been the health and wellbeing of our employees so we can take good care of our customers. As you can see in our Q1 earnings we did see an acceleration of our bookings to 59 percent.

    Traditionally, if you look at the billings-type metric they have been in the mid-30s’. A significant portion of that (increase) was due to increased use cases from customers driving that digital transformation faster with services like DocuSign.

    Companies To Stay In This Digitally Transformed World

    One of the things we’ve seen with the pandemic impact is that it has really accelerated the path that companies were already on to drive that digital transformation. We don’t see companies after the pandemic settles down going back and saying they want more paper and more manual processes.

    Once they’ve got the benefits from that efficiency in their business, the better customer experience, and the better employee experience, they’re going to stay in a digitally transformed world. They are going to use DocuSign and other fantastic services to do that.

    The Future Is Going To Have eSignature At The Center

    We really think that the future is going to have eSignature at the center of what we call the overall Agreement Cloud. Companies want to be more agreeable. They want to be easier to do business with and be easier to do business for. They’re going to not just use DocuSign for signature but all of the other components of preparing agreements and managing those agreements digitally once they’ve been created. That’s why we’re excited about our very robust future.

    We just past a billion dollars in revenue (for DocuSign eSignature). We are only four percent penetrated today and we’re six times larger than the next biggest player in the space. There’s not a lot of penetration yet in that core business. Notary is still predominantly done manually. We are making investments there. We believe we can bring the same ease of use that we brought to eSignature we can bring to notary.

    AI To Power The DocuSign Agreement Cloud

    Much bigger than that, even expanding upon the opportunity of eSignature is that broader Agreement Cloud opportunity. We think this is the next big cloud opportunity. You are going to see companies increasingly say I don’t just want to do the workflow and signature. I also want to drive the creations of those agreements. I want to think about artificial intelligence and search capability to manage my agreements. This would enable me to actually manage my business and make my company more agreeable.

    Those are some of the investments we’re making. That’s why we just finished the acquisition of Seal Software last month so we can bring additional artificial intelligence and analytic capability to help people run their businesses better.

    COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO Dan Springer
  • Amazon Is Shutting Down the Consumer Version of Wickr

    Amazon Is Shutting Down the Consumer Version of Wickr

    Amazon has announced it is shutting down Wickr Me, the consumer version of its ultra-secure messaging app.

    Amazon acquired Wickr in June 2021. Wickr is a messaging app that offers end-to-end encryption and does not require a phone number or other identifying information to register. Its security and privacy make it a popular option among government agencies, such as US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), but also among criminals.

    With mounting criticism over how Wickr is used, Amazon has decided to suspend new signups for Wickr Me and ultimately shut the service down altogether:

    At Wickr, we’ve served a diverse set of customers that range from the boardroom to the battlefield. Since AWS acquired Wickr in 2021, we’ve listened closely to our customers to better understand their requirements for end-to-end encryption. After careful consideration, we will be concentrating Wickr’s focus on securing our business and public sector customers’ data and communications with AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise, and have decided to discontinue our consumer product, Wickr Me. As a result, we will not accept user registrations for Wickr Me after December 31, 2022, and will discontinue Wickr Me on December 31, 2023.

  • Alibaba Reshuffles Execs, CEO Takes Over Cloud Unit

    Alibaba Reshuffles Execs, CEO Takes Over Cloud Unit

    Alibaba has undergone a major reorganization of its executives, with the CEO taking over as head of the company’s cloud unit.

    Unlike many companies, Alibaba has a system in place to rotate its executives, courtesy of former CEO Jack Ma. The system is designed to keep Alibaba nimble and prevent it from stagnating in a fast-moving industry.

    As part of its latest shuffle, CEO Daniel Zhang “will assume the role of acting President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and responsibility for the communication and collaboration platform DingTalk.”

    The previous head of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, Jeff Zhang, will focus on his role head of Alibaba DAMO Academy, as well as T-Head, Alibaba’s proprietary chip development team. He will also continue leading the company’s Internet of Things (IoT) efforts.

    “Over the past four years, Jeff has led the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence team to deliver outstanding results in technological innovation and industry influence,” said Daniel in an internal email to staff.

    “As the country enters a new stage of living with Covid and policymakers have given direction to the future development of the platform economy, we are more confident than ever that continued development is the key to solving the challenges we face today,” Daniel continued in the email.

  • IBM Stock Was the Real Winner Among Big Tech in 2022

    IBM Stock Was the Real Winner Among Big Tech in 2022

    IBM may fly under radar, compared to its Big Tech rivals, but Big Blue was the real winner in 2022.

    2022 was not a good year for the tech industry. Despite flying high during the pandemic, an economic downturn has taken its toll, resulting in slower growth and mass layoffs.

    According to CNBC, however, IBM is the exception to the rule. The company is one of only two among companies valued at $50 billion or more whose stock is up over the course of 2022. The other one is VMware, although its stock is only up because of its deal to be purchased by Broadcom.

    Read more: IBM Beats Expectations on Strong Hybrid Cloud Results

    IBM’s stock, which is up 6%, appears to be benefiting from the company’s long-term strategy which has reassured investors. The company has reinvented itself as a hybrid cloud provider and formed close ties with its larger cloud rivals, such as Microsoft and AWS.

    As a result of the company’s strategy, Bernstein Research analysts say IBM is “trading well above its historical range.”

    “Given its defensive characteristics and historical performance, we believe that IBM is likely to fare well if we continue to have pressured markets, and likely to lag major indices if we enter a recovery period,” they continued.

    IBM is once again proving its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and stay relevant when many younger, more “nimble” companies struggle to keep up.

  • LastPass: Hackers Stole Encrypted User Password Vaults

    LastPass: Hackers Stole Encrypted User Password Vaults

    LastPass has issued a security advisory, notifying customers that the data breach it suffered in August was far worse than thought.

    LastPass is a popular password management application. In August, the company informed customers that it had suffered a data breach, one in which “portions of source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information” was stolen. At the time, the company assured customers that no passwords were stolen or compromised.

    The company has provided an update on the situation, informing customers that the data stolen in August was used to compromise an employee’s credentials and gain access to the company’s cloud-based storage service. As a result of this secondary breach, the hacker was able to download a backup copy of customer data vaults.

    The company described the issue in its advisory:

    To date, we have determined that once the cloud storage access key and dual storage container decryption keys were obtained, the threat actor copied information from backup that contained basic customer account information and related metadata including company names, end-user names, billing addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and the IP addresses from which customers were accessing the LastPass service.

    The threat actor was also able to copy a backup of customer vault data from the encrypted storage container which is stored in a proprietary binary format that contains both unencrypted data, such as website URLs, as well as fully-encrypted sensitive fields such as website usernames and passwords, secure notes, and form-filled data.

    Despite the severity of the breach, LastPass says customer passwords are still secure…at least for now. The company says encrypted fields are protected using 256-bit AES encryption, with the encryption key based on the user’s master password. Between the strong encryption and the fact that LastPass does not have access to a user’s password, theoretically, users’ password vaults should still be secure.

    Despite the assurance, LastPass says all users should immediately change their master passwords to prevent any risk of the hackers using brute force attacks to try to access the vaults or use some of the unencrypted data in phishing and scam attempts.

    The threat actor may attempt to use brute force to guess your master password and decrypt the copies of vault data they took. Because of the hashing and encryption methods we use to protect our customers, it would be extremely difficult to attempt to brute force guess master passwords for those customers who follow our password best practices. We routinely test the latest password cracking technologies against our algorithms to keep pace with and improve upon our cryptographic controls.

    The threat actor may also target customers with phishing attacks, credential stuffing, or other brute force attacks against online accounts associated with your LastPass vault. In order to protect yourself against social engineering or phishing attacks, it is important to know that LastPass will never call, email, or text you and ask you to click on a link to verify your personal information. Other than when signing into your vault from a LastPass client, LastPass will never ask you for your master password.

    LastPass’ revelation is a disturbing one, given the popularity of the application and the important role it plays in the cybersecurity of countless individuals. One can only hope the company will take drastic steps to ensure such a breach doesn’t happen again.

  • EU Commission Investigating Broadcom’s VMware Deal

    EU Commission Investigating Broadcom’s VMware Deal

    Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware hit another snag with the EU opening an investigation into the proposed deal.

    Broadcom and VMware reached a $61 billion deal in May 2022 that would see Broadcom purchase the virtualization company. The deal immediately sparked concern for VMware’s future, given Broadcom’s reputation for slashing expenses and forcing its subsidiaries to run incredibly lean operations.

    In November 2022, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced an investigation into the deal, and now the EU Commission has announced its own investigation.

    “Broadcom, a major supplier of hardware components, is acquiring VMware, a key server virtualisation software provider,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy. “Our initial investigation has shown that it is essential for hardware components in servers to interoperate with VMware’s software. We are concerned that after the merger, Broadcom could prevent its hardware rivals to interoperate with VMware’s server virtualisation software. This would lead to higher prices, lower quality and less innovation for customers and consumers.

    In particular, the Commission is worried that Broadcom may scale back some of the services that VMware offers to third-party companies, choosing to bundle them with its own hardware exclusively.

    Given the scrutiny tech acquisition have been under of late, the likelihood of Broadcom’s deal moving forward in the face of two separate investigations is certainly in question.

  • Okta’s GitHub Repo Hacked, Source Code Stolen

    Okta’s GitHub Repo Hacked, Source Code Stolen

    Okta’s GitHub repo was reportedly hacked and the company’s source code stolen, raising questions about a critical cybersecurity platform.

    Okta is one of the world’s leading authentication platforms, offering single sign-on and Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions. BleepingComputer saw a ‘confidential’ email regarding a reported breach.

    GitHub evidently notified Okta of suspicious activity on their account. Investigation revealed that bad actors evidently accessed the companies source code and copied it.

    “Upon investigation, we have concluded that such access was used to copy Okta code repositories,” writes David Bradbury, the company’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) wrote in an email being sent to the company’s security contacts.

    Despite the breach, Okta says there is little reason for concern. The company says “HIPAA, FedRAMP or DoD customers” were not impacted since the company’s security “does not rely on the confidentiality of its source code as a means to secure its services.”

  • AWS Wins $723 Billion Contract to Provide Cloud Services to US Navy

    AWS Wins $723 Billion Contract to Provide Cloud Services to US Navy

    AWS has scored a big win, securing a cloud contract with the US Navy worth some $723,878,930 over five years.

    The Department of Defense has been working to modernize its computing infrastructure, migrating computer operations to the cloud. The Pentagon recently awarded its $10 billion Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract to AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle.

    The US Navy has now awarded AWS a cloud contract, worth more than $723 million, from December 2022 to December 2028.

    Per the agreement, the funds will not be dispersed in one lump-sum, at the time of the blanket purchase agreement (BPA), but will be allocated as orders are fulfilled.

    This BPA will not obligate funds at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using a variety of funding types, including operation and maintenance (Navy) funds; other procurement (Navy) funds; and working capital (Navy) funds.

    The contract is a big win for AWS and should help the company continue its reputation as the leading cloud provider for government and military organizations.

  • Top Security Tools To Help Businesses With Project Management

    Top Security Tools To Help Businesses With Project Management

    Any workforce can benefit from implementing technologies that improve and streamline project management.

    One of the best ways to gain more insight into productivity, and provide employees with more convenience is to invest in security tools for project management.

    If you want to learn about the top security tools to improve project management, keep reading. In this guide, we will discuss the best security tools that enhance the convenience of punching in and provide more insight into project management.

    One Single Platform For Security Management

    One of the best ways to streamline project management is to make security information more accessible for you and your team members.

    A cloud-based security system creates a single platform of truth for security data, from store camera systems to computer access logs at an on-site office. By establishing an integrated security system, you can eliminate data silos, allowing all security information to be hosted in one place, and improve oversight.

    Another benefit of a cloud-based security system is that it allows your team to view security information from anywhere, whether on-site or off-site.

    Smoother data retrieval lets your team view security data from different sources on a single interface without correlating timestamps. For instance, you would need to view surveillance video data alongside access control data to verify an employee’s identity.

    Using a single platform for security management also enables easier onboarding and offboarding of your hires. If you need to onboard an employee to your security system, you can do so in one place, unlike several disparate platforms.

    Respond Quickly To Events And Changes

    Cloud-based security tools have another significant benefit: they allow employees to receive alerts and notifications when working.

    Employees often perform tasks that leave them unavailable to deal with customers entering the building. The alerts provided by a cloud-based security system notify staff when a customer enters the building, allowing them to stop their task and deal with the customer.

    Additionally, integrating occupancy management software with a cloud-based door access system can help inform staffing decisions.

    Occupancy management software identifies occupancy levels based on access control events, identifies trends, and forecasts future occupancy levels. If you’re looking to make better staffing decisions, you can use data gathered from your occupancy management software to determine your busiest hours and which are your most active days.

    For busy days, you can ensure you have plenty of staff on-hand, ensuring your team isn’t overwhelmed by customers—which could lead to poor-quality service that harms your business’ reputation. You can add extra shifts to your working days to cover a lunch shift or the time of day when your establishment is busiest and avoid unplanned overtime hours.

    The software also allows you to plan your staff’s workday more effectively, ensuring they’re free to tend to customers during your busy hours while managing other tasks during your less activehours.

    Deeper Data Analysis For Improved Decision Making

    Applying time-tracking software to your cloud-based access control system allows for improved data analysis and decision-making regarding your payroll procedures.

    Buddy-punching and employees recording hours improperly affect your business, as you’re being charged for hours your employees haven’t worked. As part of your project management strategy, you can ensure your employees know that the tool will track their time based on when they enter and leave the premises.

    Time-tracking software provides you with more reliable data to analyze employee productivity and ensures proper payroll procedures. Time tracking software is beneficial for businesses that frequently use contractors.

    You can identify productivity trends through data analysis, using the information to improve project management and optimize productivity.

    Automated Security Workflows

    When it comes to security incident response, you need to maximize efficiency. Effective incident response will protect your business from a security breach or theft and ensure your employees know their responsibilities.

    You can create automated security workflows for your security team using AI. If your security system detects a potential security threat, your team will receive automated workflows to respond to the event. Manual workflow creation leaves a margin for error and is time-consuming.

    Instead, you can establish automated workflows for each potential security threat in line with your incident response procedures. These workflows will automatically be assigned to your on-site employees, who will receive a mobile notification alerting them of the incident and their responsibilities.

    Implementing automated security workflows reduces time-consuming and repetitive manual data entry tasks and ensures the task doesn’t inhibit your productivity. Instead, you can establish your workflows to ensure that your employees understand their responsibilities.

    Summary

    Security tools can be highly effective in improving project management for employees. Your employees can handle tasks and responsibilities while staying in touch with their customer management responsibilities, and you can plan your employees’ time in line with business’s busiest hours. Keep cloud-based security and integrations in mind when planning a security strategy that facilitates project management.

  • Google Expands Access to End-to-End Encryption in Gmail

    Google Expands Access to End-to-End Encryption in Gmail

    Google is rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for Gmail, expanding access to the beta for eligible customers.

    E2EE is an important security feature that ensures even Google can’t read a person’s email when it resides on their servers. Google announced the change in a blog post:

    We’re expanding customer access to client-side encryption in Gmail on the web. Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers are eligible to apply for the beta until January 20th, 2023.

    Using client-side encryption in Gmail ensures sensitive data in the email body and attachments are indecipherable to Google servers. Customers retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys.

    E2EE is the gold standard for encryption and security and its nice to see Google expanding access to it.

  • Protecting Data Is Nonnegotiable Today – Do You Have The Skills To Do It?

    Protecting Data Is Nonnegotiable Today – Do You Have The Skills To Do It?

    As we share an ever-increasing amount of personal and professional data online, hacking and cyber attacks seeking to steal that data for the benefit of cybercriminals are increasing as well. Far from being of little importance, the information we share online can be very valuable to digital fraudsters, even causing severe loss or damage to the victims of any leak.

    Therefore, to maintain good digital hygiene and protect our data online, these are some of the habits that we should keep:

    Opt for safe browsers

    We can use a wide variety of web browsers to access all kinds of web pages, but not all of them are the same, so it is convenient to choose the ones that are the most secure.

    Browsers such as Chrome, Safari, or Edge are developed by Google, Apple, and Microsoft, respectively, which tend to favor the installation of cookies and the collection of data for advertising purposes. That is why it is usually more advisable to use robust and independent browsers such as Firefox or Brave.

    Browse encrypted

    Using a VPN for gaming and browsing is one of the best ways to protect our data online, especially when browsing from insecure Wi-Fi networks. The possibility of a cyber attacker intercepting your passwords or credit card details while you are connecting to Wi-Fi in a coffee shop is very real. Still, this data will be indecipherable if you use a premium VPN.

    In most cases, you will also be able to use a free VPN for at least the first month of trial, which will help you assess its services.

    Use strong passwords

    In the absence of a better method – which will presumably be biometric verification systems – passwords continue to be the main way we can authenticate our identity on the internet. However, reports are continually being published denouncing the weakness of most of the keys we use online, making them very easy for hackers to break.

    The use of random, long, and unique passwords is essential to ensure the security of our digital accounts.

    Activate two-step verification

    As an extra layer of security, two-factor authentication should be enabled on all platforms where it is possible to do so. Generally, this type of verification uses the cell phone to confirm transactions or attempts to access our digital accounts, thus preventing hacking.

    For example, if your online banking password is leaked and a cyber attacker tries to use it to access your bank account, Two-Step Verification will ask for confirmation on your phone, allowing you to deny access and keep your funds safe. 

    Minimize the use of social media

    In recent years, security recommendations on social networks have multiplied, and the notion that we should limit the personal content we share is more widespread. However, millions of people still share their private lives openly and almost without any type of filter.

    Social networks can be addictive and even become a fast track to gaining popularity. Still, the information we publish on them can lead to serious cases of harassment, and, in addition, it is often used by hackers to try to violate other online accounts. 

    Monitor the apps that we install on the cell phone

    There are millions of apps on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, but not all apps are equally reliable. When we install apps on the phone, they request a series of permissions that can be very dangerous, including the possibility of accessing the photos in our gallery, reading our SMS, or making calls without our knowledge.

    Furthermore, these are not isolated cases. Apps as popular as Facebook are among the most requested permissions from their users, and often millions of people accept them without considering their risks. That is why it is important to review them carefully and, if in doubt, avoid installing suspicious apps.

  • Microsoft Bans Crypto Mining On Its Cloud Platform

    Microsoft Bans Crypto Mining On Its Cloud Platform

    Microsoft has updated its Universal License Terms for Online Services to prohibit crypto mining on its cloud platform.

    Cloud platforms are popular options for crypto mining, but the practice is not without its challenges and risks. Microsoft has deemed those risks too great to allow mining on its cloud platform.

    The company included the following note in its Summary of Changes:

    Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.

    The company didn’t elaborate, but provided the following statement to The Register:

    “Crypto currency mining can cause disruption or even impairment to Online Services and its users and can often be linked to cyber fraud and abuse attacks such as unauthorized access to and use of customer resources.

    “We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud.”

  • Cyberattack Takes Out FuboTV During World Cup Semifinals

    Cyberattack Takes Out FuboTV During World Cup Semifinals

    Many FuboTV customers experienced issues watching the World Cup semifinals, the result of a “criminal cyber attack,” according to the company.

    FuboTV is a popular TV streaming service with a strong focus on sports. The company got its start as a soccer-focused streaming service, before branching out into other sports and content. Unfortunately, during the match between France and Morocco, many customers were unable to watch the event.

    The company says the issue was not a result of bandwidth issues, but a “criminal cyber attack.”

    “We have reported the incident to law enforcement and have engaged Mandiant, an industry-leading incident response firm, to assist with our continuing investigation and response,” the company writes in a statement. “Our primary focus currently is on ensuring that the incident is fully contained and that there is no threat of further disruption for any of our customers.

    “Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are committed to transparency regarding this incident. We will provide an update at an appropriate time when we have more information to share.”