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Weekly News: A Difficult Relationship With 5G

Weekly News: A Difficult Relationship With 5G
IT news

How is the relationship with 5G? Outlandish theories were spreading like wildfire across the U.K. at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

In a sudden burst of technological ignorance, a few conspiracy-lovers set out to destroy the country’s newly deployed 5G towers. The technology was, of course, behind the mysterious disease. 

Since then, the relationship with 5G is difficult, anti-5G sentiment has grown around the globe, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Only that the U.K. has another major problem with 5G: China. Following raising internal pressure and sanctions by Washington, the British government has banned sales of Huawei’s 5G kit starting January. Network providers will also have to abandon all already-purchased Huawei 5G tech by 2027.

Meant at addressing national security concerns, the decision is likely to delay the U.K.’s 5G rollout by 2 to 3 years. 

Big ‘oops’ from Twitter

No one is safe from cyberattacks. Not even Twitter. 

The company’s IT, PR and legal departments sure had one hell of a day yesterday after news emerged of a high-profile breach involving major firms and public figures. Apple, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Kanye West. 

It all started when their accounts starting posting invitations to participate in a lucrative Bitcoin scam with a simple message: send 1.000 dollars to this account, and you will get double in return. 

While Twitter blames the breach on a coordinated social engineering attack against its employees, other sources point at a rogue employee who might have helped hackers get inside access.

relationship with 5G

Remote work is here to stay

Newsflash — Gartner survey confirms the writing on the wall: remote work is part of the new normal. 

A sweeping 82% of business leaders are planning on allowing at least some level of remote work moving forward, even after the pandemic is over. 

\Nearly half of companies (47%) will allow employees to work remotely full time, while 43% of respondents are aiming for a flexible week schedule. 

This new set-up highlights the necessary transformation of the CIO role. IT leaders will now have a bigger role within organisations, leading the construction of stronger cloud collaboration environments and helping maintain a cohesive remote corporate culture.

relationship with 5G

The AI bandwagon

53% of global tech and business leaders invested more than $20 million in AI and related talent in the past year, according to a report by Deloitte.  

Although the majority of respondents believe AI will significantly transform their industry in the next 3 years, only 47% of them consider they have a sufficiently skilled AI workforce. 

Ethical concerns, data privacy/regulations and AI failure are among the top concerns keeping executives up at night. 

relationship with 5G

Also discover our weekly news: Eco data centers, a Microsoft hack and the EU’s digital sovereignty

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Weekly News: Rise and Fall of a Hacking Empire

IT News

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.

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Weekly News: How Tech Is Rewiring our Brains

Weekly News: How Tech Is Rewiring our Brains
Our brain is being rewired, pushed towards shorter attention spans and shallower forms of reading by feeds and visuals. 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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Weekly News: Remembering the Father of Mechanical Brains

Tech News

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.

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Weekly News: Artificial Stupidity and Racial Bias

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

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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Weekly News: We’re Okay with Surveillance Tech Now

Weekly News: We're Okay with Surveillance Tech Now
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.

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.    

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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.

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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.

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Weekly News: How brain-like should AI be?

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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The Task of Rebuilding AI Infrastructure: Machines and the New Reality

The Task of Rebuilding AI Infrastructure: Machines and the New Reality
Rebuilding AI Infrastructure? A lot of AI models were built for a world that no longer exists. But the status quo has changed with COVID-19.

A lot of AI models were built for a world that no longer exists. We trained algorithms to interpret consumer behaviour and user patterns based on a certain notion of normality. But the status quo has changed with COVID-19. Let’s talk about the task of rebuilding AI infrastructure.

Online search terms, purchases, location data – every metric right now is suggestive of a society that has nothing to do with what our world looked like a few months ago.

What would you think of early-2020 humans if you were to just look at raw data? Sedentary creatures, obsessed with acquiring toilet paper and prompt to anger over social media.

That’s what Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor for MIT Technology Review, focuses on in his article this week.

We’re adapting to the new normal. The machine learning algorithms powering the modern enterprise will need to be revised as well.

Rebuilding AI Infrastructure

Customised Google search

Just like we resort to Google or any other search engine to unearth all the existing information on a certain topic, companies have for long struggled to make it easier for their employees and end-users to search for information across internal data silos.

This week, Amazon announced the general availability of Kendra, its own solution to this problem. The platform leverages natural language processing to let users search for anything they need through natural questions rather than keywords.

And so, automation keeps on permeating and refining enterprise systems.

News from the frontlines

Another week means a new host of tech initiatives meant to combat the spread and effects of the pandemic. 

Some weeks ago, Twitter announced a series of tools intended to dissuade users from posting harmful content. This week, Facebook made public early results outlining how its AI-based, hate-speech countermeasures are working. Promising, albeit still a ways to go.

Experts in every discipline are relying on tech to come up with ways of avoiding future catastrophes and carry better, collective lives. The Financial Times examines what one of these experts has to say about re-thinking cities for a better future.

Discover more content about artificial intelligence:

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Businesses are Preparing the Return to Activity

IT News

Almost two months after the start of the global lockdown, some parts of the world are slowly starting to reopen. People walk the streets and are allowed in stores again, albeit under strict social distancing guidelines. 

Business is ready to get back on track, but companies now face the double challenge of ramping up activity and adapting to a new normal. Last week we discussed how investing in IT is crucial to enterprise survival and recovery – this week we saw some positive signs confirming this trend.

Many multinational companies are hiring for their Indian offshore IT centres, while the country’s demand for senior positions related to digital transformation remains strong.  

As yesterday’s Harvard Business Review article reminds us, the key to digital transformation is talent, not technology.

Microsoft is doing more than well

It was not that long ago that Microsoft seemed destined to take a more secondary role in the future of enterprise technology. But the company bounced back.

This week was packed with news from the Redmond, Virginia company — from a 59% quarterly increase in cloud revenue to an upcoming update to its VMware Azure integration.

More about Microsoft’s momentum in our latest industry snapshot. Spoiler alert: you could win up to $200K if you beat the company’s new hacking challenge.

More on contact tracing

This week we got more details on the upcoming contact tracing technology that Apple and Google are developing to help fight the spread of COVID-19. 

Addressing what has been one of the most contentious points of debate, the duo said their app will not permit the use of location tracking. The full system, which is expected to be released mid-May, will rely instead on Bluetooth to safeguard user privacy. 

Meanwhile, the UK’s National Health System, started testing an app that uses a similar approach. 

The solution leverages (the ironically named) Bluetooth Low Energy handshakes to tell whether a person might have been in contact or not with an infected individual.

News from the frontlines

One more week, the tech world keeps up the fight against the pandemic. This week…

Cybercrime has spiked amidst global chaos and the rise of remote work. Regrettably, healthcare institutions are among the hardest hit. 

A group of security companies and professionals calling themselves the Cyber Alliance to Defend our Healthcare have struck deals to protect a series of hospitals and national health organisations across Europe. The U.S. will be their next area of focus.

Meanwhile, Ciaran Martin, chief of the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre, has pledged to redouble the body’s efforts to protect the country’s hospitals and health system.