Catch up on this month’s round-up of the latest hosting and tech news. Here’s what we’ve uncovered since our last edition.
Insider Threats
Companies have been advised to be vigilant over insider threats after a former employee of Singapore firm, National Computer Systems (NCS), was sent to prison for unauthorised access to the company’s computer systems. When Kandula Nagaraju’s contract was terminated in October 2022, the company failed to deactivate his login credentials. In retaliation for losing his job, Nagaraju used these credentials to breach the company systems and ran scripts that deleted 180 test servers.
The former employee’s actions cost NCS over half a million pounds to put right, though, thankfully, in this instance, no sensitive data was compromised. Businesses are reminded of the need for access control policies that ensure employees only have access to the data they need, and to deactivate login credentials as soon as employees leave the company.
New Hacking Group
Microsoft has discovered a new hacking group calling itself ‘Moonstone Sleet’. Backed by North Korea, the group has been using a wide range of tools to target software developers and various sectors in order to carry out espionage and make financial gains.
The hackers’ tactics include posing as legitimate tech companies seeking investment or developer support. In doing so, they lure unsuspecting victims with fake job tests and malicious Node Packing Manager (NPM) packages. They have even gone to the lengths of creating a deceptive tank battle game called DeTankWar.
Moonstone Sleet has been active since February 2024, during which time they have been using these methods to infect devices and gather sensitive data. They also use a customised ransomware called FakePenny to extort victims, asking around £5 million in Bitcoin from compromised companies.
Screenless Laptop
While voice recognition is likely to signal the end of the computer keyboard, Israeli company, Sightful, is focusing on replacing computer screens. It recently launched the Spacetop G1, the world’s first augmented reality (AR) laptop, which, instead of a screen, offers a 100-inch virtual display seen through AR glasses.
Developed by a team of experts from Apple, Microsoft and Magic Leap, the compact and lightweight Spacetop G1 runs on Chrome OS and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon QCS8550 processor, 16GB LPDDR5 memory and 128GB 3.1 Universal Flash Storage. It also includes Wi-Fi 7, 5G, Bluetooth 5.3 and a 60Wh battery for up to 8 hours of use. Specs are also part of the spec. The laptop’s integrated NReal glasses offer hi-res AR windows and enable users to customise their workspace and work in private. The Spacetop G1 is currently only available in the US and costs $1700 (£1,340). The product will start being shipped in October 2024.
Cost of Downtime
Unplanned downtime costs the world’s largest 2,000 companies £315 billion every year, according to a recent report by Splunk and Oxford Economics. Beyond obvious costs like loss of revenue, which accounted for £38.6 billion of the total, the report also examines the additional impact of downtime. This has shown that companies suffer from slower time to market and damaged brand reputations, all of which can have long-lasting effects. The report also highlighted some of the hidden costs of downtime. Listed companies often saw share prices drop by up to 9%, 64% of companies saw developer productivity stagnate, and 29% of companies lost clients.
When it comes to what causes downtime, human error, especially in cybersecurity and IT operations, is the most common problem. Another issue is that it takes companies, on average, 17-18 hours to detect incidents. This report sends a clear message to all firms about the impact of downtime and the need to invest in security, monitoring, disaster recovery and business continuity.
AI in Agriculture
Concerned about the impact of climate change and unpredictable weather on its operations, the Shepherd’s Grain flour company, based in Idaho, US, has resorted to using AI to predict weather patterns. ClimateAi is an AI-powered software that uses satellite imagery, temperature and rainfall data to provide customised weather forecasts that can range from one hour to six months ahead.
By adopting the technology, Shepherd’s Grain is now able to make informed decisions regarding the best times to plant and harvest its wheat crops, enabling it to maximise its yields. Additionally, ClaimateAi also helps seed companies by predicting the performance of test seeds in specific regions. This enables them to speed up the development of new seed varieties, which is increasingly important for a sector needing to feed a growing population while being hampered by climate change.
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