By Krittika Owary According to an engineering psychology expert, autonomous car drivers have come to face a vigilance task, raising questions on the convenience of self-driving cars.
The post A key flaw of self-driving cars could just be poor understanding of humans appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Hisan Kidwai Welcome to 2026. It’s the year we all hoped PC hardware would finally get cheaper, so…
The post The HyperX Cloud Jet Dual Wireless Are The Best Budget Gaming Headphones appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Omair Khaliq Sultan Over-ear headphones have basically split into two camps: ultra-premium pairs that cost a fortune, and budget models that cut corners where you’ll notice it most (comfort, noise canceling, or battery). The Nothing Headphone (1) lands in the middle in a way that makes sense, especially with today’s price drop. It’s $239.00 for a limited time, […] The post These new Nothing over-ears are built for long days, and they’re $60 off for a limited time appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Last-minute problems might have cropped up that will require Apple to slow the rollout of its Google Gemini-boosted Siri; though the improved smart assistant will still ship this year, it might not arrive as expected this spring.

These claims come from the eerily accurate fingers of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, and mean Apple will have to continue to do its level best to manage the damage of its slow progress in generative AI (genAI). To be fair, the company does have a good story to tell when it comes to machine learning and intelligence and the application of those technologies in its devices, such as Hypertension Warnings on Apple Watch. 

Gurman explains how Apple had originally intended to release the new Gemini-augmented capabilities in iOS 26.4 next month, but will now introduce these improvements across future software updates. He explains that testing has revealed reliability problems, challenges with query processing accuracy, and slow response times. 

The queue at the store

To put this into context, it’s important to remember that Apple only revealed its Gemini deal in January after months of speculation. The company had been working with its own models in advance of this, and it seems it will continue to do so, introducing its own AI services for specific tasks when doing so makes any sense. 

Gurman warns that the contextual Siri, capable of using your personal data to inform useful responses and contextual answers to your queries, will be the last improvement to appear. Voice-based control of in-app actions is also running late, he said. 

That won’t matter much to Apple’s market competitors, critics, and commentators, who will continue to point out that the company originally promised these features would arrive with iOS 18 in 2024. 

That promise turned out to be built on sand. The Information even reported that most of the advanced features Apple originally promised at WWDC had not even been developed at the time the promise was made. (An Apple ad showing these features was removed, though you can still find it online.)

This caused grave concern across Apple’s senior leadership, with major changes and new management all put in place across Apple’s AI teams as a result. Despite the retirement of Apple’s then-AI leader John Giannandrea, reputational damage was done — and news of a further delay will likely tarnish Apple’s shine a bit more.

When it comes to Siri and AI, we’ve grown accustomed to delay and disappointment – something Apple doesn’t want to share with Siri’s millions of users. One in four smartphones are iPhones, and 19% of iPhone users interact with Siri daily.

Snatching victory one improvement at a time

That’s not a good place for Apple to be, but I can see how the company can turn it into something like a victory by doing as Gurman suggests — steadily shipping improved AI services as they are ready. This should make for real usability improvements for Apple’s customers and will also allow Apple the luxury of exploiting the best of these new services within wider launches; it could potentially introduce one or two of these in-development features at WWDC, along with the iPhone 17e and with new Macs, for example. 

For Apple, of course, the secondary risk is that the AI it is hoping to implement across its platforms might already seem outclassed by the capabilities other AI tools have by then achieved. After all, now that we have AI developing itself, the pace of change is accelerating. Can Apple keep up? Or will the company’s strategic approach — in which it provides the world’s best platforms for personal, private AI along with support for all the world’s leading AI services — emerge as the correct one in the long run. 

Right now, we can’t ask Siri about that. And while we’ll be waiting a little longer than expected until we can, it is reassuring to know that Apple is now dealing with challenges in tech it has actively got working in the labs, rather than making promises based on some fantasy wish list written on a desk in Cupertino.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Allison Steffens Herrera Have you ever asked Alexa to remind you to send a WhatsApp message at a determined hour? And then you just wonder, ‘Why can’t Alexa just send the message herself? Or the incredible frustration when you use an app to plan a trip, only to have to jump to your calendar/booking website/tour/bank account instead of your AI assistant doing it all? Well, exactly this gap between AI automation and human action is what the agent-to-agent (A2A) protocol aims to address. With the introduction of AI Agents, the next step of evolution seemed to be communication. But when communication between machines…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Imagine the moment you bring a new dog or cat into your life. That mix of excitement and responsibility. Vet visits, vaccines, learning what food suits them, managing check-ups, and always wondering how to keep them healthy as they grow. Most pet insurance only steps in after a costly accident or illness. It doesn’t help you avoid the situation in the first place. Lassie’s product is built around a different insight: giving owners the tools to look after their pets every day, not just when something goes wrong. Now, Stockholm-based insurtech Lassie has secured $75 million in a Series C…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak The OPPO K14x 5G was launched in India recently, marking the first launch in the OPPO…
The post OPPO K14x Launched in India With 120Hz Display and 6,500mAh Battery: Price & Specs appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Shikhar Mehrotra Sony’s latest six-second teaser hints at more than just the WF-1000XM6 earbuds. A satin-draped silhouette suggests the WH-1000XM6 headphones may be getting a stylish new Sand Pink finish.
The post Sony has a new headphone lined up, and it looks familiar appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Manisha Priyadarshini Huawei is testing diabetes risk detection on its smartwatches, using health data from the wrist to flag potential risk early and encourage users to seek medical advice.
The post Huawei is testing diabetes risk detection on smartwatches appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

As developers begin using Claude and Codex to help create Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps in Xcode, spare a moment to consider a recent JumpCloud survey that shows most businesses aren’t really ready for AI — though many think they might be.

Among the highlights from the survey:

40% of IT leaders self-assess as mature in their AI practices, yet only 22% meet the rigorous objective standards for leading AI readiness.

90% of leaders see productivity gains from AI, but 74% remain concerned about security risks, specifically around unauthorized data access and AI-generated phishing.

61% of organizations report the use of unsanctioned AI tools, creating significant visibility and governance gaps.

85% of IT leaders agree that secure identity and access management (IAM) is critical for scaling AI safely. (Note that JumpCloud calls itself an AI-powered IT management platform.)

JumpCloud argues that enterprises must deploy IT processes to help protect the identity layer as AI impacts their business, “consolidating identity and access controls for both humans and bots to turn AI from a potential liability into a sustainable engine for growth.”

To support that transition, JumpCloud this week introduced a new investment arm to invest in companies building solutions around AI, security, identity and IT productivity. To an extent, this mirrors competitors in the burgeoning Apple-related IT space (Jamf Ventures, for example) even as it highlights the looming impact AI will have on this side of the market.

One of the first JumpCloud investments, Tofu, uses AI as part of its package of protections against identity fraud during the hiring and onboarding process, an emerging problem for some businesses. You could see Tofu’s tools as indicative of the speed at which AI is evolving. 

Between the thought and the action lies the shadow

People don’t seem prepared for the consequences of the rapid evolution even though business leaders think they are. This gap between perceived preparedness and actual readiness comes after over a decade of rapid digital transformation. That transformation saw the iPhone-driven evolution of mobile business, the collapse of the former hegemonic Microsoft dominance of the enterprise, and an algorithmic assault on some of the principles that underpinned international trade. 

The impact has been felt by every business, and entire business sectors have already been replaced by digitized alternatives. Our century so far has seen an avalanche of change, (remember “1,000 songs in your pocket”?) and enterprise leaders are struggling to keep pace, the JumpCloud survey shows.

Thought leaders have been discussing the need to adopt a new business mindset in which enterprises accept they live in an environment of constant change. These people say creative thinking and a willingness to embrace constant change will be the hallmarks of business success, but when technology moves faster than business leaders, the business environment itself becomes inevitably unstable. 

When it comes to AI deployment, that means confidential data leaks, legal battles as regulators challenge those leaks, and the need to invest in managing digital transformation. 

Faster than progress

AI development is accelerating. New models like GPT-5.3 Codex or Claude Opus 4.6 are insanely powerful and have now evolved something like autonomous discretion. That’s why they can create and iterate application code, which Xcode developers will be exploring now that tools have been made available to them.

It won’t end with code. You can see the direction of travel for yourself at METR, an organization that tracks how long it takes AI models to complete long tasks. 

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei tells it like it is when he says AI models “substantially smarter than almost all humans at almost all tasks” could arrive as soon as this year. He also says it might only be a couple of years until AI autonomously builds its own AI successors. 

In the background, the leader of Anthropic’s Safeguards Research Team, Mrinank Sharma, just quit, warning the “world is in peril” from a series of interconnected crises, including AI. Think about that, think about the extent to which you and your business truly meet the standards of AI preparedness, and then consider the challenge it poses to IT decision makers working to keep their heads afloat amid this tsunami of change. 

The gap between perceived and actual readiness is not just a statistic, it is a call to action for every leader. In a world where AI evolves so very quickly, true leadership requires us to prepare for the unknown. The experts say those who manage to stay afloat will be the ones who experiment today, and adapt tomorrow. While you do that, note that AI will be adapting at the very same time and probably faster, and is already in use, sanctioned, or unsanctioned, across your company.

Are you ready? Probably not yet.

Yes, the image to this story was created using AI.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Pranob Mehrotra Amazon is reportedly in talks to launch a marketplace where publishers can license their content to AI companies.
The post Amazon could soon launch a marketplace for publishers to sell content to AI firms appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Shikhar Mehrotra China’s new liquid-solid lithium battery maintains 85% capacity at -34°C, overcoming a major weakness of conventional cells and opening the door for drones and EVs.
The post China’s next-gen lithium battery promises top performance even in freezing conditions appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc For families living with neurodegenerative disease, the hardest part is not always the diagnosis. It is the slow erosion that follows: memory fading, personality shifting, independence shrinking. It unfolds quietly. First, forgotten appointments. Then repeated questions. Then moments when a familiar face no longer feels familiar. The illness does not isolate itself to one body. It rearranges the lives around it. Partners become caregivers. Children become decision-makers. Conversations grow shorter. Patience grows thinner. Guilt creeps in, for being tired, for wishing things were easier, for missing the person who is still physically there. Neurodegeneration is rarely a single patient story.…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

The digital workplace has outgrown the simple project checklists you may have once associated with task management apps. The software has moved from passive repositories for to-do lists to active participants in workflows.

In 2026, the biggest shift in task management applications is the rise of agentic AI. The category has moved from simple automation (e.g., if this, then that logic) to autonomy. By integrating AI agents that can reason, plan, and execute, these platforms are delivering on a decade-old promise of eliminating work about work.

Keeping projects on track remains a challenge for enterprises of all sizes, but the stakes are getting even higher. Recent data from the Project Management Institute (PMI) suggests that while organizations have improved, the average project performance rate still hovers around 74%, leaving lots of room for improvement.

However, the PMI reports a massive divide between teams that prioritize “power skills” and AI-driven business acumen and those that stick to traditional methods, with the former seeing 27% lower failure rates.

The goal of task management apps has moved beyond mere visibility. Analyst firm Gartner predicts that by the end of 2026, 40% of enterprise applications will deploy task-specific AI agents, a whopping leap from less than 5% just a year ago.

“AI agents will evolve rapidly, progressing from task- and application-specific agents to agentic ecosystems,” Anushree Verma, a senior director analyst at Gartner, said in a company statement. “This shift will transform enterprise applications from tools supporting individual productivity into platforms enabling seamless autonomous collaboration and dynamic workflow orchestration.”

What are task management tools?

Task management software, also referred to as collaborative work management tools or work coordination platforms, has a variety of uses. These range from personal task lists or ad-hoc projects with small teams up to complex projects involving numerous stakeholders, such as the launch of a new product that touches several business departments.

Compared to sophisticated project portfolio management (PPM) tools, task management apps have a gentler learning curve and tend to be more accessible for all types of employees, not just trained project managers. At the same time, collaborative task management apps offer more functionality than basic to-do list apps.

In many cases, task management apps are available under “freemium” payment models, enticing users with limited free versions and offering more features with paid plans. This approach has made the tools popular among small businesses and startups, as well as within small pockets of larger companies.

Task management software vendors are also focused on building out features that appeal to IT teams at large enterprise organizations. This means adding security and administration tools required by IT, as well as compliance with certain data protection regulations.

What do look for in task management software

According to software review site G2, these are the features you should expect in task management applications:

Task creation and assignment

Task list management

Task interdependencies

Start/end dates

Status editing

Progress reporting

Collaboration tools

Workflow automation

AI integration

Time tracking

Document creation

OKR (objectives and key results)

No-code platforms

Client onboarding

Kanban project management

7 task management apps to consider

While not an exhaustive list of all task management products on the market, below are seven popular options available today, including information about the tools, how they work, their notable features, and their pricing. (Prices are broken down by month but reflect annual billing; fees are typically higher if paid monthly.)

Asana

Asana has evolved from a tracking tool into what the company describes as an orchestration engine. Its “AI teammates” are designed to identify risks and draft project briefs. Smart Goals use AI to predict if a project will miss its deadline based on real-time team velocity.

Plans and pricing

Personal plan: free for individuals (doesn’t include AI features)

Starter plan: $11/user/month

Advanced plan: $25/user/month

Enterprise plan: contact sales

ClickUp

ClickUp aims to replace your tech stack, offering native AI agents, whiteboards, docs, and time tracking in a single interface. Its Universal Search is designed to find any file or task across ClickUp and integrated apps like Slack or Google Drive.

Plans and pricing

Free version available (limited AI features)

Unlimited plan: $7/user/month

Business plan: $12/user/month

Enterprise plan: contact sales

Microsoft Planner

Now integrated with Teams, Microsoft Planner is designed to combine the simplicity of to-do lists with the power of Project, with an assist from Microsoft 365 Copilot. Its Task Chat replaces comments with threaded, real-time Teams messaging directly inside a task.

Plans and pricing

Included with Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans

Monday.com

Known for its flexibility, Monday.com is designed to allow teams to build no-code “work operating systems” for any department. Its AI-Powered Triage is designed to categorize and assign incoming work requests based on team capacity.

Plans and pricing

Free plan available for individuals (doesn’t include AI features)

Basic plan: $9/seat/month

Standard plan: $12/seat/month

Pro plan: $19/seat/month

Enterprise plan: contact sales

Notion

Notion is designed to merge documentation and task management, for a single source of truth for users. Its Notion Agent is an AI that can answer questions about your project history and documentation.

Plans and pricing

Free for personal use (limited trial of AI features)

Plus plan: $10/user/month (limited trial of AI features)

Business plan: $20/user/month

Enterprise plan: contact sales

Trello

Still considered the gold standard for simplicity, Atlassian’s Trello has remained competitive by doubling down on its “smart canvas” visual roots. Its AI Board Builder creates an entire project framework from a single sentence prompt.

Plans and pricing

Free plan for up to 10 collaborators (doesn’t include AI features)

Standard plan: $5/user/month (limited AI features)

Premium plan: $10/user/month

Enterprise plan: $17.50/user/month

Wrike

Wrike is designed for high-scale, cross-functional teams that need rigorous resource management and financial tracking. Its Multi-Action AI Agents are designed to independently route work and prompt for missing data without human input.

Plans and pricing

Free plan available (doesn’t include AI features)

Team plan: $10/user/month (limited AI features)

Business plan: $25/user/month

Pinnacle and Apex plans: contact sales

The future of task management

For IT leaders, the challenge is no longer just choosing the right tool but mastering the collaboration between humans and algorithms. Those who successfully bridge this gap won’t just keep their projects on track — they will redefine what their team goals.

Driving that collaboration will be task intelligence. According to Forrester principal analyst Betsy Summers, task intelligence offers insights about automation potential, duplication across teams, transferability,  and cost to outsource.

“This level of task intelligence will be key to unlocking meaningful workforce optimization,” Summers writes in a recent blog post. “It’s a lens for understanding how work happens now — and how it can happen better.”

This article was originally published in April 2019 and most recently updated in February 2026.

Related reading:

Asana puts ‘AI teammate’ agents to work

Monday.com’s agent builder promises to automate work management tasks

Buyer’s guide: How to choose the right project collaboration software

Source:: Computer World

By Angeley Mullins We stand at one of history’s most exhilarating crossroads. Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of work, business, and human potential at breathtaking speed. The very capabilities that make us most human, our creativity, our imagination, our ability to dream up what doesn’t yet exist, are becoming our most valuable assets. This is not a story about humans versus machines. It’s a story about human potential unleashed. It’s about a future where technology handles the tedious so we can focus on the transcendent. Where the dreamers, the questioners, the bold thinkers who color outside the lines are not just welcomed,…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

There is a clear gap between the theoretical medical knowledge of large language models (LLMs) and their practical usefulness for patients, according not a new study from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. The research, conducted in collaboration with MLCommons and other institutions, involved 1,298 people in the UK.

In the study, one group was asked to use LLMs such as GPT-4o, Llama 3, and Command R to assess health symptoms and suggest courses of action, while a control group relied on their usual methods, such as search engines or their own knowledge.

The results showed that the group using generative AI (genAI) tools performed no better than the control group in assessing the urgency of a condition. They were also worse at identifying the correct medical condition, according to The Register.

The researchers point to two main problems. First, users had difficulty providing chatbots with relevant and complete information. Second, the models sometimes gave contradictory or flat-out wrong advice.

The study also shows that traditional AI tests, such as medical test questions, do not reflect how people actually use the systems in real life. Passing a theoretical test is not the same as functioning safely in an interactive healthcare situation. As a result, the researchers believe today’s AI chatbots are not yet ready to be used as reliable medical advisors for the general public.

Source:: Computer World

When Microsoft patched a vulnerability last summer that allowed threat actors to use Windows’ shortcut (.lnk) files in exploits, defenders might have hoped use of this tactic would decline.

They were wrong.

According to researchers at Forcepoint, a new high-volume phishing campaign spreading the Global Group ransomware has been detected that hopes to sucker employees into clicking on an attachment in an email with the subject line ‘Your document.’

The trigger is a weaponized .lnk file.

“By combining social engineering, stealthy execution, and Living-off-the-Land (LotL) techniques, the file silently retrieves and launches a second stage payload without raising suspicion,” says report author Lydia McElligott, noting that the ‘Your document’ subject line has been heavily used in large scale phishing campaigns throughout 2024 and 2025.

The warning about this campaign follows an IBM detection last month of a similar campaign distributing the Aware ransomware strain, a variant of the Global Group strain used in this attack.

In both cases, the threat actors behind the campaigns were leveraging the Phorpiex botnet, sometimes called Trik by researchers.

Worries about a .lnk vulnerability go back to March 2025, when Trend Micro reported thousands of malicious .lnk files containing hidden command line arguments being used in campaigns dating back to 2017. Mitja Kolsek of 0Patch reported that this particular hole (CVE-2025-9491) was quietly plugged last summer.

However, McElligott doesn’t believe this vulnerability is being used in the latest Global Group campaign, because the target isn’t hidden in the .lnk shortcut file properties.

Who is Global Group?

Global Group is a ransomware as a service (RaaS) operation that emerged in June 2025. Many researchers believe it’s a rebranding of the BlackLock and Mamona operations. Within its first month, it claimed approximately 17 victims across multiple industries and geographic regions. According to researchers at EclecticIQ, as of July 2025, Global Group operated a dedicated leak site on the Tor network. The real IP address of the site went to a Russia-based virtual private server (VPS) provider previously used by Mamona RaaS gang.

McElligott said in an email that, while notable as a newcomer with rapid growth, it wasn’t especially prolific compared to top-tier ransomware operations during the same period.

Why LNK files?

An .lnk file is a Windows Shortcut that serves as a pointer to open a file, folder, or application. It is based on the Shell Link binary file format, which holds information used to access data objects.

Windows shortcut files are still one of the simplest ways to turn a single click into code execution, Forcepoint’s McElligott wrote in her blog. In inboxes, a .lnk can be disguised as a normal document by using double extensions (for example, Document.doc.lnk) and relying on Windows default settings that hide known file extensions. To most users, she wrote, the filename reads like a Word document, not a shortcut that can launch commands.

According to McAfee, when Microsoft disabled Office macros from running by default, threat actors increasingly turned to finding ways to exploit .lnk files, and in a June 2025 report, researchers at Palo Alto Networks also noted that the flexibility of .lnk files “makes them a powerful tool for attackers, as they can both execute malicious content and masquerade as legitimate files to deceive victims into unintentionally launching malware.”

Attackers also lean on familiar visual cues. By borrowing icons from legitimate Windows resources like shell32.dll, the attachment can look like a trusted file type at a glance. That mix of “a document-looking name” plus a recognizable icon reduces user hesitation about clicking, especially useful in high volume phishing where the goal is speed and scale.

Once clicked, McElligott wrote, a shortcut can execute cmd.exe or PowerShell directly, pass arguments quietly, and chain actions without dropping an obvious installer. That low-friction path is why .lnk lures keep showing up in commodity campaigns: they are easy to generate, easy to theme, and they reliably bridge the gap between a phishing email and a payload download.

The phishing messages Forcepoint has seen should easily be deemed suspicious. The message simply reads, “Hello, you can find your document in the attachment. Please reply as soon as possible. Kind regards, GSD Support.” Unlike more sophisticated phishing messages, there isn’t a fake lure (“This is in response to your message”) or pressure for a response (“Urgent,” or “Please look at this and reply by end of day,”).

The attachment in the sample email showed it was named ‘Document.zip’, when in fact it was really named ‘Document.doc.lnk.’ The idea is to hide the .lnk extension. Clicking on the file launches cmd.exe with embedded arguments that invokes PowerShell to download ransomware, write it to disk as a binary masquerading as a legitimate Windows executable, for example windrv.exe, and execute it.

Uncommon tactic

Interestingly, the Global Group ransomware operates in a fully mute mode – that is, instead of communicating through a command and control server, it performs all activity locally on the compromised system. “This tactic is very uncommon,” McElligott said in an email. “Typically, modern ransomware relies on network communication to enable encryption, data exfiltration, double extortion tactics, leak sites, and negotiation infrastructure. Stolen data is used to increase pressure on victims to pay the ransom demands.”

The ransomware doesn’t retrieve an external encryption key; instead, it generates the key on the host machine itself. As a result, despite the claims made in its ransom note, data isn’t exfiltrated.

Exfiltrating data can slow attacks and leave more forensic artifacts, McElligott explained. By focusing on encryption only, ransomware attacks can be deployed faster, hit more victims, and be less likely to be detected. In many cases, she added, data exfiltration isn’t necessary to force payment, as encryption alone can cause significant downtime.

Because Global Group ransomware can operate entirely offline, she said, it is less likely to trigger detection based on network traffic. In fact, the ransomware can execute in air-gapped environments.

“This offline‑only design also increases its likelihood of evading detection in networks where monitoring efforts rely primarily on observing suspicious or anomalous traffic,” said McElligott.

To frustrate detection, the ransomware uses a ping command as a simple timer, giving the malware time to finish executing and terminate cleanly from memory before removing itself from disk to impede forensic analysis. 

The malware also includes anti-virtualization and anti-analysis functionality, enumerating running processes on the host system, and checking for processes associated with virtualized environments used in malware analysis and sandboxing, and for common analysis tools. Additionally, it identifies database-related processes and terminates them to release file locks, thereby increasing the volume of data available for encryption.

Mitigation techniques

Security pros should adopt a layered approach to address the threat of all ransomware attacks, combining prevention, detection, rapid recovery, and user awareness to reduce the likelihood of being victimized, McElligott said.

To blunt an attack by Global Group she recommends that IT:

impose strong email security to detect the phishing email.

restrict access to built-in tools like PowerShell, WMI, LolBins, as well as restricting script execution, macros, and unsigned binaries;

rely on behavioural endpoint detection and remediation (EDR) to detect suspicious process chains;

segment IT networks to limit lateral movement; 

enforce least‑privilege access while rotating credentials, and monitoring for anomalous authentication;

maintain isolated, immutable backups for rapid recovery if files are encrypted.

Security awareness training is key

In addition, security awareness training instructing employees not to click on what should be seen as suspicious attachments is a first line of defense. Too many organizations do security awareness training and phishing tests just to check a compliance box rather than as a key part of a security culture-based approach, warned David Shipley, head of Canadian-based awareness training provider Beauceron Security.

Compliance programs just want to show that an activity has been performed, he told Computerworld. A firm with  a security culture should show that not only has phishing risk been reduced (click rate lowered) and report rate of suspicious activity increased, but also that resiliency has also improved. This is done by measuring how many people clicked a link, and, of that group, how many reported it. It’s known as the post-click report rate (PCRR).

“It’s a fantastic measure of both willingness to admit a mistake and psychological safety,” Shipley said. 

He added that security pros should note that Microsoft’s latest Digital Defense report says AI-powered phishing is 4.5 times more effective than previous phishing efforts, with a 54% click through rate, compared to the previous average click through rate of 12%. 

Research shows the right education, delivered quarterly alongside difficult phishing simulations that reward positive behaviors like reporting suspicious emails, is needed if an organization wants to reduce click rates, Shipley said. 

Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Paris-headquartered Naboo has raised a $70m in Series B as it accelerates its ambition to become the operating layer for how large companies plan, book, and control corporate events. The round is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, the same investor that backed Mistral AI in 2023, and lands just a year after Naboo closed a €20m Series A. Naboo positions itself as an AI-powered procurement platform for corporate events, covering everything from venue booking and travel to supplier coordination and budget control. Founded in 2022, Naboo built its name on simplifying how companies organise and run corporate events,  from booking…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Databricks is having one of those years that most enterprise software companies would quietly envy. The data and AI platform says it has reached a $5.4bn annual revenue run rate, growing 65% year over year, at a time when growth across the sector has cooled noticeably. For a private company, that pace is rare. And it helps explain why investors have continued to pour money into Databricks, even as funding has become more selective. The company says it has now raised more than $7bn in total capital, including recent equity funding that values the business at $134bn, alongside a large…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Paulo Vargas NextSense launched Smartbuds, EEG sleep earbuds that claim to read brain activity and deliver timed audio stimulation to support deeper sleep. Pricing, subscription costs, and iPhone-only requirements will shape who can try it first.
The post NextSense wants your sleep fixed by EEG sleep earbuds, not apps appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends