Twitter-owner Elon Musk’s latest decision to turn off SMS 2FA after 20 March unless you pay for Blue Tick has caused another storm of criticism. What And Why? On 15 February, Twitter announced that: “starting today, we will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2-Factor Authentication unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers.” Twitter Blue is…
In this insight, we look at the popular email authentication protocols SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, how they work, why they’re important, and what happens if they’re not set up properly. What Is SPF? SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, is an email authentication protocol used to verify the sender of an email message. It is used to detect and prevent…
With the integration large language models (LLMs) into search engines, some are predicting that the massive increase in computing power needed could mean huge carbon emissions. What Are Large Language Models? Large language Models (LLMs) are types of artificial intelligence (AI) models that are trained on vast amounts of text data to understand natural language. These models are typically…
A report from Picus Security has warned of the rise of multi-purpose strains of malware, which it dubs “Swiss Army knife malware” capable of performing all kinds of actions. Picus Security’s analysis of 550,000 real-world malware samples revealed that one third carry at least 20 individual Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) with the most common features being the abuse…
If you’d like a fast and easy way to navigate within YouTube, here are some top keyboard shortcuts. – While watching a YouTube video, use the following letters on their own on the keyboard (no need for shift) for the following functions: F (full screen), K (play/pause), J (rewind 10 secs), and L (fast-forward 10 secs). – Shift+P plays…
Kaspersky research has shown that hackers are now being recruited with dark web job ads offering huge salaries and benefits! What?! According to Kaspersky’s analysis of more than 200,000 employment ads posted on the dark web between January 2020 and June 2022, ‘employers’ have been seeking applications from the best hackers by offering favourable terms of employment including remote…
Following anecdotal reports that some users can’t turn off the strict SafeSearch settings when searching using Bing, we look at what SafeSearch is, and how to control it. What Is SafeSearch? SafeSearch is a setting in Microsoft’s Bing search engine that’s designed to filter out inappropriate web content. How? It works on the search terms used and can be…
$100 billion/£82.7bn is reported to have been wiped off the value shares in Google’s parent company Alphabet following a rather public error made by Bard, Google’s new answer to ChatGPT. Bard Originally called ‘Apprentice Bard,’ Bard is Google’s conversational AI service which uses Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), Google’s family of conversational neural language models. Bard is the Google…
Researchers from the University of Sussex and Universal Quantum have announced that they have made a major breakthrough in quantum computing that could help solve the most complex real-world problems. What Are Quantum Computers? Quantum computers can carry out complex calculations at high speed. Whereas traditional computers store data in binary ‘bits’ (ones and zeros) and work by creating…
Hull-based company iHelios has developed a system of using temperature controlled, energy-efficient electric infrared ‘wallpaper’ to heat homes and businesses which may have the potential to replace traditional central heating systems. Heating Film The ‘smart’ heating system from iHelios uses a wafer-thin heating film that is placed within the ceiling, under floors, or in panels, and is linked up…
