Sunday we “spring forward” once again, our twice-yearly ritual of cursing at the clock. Wait, say the political junkies, didn’t the U.S. Senate pass a bill to make Daylight Savings Time permanent? Yes, back in March 2022. But the U.S. House, ignoring a 2019 poll showing that 71% of Americans wanted to stop the clock craziness, refused to act. Maybe they need a time out.
News from the big dogs. Wrap your endpoints up safely with the new Microsoft Intune Suite, which combines advanced endpoint management and security tools into one simple bundle.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot adds next-generation AI to boost the smarts level in business functions from sales, service, and marketing all the way to the supply chain. Comes with both CRM and ERP applications.
Working with OpenAI, Salesforce introduced the ChatGPT app for Slack (pictured). This will cut down on your message load, because AI will deliver instant conversation summaries, as well as research tools and writing advice.
Doubling down on added smarts, Salesforce announced Einstein GPT, which they call the first generative AI for CRM. It generates personal content across every Salesforce cloud and supports public and private AI models purpose-built for CRM.
Partnering with Collibra, Confluent, Databricks, and DataRobot, SAP Datasphere stakes out improved levels of data management.
Security news. Palo Alto Networks said the new Identity Threat Detection and Response module for Cortex XSIAM (pictured) is now available. But wait, there’s more! Palo Alto also rolled out its updated Zero Trust OT Security solution.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquired Axis Security and will offer a unified SASE tool with the Axis Security Services Edge platform. Terms were not disclosed.
Gradient MSP’s Synthesize platform has more goodies for partners, namely integrations with YouAttest and Mailprotector. Wait again! Gradient Synthesize also now integrates with CloudRadial’s Client Service Automation platform.
Acronis has over 50 such locations worldwide, but it’s still nice to give them a hand for the new Cyber Cloud data center in Toronto.
SentinelOne and Wiz intertwined to offer cloud security jointly to customers of all sizes.
Insider threats are tough to spot and stop. SentinelOne will integrate with the Code42 Incydr tools with its Singularity Platform and make it less tough.
Cowbell 365 is an around-the-clock service to support cyber insurance policyholders 24x7x365, because cybercriminals don’t take days off.
Besides IT, companies have OT and industrial control systems (ICS) to protect, and Optiv launched a full suite of OT services to help.
Appdome now offers what it says is first: XDR for consumer-focused mobile apps.
IoT news. Curiosity Lab, the “experimental city” in Peachtree Corners, Ga., hosted an HBCU Hackathon with founding partner T-Mobile. Six teams of five competed over the weekend. The top three projects were Chore Warrior, Travel Tracker, and iFeel and imHere.
Forbes discusses some of the upcoming smart home advantages delivered by advances in Wi-Fi.
Donna Moore, chair of the LoRa Alliance, discussed the upcoming LoRaWAN Live in Orlando with RCRWireless News.
Parks Associates reported on details from two new consumer studies on security, including user experiences of pro versus DIY installation. DIY customers have a higher interest in add-on services than owners with pro-installed systems, and online sales is the channel of choice.
For European readers, the bot detection player Netacea partnered with Telarus to spread the word and be available through its global network.
Reinsurance News lays it out clearly: Machine learning and IoT will have a huge impact on the insurance industry, and eventually on all of us.
Other product news. Cisco’s Meraki 5G cellular gateways will work with T-Mobile’s fixed wireless access. Models MG51 and MG51E can deliver speeds as fast as 2 Gbps down / 300 Mbps up.
Gear up! Supermicro announced new workstations based on Intel 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors for the telco industry.
Epson’s shipping three new A3 line head multifunction printers in its WorkForce Enterprise group (sample pictured). Built for large workgroups, just in time to print out all your March Madness brackets.
If you think Jabra only makes things to stick in your ears, please don’t try that with the new Speak2 family of professional speakerphones: Speak2 40 (USB), Speak2 55, and 75 (wireless).
Non-product vendor news. Syncro rolled out the rare triple red carpet for CFO Gerry Rice, Director of Technical Support Macall Gardner, and Chief Product and Technology Officer Kristen Costagliola.
Congrats to Tim Sheahen (pictured), just promoted to senior vice president of global sales at Axcient.
The Welcome Wagon greeted Desraie Thomas at DataStream Cyber Insurance, where she’s joined as senior channel development manager.
Check Point welcomed Nataly Kremer as chief product officer and head of R&D, to join newly promoted Chief Technology Officer Dr. Dorit Dor and Rupal Hollenbeck, the new president.
Be polite to the new guy looking for the break room at Nintex. Amit Mathradas takes over as CEO.
Ready to team up with TeamViewer? Then check out its first global partner program, TeamUP. Three tiers await, each with discounts and benefits and resources, so pick Business, Premium, and Champion to match your needs.
The new Rubrik Transform Partner Program offers three levels, including Elite, Elite+, and Partner, based on a point system.
5G keeps rolling, and Cradlepoint unveiled a new global MSP program with some significant updates at its North American Partner Summit in Austin, Texas.
If you work with Cyolo, it’s time to get Cyolo Connected to its revved up partner program with a new flat structure.
Wildix and Veesion announced a five-year partnership to upgrade cameras in the Wildix x-hoppers retail solution with AI. Cameras now send alerts when a theft is detected, and headsets for employees listening on the floor help stop thefts by up to 60%.
1WorldSync acquired Webata to help sales growth through keywords, ranking, and competitive intelligence. Terms were not disclosed.
UPSTACK acquired The Monaco Group, and founder Joe Monaco will join as partner and managing director. Same song, second verse: UPSTACK grabbed LinkSource Technologies to boost their cloud sourcing portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed for either acquisition.
This week’s stats ticker:
Info-Tech Research Group released a report titled “The State of Black Professionals in Tech.” More than 600 individuals responded from the U.S., Canada, India, Nigeria, and the U.K. Fewer feel very satisfied in their current role (23% versus 34% of others), 54% reported microaggressions in the workplace and 50% called it racism. It took longer for Black respondents to find their tech job and 55% felt they had no advancement options in their career. However, actions that raised satisfaction scores to levels of non-Black employees included mentorship programs, training, employee resource groups, and internal discussions about diversity.
The new 2023 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report found malware inched up 2% in general but jumped 87% for IoT malware, while cryptojacking rose 43%. Global ransomware attacks actually dropped 21%, but that still meant nearly 500 million attacks. Malware attacks rose against education, finance, and retail verticals, and Ukraine saw record levels of malware and ransomware (7.1 million attacks). Attacks tend to be slower and stealthier now, and have shifted their sights toward weaker targets like IoT devices. Although ransomware slowed, other attacks took up the slack to keep pressure on defenses.
The annual Phisher’s Favorites from Vade is out for 2022 with the most-impersonated brands for the year. 34% of all attacks were against targets in the financial services vertical, with seven of the top 20. Microsoft and Google, numbers two and three, accounted for more phishing attacks than all other cloud brands combined. Is that a “yay”? Probably not. Volume was up considerably across all industries. The most impersonated brand, #1 on the chart this year? Facebook.
Data at a Distance, research from Blancco Technology Group, reports that extensive cloud adoption means a greater attack surface for two favorite malware targets, healthcare and financial services. Non-optimized end-of-life (EOL) policies increase the number of targets with redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT) data. 65% of 1,800 respondents say they can better manage EOL data on premises compared to in the cloud. 91% recognize data classification as an important first step for achieving data security. Too often, best practices for on-premises data centers are forgotten when companies migrate to the cloud.
Buy and hold. Think an old iPhone isn’t worth much? Guess again.
In 2007, Karen Green got a new job, and her friends bought her a new phone (note to self: find more generous friends). Karen had just upgraded her Verizon feature phone, so she her $599 first-edition Apple iPhone in the box (note to self: get generous friends with money).
She auctioned the phone off last month, and the bidding started at $2,500. It ended at $63,356.40, the highest price ever for a vintage iPhone.
Let’s hope Ms. Green took her friends out for a veeery expensive dinner.
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
