With employees working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, how can SMBs better protect against cybercriminals?
Stephan Neumeier, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky shared security tips during a webinar on “The Cyberthreat Landscape for SMBs in Singapore”.
Kaspersky experts suggest the following tips for SMBs to avoid being lured by cybercriminals through phishing, crypto-mining and ransomware.
In the first half of 2020, phishing attempts targeting SMBs in Singapore increased by 61%, mirroring similar increases across South East Asian countries.
Number of phishing attempts against SMBs blocked by Kaspersky Anti-Phishing System, year-on-year.
With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating Singapore’s digitalisation efforts, SMBs have become the focal point of discussion for many, as funding worries and the shift to telecommuting have left them in no man’s land.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore continues to retain attraction as the region’s premier business hub, and speaks well of the local businesses’ ability to remain resilient despite headwinds from the global slowdown. However, almost half (41%) of businesses continue to express that the high costs of investment – lack of financing and funding – are major barriers holding them back from digitalisation. The implications of this statistic are significant, as it means cybersecurity may not be a key priority for businesses during this period of cost-cutting,” says Stephan Neumeier, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.
While the Government has launched generous initiatives such as the new training and adult education industry digitalisation plan to augment SMBs’ competitiveness, malicious actors continue to find new ways to test businesses’ digital readiness.
According to Kaspersky’s latest statistics, the global cybersecurity company foiled 89,351 phishing attacks against SMBs in H1 2020, compared to 55,653 in the same period last year.
Although Singapore continues to fare better than their SMB counterparts in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to witness the lowest volume of phishing attacks in Southeast Asia, the 61% increase suggests that more can be done by Singapore’s SMBs to improve their cybersecurity.
More details below from the presentation and press release.
Richard Yu, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei delivered the opening keynote address for the second annual Huawei Developer Conference in a live broadcast, unveiling the latest updates on HarmonyOS, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and EMUI11.
Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group addressing the attendees at the Huawei Developer Conference. Image credit: Huawei.
During the keynote, Huawei announced upcoming major updates for:
A brief summary of the updates below.
Acronis Cyber Protect 15 has been released today in a pandemic world that is vulnerable with security gaps and in need for new security solutions.
Dashboard for Acronis Cyber Protect 15.
First launched in May earlier this year, Acronis Cyber Protect 15 integrates backup, disaster recovery, next-generation antimalware, cybersecurity, and endpoint management tools into a single solution.
The Acronis Cyber Readiness Report revealed that 92% of the companies surveyed say they’ve adopted new technologies to enable remote work, including workplace collaboration tools, privacy solutions, and endpoint cybersecurity.
The new product comes at a time when businesses are struggling to safeguard their data and infrastructure against the risks of the new remote work landscape.
The third and final day of IFA 2020 Special Edition (3-5 September) in Berlin saw more industry participants presenting their press conferences to international media.
Dirk Koslowski, IFA Director at IFA 2020 Special Edition (3-5 September) in Berlin.
Here’s a sampling of what industry leaders shared on this final day of IFA 2020..
Madhav Sheth, realme Vice President, CEO of realme Europe and India enthused that “we have an extremely ambitious goal for Europe and it is not less than to be among the top five by the end of 2021. We believe that young Europeans will love our competitive products with cutting edge-technology, stylish designs and affordable prices.”
“The Satisfyer Connect App questions the status quo in the sexual wellness category and brings love to the next level,” shared Daniela Märklin, Chief Marketing Officer of Satisfyer.
Thomas Nedder, Neato Robotics CEO launched “the D8, D9 and D10 — its new premium line and a significant step forward for the consumer robot vacuum industry.”
Sven Buschmann, Head of Business Development from Tuya Germany introduced Tuya Smart and its IoT platform as well as some of their latest products.
IFA 2020 Special Edition (3-5 September) is into its second day in Berlin press conferences by a slew of industry participants.
Day 2 of IFA 2020 Special Edition (3-5 September) in Berlin.
Here’s a sampling of what industry leaders shared today.
Dr. IP Park, President & CTO, LG Electronics shared that it has achieved a milestone in its developments in smart home living because “with this level of digital integration, we’re really beginning to build an evolving, connected and open eco-system of smart products and services that can deliver so much more than the sum of its parts – going above and beyond device-level thinking to unlock a whole new world of potential at the system-level.”
“We really need to make sure we understand the shocks to come in this market. What are we going to do to be vigilant to understand the next wave and how we might react and how we are going to put our teams in a position where they can make better decisions,” said Sean O’Neill, Chief Product Officer at GfK.
Matthias Ginthum, CMO BSH Hausgeräte envisaged that “we at BSH want to be the first company in our industry to neutralize the direct carbon dioxide emissions of all our locations worldwide.”
For Frederic Langin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, TCL Europe; TCL’s mission is “to make life intelligent with innovative technology to make our customers’ lives easier and smarter.”
Looking forward, Yannick Fierling, CEO Haier revealed that “Haier will introduce new solutions – based on an ecosystem built from the Internet of Things – for turning the group vision of Smart Home and Smart Living into reality.”
The InfinityGlove contains ultra-sensitive microfibre sensors that can translate hand gestures into in-game commands, allowing users to play first-person shooters such as Battlefield V without the need for a traditional controller or a keyboard.
The InfinityGlove was developed by a team of NUS researchers led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck (left). With him are two members of the research team, Dr Yeo Joo Chuan (centre) and Dr Yu Longteng (right). Photo: National University of Singapore.
Simply flex your index finger to fire your weapon and rotate your wrist clockwise to move forward. Immersive controls have always been a pipedream in the world of gaming but is steadily becoming reality.
This is an interesting and innovative project.
Currently each finger of the glove contains one microfibre sensor that can differentiate two states – straightened or curled – due to the difference in conductivity of the liquid metal within the fibre in the two states.
So the overall status of the glove should be readable as a five-digit binary.
Would be good to add one more to the wrist to include bending of the wrist.
And in the longer term, I can think of two ways of improving the resolution of the sensing.
One would be to implement multiple sensors per strand of microfibre.
Another would be to weave multiple microfibre strands to provide a matrix detection pattern for a snapshot of the state of each sensor.
That could probably come in useful as a grid sensor to monitor the distribution of stresses/deformation on a surface etc.
A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck, has developed a smart glove – called ‘InfinityGlove’ – that allows users to mimic a variety of in-game controls using simple hand gestures.
While the concept of controlling a game using your hands is not new, the main problems have always been weight and flexibility.
The current generation of smart glove type controllers available on the market are usually bulky and rigid as they rely on conventional sensors which put the hard in hardware.
The InfinityGlove overcomes existing problems with weight and flexibility by weaving ultra-thin, highly sensitive microfibre sensors into the material of the glove.
These sensors are not only lightweight and accurate, but also fulfil the role of wires thus reducing the need for additional wiring.
Currently the prototype weighs about 40 grams, and is flexible and comfortable.
More details below from the press release.
Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac is now ready for macOS Big Sur, blending the OS updates with new Mac integration and Windows-related features. Prices below.
Parallels Desktop 16 subscribers receive complimentary concurrent subscriptions to Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows and Parallels Access as well.
Highlights of Parallels Desktop 16 include the following.
Prices and more details below from the press release.
The science and technology university aims to train future leaders who can combine technology and business to boost the digital industry.
Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) launches a new course: Masters of Science (MSc) in Computer Science and Software Engineering.
To tackle the shortage of potential leaders joining the digital sector, the Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) has crafted a new course: Masters of Science (MSc) in Computer Science and Software Engineering – to better prepare graduates for leadership roles, specifically within the IT and science disciplines.
Launching in September 2020, the newly developed program is available for students with bachelor’s in computer science or software engineering who have ambitions to be a part of the next generation of technical leaders.
More details below from the press release.
Trends: COVID-19 Gives Impetus to Hybrid Working
Thursday, July 23rd, 2020One of the impacts from the global COVID-19 pandemic is the rise of hybrid working, the new normal for businesses and organisations around the world.
* The slides in this article are extracted from Poly’s new report on how hybrid working will be the new collaborative imperative.
What to expect in the new normal of hybrid working. Click on image to enlarge.
Working from home had always languished as the catch phrase for businesses aspiring to provide employees with a better work-life balance whilst maintaining a high level of performance.
Even though the requisite technology has been around and available for years now, the main stumbling block to greater adoption of working from home has been predominantly a cultural issue.
Four technology trends enabling hybrid working. Click on image to enlarge.
Companies are concerned that employees may not work as hard when left to their own devices at home, while employees worry that it is more difficult to get things done if they’re not physically working at the office.
(more…)
Tags:collaboration, COVID, COVID-19, Plantronics, Poly, Polycom, trends, work-from-home
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