Up Times · February 2022

Up Times

by Bryley · December 2022

Should we M365?

Why Should We Switch to M365 if It Has the Same Microsoft Applications We Already Use?

 
You’ve probably heard about Microsoft 365 (sometimes called Office 365), the cloud-based subscription service that has Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and other applications.

But is it worth the time, effort and cost to switch to a cloud-based version? [4 min. read]

Rylie

A Few Minutes with Rylie, Field Technician

As researcher Sherry Turkle has observed, it’s in the awkward silent seconds that communication (which means, to have something in common between us) happens. We need those pauses in conversation to process what the other has said, to let the words and our thoughts about those words affect us, to consider a reply and then choose our words. These silences along with other non-verbal signals do the connective work when we speak to each other: you know you are talking to a real person.

Turkle’s work has been an inspiration to Field Technician Rylie. At the University of Rhode Island Rylie achieved a bachelor of science degree in Computer Science and became fascinated working in Python and C++ with Artificial Intelligence … [5 min. read]


Business Continuity Mixtape – Bryley-curated stories from around the internet:

SludgeA team of security experts led by the National Security Agency makes the case for a modified tack to deter criminal hackers: sludge, that is several security and network conditions that create impediments to potentially slow an attack … [30 min. read] arxiv.org

Post working a computerWith the arrival of ChatGPT, come security issues that have already been exploited. It’s now possible for anyone to ask the AI bot to generate malicious code and write convincing phishing emails. Technology like ChatGPT is especially helpful in writing deceptive content that impersonates colleagues … [5 min. read] venturebeat.com

umbrella

Corvus Insurance reports on the prevalence in the third quarter 2022 of fraudulent funds transfer (FFT) and ransomware. The former is closely tied to business email compromise, in which internal accounts are spoofed to gain credentials to usually steal funds; the latter is holding company’s data hostage with a ransom demand. FFT has been the top source of cyber loss … in terms of frequency, while ransomware remained by far the costliest cyber claim … The average claim for FFT – $90,000 – is a fraction of the ransomware average of $256,000 … [5 min. read] insurancejounal.com

Hybrid work

The lockdowns have had a lasting effect on the employer/employee relationship. (Even Elon Musk softened his hardline position after many Twitter employees quit.) Seventy-five percent of employers offer hybrid work situations, up from thirty-five percent pre-pandemic, per Bryley partner HP. With the advance in and distribution of technologies and an international jobs market, the competition for employees and the ability for businesses to retain them is challenged like never before … [7 min. read] fortune.com (paywall)

Apathy face

Hybrid invites different security risks than working only in an office, like using compromised public wifi and not protecting confidential information. In a recent white paper issued by HP’s Apogee unit, the state of security among UK small- to medium-sized businesses surveyed looks pretty dismal: security is a priority for fourteen percent of companies, only twenty-six percent make sure endpoints are encrypted, sixty-four percent are not confident that their IT configurations are compliant … [4 min. read] infosecurity-magazine.com

Note: The Mixtape section is Bryley’s curated list of external stories. Bryley does not take credit for the content of these stories, nor does it endorse or imply an affiliation with the authors or publications in which they appear.

Monthly Help for Your Business’ Continuity

Up Times by Bryley arrives monthly in your email box. It’s a New England-based resource, in continuous publication since 2000.

Subscribe free, below. Unsubscribe any time via the link at the bottom of each newsletter.

And be assured: in more than twenty years, Bryley’s subscriber list has not been shared with any third-party and will not be in the future. Bryley’s Privacy Policy can be found here.

Sign up for our newsletter to have tech news and tips delivered monthly via email