Featured Article – Facial Recognition and Super Computers Help in COVID-19 Fight

Posted on by Andy Miller

Technology is playing an important role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic with adapted facial recognition cameras and super-computers now joining the battle to help beat the virus.

Adapted Facial Recognition

Facial recognition camera systems have been trialled and deployed in many different locations in the UK which famously include the 2016 and 2017 Notting Hill Carnivals, the Champions League final day June 2017 in Cardiff,  the Kings Cross Estate in 2019 and in a deliberately “overt” trial of live facial recognition technology by the Metropolitan Police in the centre of Romford, London, in January 2019.  Although it would be hard to deny that facial recognition technology (FRT) could prove to be a very valuable tool in the fight against crime, issues around its accuracy, bias and privacy have led to criticism in the UK from the Information Commissioner about some of the ways it has been used, while (in January) the European Commission was considering a ban on the use of facial recognition in public spaces for up to five years while new regulations for its use were put in place.

However, one way that some facial recognition systems have been adapted to help in the fight against COVID-19 include the incorporation of temperature screening.

Thermographic Temperature-Screening

In the early news reports of the initial spread of COVID-19 in China, news reports focused on how thermographic, temperature-screening cameras backed up by AI could be used to pick out people from crowds who displayed a key symptom, notably a raised temperature.

These systems are also likely to play a role in our post-lockdown, pre-vaccine world as one of many tools, systems, and procedures to improve safety as countries try to re-start their economies on the long road back.

In the UK – Facial Recognition Combined With ‘Fever Detection System’

In the UK, an AI-powered facial recognition system at Bristol Airport is reported to have been adapted to incorporate a ‘fever detection system’, developed by British technology company SCC. This means that the existing FRT system has been augmented with thermographic cameras that can quickly spot people, even in large moving groups (as would normally happen in airports) who have the kind of raised temperatures associated with COVID-19.

In Russia – Facial Recognition Combined With Digital Passes on Phones

It has also been reported that, as far back as March, officials in Moscow have been using the city’s network of tens of thousands of security cameras, which can offer instant, real-time facial recognition of citizens in combination with digital passes on mobile phones. It has been reported that the sheer number of cameras in Moscow, which can also be used to measure social distancing and detect crowds, coupled with the sophisticated FRT at the back-end is enough to ensure that those who are supposed to be in isolation can be detected even if they come outside their front door for a few seconds.  Moscow’s facial recognition system is also reported to be able to identify a person correctly, even if they are wearing a face mask.

Supercomputers

One of the great advantages of supercomputers is that they can carry out staggering numbers of calculations per second, thereby being able to solve complicated problems in a mere fraction of the time that it would take other computers to do the same thing.  Supercomputers are, therefore, now being used in the fight against coronavirus. For example:

– Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Centre (TACC) in the U.S. are using a Frontera supercomputer and a huge computer model of the coronavirus to help researchers design new drugs and vaccines.

– University College London (UCL) researchers, as part of a consortium of over a hundred researchers from across the US and Europe, are using some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers (including the biggest one in Europe and the most powerful one in the world) to study the COVID-19 virus and thereby help develop effective treatments and, hopefully, a vaccine.  The researchers have been using the Summit at Oak Ridge National Lab, USA (1st) and SuperMUC-NG at GCS@LRZ, Germany (9th)  supercomputers to quickly search through existing libraries of compounds that could be used to attach themselves to the surface of the novel coronavirus.

– In the U.S. the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium, a combined effort by private-public organisations, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, U.S. government departments and IBM are bringing together federal government, industry, and academics who are offering free computing time and resources on their supercomputers to help to understand and beat the coronavirus.

Looking Ahead

Facial recognition cameras used by police and government agencies have been the focus of some bad press and questions over a variety of issues, but the arrival of the pandemic has turned many things on their heads. The fact is that there are existing facial recognition camera systems which, when combined with other technologies, could help to stop the spread of a potentially deadly disease.

With vaccines normally taking years to develop, and with the pandemic being a serious, shared global threat, it makes sense that the world’s most powerful computing resources should be (and are being) deployed to speed up the process of understanding the virus and of quickly sorting through existing data and knowledge that could help.

Google Meet ‘Free For Everyone’

Posted on by Andy Miller

Google has entered the video conferencing market fight with the likes of Zoom and Facebook Messenger as it announces that its ‘Google Meet’ premium video conferencing service will soon be free for everyone.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a video conferencing service that, until now, has only been paid for as part of G Suite, Google’s collaboration and productivity solution for businesses, organisations, and schools.

Google says that Meet will be now available free to anyone on the web at meet.google.com and via mobile apps for iOS or Android (Meet apps can be found in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store). It is also possible to join Meet for free via Google Calendar.

100 Million+ Daily Meeting Participants

Google reports that, since January, Meet’s peak daily usage has grown by 30x and, as of April, Meet has been hosting 3 billion minutes of video meetings and adding approximately 3 million new users every day. Google also says that, as of last week, Meet’s daily meeting participants surpassed 100 million. A reported 6 million companies and organisations now use G Suite.

Limit

Even though Google will soon be offering Meet for free, meetings will be limited to 60 minutes for the free product after 30 September.

What’s Free

The services that businesses and organisations can expect to get for free with Meet include free access to Meet’s advanced features (for G Suite customers) including the ability to live stream for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain, free additional Meet licenses for existing G Suite customers and free G Suite Essentials for enterprise customers.

Not Immediately

Businesses and organisations may have to wait a week or two to get free access to Meet as it will be rolled out gradually from next week.

Compared To Zoom

Although using Meet may be a little more demanding than simply clicking on a link (as with Zoom), Google is keen to point out that Meet users have the benefits of advanced security.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The current global need for people to work remotely and yet collaborate effectively has led to fierce competition among tech companies looking to gain large numbers of new users e.g. Zoom, Facebook Messenger (now offering a desktop app), and Microsoft wanting to release a consumer edition of Teams.  Google is the next to throw its hat into the ring and is in a good position to do so with a free version of an already popular premium service. Tech companies realise that if they can lead the remote, collaborative working race now they can gain large numbers of new users, many of whom may become loyal and committed to their platforms and could be monetised later. For businesses and other users, there is now a great deal of choice between the options available for free remote and collaborative working platforms and services, and those which are easiest, add the most value, are most effective and secure and are most compatible with existing resources and practices are likely to be favoured going forward.

UK Contact Tracing App In A Couple Of Weeks

Posted on by Andy Miller

Matthew Gould, chief executive of the National Health Service’s technology group NHSX has announced that a COVID-19 contact-tracing app for the UK could be ready “in the next couple of weeks”.

Bluetooth, Short-Range

Most countries in Europe that have chosen to use contact-tracing apps at some point have opted for a short-range Bluetooth “handshake” between mobile device options in order to identify a potential contact, although this method does not provide location data.

The new UK contact-tracing app will let people know if they have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The app will use the same short-range, Bluetooth method as other similar apps and is currently reported to be the subject of a rapid testing programme. How the new app performs in the tests will determine how it is deployed, but it looks likely that the app will become an important tool as the UK starts to come out of lockdown.

Criticism

The announcement of UK’s app has already drawn criticism from some tech commentators who have expressed concerns that the app’s reliance on Bluetooth could negatively affect its accuracy, performance, and security.

Contact-Tracing and Self Quarantine Apps Being Used Elsewhere

Contact-tracing and self-quarantine apps are already being used in other countries. These include:

– Singapore’s ‘TraceTogether’ app. This app uses location data and Bluetooth and once on a user’s phone, the app records when that user goes near another person who has the TraceTogether app. This proximity data is stored on the user’s phone and can be requested for analysis with the user’s permission. The TraceTogether app is also used by the Singapore government to send out updates to citizens via WhatsApp twice a day containing information such as the number of cases, suspected locations of outbreaks, and advice for avoiding infection.

– South Korea’s “self-quarantine safety protection” app and “Corona 100m app”. The “self-quarantine safety protection” app from the country’s ‘Ministry of the Interior and Safety’ is used by central and local governments to send out real-time alerts via text message and the “Corona 100m app” which has been downloaded more than 1 million times and alerts users if they breach a 100-metre (328 ft) radius of the latest tracked whereabouts of a coronavirus patient.

France and Germany

France is opting for a centralised approach for its “StopCovid” app project i.e. storing the personal data of volunteers’ Bluetooth logs on a central server and not on individual devices. However, the app is currently the subject of arguments over civil liberties and privacy.

Germany has decided to use an app with a decentralised, Apple-Google-style approach i.e. logging contacts on individual devices rather than a central server. It is believed that this will make it easier for health authorities to contact users and give advice on the best course of action to them if they are found to be at risk.

Testing

Knowing whether someone has had COVID-19 can only really be established with testing. Tests in the UK, however, are only really getting underway now and this means that the app is only likely to be of real use further down the line when more people have been tested.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Businesses will now be thinking about the many ways that they can resume work safely as lockdown rules are relaxed, and many different tools and options may currently be under consideration e.g. changed work layouts and practices to accommodate social distancing, the possible use of thermographic cameras (temperature detection) and other tools such as apps. Just as technology has helped to enable remote, collaborative working, tech tools such as contact-tracing apps are, therefore, likely to be one of many things that can contribute to the country and businesses moving forward prior to the introduction of any effective vaccination programmes or treatments that can seriously limit the most severe symptoms of the COVID-19 virus. For the time being, social distancing is still the central focus of the strategy for all to keep as safe as possible.

Robot Food Deliveries in Milton Keynes During Lockdown

Posted on by Andy Miller

Delivery robots from U.S.-based company Starship Technologies have come into their own during the lockdown as a way of delivering food to the residents and workers of Milton Keynes.

First Commercial Deployment in the UK

The autonomous robot delivery Service operated by Starship Technologies is the first commercial deployment in the UK, and since the beginning of March, has allowed Milton Keynes residents in the delivery area to get cooked food and small orders from supermarkets without having to leave the house.

Starship Technologies

Starship Technologies was founded back in 2014 by co-founders of Skype, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, who were joined 4 years later by Lex Bayer from Airbnb.

Test Deliveries Started in 2018

Starship first announced that it would be starting a robot food delivery service in Milton Keynes back in April 2018 where it had already partnered with Co-op in order to deliver groceries. At the time, as part of tests of the service, customers in the Milton Keynes area covered by the delivery services could pay a monthly subscription of £7.99 for an unlimited number of deliveries to an address of their choice, with the service operated via a phone app.

In January 2019 Starship Technologies launched a delivery service using the same kind of robots that are now being used in Milton Keynes UK in George Mason University campus in Virginia, USA.

The Robots

The self-driving, six-wheeled delivery robots, which have multiple cameras, ultrasound sensors, radar, and GPS, can identify pedestrians and other obstacles as they make their way along pavements to their target destination.

The robots can carry items within a 4-mile (6km) radius, move at pedestrian speed, weigh no more than 100 pounds, and have a mechanically locked cargo bay that can only be opened by the recipient with their smartphone app.

The robot’s progress on its delivery route can be monitored via the phone app so customers know when to expect their delivery.

Popular With Younger Customers

The company is reported as saying that its robot food deliveries in Milton Keynes have been particularly popular with younger customers and that the lockdown situation has added to what was already a huge surge in demand when the service was first trialled 2 years ago.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Starship Technologies have been building up this service for two years before launch, plus they have some months of commercial experience after running the service on a U.S. university campus. The coronavirus lockdown, however, has meant that more people have been prepared to try the service and have perhaps realised the benefits of speed, simplicity, and relatively low cost, as well as the reduced risk of being able to order from home.  Although it may be predominantly younger people at the moment, and the closure of other food outlets coupled with pressure on companies like Deliveroo have helped boost the demand for Starship’s service generally, robot deliveries do appear to be well placed to take advantage of an opportunity and need in the marketplace for certain quantities and could provide a useful delivery service small businesses in their areas of operation. Post lockdown, their popularity looks set to continue in population centres where road traffic congestion is a problem, and/or on UK university campuses perhaps. Automation and autonomous vehicles look set to play a part in the new ‘normal’, albeit a relatively small but novel and environmentally friendly one to start with.

Tech Tip – Setting A Background in Microsoft Teams

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you are using Microsoft’s Teams during the lockdown and would like to set up a more professional-looking or even a fun or custom background during your video calls, here’s how:

You can choose to use one of the backgrounds that are built-in to teams or, you can set up your own custom background (putting your image in the uploads folder) in the following way:

– Open File Explorer.

– Select Click This PC >> Windows (C:).

– Open the Users folder, select your user profile and click the View tab (top of File Explorer).

– Check the Hidden items checkbox and open the AppData folder (which should have appeared when you checked the hidden items box).

– Open the Roaming folder, open the Microsoft folder, and open the Teams folder within the Microsoft folder.

– Then, open the Backgrounds folder, open the Uploads folder, and place your chosen image in the uploads folder.

– Finally, right-click on the Uploads folder and select Pin to Quick access. You can also pin the Uploads folder to Quick Access to speed things up if you want to add more images.

To set your chosen (from the built-in images) or custom image as a background:

– Within a video call, select the More actions button (the three dots).

– Select Show background effects, scroll down and select your uploaded image.

– Select Preview and then select Apply (or Apply and turn on video).

Featured Article – Securely Disposing of Old Equipment

Posted on by Andy Miller

When our PCs, laptops, phones, and other devices need to be replaced, disposing of them in a way that does not pose a data security risk is especially important. Here are some tips on how to dispose of devices securely.

Backup

Before you begin the disposal process of your device the first thing to do is to make sure that you have a backup of all your important files and data.

Backing Up Your PC

To back up your PC, you could use:

– An external hard drive e.g. WD MyBook Duo, Toshiba’s Canvio, LaCie Porsche Design (good for Macbooks). Many other options are, of course, available. If you have Mac, make sure your chosen external hard drive is Mac compatible.

– A cloud-based backup service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Box. These have large amounts of free storage plus, for a relatively small fee you can buy more storage space if needed. For example, Box gives you 10GB of file storage for free, Google Drive gives you 15GB of storage for free, OneDrive gives you 5GB of free storage space, and Apple iCloud gives you 5GB free.

Transfer Files To A New Computer

If you have already purchased a new computer, you may wish to transfer the files from the old straight to the new, although having an updated cloud backup of your work and critical files is good practice anyway.

Sign Out Of Online Accounts

With everything backed up safely, the next step is to make sure that you know login details for (and have signed out of) any online accounts on the old computer. For example, these services/apps could include Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Wipe The Hard Drive

The next step is to wipe all traces of your data and activity from the hard drive. For those who are planning to wipe the hard drive of a computer that belongs to your employer/the company you work for you will need to first check what the company’s recommended policy or procedure is for doing so, and to check that your actions will be compliant with data protection laws e.g. GDPR.

Wiping the hard drive can involve a number of steps and options, including:

– Delete or overwrite files using software that meets guidelines for secure deletion e.g. File Shredder, Eraser or WipeFile. If you have an older Mac with a hard drive try Secure Empty (Trash option Finder > Secure Empty Trash) but for OS 10.11 and higher and Windows PCs with SSD drives, the drive will need to be encrypted. Although this type of software provides a relatively easy and simple solution, it may take some time to overwrite multiple times.

– Drive Encryption. For PCs, this can be found in Settings > About and Drive Encryption or Bitlocker Settings. For Macs, this can be done via System Preferences > Security & Privacy.

– Deauthorise the computer with relevant accounts. For example, some SaaS accounts (Microsoft 365) and entertainment accounts such as iTunes only allow you to use a certain number of authorised, named devices. If you are getting rid of your device you will need to de-authorise this device with those accounts, thereby enabling you to authorise another device/a new for use in its place with those accounts.

– Delete browser data. Since browsers save information about your browsing history and can store usernames, passwords, and other sensitive personal data, the next step is to delete your browser history, and to make sure that you are signed out of your browsers. For example, to clear your history in Microsoft Edge, go to the three dots (top right) open the browser menu and go to Settings > Privacy & security and select “choose what to clear”, making sure that all checkboxes are selected so everything gets removed. The same will need to be done for all other browsers e.g. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

– Uninstall programs. Some programs contain personal data and, therefore, need to be uninstalled.

– Macs (macOS) restart, coupled with Option+Command+R. The process for of wiping the hard drive for Macs is to erase and reinstall the operating system. To do this, go to Apple menu > Restart and, just as it reboots, hold down Option+Command+R until the spinning globe appears. Then, release the keys, choose Reinstall macOS, choose Continue, and follow the instructions.

– Windows PC reset. For a Windows PC, go to Settings (app), click on Update & Security, click on Recovery, choose Get started under the Reset this PC option, and remove all personal files during the process.

– Chromebook factory reset. To wipe your Chromebook, sign in to the Chromebook with the owner account, from the taskbar, click on Settings > Advanced > Powerwash > Restart. When the Chromebook restarts, select Powerwash and click on Continue.

Destroy The Hard Drive

Before recycling a computer, some experts recommend destroying the hard drive in order to be absolutely sure that any sensitive data stored on it cannot be recovered. This can be achieved by removing the hard drive and e.g. hitting it with a hammer or drilling holes in it.

To remove the hard drive, disconnect the PC from its power source, open the casing and locate the hard drive, which generally connected to a SATA data and power cable (or to a flat, wide IDE cable in much older computers), and remove the hard drive from its housing by undoing the screws.

If the device is on the premises of your business at the time, you will need to ensure that care is taken in order to comply with health and safety regulations if trying to physically destroy the hard drive.

Laptop

As with a PC, make sure all important files are backed up, accounts are signed-out of, de-authorisation is completed, and browser data is removed. With laptops, use software to erase the data e.g. File Shredder or Eraser, and remove the hard drive, while taking care to avoid and damage to the inside of the laptop. There are many online guides and videos to help with the removal of laptop hard drives.

Tablet

After backing up your important files and data, the best method for preparing to dispose of a tablet in a way that maintains data security is to use a full factory reset. To do this, tap the app drawer and find the Settings icon, select Backup and reset (left-hand side), uncheck the Back up my data and Automatic restore checkboxes (right-hand side), select the Factory Reset option and follow the instructions. As a ‘belt and braces’ option, select the app drawer, select Settings, select Storage (left-hand side), select Miscellaneous files (right-hand side), select the checkboxes for folders and select dustbin.

Phones

Our phones contain vast amounts of personal data and potentially sensitive company data. It is, therefore, extremely important to dispose of them in a way that does not compromise the security and privacy of yourself, your business/your employer, or any stakeholders and contacts.

Back-Up

Firstly, ensure that you have backed up your phone contacts. After backing up your important data the process is:

For Android

Most up-to-date android phones have a microSD card where the phone’s data is stored. Remove the back of the phone, remove the battery, and remove the microSD card. This can be used in your replacement phone. You will also need to remove your SIM card.

If you need to wipe a microSD card, you can attach it to a laptop (with a USB cable), open ‘My Computer’, locate the microSD card, select all files stored on it and click delete.

For iPhones

An iPhone has an in-built way to return it to its factory default settings, thereby removing your personal data. To do this, go to General, Settings, Reset, and Erase All Content and Settings. This will require you to enter your username and password, and you will be given the chance to update your iCloud backup before you go ahead with the erasing as part of this process.

Data Wiping Company/Charity

Another option is to simply use a trusted third-party data wiping company or charity to professionally clean all data from your devices, hard drives, network routers, switches, and servers. Examples include WeeeCharity, PC4 Recycling, Secure IT Services and Medecon although there are many other similar services.  Your IT Support Company may also be able to provide these services or recommend a company in your area. Contact your IT Support Company for details.

Afterwards

After you have wiped your device, and depending on whether the device belongs to you or the business/organisation/your employer, your options may be:

– Recycle the device. Many recycling centres, for example, take old PCs.

– Sell the device. You could choose to sell the device privately online e.g. eBay, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace, or to a private company that buys devices e.g. Mazuma, Music Magpie, WeBuyAnyPhone or others.

– Donate your device to a charity e.g. Computer Aid International, Turing Trust or IT For Charities.

– Donate your device to a local school, centre, or Freecycle network.

In any case, if the hard drive has been removed, you will need to inform the person, or organisation that you are selling or donating the device to.

N.B. You may wish to consult your IT support company first as they may be able to provide data wiping and IT equipment recycling services or put you in touch with a good service near you.

Important

It is surprising how much personal and sensitive data we store on our devices, so following proven procedures to make sure personal and company data is removed from devices before selling them, recycling them or donating them is a very important consideration for businesses and individuals. As person’s and businesses circumstances are different, please get in touch before disposing of any IT equipment for a detailed and appropriate course of action, specific to your requirements.

Laptops For Online Lessons at Home

Posted on by Andy Miller

Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has announced that the UK’s Department for Education will be providing disadvantaged children across England with a supply of laptops and tablets to help them study at home during the coronavirus outbreak.

Those In The Most Vital Stages of Education

The government says that the devices are intended for children in the most vital stages of their education (15-year-olds), for those who receive support from a social worker, and for care leavers.

Mr Williamson says “By providing young people with these laptops and tablets and enabling schools to access high-quality support, we will enable all children to continue learning now and in the years to come. We hope this support will take some of the pressure off both parents and schools by providing more materials for them to use.”

Also 4G Routers

The government has also announced that it will be providing 4G routers to disadvantaged secondary school pupils and care leavers where their families do not already have mobile or broadband internet in the household.

Oak National Academy Too

The UK government has also announced that it will be backing the funding of the Oak National Academy, a new enterprise created by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools across England. The new online Academy will be providing 180 video lessons each week, across a range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.

Other Tech Resources and Online Lessons

At the end of March, the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) announced that it would be spending £2 million on 9,000 Chromebook laptops to help pupils in receipt of free school meals or with an education health and care plan (EHCP) to access its programme of digital learning.

Also, the BBC has announced that it will be launching a range of educational resources online and on TV.

UK non-profit ‘Brilliant Club’, which works with 800 schools and colleges across the UK to increase the number of pupils from underrepresented backgrounds progressing to highly selective universities, has also released a series of online resources, free of charge, which are suitable for pupils aged 10-18.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Education directly benefits business and the economy so, at a time when it is unclear when children will be able to return to school, having the resources, help, funding and infrastructure to enable online, remote learning is important for the future of young people and for the UK.  It should be recognised, however, that challenges such as wealth gaps in education and exclusions like a lack of devices, the affordability of internet contracts and how a young person’s broadband status could affect their ability to keep up with learning do exist.  It is, therefore, good news that the government has recognised this and is providing some practical help at a time that is particularly important in educational terms.

Google Blocks 18 Million Coronavirus Scam Emails Per Day

Posted on by Andy Miller

Google is reported to have been blocking 100 million phishing emails per day and 18 million email scams relating specifically to coronavirus.

Millions of Scams and Spam Messages Daily

On its Cloud blog on 16th April, Google reported that Gmail blocks more than 100 million phishing emails each day and over the previous week, it had blocked 8 million daily malware and phishing emails related to COVID-19. Google reports that this was in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related daily spam messages.

Types of Scams

Google reports that the types of scam and phishing emails that it had seen and blocked have been using fear and financial incentives to create urgency in order to prompt users to respond. Examples include:

– Impersonating authoritative government organisations e.g. the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to solicit fraudulent donations or distribute malware. In order to achieve this, scammers were reported to be using downloadable files that can install backdoors.

– Phishing attempts targeted at employees operating in a work-from-home setting asking them to complete a form needed for payroll.

– Phishing attempts, imitating government institutions and targeted at small businesses asking them to click on links related to receiving government stimulus packages.

Proactive Monitoring

Google reports that it has put proactive monitoring in place for COVID-19-related malware and phishing across its systems and workflows and that when threats are identified, they are added to its Safe Browsing API to protect users in Chrome, Gmail, and other integrated Google products.

Not New

As Google acknowledges, many of the current threats are not new but are existing malware campaigns that have just been updated to exploit the heightened attention on COVID-19. Last month, for example, reports of phishing emails included:

– An email purporting (as reported by Proofpoint) to be from a doctor offering details of a vaccine cure that’s been kept secret by the Chinese and UK governments.  Clicking on the link promises access to the vaccine cure details.

– Workplace policy emails that target employees in a specific company/organisation and encourage them to click on a link that will take them to their company’s Disease Management Policy.  Clicking on the link will, in fact, download malicious software that can provide a way into the company network.

– As reported by Mimecast, using the promise of a tax refund for coronavirus, directing the target to click on a link to input all their financial and tax information and with the lure of gaining access to (bogus) funds.

– Asking for donations for a fake campaign to fund the fast development of a COVID-19 vaccine.  In this scam, the victim is directed to a bitcoin payment page.

– An email purporting (again, as reported by Proofpoint) to be from the World Health Organization (WHO) that offers a fake document with information about preventing the spread of coronavirus, where clicking on the link actually leads to the downloading of keylogging software (criminals can track your keystrokes to uncover passwords).

– Emails that exploit feelings of panic, such as an email that claims that COVID-19 has become airborne and asks the target to click on a link to a fake Microsoft login page.

Protecting Yourself Against Phishing Attacks

You can protect yourself and your business from phishing emails and others scams by doing the following:

– Keeping your anti-virus software up to date as well as your patching and other software updates e.g. your OS updates.

– Making sure that all staff and employees are given training and/or are made aware of phishing email threats and that they know the procedure for dealing with emails that appear to be suspicious and/or relate to releasing funds/payments, even if they appear to be from someone in the same company.

– Being on the lookout for online requests for personal and financial information e.g. from government agencies, are very unlikely to be sent by email from legitimate sources.

– Looking out for emails with generic greetings, mistakes in spelling and grammar, and/or heavy emotional appeals that urge you to act immediately, as these are all signs of scam and phishing emails.

– Checking the email address by hovering your mouse (without clicking) over the link in the email. This can quickly reveal if the email is genuine.

Google also recommends that its users could benefit from completing a Google ‘Security Check-up’, and that is G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education users choose to enable Google’s security sandbox.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent need for businesses and organisations to have their employees work from home, cybercriminals have seen the whole situation as a big opportunity to exploit the uncertainty, heightened emotions, and physical division of workforces.

Now more than ever, therefore, we should all exercise caution when we receive emails from unknown or unusual sources and remember that government agencies and financial institutions don’t send out emails asking for personal and financial information and that any requests for funds or other even slightly unusual requests that appear to come from within the company need to be checked for authenticity.

Companies need to alert employees, many of whom may soon be working from home (if not already) and may have a reduced ability to quickly ask the boss or manager about certain emails, to the threat of phishing emails with a COVID-19 theme and to the threat of social engineering attacks that could take advantage of a physically divided and reduced workforce.

Amazon Can Own Deliveroo Because of Pandemic

Posted on by Andy Miller

After the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) worries last May, the CMA has now announced that Amazon can invest in food distribution company Deliveroo.

Last May

Last May, Amazon was a leading investor in a funding round of $575 million for UK-based food delivery company Deliveroo. At the time (17th May), Deliveroo’s founder and CEO, Will Shu, said of the $575M Series G preferred shares funding from Amazon and existing investors T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Greenoaks, “This new investment will help Deliveroo to grow and to offer customers even more choice, tailored to their personal tastes, offer restaurants greater opportunities to grow and expand their businesses, and to create more flexible, well-paid work for riders.”

Amazon Restaurants

Amazon had previously operated its own ‘Amazon Restaurants’ food delivery service in London, but this was closed in December 2018 following strong competition from Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, among and others. It was also reported that Amazon had previously tried two times to buy Deliveroo outright.

CMA Concerns

The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA), however, had concerns that the investment by Amazon in Deliveroo would be bad for competition and had launched its own investigation. The two main concerns expressed by the CMA were that:

– There were only a small number of companies that acted as the middleman between restaurants and customers and the Amazon/Deliveroo deal could have damaged competition in online restaurant food delivery by discouraging Amazon from re-entering the market in the UK i.e. re-entry by Amazon would have significantly increased competition in online restaurant food delivery in the UK.

– The CMA was concerned that the deal could have damaged competition in the emerging market for online convenience grocery delivery, where the 2 companies already had established market-leading positions.

COVID-19 Change

In the light of what the CMA says has been “a deterioration in Deliveroo’s financial position as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19)”, the CMA has now put aside its original concerns and provisionally cleared Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo. There will, however, be a three-week consultation period and a final decision will not be made until 11th June after all relevant feedback about the investment has been gathered (all submissions will need to be made by Monday 11th May 2020).

The CMA appears to have concluded that only Amazon would be able to provide the kind of funding that Deliveroo needs to meet its financial commitments in the extraordinary global circumstances caused by the pandemic.

Stuart McIntosh, Chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group, said of that “some customers are cut off from online food delivery altogether, with others facing higher prices or a reduction in service quality. Faced with that stark outcome, we feel the best course of action is to provisionally clear Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo.”

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For Deliveroo this is, of course, a great outcome at a crucial moment. The outcome also shows how the pandemic has had a dramatic effect on all aspects of business, including the decisions made regulators against a changed backdrop. The decision may also, as the CMA pointed out, be good news for customers, particularly those who are more “cut off” from their normal food supplies.

This decision is unlikely to be welcomed, however, by competitors such as Uber and Just Eat who saw-off Amazon’s move into the food delivery market in London last time.

Tech Tip – How To Speed Up Your Internet Connection

Posted on by Andy Miller

With most of us working from home and with a much bigger demand than normal being placed on our broadband connections, here are a few simple ways to try and speed your connection up:

– Move your home router away from other devices e.g. TVs, Bluetooth speakers, baby monitors, cordless phones, and consider placing the router on a table or raised position rather than on the floor.

– Try to stagger the number of family members using the internet at one time.

– Don’t use your microwave while online as this can interfere with your Wi-Fi signal.

– Consider using a homemade DIY ‘parabolic’ antenna e.g. shielding the back of the router in a beer can that’s had the top and bottom cut off, been flattened, and stood up in curved shape. Please note: be incredibly careful to avoid injury if attempting to make this.

– Get a signal booster.

– Set your router to reboot regularly to keep your Wi-Fi speed high.