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Top IT News of the Week (49/2021)

#ITnews

IT news #1: Loop components are coming to Microsoft Teams.

Topic: Microsoft Teams, Virtual Contact Centre

A new era has officially started for Microsoft Teams after announcing new updates that will influence how users collaborate while performing daily tasks. The update features functionality from Microsoft Loop, a workshare platform launched in 2020, designed to assist workers with real-time cooperation via portable components that synchronise across Microsoft 365. These features have now arrived for Microsoft Teams, including a variety of services to streamline workflow whilst minimising the number of apps a user is required to make use of on a daily basis. As part of this update, users can post a data table or list of actions into a Teams channel, where employees can edit and see the live changes, which will also remain up-to-date regardless of location (say, in a PowerPoint or Word document).

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IT news #2: Avast obtains self-sovereign identity company Evernym.

Topic: Avast, Cybersecurity

The cybersecurity company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the self-sovereign digital identity company to enhance its decentralised identity solutions. To keep personal information out of centralised databases, the company enables greater control over their digital footprint. Evernym has already authorised the International Air Transport Association’s travel pass and supports Bonifi’s MemberPass solution to enhance community financial solutions. By using a decentralised or self-sovereign identity model, users gain complete control over their information, meaning they decide the extent of the information being shared and with whom. This eliminates the use of passwords, individual accounts and other types of authentication methods that can be sensitive to cyber threats whilst protecting user data from being monetised by third parties.

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IT news #3: Ubiquiti reveals employee behind data breach.

Topic: Ubiquiti, managed firewall

A cyberattack on technology company Ubiquiti Networks, reported earlier this year, was orchestrated by a former employee. An indictment released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) confirms software engineer Nickolas Sharp took advantage of his authorised Cloud Lead access to Ubiquiti’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) and GitHub servers and stole gigabytes of confidential files to work on to remediate a security breach, which resulted in extorting the company for nearly $2 million for the return of the files and the identification of the remaining purported vulnerability. Pretending to be an anonymous hacker, it is alleged he contacted his employer demanding a ransom of 50 Bitcoin, which was worth close to $2 million at the time of the attack. After the company refused to pay the ransom fee, he released a portion of the stolen data on a publicly known platform not named by the DoJ. He is also believed to pose as a whistleblower to the media, accusing Ubiquiti of downplaying the severity of the breach. He could face up to 37 years in prison.
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IT news #4: Vodafone continues 5G edge supply to Microsoft.

Topic: Vodafone, telecommunications

Vodafone Business has issued a statement about a five-year partnership with Microsoft to provide private 5G, edge computing and Internet of Things (IoT) services for SMEs. The company also confirmed it will sell the Microsoft suite of compute and storage functions, Azure-based IoT applications besides the UK’s telecoms provider’s own enterprise mobility, machine connectivity and IoT telemetry services. As a response, Vodafone stated it will make it a “platform company” and an “SME champion” as the two companies will collaborate with small and medium businesses across Europe and Africa and assist the development of technologies related to 5G-powered multi-access edge computing (MEC) and IoT.

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