Microsoft 365 Copilot is now available for every workplace
Copilot has officially launched for all SMB users. Since there are no user minimums to order, SMBs of all sizes can take their productivity to new levels. What does Microsoft 365 Copilot availability mean for Mear Technology customers?
Users of O365 E3, O365 E5, Business Standard, Business Premium, M365 E3, and M365 E5 are eligible to purchase M365 Copilot as an add-on SKU with an annual upfront agreement (£296.40 GBP* per user, per year + VAT).

Microsoft Copilot is now available
With no user minimums to order, small and medium businesses can start taking advantage of AI.

The following NCE license types are eligible to purchase M365 Copilot with an annual upfront agreement of £296.40 GBP* per user, per year:

• O365 E3
• O365 E5
• Business Standard
• Business Premium
• M365 E3
• M365 E5

No seat minimum and expanded availability of Copilot for Microsoft 365—including small and medium-sized businesses

The post Available: Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 for SMB appeared first on Mear Technology.

Duet 

Introduced in May this year, Duet AI in the Google Cloud is essentially Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Copilot. Duet is a paid-for, “always on” AI assistant and “collaborator” that is embedded within (and works across) all the Workspace apps including Gmail, Drive, Slides, and Docs, linking them together to provide value-adding synergies. 

The Benefits 

Google says Duet offers a “personalised and intent-driven cloud experience” and that, just as Copilot does with Microsoft’s apps, it provides cohesions of the apps and offers users a more holistic picture of the Google Cloud. Also, being able to ask Duet for help with anything related to Google Cloud’s apps on demand saves time and makes Google Cloud more accessible (and personal) to any type of user at any skill level. 

Examples Of What It Can Do 

Some examples of what Duet can do include: 

– Providing recommendations for building and operating apps with Google Cloud (Codey, one of the models that powers Duet AI has been pre-trained with the necessary code). For example, Duet AI for AppSheet lets users create business applications, connect their data, and build workflows into Google Workspace via natural language, all with no coding required and with users simply needing to describe their needs for apps in a chat guided by AI-powered prompts. 

– Giving code recommendations, generating full functions and code blocks, and identifying vulnerabilities and errors in the code, while suggesting fixes. 

– Creating slides for a presentation from Google Docs or make charts from data in spreadsheets. 

– Writing email responses (Duet is embedded in Gmail), summarising documents, checking grammar, and generating images, e.g. custom visuals in Slides. 

– Summarising long threads in Chat, providing automated meeting summaries in Meet, and allowing users to easily alter sound and visuals in Meet with studio look, studio lighting, and studio sound. Duet can also provide dynamic tiles (a named tile) and face detection for Meet attendees. 

– Giving real-time chat assistance on various topics, e.g. how to use certain cloud services or functions, and giving detailed implementation plans for cloud projects. 

When? 

From May it’s only been available to a limited number of Google Cloud users with others being invited to sign-up via Google Cloud’s AI Trusted Tester Program. However, Google announced on August 29 that Duet AI for Google Workspace is generally available now as a “no-cost trial”. 

How Much? 

Google says, for larger organisations, Duet is priced at $30 per user (on top of the existing Workspace subscription), the same price as Microsoft’s Copilot. 

Will It Really Work? 

Although Google Workspace has 3 billion users and more than 10 million paying customers, Google says Duet has so far been used by just thousands of companies and “more than a million trusted testers”. This means it’s still early days when you compare it to ChatGPT which was released 9 months before and has around 100 million users and had 1.6 billion visits to its site in June. That said, when Copilot was announced back in March, Microsoft said it was only being tested by 20 customers (although these included 8 within Fortune 500 enterprises).

The point is, however, anyone who’s used generative AI knows it can’t be trusted 100 per cent, and sometimes gets things wrong / makes things up so a reality check, the right prompts, and a good period of widespread use (and, therefore, more training) are needed to improve the outputs of AI work assistants like these. It should, however remembered, that Duet is mainly designed and focused specifically on working with Google Clouds apps so, hopefully, it should be relatively reliable.  

Plans For More 

As with Copilot, Google says there’s plans to expand the capabilities of Duet with Google’s Workspace. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Google’s keen to points out that Duet enables users to “get back to the best parts of their jobs, to the parts that rely on human creativity, ingenuity, and expertise” by simplifying and speeding up the parts that would have taken time trawling through data and manually summarising and putting reports, visuals, and other things together.

Like Copilot, some of the main advantages of Duet are that it allows business users to get more value from the synergies of making more holistic use of many Google apps, i.e. it provides an instant, on-demand, flexible, and effective way to get much more out the most popular apps.

As with Microsoft’s Copilot, businesses using Google’s Duet can save time, be more creative with IT, boost productivity, upskill staff in IT (without spending on training), and get greater and perhaps new insights into their own business and operations.

All this, however, comes at the price of $30 per user which (as with Copilot which is the same price) has been criticised by some for being quite expensive. Since we’re still at the very early stages of businesses trying and using Copilot and now Duet, plus with businesses wanting to protect the source of any competitive advantages, it’s not easy to find any clear information of how much of a boost to productivity and profits either are, so making the decision to take the plunge may be based more on price which (at the moment) may not be particularly attractive. That said, Duet does offer some tempting capabilities and potential benefits to businesses.

The post Featured Article : Google’s Answer To Copilot appeared first on Mear Technology.

What Are Deepfake Videos? 

Deepfake videos are a kind of synthetic media created using deep learning and artificial intelligence techniques. Making a deepfake video involves manipulating or superimposing existing images, videos, or audio onto other people or objects to create highly realistic (but typically fake) content. The term “deepfake” comes from the combination of “deep learning” and “fake.” 

Why Make Deepfake Videos? 

People create deepfake videos for various reasons, driven by both benign and malicious intentions. Here are some of the main motivations behind the creation of deepfake videos: 

– Entertainment and art. Deepfakes can be used as a form of artistic expression or for entertainment purposes. AI may be used, for example, to create humorous videos, mimic famous movie scenes with different actors, or explore creative possibilities. 

– Special effects and visual media. In the film and visual effects industry, deepfake technology is often used to achieve realistic visual effects, such as de-aging actors or bringing deceased actors back to the screen (a contentious point at the moment, give the actors strike over AI fears). That said, some sportspeople, actors and celebrities have embraced the technology and are allowing their deepfake identities to be used by companies. Examples include Lionel Messi by Lay’s crisps and Singapore celebrity Jamie Yeo agreeing a deal with financial technology firm Hugosave. 

– Education and research. Deepfakes can be used for research and educational purposes, helping researchers, academics, and institutions study and understand the capabilities and limitations of AI technology. 

– Memes and internet culture. In recent times, deepfakes have become part of internet culture and meme communities, where users create and share entertaining or humorous content featuring manipulated faces and voices. 

– Face swapping and avatar creation. Some people use deepfakes to swap faces in videos, such as putting their face on a character in a movie or video game or creating avatars for online platforms. 

– Satire and social commentary. Deepfake videos are also made to satirise public figures or politicians, creating humorous or critical content to comment on current events and societal issues. 

– Privacy and anonymity. In some cases, people may use deepfakes to protect their privacy or identity by concealing their face and voice in videos. 

– Spreading misinformation and disinformation. Unfortunately, deepfake technology has been misused to spread misinformation, fake news, and malicious content. Deepfakes can be used to create convincing videos of individuals saying or doing things they never did, including political figures, leading to potential harm, defamation, and the spread of falsehoods. 

– Fraud and scams. This is a very worrying area as criminals can now use deepfakes for fraudulent activities, e.g. impersonating someone in video calls to deceive or extort others. For example, deepfake testing company Deepware says: ”We expect destructive use of deepfakes, particularly as phishing attacks, to materialise very soon”. 

What Are Deepfake Testers? 

With AI deepfakes becoming more convincing and easier to produce thanks to rapidly advancing AI developments and many good AI video, image, and voice services widely available online (many for free), tools that can quickly detect deepfakes have become important. In short, deepfake testers are online tools that can be used to scan any suspicious video to discover if it’s synthetically manipulated. In the case of deepfakes made to spread misinformation and disinformation or for fraud and scams, these can be particularly valuable tools. 

How Do They Work? 

For the user, deepfake testers typically involve copying and pasting the URL of a suspected deepfake into the online deepfake testing tool and hitting the ‘scan’ button to get a quick opinion about whether it’s likely to be a deepfake video. 

Behind the scenes there a number of technologies used by deepfake testers, such as: 

– Photoplethysmography (PPG), for detecting changes in blood flow, because deepfake faces don’t give out these signals. This type of detection is more difficult if the deepfake video is pixelated. 

– Eye movement analysis. This is because deepfake eyes tend to be divergent, i.e. they don’t look at a central point like real human eyes do. 

– Lip Sync Analysis can help highlight a lack of audio and visual synchronisation, something which is a feature of deepfakes. 

– Facial landmark detection and tracking algorithms to assess whether the facial movements and expressions align realistically with the audio and overall context of the video. 

– Testing for visual irregularities, e.g. unnatural facial movements, inconsistent lighting, or strange artifacts around the face. 

Examples 

Some examples of deepfake testers include: 

DeepwareAI 

This is only for detecting AI-generated face manipulations and can be used via the  website, API key, or in an offline environment via SDK. There is also an Android app. There is a maximum limit of 10 minutes for each video. 

Intel’s FakeCatcher

With a reported 96 accuracy rate, Intel’s deepfake detection platform, introduced last year, was billed as “the world’s first real-time deepfake detector that returns results in milliseconds.” Using Intel hardware and software, it runs on a server and interfaces through a web-based platform.  

Microsoft’s Video Authenticator Tool 

Announced 3 years ago, this deepfake detecting tool uses advanced AI algorithms to detect signs of manipulation in media and provides users with a real-time confidence score. This tool was created using a public dataset from Face Forensic++ and was tested on the DeepFake Detection Challenge Dataset, both of which are key models for training and testing deepfake detection technologies. 

Sentinel

This AI-based protection platform is used by governments, defence agencies, and enterprises. Users upload their digital media through the website or API, whereupon Sentinel uses advanced AI algorithms to automatically analyse the media. Users are given a a detailed report of its findings. 

DeepFake-O-Meter

This is an open platform allowing users to upload a video (.wav video, maximum size is 50MB), input their email address, and get an assessment of whether a video is fake. 

DuckDuckGoose DeepDetector Software 

This is fully automatised deepfake detection software for videos and images which uses explainable output powered by AI to help users understand how the detection was made. It detects deepfake videos and images in real-time and provides explainable outputs 

WeVerify

This project aims to develop intelligent human-in-the-loop content verification and disinformation analysis methods and tools whereby social media and web content is analysed and contextualised within the broader online ecosystem. The project offers, for example, a chatbot to guide users through the verification process, an open-source browser plugin, and other open source AI tools, as well as proprietary tools owned by the consortium partners. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Deepfake videos can be fun and satirical, however there are real concerns that with AI advancements, deepfake videos are being made for spreading misinformation and disinformation. Furthermore, fraud and scam deepfakes can be incredibly convincing and, therefore dangerous.

Political interference such as spreading videos of world leaders and politicians saying things they didn’t say, plus using videos to impersonate someone to deceive or extort are now very real problems. With it being so difficult to tell for sure just by watching a video whether it’s fake or not, these deepfake testing tools can have a real value both as a safety measure for businesses, or for anyone who needs a fast way to check out their suspicions.

Deepfake testers, therefore, can contribute to cybercrime prevention and countering of fake news. The issue of deepfakes as a threat is only going to grow, so the hope is that as deepfake videos become ever-more sophisticated, the detection tools are able to keep up in their ability to be able to tell with certainty whether a video is fake.

The post Tech Insight : What Are ‘Deepfake Testers’? appeared first on Mear Technology.

What Is Reddit? 

Reddit is a social media platform where users can join communities called ‘subreddits’ to share content, participate in discussions, and interact with others. These subreddits each focus on a specific topic of interest.  

Reddit users, also known as ‘Redditors’ create an account, subscribe to subreddits, and contribute by submitting posts or commenting on existing ones. The platform uses a voting system where users can upvote or downvote content, influencing its visibility.  

Subreddits are moderated by volunteers who enforce rules and guidelines, plus Reddit also features a ‘karma’ system that reflects user engagement.  Overall, Reddit is a diverse and interactive platform for sharing and discovering content with a vast user community. 

Who Are The ‘Mods’, And What Do They Do? 
 
The volunteer Subreddit moderators (also known as ‘mods’) oversee and maintain specific communities within Reddit by enforcing the subreddit’s rules and guidelines, monitor user activity, review, and approve posts and comments, remove spam or inappropriate content, and respond to user reports. They may also engage in discussions, facilitate AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions, organise events, and promote community growth. Reddit is, therefore, heavily reliant upon moderators, who tend to spend one or two hours per day on their moderating activities. 

What Happened To Cause The Blackout? 

Recently, Reddit introduced a series of charges to the third-party developers who want to continue using its Application Programming Interface (API) to access its data, i.e. the code which allows third-party apps to find and show the content on Reddit. For example, ‘Apollo’, ‘Reddit is Fun’, ‘Sync’ and ‘ReddPlanet’ are four third-party apps which were set up to enable users to access Reddit on their mobile devices. However, because of the new API charges, all four have said they will be shutting down. 

Many subreddit monitors (some with large numbers of users in the subreddits) protested about the effect the move would have on them, supported the third-party app owners, and tried to put pressure on Reddit to reverse its new API charging decision by imposing a blackout, known as “going dark”. For most users, this involves making their communities private for 48 hours from June 12 , although some threatened to go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed. Making a subreddit private means that its content and discussions are no longer accessible to the general Reddit userbase. 

Key reasons why the moderators are protesting include the fact that apps leaving the API mean that the platform will be less accessible, plus voluntary moderators will have fewer quality tools to work with through the official app, thereby making their job more difficult and making it nearly impossible (some argue) for them to maintain their levels of service to users. 

How Will “Going Dark” Hurt Reddit? 

“Going Dark” for a substantial period of time is likely to cause a noticeable decrease in the Reddit platform user engagement and activity since private subreddits limit content accessibility, which means less time spent on Reddit and potentially impacting metrics like page views and user interactions. 

If there were more (longer) blackouts following this one, advertisers might also become concerned because private subreddits limit visibility and reach, potentially affecting the attractiveness of Reddit as an advertising platform. Also, private subreddits becoming widespread could impact the platform’s reputation as an open and inclusive community, deterring new users and affecting the overall user experience. Reddit’s business model relies on advertising revenue and premium subscriptions, so if private subreddits significantly impact these revenue streams, Reddit might need to adapt its model or explore new sources of revenue or, as the protesting moderators hope with their protest action, reverse the new policy for charges for third-party apps.  

With five of the ten most popular communities on Reddit (r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned and r/pics), each of which has more than thirty million members, 48 hours of “going dark” is likely to cause some damage, generate some adverse (and potentially damaging) publicity for Reddit, and give Reddit’s owners (Advance Publications Inc) a painful reminder of the importance and power of moderators, and how things could become more challenging if their concerns aren’t addressed. Some moderators, for example, have said they will make their subreddits indefinitely inaccessible until Reddit reverses its policy. 

Unpopular 

Some moderators have been quoted as saying they would not continue to moderate if the ‘unpopular’ changes were pushed through, and their hope is that strength in numbers by acting together will provide enough pressure to change Reddit’s mind about the changes, and make Reddit realise the value and the power of its moderators.  

Extortionate … Or Necessary? 

Some people have suggested that the new charges are extortionate. For example, Apollo’s developer Christian Selig, (who has announced he will shut the app down on June 30) has suggested that the new Reddit charges could cost him £15.9 million if he continues operating the app. 

Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman, has said that the platform “needs to be a self-sustaining business”, indicating that there would some form of increased revenue is needed, such as the new charges. He also said that he respected the communities taking action to highlight what they needed. 

Reddit’s own (multi-million dollar) hosting costs and their need to be compensated according to usage levels to support third-party apps were two of the main reasons highlighted for introducing the charges. 

Reddit Went Down 

The action taken by the 7000+ subreddit moderators is thought to have been the cause of Reddit going down on the first day of the protest, 12 June. It was reported that over two and a half billion Reddit users may have “gone dark” on the platform as part of the protest. 

Declining Anyway? 

Some commentators have suggested that Reddit has been a platform in decline anyway. Also, Reddit recently downsized its (leased) office space and reportedly announced a 5 per cent cut of its staff (90 employees). 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Reddit’s move to get payment from the makers of third-party apps (after seven years of maintaining a free API) has been very poorly received and it has been likened to Musk’s Twitter which also stopped free usage of its API in February (and then backtracked a little). For third-party app developers, the charges are clearly very bad news, which some say will put them out of business and with several saying they will be shutting down.

The protest by moderators has already led to the whole of Reddit going down, has produced damaging publicity, has affected potentially billions of users, and could have a hugely detrimental effect on Reddit’s business if it continues, e.g. loss of advertisers, moderators not maintaining the platform (affecting users and quality), damage to reputation, users leaving, business/premium users cancelling, and more. In short, Reddit’s move to suddenly impose a change to its model and raise more revenue in this way has been met with fierce resistance and has exposed how voluntary moderators (which are a strength of the company’s services) feel undervalued and ignored and how they have enough power (if organised) to seriously put pressure on (and damage) the company. Reddit is currently showing no signs of backing down and it remains to be seen whether the pressure of moderators proves to inflict too much damage and force back-peddling or whether this is the start of major changes to Reddit’s model.

For many users of the platform, including businesses, the site going down and too much ‘going dark’ could see them run out of patience and look at alternatives. 

The post Reddit’s ‘Blackout’ User Protest appeared first on Mear Technology.

Spear Phishing Accounted For Two-Thirds Of All Attacks Last Year 

A recent report from security provider Barracuda has revealed that although spear phishing attacks make up just 0.1 per cent of all email-based attacks in 2023, they were responsible for two-thirds of all breaches. The report showed that a massive 50 per cent of the 1,350 organisations surveyed had fallen victim to a spear-phishing attack in 2022, a quarter had had at least one email account compromised via an account takeover. The report also showed that of those who fell victim to a successful spear phishing attack, 55 per cent had machines infected with malware or viruses, and 49 per cent and 48 per cent respectively had sensitive data or login details stolen. 

What Is Spear Phishing? 

Spear phishing is a targeted form of phishing that aims to deceive individuals or organisations by sending bogus, fraudulent emails or messages. While traditional phishing attempts are more generic and widespread, spear phishing campaigns are highly tailored and personalised to trick specific targets, such as employees of a particular company or members of an organisation. 

Targets Are Researched 

The attackers behind spear phishing typically research their targets extensively to gather information that will make their messages appear legitimate and increase the chances of success. They may gather details from social media profiles, online directories, or leaked data from previous breaches. This information is then used to create highly convincing email messages that appear to be from a trusted source, such as a colleague, a client, or a supervisor. 

Personalised Content To Make Them More Convincing 

Spear phishing emails often contain personalised content, such as the recipient’s name, job title, or other relevant details, which makes them appear more authentic. They may also exploit psychological manipulation techniques to evoke a sense of urgency, curiosity, or fear to compel the target to click on a malicious link or download a malicious attachment. Once the recipient interacts with the malicious content, the attacker may gain unauthorised access to sensitive information, such as login credentials, financial data, or proprietary information. 

The Consequences 

Spear phishing attacks can have severe consequences for individuals and organisations, including data breaches, financial loss, reputational damage, and further exploitation of compromised accounts.  

How To Protect Your Business From Spear Phishing 
 
To protect against spear phishing, it is important to exercise caution when opening emails, verify the legitimacy of unexpected or suspicious requests, and regularly educate and train employees on identifying and reporting phishing attempts. Also, account takeover protection solutions with artificial intelligence capabilities can be effective. 

It is difficult, however, to stop attackers from gathering the information about a business and specific personnel within that business to help them target their attacks. For example, some information may have been gathered from information stolen in previous cyberattacks or data breaches and may have been gathered from social media. Businesses should, where possible, be careful about how much information is shared online about the business and staff members, e.g., ‘meet the team’ or ‘about us’ pages, as this could also be used by attackers. 

A Launching Point For More Advanced Attacks 

Spear Phishing is widely recognised as one of the most successful and commonly used techniques in cybercriminal campaigns and is favoured by attackers because it capitalises on human vulnerabilities/human error, exploits the trust placed in familiar or authoritative sources, and can be easier than trying hack complicated and well-defended systems – cyber criminals always look for the maximum payoff from minimum effort and risk.  

By carefully crafting personalised messages, attackers can significantly increase the chances of success in compromising targets compared to generic phishing attempts. The level of sophistication and customisation in spear phishing attacks makes them harder to detect and raises the probability of successful infiltration. 

Moreover, spear phishing serves as a launching point for more advanced attacks, such as targeted malware infections, social engineering exploits, or business email compromise (BEC) schemes. Once an attacker gains a foothold through spear phishing, they can proceed with their malicious activities, including data exfiltration, network infiltration, or financial fraud. 

Reasons For The New Figures 

The reasons why spear phishing makes up only 0.1 per cent of all email-based attacks but are responsible for two-thirds of all breaches (i.e they have disproportionately higher success rate compared to other types of email-based attacks) are, therefore, that: 

– Spear-phishing attacks are highly targeted and tailored to specific individuals or organisations, and this customisation makes the attacks more convincing, increases the likelihood of victims falling for them and, therefore, increases their effectiveness. 

– These attacks take advantage of human psychology and behavioural traits, such as trust, curiosity, and urgency and, by leveraging these vulnerabilities, attackers can trick individuals into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. 

– Spear Phishing bypasses technical security measures, e.g. firewalls, antivirus software, and spam filters, enabling attackers to circumvent traditional security controls and directly target individuals. 

– While spear-phishing attacks may target a specific individual initially, their success can lead to broader repercussions. For example, compromising one employee’s credentials through a spear-phishing attack could provide the attacker with access to sensitive systems or information, potentially leading to a significant breach affecting an entire organisation. 

Most Ransomware Attacks Target Backups  

The 2023 Ransomware Trends Report from software company Veeam has revealed that 93 per cent of cyber-attacks target backup storage to force the ransom payment because it removes the option of recovery. The report found that these attacks are successful in debilitating their victims’ ability to recover in three-quarters of events and that more than one-third (39 per cent) of backup repositories are completely lost in these backup-targeted attacks. 

Ransomware? 

As the name suggests, ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to encrypt files on a victim’s computer or network, rendering them inaccessible until a ransom is paid to the attacker (usually to a crypto account like bitcoin to avoid detection). It is a form of cyber extortion that aims to extort money from individuals, businesses, or organisations by holding their valuable data hostage. 

Paying The Ransom? 

It is widely known that paying the ransom often doesn’t work and even if the ransom is paid, data can still be destroyed and/or, the attackers don’t provide the decryption key and simply make off with the money.  

That said, according to the Veeam report, for the second year in a row, most of the organisations surveyed (80 per cent) said they had paid the ransom to end an attack and recover data, despite 41 per cent of organisations actually having a “Do-Not-Pay” policy on ransomware. Still, while 59 per cent paid the ransom and were able to recover data, 21 per cent paid the ransom yet still didn’t get their data back from the cyber criminals. Additionally, only 16 per cent of organisations avoided paying ransom because they were able to recover from backups. Sadly, the global statistic of organisations able to recover data themselves without paying ransom is down from 19 per cent in last year’s survey. 

Protecting Your Business Against Ransomware Attacks 

Typically, preventing ransomware attacks involves a combination of proactive measures such as regularly updating software and systems, implementing robust security practices, training employees on recognising and avoiding suspicious emails or websites, maintaining secure backups of important data, and deploying reliable antivirus and anti-malware solutions. 

Veeam notes in its comments about the report’s findings that while best practices like securing backup credentials, automating cyber detection scans of backups, and auto verifying that backups are restorable can help protect against attacks, “the key tactic is to ensure that the backup repositories cannot be deleted or corrupted. To do so, organisations must focus on immutability.”  

Immutability 

Veeam reports that those who have fallen victim to ransomware have learned lessons and 82 per cent use immutable clouds, i.e. a cloud computing environment where the data stored within the cloud infrastructure is maintained in an immutable or unchangeable state. Also, 64 per cent now use immutable disks, and only 2 per cent of organisations don’t have immutability in at least one tier of their backup solution. 

Being Careful About Re-Infection During Recovery 

In Veeam’s study, respondents were asked how they ensure that data is ‘clean’ during restoration. 44 per cent of respondents said they complete some form of “isolated-staging” to re-scan data from backup repositories prior to reintroduction into the production environment. Whilst this is positive news, the flip side of this statistic is that more than half (56 per cent) organisations risk re-infecting the production environment by not having a means to ensure clean data during recovery. The point is, therefore, that it’s important to thoroughly scan data during the recovery process. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The obvious effectiveness of spear phishing attacks and the fact that most ransomware attacks are now targeting backups presents significant challenges for businesses, requiring proactive measures to protect themselves. 

As highlighted by Barracuda’ report, spear phishing attacks have proven to be highly successful, accounting for two-thirds of all breaches despite constituting a small percentage of email-based attacks. The targeted and personalised nature of spear phishing makes it difficult to detect, as attackers extensively research their targets to create convincing messages. To protect against spear phishing, businesses should, therefore, exercise caution when opening emails, verify the legitimacy of requests, and provide regular training to employees on identifying and reporting phishing attempts. Account takeover protection solutions with artificial intelligence capabilities can also be effective. 

As highlighted by Veeam’s report, ransomware attacks, on the other hand, have increasingly targeted backup storage, rendering organisations unable to recover their data even if they pay the ransom. While some organisations have paid the ransom and recovered their data, many have not been as fortunate. For businesses, the key to protecting against ransomware attacks lies in proactive measures such as regularly updating software, implementing robust security practices, training employees, maintaining secure backups, and deploying reliable antivirus and anti-malware solutions. Additionally, businesses should focus on immutability, ensuring that backup repositories cannot be deleted or corrupted. 

To combat the risks associated with spear phishing and ransomware attacks, businesses should favour a multi-layered approach to security. This includes investing in employee education and training, implementing strong technical security measures, and regularly evaluating and updating security protocols. Businesses can also help protect themselves by staying informed about emerging threats and best practices in cybersecurity to enable them to adapt their defences accordingly. 

The post New Reports Reveal Two Key Cyber Security Insights appeared first on Mear Technology.

• On-premises Exchange to Microsoft 365
• POP3/IMAP/SMTP to Microsoft 365
• Google Suite to Microsoft 365
• Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 (Separate out or merge Microsoft 365 tenancies after takeovers. mergers, or splitting of companies)
• Legacy Small Business Servers

Mear Technology help customers migrate to office 365 reducing the challenges and delivering solutions to organisations that have grown up in other environments. Are Technical team will be on hand to assist with the progress. One part of the migration is moving the business emails.

The following article is used to demonstrate the user embarking on the journey of moving to Microsoft 365 with Mear Technology. Mear Technology typically deploys the Migration software as part of our service.

Users only need to enter their primary email address, then click “Submit“

Now the setup will progress through a series of screens (it does not take long!)

The final screen confirms the user is set up and ready for the cutover date. The agent will remain running in the background until the cutover date is reached. Mear Technology will be able to see if the device has registered correctly.

When the cutover date arrives

Ensure staff leave their devices online and logged in (screens can be locked). The assistant will start up and do a scan to ensure that auto-discover issues have been addressed prior to beginning the switchover.

The assistant will then prompt the user they can proceed at a time suitable for them. This will automatically appear when it is ready to reconfigure Outlook.

Users, should close Outlook and then click “Set Up Outlook”. The Assistant will then create a new profile, set it as default and configure it to Office 365.
Important the original profile is untouched and it could be reverted at any time!

Once this is completed the user will be prompted to reopen Outlook. At this point they may need to authenticate but once this is done they can continue to work.

The assistant will then work away in the background migrating any settings from the old mailbox to the new profile. The user can carry on working while this is happening. The length of this process will vary depending on how much data is in outlook, the speed of the machine, and the internet connection.

Once this is all completed the user will see this. At this stage, the assistant has completed.

The post Migrating to Microsoft Office 365 user experience appeared first on Mear Technology.

What Is It? 

According to the Cornell University researchers behind the system, Shap-E is “a conditional generative model for 3D assets” which, unlike other 3D generative models “generates the parameters of implicit functions that can be rendered as both textured meshes and neural radiance fields” rather than producing a single output representation. In short, Shap-E is a big step forward in simplifying the generation of 3D models that can generate “complex and diverse 3D assets” in seconds (when trained on a large dataset of paired 3D and text data). 

Trained In Two Stages 

OpenAI says that Shap-E works so well (and better than the previous Point-E models) because it is trained in two stages: first, the encoder that deterministically maps 3D assets into the parameters of an implicit function is trained and second, we train a conditional diffusion model on outputs of the encoder.  

Faster & Better 

When compared to Point-E, which is an explicit generative model over point clouds, the new Shap-E converges faster and reaches comparable or better sample quality despite modelling a higher-dimensional, multi-representation output space.  

Examples 

Examples of the text-conditional models created by Shap-E and the simple prompts used to create them can be seen at the foot of this page. For example, the first model was created simply by using the text prompt “a chair that looks like an avocado.” 

Where & How? 

Shap-E can be downloaded free here https://github.com/openai/shap-e/ and accessed on Microsoft Paint 3D.   

Challenge 

Even though Shap-E simplifies 3D model making, some tech commentators have reported that getting the new model installed and running can be complicated and take some time, and that a lot of system resources are required to use it. 

3D Printing 

There are also developments in the 3D printing world, e.g., with advanced models like the Chinese Artillery 3D Sidewinder. Today’s advanced, large 3D printers are moving more into the production technology stage from one-off manufacturing and prototyping, and additive manufacturing (constructing a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model) could soon be fed by models created by AI models that use text or even speech to create items. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The Shap-E represents a big step forward in speeding up and simplifying the making of 3D models and making it more accessible to all kinds of businesses. Being able to quickly visualise a concept or idea and chop and change it with just words, and to create a model that can be used to make a 3D printed item is used in many industries and fields for making prototypes, components, end products, reconstructed fossils, or artefacts (and much more) could deliver huge benefits to many businesses. Although Shap-E, as shown by the example models, is still at an early (but still impressive) stage, linking things like AI text (or speech) model generators to 3D printers could dramatically speed up, cut costs, and simplify areas of manufacturing that would have proved much more challenging before.

For the moment, having a free 3D model generator for general usage that works on simple text inputs makes 3D modelling more accessible to any business and will help with creativity and conceptualising, and we have yet to see its true value and range. Reports indicate that it may be a little challenging to install but as it’s from OpenAI it comes with a good pedigree and once up and working, it may prove a useful tool for many businesses, as well as being fun!

The post Tech Insight: New AI That Generates 3-D Models From Text appeared first on Mear Technology.

What Is A Foundation Model (FM)? 

A foundation model is an “ultra-large” machine learning model that generative AI uses. FMs, which are machine learning (ML) models, are pre-trained on vast amounts of data and power generative AI. The term generative AI refers to a type of AI that can create new content and ideas, including conversations, stories, images, videos, and music. ChatGTP, for example, is currently the most well-known generative AI chatbot. 

Bedrock 

Bedrock is essentially an AI app-building toolkit that’s available to Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers. AWS is the biggest cloud provider in the world and with Bedrock, customers can choose from a range of FMs such as AI21’s Jurassic-2, Anthropic’s Claude, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, and Amazon Titan. Using Bedrock (accessible via an API), AWS customers can customise and fine tune a model to perform a specific task without having to annotate large volumes of data. 

Easily Find And Customise The Right Model For Your Own Purposes 

Amazon says that with Bedrock’s serverless experience, customers can “easily find the right model for what they’re trying to get done, get started quickly, privately customise FMs with their own data, and easily integrate and deploy them into their applications using the AWS tools and capabilities they are familiar with (including integrations with Amazon SageMaker ML features like Experiments to test different models and Pipelines to manage their FMs at scale) without having to manage any infrastructure.” 

Example 

One example (from AWS) of how customers could use Bedrock is a content marketing manager working for a fashion retailer, needing to develop fresh, targeted ad and campaign copy for an upcoming new line of handbags. AWS says the marketing manager could provide Bedrock a few labelled examples of their best performing taglines from past campaigns, plus the associated product descriptions, then Bedrock could automatically start generating effective social media, display ad, and web copy for the new handbags. However, Amazon is quick to point out that Bedrock would also not include any of the customer’s data to train the underlying models, and with all data being encrypted and not actually leaving a customer’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), AWS says customers can trust that their data will remain private and confidential. 

The Advantages of Bedrock 

The advantages of Bedrock are: 

– It’s relatively straightforward and easy to use and customers can take the base FM and build differentiated apps using their own data (a little data or a lot) just by using a few prompts. 

– Customers can access high-performing FMs that give good results and are best-suited for their purposes. 

– Bedrock enables a seamless move into applications, without having to manage huge clusters of infrastructure or incur large costs.  

– Bedrock allows customisation but keeps the customer’s data secure, and private. 

– It’s a scalable and reliable service that uses AWS managed service (the biggest cloud service). 

– Bedrock makes the power of FMs accessible to companies of all sizes, thereby allowing them to accelerate the use of ML and get the value from ML across their organisations and make it easy to build their own generative AI applications. Amazon says it thinks “Bedrock will be a massive step forward in democratising FMs.” 

Also Announced 

As well as announcing the introduction of Bedrock, Amazon has also announced: 

– The general availability of Amazon EC2 Trn1n instances powered by AWS Trainium and Amazon EC2 Inf2 instances powered by AWS Inferentia2, which it describes as “the most cost-effective cloud infrastructure for generative AI”. 

– The general availability of Amazon CodeWhisperer, free for individual developers. Amazon CodeWhisperer is an AI coding companion that uses a FM to improve developer productivity by generating code suggestions in real-time based on developers’ comments in natural language and prior code in their Integrated Development Environment (IDE). 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Amazon says AI and ML have been a focus for over 20 years and that many of the capabilities customers use with Amazon are already driven by ML, however Bedrock provides a way for Amazon to compete in a rapidly growing and competitive generative AI (chatbot) market. With Bedrock, Amazon joins ChatGPT (OpenAI), Bard (Google), Copilot (Microsoft), Tongyi Oiawen (Alibaba), and others who are offering businesses the chance to create more value, save costs and time by leveraging the considerable power of AI. Amazon’s AWS is already the biggest cloud service so AWS can take advantage of this to introduce Bedrock to its many business customers, adding value for them and a helping to retain them. For businesses and developers who are AWS customers, Bedrock provides an easy, low-cost way to access and use powerful FMs to create specific, customised tools that can add value to their businesses and for their customers.

The post Tech News : Amazon Launches AI App-Building Platform appeared first on Mear Technology.

Recent Examples 

The emergence of AI has led to an increasing output of highly convincing fake images/manipulated images/deepfake images (and deepfake videos). Motivations for making these images vary, e.g. entertainment (fun or visual effects in movies and TV), political propaganda, revenge, or harassment (to harass, embarrass, or intimidate individuals), to commit fraud, or simply for artistic expression. 

Recent examples of fake images that have made the news include: 

– Fake images of Pope Francis wearing what appears to be a $3,500 Balenciaga puffer coat. 

– Fake images, circulated on social media, of former US President Donald Trump being arrested, and an AI-generated image on his own ‘Truth’ social media platform of him kneeling in prayer. 

What Problems Can Fake Images Cause? 

Fake images/manipulated images/deepfake images can cause various problems depending on the context in which they are used. For example: 

– Misinformation. Fake images can be used to spread false information, mislead people and create a false narrative. For example, doctored images of political events, protests, or disasters can create a misleading impression of what actually happened, potentially influencing public opinion or policy decisions. 

– Reputational damage. Fake images can be used to damage the reputation of individuals or organisations. For example, a fake image of a celebrity engaging in illegal or immoral activity can cause significant harm to their public image. 

– Legal issues. Fake images can be used as evidence in legal cases, but if they are not authentic, they can lead to wrongful convictions or acquittals. Moreover, fake images can cause copyright and intellectual property issues. 

– Security threats. Fake images can be used to create security threats. For example, a fake image of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster can cause panic and chaos among people, leading to a security breach. 

– Personal harm. Fake images can be used to harass, intimidate, or blackmail individuals. For example, a fake image of a person engaging in illegal or embarrassing activity can be used to blackmail or extort money from them. This gained notoriety with the trend of fake-pornographic images of well known celebrities, causing significant distress.

It should also be noted that some fake images can simply be a source of amusement or wonder over how AI has advanced and could be be seen as an example of how difficult it can now be to tell the difference between a real and a fake photo. 

How Are Fake Photos Made? 

Examples of the kinds of tools now used to make fake photos include: 

– More traditional photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop, e.g. using the Clone Stamp tool to duplicate elements of an image and cover up unwanted objects, or the Liquify tool to reshape and distort a person’s features. 

– Online image editing tools: Several online image editing tools, such as Fotor, PicMonkey, and BeFunky, provide basic image editing capabilities that can be used to create fake photos, such as adding text, filters, and borders to an image. 

Deepfake software, such as DeepFaceLab, FakeApp, and Zao, use machine learning algorithms to create realistic fake photos and videos by swapping faces or manipulating the appearance of a person. 

– GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks), a type of artificial intelligence that can be used to generate realistic images. GANs consist of two neural networks, a generator that creates images and a discriminator that tries to distinguish real images from fake ones. As the generator learns, it can create more realistic images, making it a powerful tool for creating fake photos. 

There are now many different AI programs that can be used to create fake images such as Generated.photos, This Person Does Not Exist: Random Face Generator, Shutterstock Generate, Jasper, Picsart, and even the next generation of ChatGPT, some of which can now instantly generate photos from a text description. 

How To Spot A Fake Image 

With so many fake images around and so many AI-powered programs available, how can you spot a fake image?  Here are some common giveaways: 

– Unnatural or inconsistent lighting. If the lighting in the image looks unnatural or inconsistent, such as different parts of the image having different shadows or light sources, it could be a sign that the image has been manipulated. 

– Pixelation or blurring. If parts of the image look pixelated or blurred, it could be a sign that they have been altered. This is because when an image is edited, it often loses some of its original quality. 

– Perspective and proportions. If the proportions or perspective in the image look distorted or inconsistent, it could be a sign that the image has been manipulated. For example, if a person’s head looks too big or too small for their body or if an object looks like it’s floating in the air, it could be a sign that it has been added to the image. It is often noted that hands can be a difficult area for fake image programs to get right, and the direction of eyes in a photo where there are multiple persons can also be a giveaway. 

– Inconsistencies in shadows. If there are inconsistencies in the shadows in the image, it could be a sign that the image has been manipulated. For example, if a person’s shadow falls in a different direction than the other objects in the scene, it could indicate that the person has been added to the image. 

– Lack of context. If the image lacks context or appears to be taken out of its original context, it could be a sign that it has been manipulated. For example, if an image shows a person in front of a particular background, but the person does not appear to be interacting with their surroundings, it could indicate that the person has been added to the image. 

– Although it’s important to be vigilant and critical when viewing images online and to look for signs of manipulation, it’s also a good idea, if in doubt, to know how to and to try to verify the authenticity of an image by checking the original source. 

Verifying Images 

Verifying the authenticity of an image can be challenging, however there are several steps you can take to help determine if an image is real or has been manipulated: 

– Check the source. One of the easiest ways to verify the authenticity of an image is to check its source. If the image is from a reputable news outlet, a government agency, or a trustworthy website, it is more likely to be real. However, if the image is from an unknown source or an unverified social media account, it could be fake. 

– Look for metadata. Metadata is information embedded in the image file that can provide details about when and where the image was taken, the camera used, and other relevant information. You can use image analysis software or online tools to view the metadata of an image and determine if it matches the content of the image. 

– Use a reverse image search. A reverse image search can help you find out where an image has been used before and whether it has been altered. You can use search engines such as Google Images or TinEye to upload the image or its URL and see if there are any matches. 

– In more high-profile cases that make the news, there is also the option of consulting with experts in image analysis or forensics who can examine the image and provide a professional opinion. This can be especially helpful in cases where the image is of significant importance or is being used to influence public opinion. 

Overall, verifying the authenticity of an image requires critical thinking, attention to detail and a willingness to do some research. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of determining if an image is real or fake. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The pace at which AI is advancing has meant that much more convincing fake images (and videos) can be made more quickly and easily and it’s this pace that’s recently alarmed some people into calling for a 6 month pause on the development of AI systems to assess the risks (a 1,800 signature open-letter, including Elon Musk’s). Although there are many ways to spot and verify fake photos, it looks likely that this is going to become more difficult to check and we even need the help of AI to help us spot AI generated deepfakes. Even the powerful social media platforms haven’t been able to stop fake profile photos and the circulation of fake photos and videos on their platforms are cause for concern, e.g. spreading propaganda/misinformation and is something the social media platforms will need to get a firmer grip on. It could be argued that education and awareness of news and world events is one important way that people can be aware of context and be better able to develop a healthy scepticism and be more able to spot fake photos and their possible motivations. For businesses, being able to identify fake photos is an important issue from a security and legal perspective so it’s important to be familiar with popular ways to tell the difference between real and fake photos and how to verify photo (and video) authenticity.

The post How To Spot Fake Images appeared first on Mear Technology.

Embedded In Popular Apps 

Microsoft says that the Copilot chatbot has been embedded in the popular Microsoft 365 apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams. Like Chat GPT, Copilot is a natural language conversational chatbot that can give the same human-like responses to questions.  

Business Chat 

Copilot is operated in Microsoft 365 by ‘Business chat’, which is the field (like that in ChatGTP) where you ask the chatbot questions and give it instructions using normal language, e.g. to generate a status-update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads, type in “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy”. 

How Will Copilot Help? 

Examples of how embedding Copilot into the main Microsoft365 apps can help users include: 

– In Word, Microsoft says Copilot can save hours in writing, sourcing, and editing by being able to write a first draft, to edit and shorten it, rewrite it, or give feedback as required, in the same way as you might write a piece using ChatGPT. 

– In Teams, Copilot can again save time and effort and make meetings more productive by summarising key discussion points of meetings, including who said what, where people are aligned and where they disagree, and suggest action items, all in real-time during a meeting. It can also recap meetings for you and send you the notes afterwards. 

– In PowerPoint, it can create whole presentations for you from a simple text prompt and add any relevant content from a document you made. 

– In Excel, Microsoft says Copilot can analyse trends and create summaries and graphs of data, all done in seconds from simple text prompts. 

– In Outlook, Copilot can save time by clearing your inbox in minutes, not hours, e.g by drafting emails for you and analysing long email threads in seconds. 

– In Power Platform, Copilot can be also used to automate repetitive tasks, even creating chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes. 

Save Time, Increase Productivity and Uplevel Your Skills 

Microsoft’s announcement focuses on three main benefits of using Copilot, which are improving productivity, saving time, and upleveling skills, i.e. making you better at what you’re good at and helping you to quickly master new AI functionality. 

OpenAI Launches GPT4 

Microsoft’s Copilot announcement comes just days after OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT that Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in and has been working closely with) announced the launch of GPT4, an updated version of the AI model that powers ChatGPT.  

OpenAI said GPT-4 (which was trained on Microsoft Azure AI supercomputers) outperforms ChatGPT and “can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy, thanks to its broader general knowledge and problem-solving abilities.” 

Caveat – It Can Be Wrong 

Even though ChatGPT has already become a trusted and valuable tool to businesses in just a matter of months and Copilot and GTP-4 holds even greater promise, OpenAI is covering itself by highlighting one caveat – it can be wrong because it can share disinformation. 

Not Yet 

Although the launch has been announced, Copilot will initially be available (as a pilot) to just a small number of enterprise customers, and there are no details of pricing and licensing as yet. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Copilot is another big step forward in what seems to be a conversational chatbot revolution that’s transforming the way we can work by saving time and boosting productivity. The power of Copilot will provide a way to get more out the most popular apps in Microsoft 365, adding significant value to the app and creating new opportunities for users. Copilot is another major selling point and competitive advantage for Microsoft and for businesses, Copilot offers an easy-to-use way to save time, boost productivity, get greater insights into their own business and operations to aid better decision making, plus learn more about aspects of Microsoft365. All in all, Copilot could be the next game-changing step in the AI chatbot revolution. 

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