Cybercriminals and Nation-States Aim to Subvert Systems and Devices (Data Breach Today) Attackers are continuing to use concerns over COVID-19 to distribute ransomware and malware, including for smartphones. The healthcare sector is perhaps at the greatest risk from these attacks because it’s serving as the front-line defense against the disease....

6 real-world best practices for setting up your company for successful collaboration (OSF Digital) We’ll defer to medical experts for how to stay safe and healthy from COVID-19 as the pandemic evolves, but in the meantime, businesses should consider how to best keep operations healthy to avoid a decline in sales....

Featuring great piece from VentureBeat earlier this week: My team has gone remote, we’ve had to cancel events, and I’ve had to rethink every part of my business. This is a diary of one of the most challenging weeks I’ve ever faced as a founder and CEO. Monday 16th March Walking on the beach with the dog at 6:30 am allows time to think about how I’m going to communicate to 5,000 customers that we have to postpone a number of our events....

(VentureBeat) Microsoft Teams, which launched worldwide in March 2017, passed 32 million daily active users (DAUs) this month. A week later, thanks in part to COVID-19, usage had spiked to 44 million DAUs. That’s up from 20 million daily active users in November, a 60-110% jump in just four months. Microsoft used the product’s three-year anniversary to share the new figures and announce new Teams features targeting “underserved professionals, including firstline and health care workers....

(MIT Technology Review) Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever. To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members....

McAfee’s CTO warned that it’s time for companies to start worrying about quantum computing attacks that can break common forms of encryption available today, even if quantum computing isn’t going to be practical for a while. Steve Grobman, CTO of the cybersecurity firm, made the remarks in a keynote address at RSA, the big security conference in San Francisco this week....

The personal information of 10.6 million guests who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels was hacked last summer. The hack was first reported by ZDNet on Wednesday, which said the stolen information was posted to a hacking forum this week. MGM confirmed the attack took place to the BBC....

(Morgan Stanley) What will be the biggest Tech, Media and Telecom trends in 2020? Morgan Stanley’s analysts and TMT Barcelona conference attendees share key debates and topics for the year ahead. Highlights include: Katy Huberty, Head of North American IT Hardware Equity Research, discusses how 5G will go from promise to rollout in 2020, driving a decade of growth, productivity and IT spending....

(MIT Technology Review) It was another big year for ransomware, the extremely profitable style of cyberattack in which computer systems and data are taken over by hackers and held hostage until the victim hands over a payoff. In 2019, these attacks wreaked havoc around the globe, earned criminals vast sums, and even occasionally provided a weapon for government hackers....

(Gizmodo) California is becoming a monument to how much businesses surveil and abuse its residents, as apps and stores are scrambling to put up “Do Not Sell My Info” notices in compliance with the state’s hefty data privacy law. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, which goes into effect on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, businesses operating within the state will be forced to provide consumers an option to opt-out of having their data sold, to have their data deleted, and to see data collected about them....

(CNET) The biggest recurrent motif among the major data breaches of 2019 wasn’t the black-hooded hacker in a dark room, digging into a screen full of green text. It was a faceless set of executives and security professionals under the fluorescent lights of an office somewhere, frantically dialing their attorneys and drafting public relations apologies after leaving the front doors of their servers unlocked in public....

(Bloomberg) Apple has a secret team working on satellites and related wireless technology, striving to find new ways to beam data such as internet connectivity directly to its devices, according to people familiar with the work. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal company efforts....

(Chicago Tribune) It’s not quite the same as its previous distinction — the world’s tallest skyscraper — but Chicago’s Willis Tower has captured a new title: the largest U.S. building to achieve the highest level of energy efficiency. Building owner EQ Office, the U.S. office arm of private-equity giant Blackstone Group, is scheduled to announce Wednesday that the 110-story skyscraper has achieved LEED Platinum certification....

(Digital Trends) The city of New Orleans has been the target of a cyberattack which lead to officials shutting down the city’s network and declaring a state of emergency, as reported by Forbes. This follows a number of high-profile attacks against city infrastructure in the U.S., such as the ransomware attack which hit Baltimore earlier this year and a cyberattack against Dallas in 2017....

(Cybint) The cybersecurity industry is rapidly growing every day. Although more resources are being deployed to counter cyber attacks, the nature of the industry still has a long way to go before we can, as a whole, catch up with these threats. It’s important for us to define what the current information security and cybersecurity industry looks like with these alarming 15 Cyber Security Facts and Stats....

Go passwordless to strengthen security and reduce costs (from Joy Chik, Corporate VP, Microsoft Identity) We all know passwords are inherently unsecure. They’re also expensive to manage. Users struggle to remember them. It’s why we’re so passionate about eliminating passwords entirely. Passwordless solutions, such as Windows Hello, FIDO2 security keys, and the Microsoft Authenticator app, provide more secure and convenient sign-in methods....

From Google Glass and fidget spinners to iPhones and the Tesla Model S. (The Verge) The story of technology in the 2010s is the story of gadgets going from the corners of our lives to everywhere all the time. The tools to create and consume culture are omnipresent now, offering us incredible new capabilities but also demanding that we care for them more than any consumer products in history....

(Forbes) Apple iOS 13.3 is finally here with a bunch of cool new features, including the ability to use security keys with the Safari browser. News that security keys such as the iPhone compatible 5Ci YubiKey would be supported in iOS 13.3 first arrived in November as part of the release notes for Apple’s second developer beta....

Hospitals that have been hit by a data breach or ransomware attack can expect to see an increase in the death rate among heart patients in the following months or years because of cybersecurity remediation efforts, a new study posits. Health industry experts say the findings should prompt a larger review of how security — or the lack thereof — may be impacting patient outcomes....

In today’s world, we are constantly communicating with each other and there are many different forms for these communications. We make phone calls and send emails and text messages like we have for many years. But we also communicate online via voice over IV (VoIP) conference calls and meetings, social media, chat and messaging services, collaboration tools, file sharing, and so much more....

National Cyber Security Awareness Month. It’s the month you’ve been training for all year. As a security awareness professional, this is your time to shine and help spread cyber awareness across your organization. And we’ve got the toolkit to help you create a stellar campaign. Observed every October, the annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) aims to secure behaviors and maintain digital privacy in the cybersecurity landscape....