Microsoft is planning to bring forward AI skills for more than one million people in the UK. The company is to invest £2.5 billion into the UK’s AI infrastructure over the next three years. Microsoft also unveiled a programme of work to assist the UK’s AI research and safety investments by growing its Accelerating Foundation Models Research programme, enhancing interdisciplinary research on AI alignment and safety, beneficial uses of AI, and AI-boosted scientific discovery in natural and life sciences. This UK effort intends to leverage AI and accelerate scientific discovery through multimodal data generation, as granted by privileged access to
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2023 has been a busy year for zero-day exploits in Chrome, and Google has patched its 6th one, calling it an “emergency.” Zero-day is a term used for  a vulnerability that has been discovered but not yet patched. The security update  is available for some users on Mac, Linux, and Windows. The Chrome vulnerability was first reported on November 24 by two security researchers with Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG). “Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2023-6345 exists in the wild,” Google said. A full rollout of the fix is expected to be rolled out. But some  users may
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A scam email purporting to contain legitimate advice on a need to update Microsoft Windows has been circulating in the UK. The email has subject lines such as “Install Microsoft Windows update now!” or “Critical Microsoft Windows update” and an attachment wrongly signposted as being from Microsoft. The file contains malicious Ransomware. If you receive this, please don’t act on it and please do report it. Experts say Microsoft will NEVER SEND emails for software updates. As with all scams, it’s a matter of being as vigilant as possible but also ensuring your anti virus protection is up to date.
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Microsoft has begun the roll out of a major update to its Windows 11 PC operating system (October 31, 2023) This includes an AI chatbot called Copilot. According to media reports, Copilot can create human-like text and other content with just a few words of human direction. It relies on underlying large language models that Microsoft-backed OpenAI has trained to compose email text, answer questions and automatically perform actions in Windows, augmenting its knowledge with information from websites. PC-specific features in the Windows Copilot include the ability to open apps, switch to dark mode, turn on Bluetooth and get guidance
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Cybersecurity breaches reported by British financial services companies more than tripled in the 12-month period ending June 30, with the pension sector reporting the biggest increase at 4,000%. Research from lawyers, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain uses data from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). It shows that U.K.-based financial companies reported 640 cybersecurity breaches between 30 June, 2022, and 30 June 30, 2023, up from 187 during the same period a year earlier. This included a total of 246 cybersecurity breaches reported by pension firms, up from just six during the previous 12-month period. Hackers target pension plans because they hold an
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There’s some excellent advise in this article from HR News – https://hrnews.co.uk/businesses-advised-on-how-to-overcome-the-cybersecurity-risks-of-remote-working/ It includes information on connecting your people to their data, security assessments, staff using their own IT equipment and safe use of public WiFi. As more people log in away from the workplace, it’s increasingly important to ensure you have standards and staff protocols in place, plus a regime to ensure security is regularly monitored. With more businesses allowing employees to use their own devices, commonly known as BYOD, it puts a lot of emphasis on the business to trust that their staff are making the right decisions,
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Microsoft has announced that it will start rolling out the AI assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot, for enterprise customers beginning on 1st November 2023. Report by computing.co.uk: “We have been building AI-powered copilots into our most used and loved products – making coding more efficient with GitHub, transforming productivity at work with Microsoft 365, redefining search with Bing and Edge and delivering contextual value that works across your apps and PC with Windows,” the company said in a blog post.  See blog post. “Today we take the next step to unify these capabilities into a single experience we call Microsoft Copilot,
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New data released by Barclays Bank shows almost nine out of 10 purchase scams start on social media. Purchase scams are where people buy products that either never arrive or aren’t as advertised. Barclays says on average people lose £1,000 to these kinds of scams, which account for two-thirds of all reported scams. Barclays UK CEO Matt Hammerstein said that the data shows tech platforms, particularly social media, are the source of “almost all scams” – but there’s no legal framework obligating the tech sector to support the prevention of scams. The bank called for four policy changes that would
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Following weeks of dismal weather, the children are preparing to go back to school and it’s officially autumn. Dare we mention the ‘C’ word yet? It eon’t be long before Noddy Holder is bellowing “It’s Christmas” again from your smart speakers or car radio. Sadly, Christmas also gives opportunities to the less honest in society, including criminals in cyber space. Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre urged shoppers to  urged to bolster their cyber security in the approach to the festive season. Black Friday can be a particular problem for those of us who are too trusting online. Your
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A report from the National Cyber Security Centre The sixth annual report from Active Cyber Defence (ACD) highlights success of a “whole-of-society” approach in preventing millions of cyber attacks from reaching UK organisations and citizens each year. New report reveals record-breaking 7.1m suspicious emails and websites reported to authorities in 2022 – equivalent to one every five seconds As a result, nearly a quarter of a million malicious website links directly removed from the internet since April 2020 Businesses’ sign-ups to NCSC services up 39% in 2022 with launch of SME-specific tool empowering non-technical users to boost resilience BRITISH BUSINESSES
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