Microsoft is the latest company to release figures highlighting the sluggish adoption of new technology, claiming that 71% of UK companies have “failed to deliver digital”.
While many companies are aware of this, adoption – particularly successful and well-thought-out adoption – is relatively small, and those that do adopt often fail. For example, worker support tools have been found to slow workers down when incorrectly deployed.
The data comes from 600 UK companies, 72% of which said their organization needed a clear path to achieve their digital transformation goals, and significant change was not happening due to such slow progress.
A digital workplace
While the study showed that business leaders understand the need for better technology, it’s clear they don’t have the right information to make an informed decision about what tools they need. More than three-quarters (76%) said they saw an increase in administrative tasks such as data entry and document processing with the tools they have today.
The reason for this may be that more than two-thirds (69%) were overwhelmed by the amount alone collaboration tools available to them. Guidance is clearly needed as a quarter (26%) of respondents said they plan to increase the number of tools available to employees, possibly to keep up with a race where they have little context. More than half (59%) of decision makers had no plans to consolidate solutions.
Moving forward, Microsoft believes it has a solution: artificial intelligence. The company has been publicly supporting organizations such as OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT) for several years, so it’s no wonder that the IT giant wants to promote artificial intelligence; already integrated it with his Bing (opens in a new tab) search engine and business software.
Less biased, however, is the company’s observation that employees generally do not feel part of the decision-making process regarding the tools they use, which makes it clear that more open dialogue should be promoted in most companies.
The first phone in the new Oppo Find X6 lineup has arrived, and the Oppo Find X6 Pro brings some serious camera credentials, along with all the other flagship specs we’ve come to expect. Unfortunately, we don’t know if or when it will be available outside of China, but we did get a good hands-on Find X6 Pro review for you to check out.
The Oppo Find X6 lineup could feature some of 2023’s best phones, though limited availability will hurt its appeal compared to phones like the OnePlus 11 – let alone the Samsung Galaxy S23 or iPhone 14. If you can find one, the Oppo Find X6 should be in able to compete with the best rivals in terms of specs and performance (if you want proof, check out the Oppo Find X5 Pro, one of the best phones on the market).
We already got our hands on the Find X6 Pro. but we are still waiting to learn more about Find X6 and Find X6 Lite. We’ve summarized everything we know so far, and added a list of things we’d most like to see from the Oppo Find X6 lineup to make it the phone we want to recommend.
To the point
What is this? Another line of Oppo flagship phones
when is it coming out? March 24, 2023 for Oppo Find X6 Pro
How much does it cost? CNY 5,999–CNY 6,999, excluding prices outside of China
Oppo Find X6: release date and price
Oppo has pulled out of the Find X6 Pro and the phone will be available for sale from March 24, but only if you live in China. There is no plan to spread the love globally as Oppo has announced the availability and pricing of its next flagship only in China with no sign of wider exports.
Despite the announcement of the Pro model, we still haven’t heard about the base model Oppo Find X6 or the cheaper Oppo Find X6 Lite. In the past, these phones were launched with the Pro version as the Find X5 Pro and Lite were announced at the same time in the Find X5 line.
As for phone availability, we’re not sure if the Oppo Find X6 will ship to regions outside of China, but news about its more expensive sibling doesn’t bode well. If Oppo doesn’t deliver the best Find X6 Pro around the world, we don’t have much hope for cheaper models.
The lack of availability in the US of Oppo’s Find X6 Pro comes as no surprise. Oppo does not have any US retail partners nor does it run its own US store. Oppo owns the OnePlus brand and the OnePlus 11 can be considered Oppo’s performance phone, although it lacks the larger camera sensor in the Find X6 Pro.
We still had hope Some release form of the Find X6 family outside of China. The Oppo Find N2 Flip launched in Europe last month, so it’s disappointing to hear that the Find X6 Pro won’t follow suit.
The Find X6 will likely land a year after the Find X5 (Image credit: future)
There’s no word on how much the Oppo Find X6 lineup might cost, but the phones could have prices similar to their predecessors.
By comparison, the Oppo Find X5 starts at £749/$1,399 (around AU$920), the Find X5 Pro is £1,049/$1,799 (around AU$1,285) and the Oppo Find X5 Lite is £399/$799 (around AU$490). ).
In any case, the above prices probably won’t be exactly right for the upcoming models, but we doubt that the Find X6 line will be much more expensive as the Find X5 and Find X5 Pro are already expensive due to the specs they offer.
Oppo Find X6 Pro prices announced, but only for the Chinese market. In China, the price of the phone starts at CNY 5,999 (around $870 / £710 / AU$1,305 when converted directly) and ends at CNY 6,999 (around $1,020 / £830 / AU$1,520).
Oppo Find X6: news and leaks
Now that the Oppo Find X6 Pro has been officially announced and we have it in our test office, we can confirm the leaked specs.
Oppo Find X6 Pro has a 6.7-inch 2K screen; Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset; 12GB or 16GB RAM; 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB of memory; Android 13; and a 5,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The phone also has a triple-lens rear camera with a 50MP main sensor, 50MP ultra-wide and 50MP telephoto, as well as Hasselblad tuning and a 32MP front camera. The main camera uses a large 1-inch sensor, which was confirmed in March by serial leaker Ice Universe (see tweet below).
OPPO Find X6 Pro ！！！ pic.twitter.com/LDBgIsFTrGMarch 12, 2023
See more
For the standard Oppo Find X6, a reputable leak @evleaks (opens in a new tab) posted a render purporting to show the phone you can see below, complete with a massive camera block housing a triple-lens snapper.
The phone was also spotted in live photos purportedly showing a test unit and shared further Weibo (opens in a new tab). You can also see one of these images below.
Picture 1 With 2
(Image credit: Evan Blass)
(Image credit: Weibo / @WhyLab)
Oppo Find X6: what we want to see
Now that the Oppo Find X6 Pro is here, we still have the Find X6 and Find X6 Lite to look forward to. Here’s what we’d like to see, based on last year’s Find X5 family
1. Zoom to a greater distance
Even the Oppo Find X5 Pro has a disappointing zoom (Image credit: future)
Oppo Find X6 Pro has the ability to zoom up to 3x with a periscope lens. It doesn’t seem like much, but this lens is paired with a huge sensor, much larger than the one Samsung uses in its Galaxy S23 Ultra zoom lenses. This can provide better digital cropping.
We hope the Oppo Find X6 retains all of the Find X6 Pro’s great camera, just as the Find X5 matched the X5 Pro’s camera lineup. Of course, the Lite model will have to skimp to save money, but the Find X5 needs those big sensors to keep us happy.
2. Lower prices
The entire Oppo Find X5 lineup is quite expensive for what you get, especially considering Oppo doesn’t have a brand like Samsung or Apple. So if the company really wants to compete in 2023, we’d love to see lower prices on the next wave of phones.
This is especially true for the Find X6 and Find X6 Pro as they will surely compete with strong hitters such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 line and the OnePlus 11 Pro.
3. Waterproof
Oppo Find X5 is not waterproof (Image credit: future)
Oppo Find X5 Pro has water resistance, but the standard Oppo Find X5 does not, despite its rather high price. The Find X6 Pro is also IP68 rated and we still don’t know what to expect from the Find X6 entry-level model, but we’re hoping for the same.
We can live without water resistance on the Lite model, but we really want the Oppo Find X6 to be able to dunk, as many rivals at this kind of price point can handle submersion, and when you spend that kind of money you don’t want to be afraid of heavy rain.
4. Microscope camera
The Oppo Find X3 Pro had an unusual camera setup as it included a microscope camera that allows you to take very close-up photos of fine details. We were disappointed it wasn’t in the Find X5 line as it’s a bit of a novelty, but it works well and helped the Find X3 Pro cameras stand out.
So we’d like it to return – perhaps with some improvements – to the Oppo Find X6 lineup.
5. Wider availability
The Oppo Find X5 and its siblings are not sold in the US, which is a shame because they are excellent smartphones that will surely appeal to many people.
Things are probably unlikely to change with the Oppo Find X6 as gaining a foothold in this country is probably not easy, but we’d love to see Oppo try.
Microsoft adds extra protection to OneNote, one of the many productivity tools included in Microsoft 365, after hackers began to abuse it to deliver malware (opens in a new tab) en masse.
According to a new roadmap entry for Microsoft 365 spotted recently by BleepingComputer, OneNote will display an additional warning notification when a user tries to run a high-risk file.
In the article “Microsoft OneNote: Improved protection against known high-risk phishing file types”, the company said the change should be implemented by the end of April this year.
Alternatives to armed macros
“We’re adding enhanced protection when users open or download an embedded file in OneNote,” Microsoft said in an advisory. “Users will receive a notification when files are deemed unsafe to improve file protection in OneNote on Windows.”
Hackers turned to OneNote after Microsoft blocked Excel from running macros in files downloaded from the Internet. Macros used to be one of the most popular attack vectors for cybercriminals, but since the Redmond giant made this change, cybercriminals have been experimenting with many alternatives.
One is the distribution of OneNote files with attachments that, like macros, can be manipulated to download and run malicious files hosted on third parties.
To ensure that victims activate the attachments, the hackers have created a file that looks blurry with a huge superimposed button that says “click here to view” or something similar. The explanation of this approach is that the file is “protected”.
As reported by BleepingComputer, citing a Trustwave report, the use of OneNote to deliver malware began attracting the attention of cybersecurity professionals last December.
In addition to OneNote files, hackers also distribute shortcut (.LNK) files because they can contain virtually any icon (for example, a .PDF file icon) and are not inherently malicious.
A North Korean hacking group is believed to be behind a new malware campaign that uses fake jobs on LinkedIn to lure its victims.
The group posts fake jobs in the media, technology and defense industries under the guise of legitimate recruiters. They even impersonated the New York Times in one ad.
A threat intelligence company client (opens in a new tab) discovered that the campaign has been running since June 2022. He believes it is linked to another malware campaign originating in North Korea, run by the infamous Lazarus group known as “Operation Dream Job”, which breaks into systems belonging to cryptocurrency users.
Phishing for victims
For its part, Mandiant believes the new campaign comes from a different group than Lazarus and is unique in that the TouchMove, SideShow and TouchShift malware have never been seen used in the attacks before.
After the user responds to a job offer from LinkedIn, the hackers continue the process on WhatsApp, where they share a Word document containing dangerous macros that install Trojans from WordPress sites that hackers have compromised and use as their control center.
This Trojan, based on TightVNC and known as LidShift, in turn loads the Notepad++ malicious plug-in, which downloads the malware known as LidShot, which then installs the final payload on the device: the PlankWalk backdoor.
The hackers then use a malware dropper called TouchShift hidden in the Windows binary. This loads loads of additional malicious content, including TouchShot and TouchKey, a screenshot tool and keylogger respectively, as well as a call to the TouchMove loader.
It also loads another backdoor called SideShow that allows high-level control over the host system such as the ability to edit the registry, change firewall settings, and perform additional payloads.
Hackers also used the CloudBurst malware in companies that did not use a VPN, abusing the Microsoft Intune endpoint management service.
In addition, the hackers also exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the ASUS “Driver7.sys” driver, which is used by another payload called LightShow to patch kernel routines in endpoint protection software to prevent detection. This vulnerability has already been patched.
Cloud software company Blackbaud has agreed to pay a $3 million settlement for misleading disclosures about a ransomware attack that happened nearly three years ago in May 2020.
A public company that provides donor data management software to nonprofits and educational institutions has collapsed, until now (opens in a new tab)to reveal a ransomware attack of which he was aware at the time.
More than 13,000 customers are believed to have been affected by the attack, exposing personal information such as names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
Blackbaud ransomware attack in 2020
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) explained (opens in a new tab) This “[…] in August 2020, the company filed a quarterly report with the SEC that omitted this vital information about the scope of the attack and mischaracterized the risk of an attacker obtaining such sensitive donor information as hypothetical.”
The head of Crypto Assets and Cyber SEC at the SEC Enforcement Division, David Hirsch, noted that Blackbaud failed to inform investors in an accurate and timely manner about the ransomware attack – an obligation it has as a public company.
However, he complied with the threat and paid the cybercriminal’s demand with “confirmation that the copy he removed was destroyed”, citing customer data as a key priority in his decision.
Due to poor communication and subsequent events, various sections and rules of the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 were found to be in violation, resulting in a $3 million civil penalty and the company ceasing to commit these violations Blackbaud.
The company has yet to issue public comment on the settlement or reassure customers whose concerns were raised after the ransomware attack entered public discussion.
With the popularity of ChatGPT, the number of available Chrome extensions continues to grow. Some are helpful, but many are… not so great. However, we found some of the best extensions available that minimize search and maximize the ChatGPT experience in Chrome.
You can’t be a part of everyday internet culture, or at least be a person with internet access and escape the ChatGPT discourse – whether you like it or not. That, and South Park just mentioned it, so you know, it’s pretty serious now.
For anyone who needs a quick refresher, ChatGPT is a language-based chatbot created by OpenAI that allows you to generate text-based answers to questions about the universe, prompts for poems, or brainstorming ideas (and much more). You can use ChatGPT for many thingsand the only basic limits are your imagination (and the fact that the answers are text, of course).
If you use ChatGPT for free or pay for a Plus membership, interacting with the bot is definitely an experience, to say the least. The conversational tone is almost disarming as you try to investigate whether he plans to take over the world or ask him for advice on your love life.
However, ChatGPT’s user interface is quite simple compared to its capabilities. While we await further updates and feature enhancements, third-party browser extensions are your friends if you want easier, faster access to ChatGPT and add features to get the most out of your AI bot.
ChatGPT for Google
Chrome extension ChatGPT for Google is a must if you want to integrate AI more into your daily life and get the most out of this vast fountain of knowledge. The extension will display chatbot results alongside standard Google search results, so you can quickly see what you’re googling while scanning the results for the right page.
Some queries will perform better than others: you won’t get the latest weather or sports reports, but you can get pretty in-depth answers to questions about human biology, basic housekeeping hacks, and historical facts. Most of your queries will probably be accompanied by a ChatGPT response, but be prepared for the bot not happening sometimes.
The small box in the corner is integrated with the regular search results and you will be able to start a conversion with ChatGPT directly from the page if you want to talk about it or learn more.
(Image credit: future)
Use voice commands – Promptheus
Alexa or Siri fan? Want to take the conversation into the real world (on your side anyway) and get answers quickly without having to type everything? Prompteus is for you! This Chrome extension allows you to chat directly with ChatGPT using the spacebar on your keyboard, so you can skip typing and get answers to all your burning questions with your voice.
After installing the extension, open Chrome, go to ChatGPT and hold the space bar to start speaking. We used it a few times while writing this article and it speeds up the workflow as you just swap cards, ask a question, read an answer and move on.
Export and share ChatGPT
Currently, if you want to move content from ChatGPT to other places, you have to rely on old faithful cut and paste, but with Export and share ChatGPT (which works with Chrome, Edge and Firefox) you can streamline the export process in ChatGPT.
It may take a while to set up in your browser, but when you’re ready, you’ll see new export buttons near the prompt box that will make saving your content much easier.
You’ll have options to save conversations as images or PDFs, and you can also create sharing links if you have something special you want to share quickly.
Merlin
WITH Merlin you can have ChatGPT on your fingertips and pull it up without problems. The extension allows you to summarize large blocks of text or reply to emails whenever you want, essentially giving you a little AI assistant at your beck and call!
After installing the extension, select a block of text, then press Ctrl + M on Windows or Cmd + M on macOS, then tell Merlin what you want to do in ChatGPT. Summarize, Reply, Write, etc. If you have a tricky email you need to reply to, just highlight the text in the email thread, invoke Merlin, and ask ChatGPT to write a diplomatic reply for you.
Since there’s a simple keyboard shortcut to activate the extension, it’s really easy to incorporate Merlin into your daily grind very quickly, though keep in mind that you’re limited to around 31 requests per day.
We have only listed a few extensions in this article so far, but we hope to add more extensions as they become available and as people start getting used to ChatGPT. We are only just seeing ChatGPT fit into our lives as it becomes more and more commonplace, so there is no doubt that as technology blends into everyday life and more people find interesting ways to use ChatGPT, we will see many more useful extensions .
The ransomware operator, who has kept a low profile for the last few years, has struck gold after a series of successful and high-profile ransomware attacks targeting corporate victims.
Behind Beeping Computer (opens in a new tab)The threat group known as Medusa dates back to June 2021, but has only now come into the spotlight following the recent attack on the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) District.
Various sources claim that the group has requested $1 million in exchange for the decryption key, and negotiations are still ongoing. Now MPS has until March 17 to pay up or face sensitive data being leaked to the public via a dedicated blog.
Personality crisis
However, if the group plans to be more active, it may consider rebranding. There are many other cyber criminals operating under the Medusa name, which has resulted in confusing media reports, states BleepingComputer.
Such examples include a completely different ransomware group called MedusaLocker, a piece of Android malware called Medusa, and the Medusa botnet based on the infamous Mirai.
The MedusaLocker ransomware group is believed to be two years older than Medusa, as the first reports of its activity began to appear in 2019. This is a group of Ransomware-as-a-Service, with many affiliates using this service to target corporate victims.
The two groups also differ in the ransom notes they leave behind. While MedusaLocker leaves an .HTML file named How_to_back_files, Medusa leaves a .TXT file titled !!!READ_ME_MEDUSA!!!.
Moreover, Medusa encrypts files with the .MEDUSA extension, while MedusaLocker uses a wide range of extensions.
Some Etsy sellers have received email warnings about delays in making deposits after the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, but the company promises a fix will be coming soon.
Etsy sellers can receive payments on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis, and those who should have made a deposit on Friday have been notified of the delay.
Naturally, e-commerce platform he blames the “quick and unexpected” collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank for this, rather than its heavy dependence on the bank and its current inability to adapt quickly enough.
Etsy is delaying deposits due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
Maridah, a seller of sewing patterns, sent a message to Twitter (opens in a new tab) screenshot of an email from Etsy that reads:
“We wanted to let you know that there is a delay in making a deposit that was scheduled for today. This delay was due to recent developments regarding Silicon Valley Bank, which Etsy uses to facilitate payouts to certain sellers.”
Since then, other sellers in the same situation have commented on Maridah’s Twitter thread, with some emphasizing that Etsy is their sole or primary source of income and that any significant delay could put them in financial trouble.
To that end, Etsy is said to be “working around the clock” to resolve the issue, according to a community post (opens in a new tab)claiming it would “guarantee sellers to be paid within the next few business days via [its] other payment partners.
HSBC UK has since acquired Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited for £1, offering a lifeline to the many UK start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses it has supported, although the effects of the bank’s collapse are certain to continue.
an Etsy spokesperson said TechRadar Pro:
“At Etsy, supporting our sellers is our top priority and we understand how important it is for these small businesses to be able to receive funds when they need them. We recently experienced a delay in payment processing for a small group of affiliated merchants due to the unexpected collapse of Silicon Valley Bank – approximately 0.5% of our active merchants experienced payment delays on Friday. We are working on paying these sellers today [13 March] and already this morning we started processing payments through another payment partner.”
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 series of smartwatches lacks the iconic bezel controls of its predecessor, but the rotating bezel may return with the Galaxy Watch 6.
The Galaxy Watch ring was a ring that rotated around the face, allowing users to control the device. In our Galaxy Watch 4 Classic review, we called it an “intuitive” control method, and in our Galaxy Watch 3 review, we said the bezel makes scrolling through menus a “real joy.”
Unfortunately, the regular Galaxy Watch 4 did not have a bezel, and things got worse for bezel lovers with the release of the Galaxy Watch 5 line as every model lacked this feature. The Galaxy 5s featured digital bezels – something we highlighted in our Galaxy Watch 5 review – but for many uses, the virtual replacement lacks the satisfying tactile nature of a proper click ring.
Is the return of the bezel too good to be true?
Now the bezel may return with a South Korean tech leak Super Roader (opens in a new tab) claiming that the Galaxy Watch 6 Pro could once again adopt the iconic controls (via suitable for storage (opens in a new tab)).
As with all leaks, Super Roader claims should be taken with a grain of salt. While he reportedly has a decent track record and is apparently a former Samsung employee, there’s no guarantee this latest leak is accurate. We won’t know for sure what the Galaxy Watch 6 will look like until it launches, which we expect later this year.
That said, the return of the rotating bezel is certainly not the weirdest Galaxy Watch rumor we’ve heard. Aside from reports that the Galaxy Watch 6 should get increased battery life, a future Galaxy Watch model is rumored to feature a secret built-in projector – and while we’ve argued that smartwatches embrace their weird side, we can’t help but feel like the projector would go a little further too far.
YouTube has recently seen a surge in the number of videos containing malicious links to information stealers in their descriptions, and many of them use AI-generated personas to trick viewers into trusting them.
CloudSEK cyber intelligence company reports (opens in a new tab) that since November 2022, there has been a massive 200-300% increase in content uploaded to a video hosting site that tricks viewers into installing well-known malware such as Vidar, RedLine, and Raccoon.
The videos pretend to be tutorials showing how to download illegal copies of popular paid design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max and AutoCAD for free.
Seem trustworthy
How-to videos have become increasingly sophisticated, from screen recordings and audio tutorials to the use of AI to create a realistic depiction of a person guiding the viewer through the process, all to appear more trustworthy.
CloudSEK notes that there is an overall increase in AI-generated videos being used for legitimate educational, recruitment and promotional purposes, but now also for nefarious purposes.
Information thieves, as the name suggests, penetrate the user’s system and steal valuable personal information such as passwords and payment details and are distributed via malicious downloads and links such as those in video descriptions as in this case. This data is then sent to the threat actor’s server.
CloudSEK refers to the fact that with 2.5 billion monthly users, YouTube is a prime target for cybercriminals who, in order to avoid the platform’s automated content review process, work to trick the algorithm in various ways.
These include using region-specific tags, adding fake comments to make videos appear legit, and simply flooding the platform with multiple videos to make up for any videos removed and banned. CloudSEK found that 5 to 10 such malicious videos are uploaded every hour.
To optimize for SEO, a lot of hidden links are also used, as well as random keywords in different languages, so that the YouTube algorithm finally recommends them.
In addition, link shortening services such as bit.ly are used to hide the malicious nature of links, as well as links to file hosting services such as MediaFire.
“The threat from information thieves is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated,” said CloudSEK researcher Pavan Karthick. “As part of a worrying trend, cybercriminals are now using AI-generated videos to expand their reach, and YouTube has become a convenient platform for their distribution.”
CloudSEK suggests that “traditional string-based rules will prove ineffective against malware that generates strings dynamically and/or uses encrypted strings.”
Instead, it advises companies to take a more manual approach where cybercriminals’ tactics and techniques are closely monitored to correctly identify threats.
In addition, CloudSEK suggests running awareness campaigns, sharing simple advice such as refraining from clicking on unknown links and using multi-factor authentication to secure accounts, preferably with an authenticator app.
