Day: April 17, 2023

Categories
Business Fitness Marketing & Sales Professional Services U.S

Tim Lyons Jr. Presents Fit Pro Growth Summit: A Must-Attend Event for Gym Owners Looking to Take Their Business to the Next Level

Scottsdale, AZ – Fit Pro Growth Summit, the premier event for gym owners who want to be the best in their markets, will be held on June 8, 9, 10, 2023, at the W hotel in Scottsdale, AZ. The event features hand-picked speakers, in-the-trenches strategies, and tactics from successful gym owners to help attendees increase cash flow, save time, and push the limits of what’s possible in the fitness industry.

This event is not only for gym owners. It is beneficial for training studio owners, franchise training concepts, CrossFit gyms, owners, class-based fitness concepts, micro gyms, and more.

The keynote speakers for the 2023 event include Ben Newman, a highly regarded performance coach, international speaker, and best-selling author, and Mike Michalowicz, a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal, business makeover specialist on MSNBC, and best-selling author of Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan, and Fix This Next.

Other notable speakers include Rick Mayo of Alloy, John Parkas of Blue Ocean Fitness, Houston Goodwin of 97 Display, Trevor Wittwer of Coach Catalyst, Lindsay Vastola of Vast Fitness, and many more.

The event promises to provide attendees with clarity, confidence, measurable change, and one heck of a good time. Past attendees have raved about the value they received, with Ryan S. stating, “You get so much value in just 2 days learning from other coaches, trainers, and business owners,” and Lindsay V. declaring, “This summit is the place to be. The connections, the speakers, getting out of the four walls of your gym, the ideas, and the networking- this is the place to take your gym to the next level.”

Tim Lyons, Jr., founder and CEO of Pro Fit Marketing Solutions and Legacy Personal Training, said, “We wanted to create a home for hungry fitness business owners to come and learn from the absolute best business owners in the industry.”

Attendees are also invited to attend the pre-con on Thursday, June 8, where they can learn how to increase client results, retention, and add a revenue stream in a special training with Healthy Steps Nutrition Mentoring.

The W hotel in Scottsdale provides a stunning backdrop for the event, with state-of-the-art rooms, spas, lounges, and restaurants all on the property. Attendees can take advantage of a special discounted rate for rooms after purchasing their growth summit ticket until the block is sold out.

To get your ticket or for more information, visit https://growthsummitaz.com.

 

Categories
Energy & Environment Financial Market Government & Politics Technology

Church of England Pensions Board Asks Investors to Rethink Mining; Aims to Push Mining Corporations to Adopt Better Sustainability Standards

As the demand for extracting minerals to help implement renewable energy intensifies, the Church of England Pensions Board calls on investors to reconsider how they invest in mining businesses.

As a result, investors are pushing miners to adopt stringent sustainability policies and ensure the world’s ecosystem and the poor communities are least harmed by their activities, reported ESG CLARITY.

Transitioning to a Low-Carbon Future Needs More Non-Renewable Mineral Resources

Anthropogenic processes are driving planetary-scale critical transitions with long-lasting ramifications.

One of the most effective ways to fight this issue is to end the world’s over-reliance on fossil fuel-based energy.

That said, even though thought-out recycling and implementation of a circular economy can help reverse climate change, transitioning away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon replacements will require more mining and processing of non-renewable mineral resources.

According to the World Bank, the demand for extracting minerals (graphite, nickel, lithium) will soar by a staggering 500% by 2050, with the drive to green energy getting a push.

Case in point: Over two million tons of lithium will be required by 2030 to install solar, wind, and geothermal power plants to meet the Net-Zero target detailed in the Paris Agreement.

However, worldwide, only 100 tonnes of lithium were mined in 2021. This huge gap between the demand and supply only exacerbates the supply chain.

“That’s the challenge here because the low carbon transition needs a massive scaling of mining,” said Adam Matthews, chair of the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 and chief responsible investment officer of the Church of England Pensions Board. “Regardless of whether we can recycle existing minerals, regardless if we can be more efficient or if we can replace the minerals that are being mined with others, we are going to need a massive scale of mining,” Mr. Matthews said.

That said, increasing mining activities would require the miners to abide by regulatory standards and ensure minimal environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts. 

Even though the mining industry can act as a step-changer in helping with climate transition, historically, it has failed to ensure consistently responsible service.

Church of England Pensions Board to Introduce Sustainability Standards

The Brumadinho tailings dam disaster, the Courrières mine disaster, the Mariana disaster, are just a few mining incidents that shook the World. Analysts unanimously point out the mining industry’s roles in spurring corruption and conflict, human rights violations in the sites, and exacerbating environmental pollution.

As part of its effort to overhaul the mining industry in the next ten years, the Church of England Pensions Board has recently launched the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 which is poised to set regulatory standards by January 2024.

Advised by the United Nations, backed by the Principle of Responsible Investment, this investor-led commission is expected to collaborate closely with all stakeholders across the mining industry—miners, buyers, unions, and impacted communities.

Insurers, banks, and investors are expected to push miners to adhere to the standards to be detailed by the commission. 

The commission also offers them the opportunity to re-think how they invest or incentivise the mining industry. 

The standards of the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 will be drawn on from the success of the Global Tailings Standard. Formed by investors handling multi-stakeholder operations after the Brumadinho disaster, it’s a perfect model to capitalise on when it comes to ensuring the secure handling of tailings facilities that store mining waste.

Capitalising on advanced technologies, such as ventilation systems, process flow metres, digital mining solutions, etc., can also help the mining industry abide by the standards, thereby reducing their adverse impact on the environment.

For example, using distributed fibre optic sensing-based process flow metering systems by companies like Silixa is a sensible business investment for miners looking to drive sustainability. Such high-end solutions help operators manage and monitor process challenges and water dependency in ESG business sustainability initiatives. In addition, these systems can boost the sustainability of operations with significantly reduced energy consumption while also ensuring substantial cost savings. 

A Shared Future for Responsible Mining is Foundational to the World’s Long-Term Interests

Sustainable mining has long been considered the bedrock of the coveted Net-Zero future.

However, the fourth-biggest cause of deforestation, the mining industry accounts for 7% of tropical and subtropical forest loss.

In such a situation, critics are stressing the importance of collaboration among stakeholders to make the mining sector highly sustainable and transparent. 

Categories
Computers & Software Technology Telecom U.K U.S

Can Artificial Intelligence Carry Out Penetration Tests Without Human Intervention?

Penetration testing, or pen testing, is part of any business’s cybersecurity arsenal. It helps organisations identify ways in which threat actors could exploit the weaknesses in their IT infrastructure.

Once identified, these vulnerabilities can be patched or mitigation plans put in place.

However, with artificial intelligence (AI) being used by cybercriminals to create malware, one might wonder if the reverse could be true as well.

That is, could AI help bolster cybersecurity?

The thing is, pen testing requires a human. But, we’ve seen how ChatGPT interacts with people. Could the chatbot also make decisions like a person to “attack” a system to find out how secure it is?

What Is Pen Testing and How Is it Different From Vulnerability Scanning?

A strong cybersecurity stance requires active as well as passive measures. Passive security is taken care of by firewalls and antivirus software. 

Active security, on the other hand, requires the business to constantly assess its systems for weaknesses. Any that are found can then be fixed.

Two of the active measures for cybersecurity are pen testing and vulnerability scanning.

Pen testing is undertaken by a skilled ethical hacker. The person—actively and creatively—tests the organisation’s network, application, and endpoints. If they find any exploitable vulnerabilities, they carry out attacks to see how successful they are.

In short, they simulate what an actual hacker would do if they were trying to attack the business.

Vulnerability scans, on the other hand, are automated. They simply help the business identify potential issues. These scans don’t offer any insights into how the weaknesses could be exploited.

It will, however, rank the identified vulnerabilities in terms of priority. However, because it cannot determine how a hacker would use the weakness, it is up to humans to decide whether a vulnerability needs remediation and mitigation.

So, Can AI Be Used for Penetration Testing?

The thing is, AI can be a handy tool in the quest for cybersecurity. It uses big data and machine learning (ML) to understand regular traffic patterns. 

Then, armed with this information, it can identify “abnormal” behaviour.

The best part is, AI can process vast quantities of incoming information in a matter of seconds. It would take a human several hours—even days—to go through such quantities of data.

That makes AI perfect for adaptive cybersecurity, where it can block users based on their behaviour.

What AI Can Do for Cybersecurity

It can also be very effective at vulnerability scanning, where it can spot and flag problems in code, systems, and networks.

It may also offer cybersecurity support. For example, it could be used for source code analysis. AI could scan the code and identify potential flaws that could be exploited.

It may also be used for brute force attack testing by, say, generating potential passwords and entering them.

It might also be possible to teach AI how to exploit a list of weaknesses and use them in a simulated cyber attack. Businesses could also use AI for quicker detection and response if they are attacked.

What it might not be able to do is creatively identify vulnerabilities that it hasn’t been “taught”. Since penetration testing does require some creativity, AI might not be as effective at pen testing as a person…yet.

For now, we need to rely on penetration testing services of reliable providers like DigitalXRAID.

Having a strong cybersecurity posture is essential for any business. Without it, threat actors could have a field day with even the tiniest vulnerability. By being proactive, one can reduce the attack surface as well as the amount of damage threat actors could do.