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Computers & Software News & Current Affairs Technology Telecom U.K

DDoS Attack on NATO Websites Affects Turkey-Syria Rescue Efforts

On the 12th of February 2023, some of NATO’s websites were temporarily disrupted due to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The group that claimed responsibility for carrying out these attacks is Killnet, a Russian hacktivist group.

Apparently, the group had announced its intention to carry out such an attack in its encrypted channel on messaging service Telegram. It also appears to have been soliciting donations in the form of cryptocurrency to fund its activities.

According to the report by Computer Weekly, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg assured reporters that the alliance had put together additional defence measures. 

He also said, “The majority of Nato [sic] websites are functioning as normal. Some Nato websites are still experiencing availability issues, but our technical teams are working to restore full access.”

Since it appears that NATO’s classified networks were not affected, it’s likely that the attack was to disrupt the search and rescue mission in Syria and Turkey. That’s because reports suggest the networks affected are used by NATO’s strategic airlift capabilities (SAC).

SAC found that, during one of its search and rescue missions in south-eastern Turkey, it was unable to communicate with one of the C-17s in flight due to the disruption in service. Fortunately, it managed to stay in contact throughout even though communications were down.

A Well-Timed Cyber Attack

This is not Killnet’s first attack. It has been responsible for other DDoS attacks, with healthcare taking a lot of damage.

It is interesting to note that the DDoS attack on the NATO websites took place on a Sunday. Weekend and holiday attacks have become a trend, with cybercriminals relying on the skeleton security crew and lack of staff to hide the breach for longer.

DigitalXRAID discussed this phenomenon in a recent article about its 24/7 SOC service. From delivery companies (Yodel) to insurance companies (AON), no one is safe from weekend-timed attacks.

The reason why cybercriminals attack over the weekend or during holidays is, as I said earlier, due to the lack of personnel. 

The later an attack is detected, the more time the threat actors have to go deeper into the network. They can gather more information and, potentially use the information found to carry out more attacks.

For that reason, quick detection is imperative. Note that the NATO websites attack was detected really quickly and they still had some availability issues. If they hadn’t detected the attack quickly enough, the recovery time could potentially have been longer.

Ongoing Detection for Better Protection

According to DigitalXRAID, having a 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC) can make all the difference when threat actors attack. Your SOC would constantly monitor for any suspicious activity, catching cyberattacks before they become cyber incidents.

However, the problem is that most companies can’t afford to hire an in-house SOC team. In fact, if (ISC)2 is to be believed, the cybersecurity profession needs to grow by 3.4 million people in order to close the workforce gap.

In that case, it might be worth outsourcing your cybersecurity to experts who have the expertise and resources to give you better security from cyber threats.

Companies like DigitalXRAID could help keep your business safe from online threats, whether it is your ongoing services or cloud migration.

Have a think. See if you want to invest in ongoing cybersecurity for your business.

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Computers & Software Marketing & Sales Technology U.K U.S

A Sneak Peek at the Digital Marketing Trends of 2023

I came across this article on Top Marketing Trends in 2023 by CMSWire. As an SEO content writer, I was definitely interested in what it said. I was even more curious as I’d seen another article in Forbes on the same topic.

The Geek in me wanted to compare the trends these two articles thought would be strong in 2023.

The writer in me wanted to arm myself with industry knowledge—be a more effective content writer and all that.

The me-the-person will read anything and this was as good reading material as any, so…

Anyway, here’s the information, distilled for you by intelligence that is not artificial.

Top Marketing Trends 2023

According to the article, here are the top trends of 2023:

Social Media and Influencer Marketing to Grow

According to HubSpot’s Marketing Strategy and Trends Report, around 25% of marketers use influencer marketing. This form of marketing currently seems to have the highest ROI. 

So much so, it’s expected to grow in 2023, with 17% of marketers planning to try it out for the first time this year. And, of the marketers who are already using this form of marketing, 89% are expected to increase their budgets!

Of course, not everyone agrees with this. Some marketers believe that it’s not influencer marketing that sells but social media marketing. And, influencers are simply harnessing the power of social media.

According to them, content creators who focus on social media will achieve growth, rather than influencers specifically.

Local Search Still Dominates

With the rise of mobile device use, search is slowly becoming more local. If I’m driving and want to grab a bite to eat, it’s easier to look for places in the vicinity. 

With more people browsing the interwebz on their phones instead of a desktop, it’s only logical for local search to become more important in 2023.

So, if you want your technology and software business to be found locally, get yourself an IT marketing company (like Geeky Tech) to help you.

AI-Generated Content to Invade Webpages

I know I have been going on and on about ChatGPT—how it is being used to create malware and how it is going to change SEO—but it’s hard not to. It’s the hot news of the year.

However, it’s not the only AI content generation tool—it’s just the most popular. And, for better or worse, it seems like AI-generated content is here to stay. 

Content generation is a huge part of digital marketing. With AI writing or creating images and videos, marketers will be able to generate vast quantities of content really quickly.

This will mean that, with robotic content saturating the world wide web, original content might find it difficult to stand out.

At the same time, it will create a demand for content marketers who can harness the power of AI to create top-quality content.

Audio-Visual Content Consumption Rises

Social media marketers already knew that posts with images or videos get more engagement. However, now digital marketers are also noticing a rise in the demand for audio and video content.

And, it’s not just audio clips and short videos that are being voraciously viewed. Audiences are also devouring live-streamed content and podcasts.

Another point to note, people no longer want perfectly produced videos. TikTok seems to have created a demand for user-created videos that aren’t professionally edited.

Social Accountability Is a Factor Now

It’s been a growing trend but will continue to play a role for marketers in 2023. Consumers want to align with brands that share the same values as them. In fact, 50% of Gen-Zers and nearly 41% of millennials prefer to patronise businesses that support social causes.

Gamification Wins

Audiences visiting websites are more likely to stay if there are interactive elements to keep them engaged.

Plus, it makes a great talking point, which helps in word-of-mouth marketing!

So, there you have it; the marketing of 2023. These are points you’d need to keep in mind when planning the marketing strategy for your IT company.

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Computers & Software Technology

Why Data Strategy and Management Is the Most Important Step Toward Automation With AI

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news a lot recently. ChatGPT, the chatbot, has become part of many conversations. 

And, it might seem like a gimmick—AI that has been “fed” data to see how it responds. However, real-time AI has many more uses than just answering questions.

One of the uses that you might have heard about is self-driving cars. The AI is programmed to monitor the road and propel the vehicle safely. To do so, it takes in information from sensors that monitor the road, speed limit, location, and more. 

It, then, uses this information to make split-second decisions to navigate the car through the traffic.

Similarly, AI can be used to improve safety and operational efficiency in airports, detect fraud in online banking transactions, provide patients with better care in hospitals and much more. 

According to this article about Unlocking the Power of AI With a Real-Time Data Strategy on CIO.com, AI can do all that and more.

However, to do so, ”data ecosystems need to excel at handling fast-moving streams of events, operational data, and machine learning models to leverage insights and automate decision-making.”

The Importance of Real-Time Data

In order for AI to make real-time decisions, it needs real-time data. Using the example of AI in self-driving vehicles again, the computer has to constantly get a flow of information for it to make decisions.

A person needs to have all the evidence before they can make an informed decision. AI is no different. 

Like a person, AI needs some input to determine the output.

Unlike a person, however, AI can handle vast quantities of input in a second and still be able to process it quickly. That, in turn, means that AI can be used to detect fraudulent transactions, make product recommendations, and optimise just-in-time business processes in real-time.

Automation Is the Driving Force

Businesses are looking to leverage AI and enable automation. We are living in a world where data capturing is the easy part. Our phones are gathering information about us and our lives. We can have medical information tracked through wearables. Every online interaction we have is providing someone with some information about us.

Data gathering is not the problem here.

The problem is ensuring data quality so that AI can make better real-time decisions—because high-quality data can help Machine Learning (ML) models deliver better outcomes.

So, if we wanted to accelerate automation, we’d need to look at data management and strategy differently.

In order to be more data-driven, you would need to develop a holistic vision for your business. Information cannot be siloed within various ecosystems. It needs to be integrated so it can be analysed. Only then will it be able to help you make a change.

Instead of trying to fit new methodologies into your legacy software applications, you need to invest in “data and model governance, discovery, observability, and profiling.”

Powering Functional ML Models With Data

So, what’s a machine learning model?

An ML model is a software program within which the AI goes through relevant datasets to identify patterns. It will then use this information to train itself to make decisions. 

Once the model is trained, it can be deployed to determine the best course of action based on data input.

As you can see, since the model uses pre-existing data to teach itself, it’s important that the ML processes and data are integrated to get the most out of them.

And, ML models use data for everything—from building to training to deploying. You could say that data is the fuel required to power ML models. The two need to be aligned for you to get the maximum benefit from either of them.

Managing Data Strategy and Storage For AI Consumption

For AI to make real-time decisions, it needs the parallel support of ML process flow and data flow. Real-time AI needs the following from its data ecosystem:

  • A real-time data ingestion platform
  • A real-time operational data store
  • The ingestion platform and data store working together to reduce the data complexity
  • Change Data Capture (CDC) that returns high-velocity events back into the data stream or analytics platforms
  • An enterprise data ecosystem that optimises data flow in both directions

In order for AI to make real-time decisions quickly and accurately, you need ML models that exchange data at high speeds. It’s difficult to build such an ecosystem within your organisation, so a cloud-native approach might be best for you.

Cloud-native is great for scaling your operations, is reliable, and helps portability across deployments.

Of course, you would need a data strategy that would help you optimise your data and how you use it. Fortunately, experts like Agile Solutions should be able to help you prioritise and plan a data strategy that meets your business’s objectives.

A strong strategy would be able to help you automate your processes with the help of AI.

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Computers & Software Professional Services Technology U.S

Microsoft Is Predicted to Equip Excel with AI

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Microsoft Excel is poised to get a deep AI boost, however, this software giant isn’t going to tap into ChatGPT or OpenAI.

According to a new paper, in order to equip Excel with artificial intelligence, the in-house research team at Microsoft is working on bringing out an assistive AI system called FLAME, reported TechRadar.  

Calling it a “T5-based model,” the authors stated that FLAME has the capabilities to make the automation on the Excel app more efficient. 

An AI specially designed for Excel-specific tasks, FLAME ensures competitive performance and is more precise than other multipurpose AIs.

Purpose of FLAME

Written by eight of Microsoft’s in-house software developers, the paper highlights Excel as a popular spreadsheet platform that enables users to efficiently organise, format, and calculate data. 

With FLAME, Microsoft is committed to helping users with spreadsheet formulas providing autocomplete suggestions. 

Even better, FLAME can be leveraged to fix buggy and malformed formulas in the future Excel spreadsheet environment when plugged into the software.

“We curate a training dataset using sketch deduplication, introduce an Excel-specific formula tokenizer for our model, and use domain-specific versions of masked span prediction and noisy auto-encoding as pre-training objectives, ” explained the authors. “We evaluate FLAME on formula repair, formula auto-completion, and a novel task called syntax reconstruction.”

The new AI assistant—being a smaller model with 60M parameters and two orders of magnitude less training data—can outshine other larger language models—such as CodeT5 (220M), codex-Cushman (12B) and Codex-Da Vinci (175B).

The result: FLAME is anticipated to be more efficacious and cost-efficient to train or deploy compared with other AI tools.

However, when FLAME will be released or whether it will be free-of-cost for mass use is yet to be revealed.

Microsoft Excel Charts

Even while Microsoft experts contemplate giving Excel an AI boost, the built-in Excel charts are still overwhelming to deal with.

One of the best ways to make large datasets easily discernible is to recapitulate them in visual form. 

Excel’s built-in charts are the go-to option for many when it comes to explaining trends efficiently; deriving actionable insights from massive troves of data; evaluating key values effortlessly, and much more. 

However, for some types of Excel charts, the built-in formatting functionalities are limited, which makes it difficult to create professional-looking PowerPoint presentations. For example, with Excel waterfall charts, users cannot reference cells for titling, change the format (e.g. colour) of the connector lines, etc. 

Again, some charts are not natively available in Excel, requiring users to take the manual approach.

For professionals frequently required to create great-looking PowerPoint presentations with stunning charts, leveraging a high-end add-in like think-cell is a sensible decision. With fewer clicks and less formatting, PowerPoint add-ins streamline the process while significantly saving working hours. 

Microsoft Is Making Incredible Strides with AI

In a move to amplify its offerings in Azure OpenAI service, the software giant has extended its multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI this year. 

Even though Microsoft refused to comment on the deal’s specifics, an investment of around $10 billion is anticipated, with Microsoft getting a 75% of OpenAI’s returns until it recoups the investment. After recouping, Microsoft would hold a 49 % stake in OpenAI.

On top of that, Microsoft has recently demonstrated its plans to integrate the AI engine behind ChatGPT into its Edge web browser and Bing search engine. With Bing’s AI reboot, the company expects to shake up the search business, taking on the search engine giant Google. 

Wrapping Up

Microsoft expects FLAME to boost the process of creating and maintaining Excel formulas, especially for users who need to deal with large spreadsheets with tons of formulas.

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Computers & Software Professional Services Technology

Atlassian’s New Jira Products Will Align Business and Engineering Teams

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The leading provider of productivity software, Atlassian Corporation Plc, has recently unveiled its three new Jira platform advancements—Jira Product Discovery, Jira Work Management, and new Jira workflow templates.

With this new and advanced Jira tools suite, the company is committed to accelerating and supporting each stage of the software development lifecycle—from ideation and delivery to facilitating operations.

The announcement was made by the Australian tech giant during its very first Agile and DevOps event—Unleash—held in Berlin on February 8.

Key Atlassian Product Announcements

Let’s go through the new Jira advancements that’ll help world-class businesses build products faster and more effectively.

Jira Product Discovery

Jira Product Discovery is a dynamic, collaborative, and data-driven solution that aims to democratise product discovery.

With Jira Product Discovery, Atlassian is committed to helping product managers collect, prioritise, and organise product inputs and feedback and make data-driven decisions efficiently. 

Developed by the Point A team, the tool is now available in Beta and will hopefully be available in early 2023.

With this new tool, product managers can connect their entire workflow effortlessly and bring technical and business teams at the same table before the developers start coding. 

No more tabs and spreadsheets to prioritise, deliver and collaborate with teams on product ideas. Business teams—from marketing to sales—can collaborate on a single project, create and manage insights, and prioritise ideas with voting to transform them into active deliverables.

Jira Work Management

In a move to empower organisations with cross-departmental collaboration, Atlassian has made Jira Work Management natively available with all commensurate Jira software licence tiers until March 2024.

The tool is specially developed to facilitate status tracking of all activities regarded as Work. Work can include document creation, handling approval processes, running projects, executing daily repetitive tasks, and more.

It means that organisations no longer have to break the bank by investing in a high-end project management tool. Jira Work Management makes collaboration effortless, allowing business teams to accomplish work faster.

With features such as a kanban-like Boards view, Calendar view, Timeline view, smart links, and sub-tasks, this collaborative system allows teams to manage projects and processes with ease—no matter the complexity.

Atlassian marks Jira Work Management as the most customisable platform that lets an organisation standardise the way it operates, leveraging global configuration workflows, settings, permissions, and rich APIs. 

Jira Workflow & Toolchain Templates

Atlassian has also announced the release of 23 templates that span panning teams, categories and departments, and categories. Carefully curated by experts, these new templates come with automation rules, permissions, workflows, and third-party integration by default.

Even better, these pre-made templates are available natively and for free with the Jira tools suite—Jira Product Discover, Jira Work Management, Jira Software, and Jira Service Management.

Wrapping Up

By leveraging Atlassian products, teams can bolster their productivity while driving business agility. However, for a business using the Atlassian stack for its agility, collaboration, and project management, investing in a managed service provider is a sensible decision. 

With a high-quality Atlassian managed service provider like Automation Consultants, teams can keep their Atlassian solutions performing at their best while slashing the total cost of ownership and minimising the risk of downtime. 

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Business Computers & Software Employment Technology U.S

High-Value Excel Skills Employers Frequently Look For

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Possessing work-level proficiency in Microsoft Excel is critical, with more than 82% of middle-skill jobs now being “digitally intensive.”

If you are presently flowing into the job marketplace, you will find most employers seek candidates with expertise in Microsoft Excel, and you should have the chops to stand out from the pack.

That said, honing your Excel skills is a no-brainer if you want to land a freakin’ job—faster. 

A recent article published in Fitwirr discusses the top Excel skills that can help you stay ahead of the competition, taking your career to new heights.

Basic Excel Skills

Getting the hang of high-level Excel skills is always a plus. 

But please understand that Excel is a data manipulative solution with a swarm of functionalities that you may require a lifetime (a long time, if not a lifetime) to master. However, grasping the basics can help you get a head start.

1. Cell Formatting

Excel deals with data, graphs, charts, and numbers. Because Excel applies the same formatting for all cells by default, it gets difficult to decipher the information conveyed by the displayed data. 

Don’t let massive troves of data inundate you. Master cell formatting skills and cut out repetitive tasks to better demonstrate your knack to your employer. 

Auto adjustment of cell size, conditional formatting, adding multiple rows and columns at a time, etc., are a few of the cell formatting capabilities in Excel that can help.

2. Basic Excel Functions

Getting the hang of basic Excel functions is the key to simplifying complex calculations, especially when you are sorting and analyzing a massive volume of data. 

For an entry-level job, ensure you have a great command of the basic Excel functions like IF, COUNTIF, SUM, SUMIFS, TRIM, etc.

3. Excel Shortcuts

To know how to use Excel keyboard shortcuts efficiently is a must-have skill if you don’t want to spend hours preparing a single report. Get your work done faster and amaze your employer with these super-handy shortcuts. 

Mid-Level to Advanced Excel Skills 

If you are applying for a position that may require you to deal with massive troves of complex datasets, make sure you know the inside out of advanced Excel functionalities. 

4. Data Validation

Data validation is an indispensable aspect of any data handling task—whether you’re accumulating information, interpreting data to facilitate decision-making, or presenting data to stakeholders. Unless you enter accurate and specific types of data into cells, your results will be erroneous. 

Thankfully, Excel can confine data entry to specific cells by applying data validation upon input. With data validation, Excel prompts you to enter only valid data when a cell is selected and shows an “error” when invalid data is entered. 

5. Charts and Graphs

One of the best ways to make datasets easily discernible is to turn them into interactive visuals. On top of that, getting the hang of Excel charts is a must if you are hired for a position that requires you to present data to stakeholders using PowerPoint presentations. 

Excel’s built-in charts and graphs are great at helping you recapitulate a large dataset in visual form; efficiently compare multiple data sets; better explain trends; estimate key values at a glance, and more. But the built-in charts in Excel come with limited functionalities that make it really difficult to build professional-looking presentations. 

On top of that, some charts are not natively available in Excel. For example, the Marimekko chart, frequently used by professionals to efficiently visualize categorical data over a pair of variables, is not supported even in the latest version of Excel. It means that you’d have to take the manual approach, which requires too many clicks and includes fewer formatting capabilities. 

If you need to make professional-looking PowerPoint presentations with stunning charts while significantly saving your working hours, using an add-in is a sensible decision. A high-end PowerPoint add-in like think-cell, for example, can seamlessly integrate your Excel charts into PowerPoint slides and help you add the “wow” factor to your presentations.

6. Data Protection

Because Excel files usually contain mission-critical business information, knowing how to keep them out of the reach of cybercriminals is critical. 

With that said, unprotected Excel files can be exploited by hackers looking to exfiltrate and expose sensitive data. With Excel, now, you have the power to limit access to your workbook. You can lock your Excel file with a password, grant reading-only access or even protect your workbook without a password so you don’t inadvertently delete any formulas.

Wrapping up

With the world quickly moving to data-driven business and processes, the demand for Excel experts is on the rise. Master the featured Excel skills above to impress your potential employer. 

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Computers & Software Professional Services Technology U.K

Mitigating Cloud Security Risks During Migration

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The multinational professional services company, PwC, released the annual Digital Trust Insights research for 2023. This research reveals the top cybersecurity trends for organisations in the UK this year. 

And, it will come as a surprise to no one that cloud security is everyone’s biggest concern.

In fact, cloud-based threat vectors are considered a bigger threat this year than compromised endpoints, web applications, or even software programs by 39% of senior executives in the UK.

The Cloud Security Threat From Digital Transformation

According to 33% of senior executives, attacks against cloud management interfaces are expected to go up this year.

The reason why cloud-based threats are such a concern is accelerated digital transformation. This is a belief held by 90% of the senior executives who took part in the survey. 

Several companies are migrating to the cloud, using digital currencies, and moving to e-commerce and digital service delivery as part of their digital transformation. Businesses are also converging IT and operational technologies.

According to the executives surveyed, this rapid adoption is “the biggest cybersecurity challenge their organisation has experienced since 2020.”

In spite of the high levels of concern, around two-thirds of the senior executives say they haven’t fully mitigated the cyber risks they face due to the digital transformation.

So, of course, cloud technology and migration are being looked at with concern.

If you’re one of the people who are worried about your organisation’s cybersecurity because of cloud migrations, it’s not all bleak and hopeless. There are ways of ensuring security when your business decides to move to the cloud.

Tips to Ensure Secure Cloud Migration

Create a Migration Plan

A rushed migration can be bad for so many reasons, and data security is one of the major ones. When you start the process, it’s best to migrate low-priority data first. That gives your team time to get used to the new system without risking important information.

That will also give you time to test the system for security. At this point, if you find security gaps, you can fix them without stressing about losing sensitive data.

Migrating in phases also gives you time to do things slowly, in a considered way. As you know, rushing through a process makes you more likely to make mistakes. And, threat actors are lying in wait, ready to exploit any errors in your systems, processes, or software.

Consolidate Your Threat Prevention Cloud Tools

When you were protecting your company from cyber threats on your company’s premises, it was relatively easy. You mainly needed a secured network. All employees went through that single point, making it easier to manage threats.

With cloud-based systems, ensuring cybersecurity becomes slightly more difficult. Each cloud service you use, each user who accesses these services, each employee and new data storage, and each application operating in the cloud is a potential “entry point”.

You need a threat prevention tool that covers a broader range of security issues. That way, you don’t have to manage multiple applications and still get better visibility across your cloud systems.

Thoroughly Understand Your Compliance Needs

This is especially necessary when you’re in a highly-regulated sector. However, even if you’re not, you need to know your industry’s requirements for data encryption, backup, and transfer.

This will save you not only from the wrath of regulatory bodies but also make it difficult for threat actors to fly in and steal valuable data.

Perform Regular Risk Management Exercises

The best way to ensure cybersecurity is through prevention rather than mitigation and remediation. Regular vulnerability scans and services like DigitalXRAID’s Cloud Penetration Services will help you keep on top of any exploitable chinks in your cloud service’s armour.

Also, review your API security stacks and consider investing in a virtual SOC service if you don’t have an in-house cybersecurity team.

Find a Trusted Cloud Security Advisor

Cloud security misconfigurations can be disastrous. To ensure proper security and to get the benefit of industry best practices, find yourself an expert to help you transition to the cloud safely and securely.

So, there you have it. Digital transformation is not all that scary when you have a solid plan in place. Do your due diligence and plan the process well to keep your business safe through cloud migration.

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Computers & Software Law & Legal Living Society & Culture Technology

Make Informed Decisions with Legal “Non-Advisor” – The Revolutionary New Feature from Legalese Decoder

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Vancouver, Canada – Legalese Decoder, the game-changing app that makes legal language simple, is thrilled to announce a new feature for its Professional Plan subscribers. The Legal “Non-Advisor” tool is designed to help users understand complex legal documents by providing answers based on the context of user-supplied documents.

This new feature enhances the app’s existing capabilities and provides a more comprehensive solution for anyone dealing with legal documents. With the Legal “Non-Advisor”, users can now access a wealth of information that helps them understand legal terms, phrases and concepts, and make informed decisions based on their unique circumstances.

The Legal “Non-Advisor” takes the guesswork out of deciphering legal language, providing clear, concise answers to your questions about contracts, legal agreements, banking documents, and other everyday legalese. This innovative tool leverages AI, NLP, and machine learning to analyze the structure and content of your legal documents, identify key terms, and provide definitions in plain language.

Never get lost in legal jargon again! With the Legal “Non-Advisor”, you can confidently make informed decisions about your legal matters with the information you need at your fingertips. Whether you’re a business owner, lawyer, or just someone looking to understand legal language, the Legal “Non-Advisor” is the perfect solution.

“Our mission is to make the legal system accessible and understandable to everyone,” says Legalese Decoder founder William Tsui. “With the Legal “Non-Advisor”, we’re making that a reality by providing a tool that empowers users to understand complex legal documents and make informed decisions.”

So, if you’re a Professional Plan subscriber, be sure to take advantage of this new feature and start using the Legal “Non-Advisor” today. And, if you’re not yet a subscriber, now is the perfect time to upgrade and enjoy the benefits of this amazing new tool. With Legalese Decoder, understanding legal language has never been easier.

** Disclaimer: The Legal “Non-Advisor” feature offered by Legalese Decoder is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. The information provided by the Legal “Non-Advisor” is based on the context supplied by the user and is subject to the limitations of the artificial intelligence algorithms used by the tool. No jurisdiction has approved the use of this tool as a substitute for professional legal advice, and Legalese Decoder makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by the Legal “Non-Advisor”. Users are advised to seek the advice of a licensed attorney for all legal matters.

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Business Computers & Software Professional Services Technology U.K

Designing Digital Products in 2023: UX Trends in the Spotlight

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Community by NASSCOM Insights recently released a guide on digital products, complete with projected trends in 2023. 

The article talks about the importance of user experience (UX) in digital product design and why creating an effective digital product design strategy is essential. Then, it lays out a design process.

Finally, it talks about digital product design trends for the year.

But, if you don’t know what digital products are, this report won’t make any sense to you. So…

What Is a Digital Product?

A digital product is an intangible item that is delivered and consumed electronically. An example of a digital product might be a music file or video, a PDF, or an ebook. It could also be an app, a software program, a template, or a plug-in.

If you have the right resources, you can create digital products on your computer. Of course, some products require more technical knowledge than others. But, yeah, they don’t need a workshop, where they are made piece by piece.

Since the product is digital, you don’t need physical inventory. And, delivery is quite literally as fast as the consumer’s download speed.

So, if you’re planning to start a business, selling digital products could be a good idea, especially if you’re looking to keep your overhead costs down. App development, for example, is a great way to get started if you have an innovative idea.

But, as I said earlier, you need to spend time on the UX of your product.

Why Is UX Important for Digital Products?

In case you were wondering why UX is so important for digital products, here are some reasons:

It Enhances Usability

Users tend to like digital products designed with UX in mind. That’s because UX enhances the… ummm…user’s experience. 

It takes into consideration how the consumer will interact with the product and removes any potential pain points. The result is a product that is a pleasure to use.

It Can Improve Engagement

A well-designed digital product can encourage users to engage and interact with it more and more. And, it can give them a push in the right direction—encouraging them to take the action you want them to take.

It Makes Your Spending More Effective

Constant improvement can help keep your product relevant and in demand. However, if you spend time—and money—at the beginning of the design process, you can ensure that your future improvements are less expensive. 

You can invest in more features instead of trying to get people to like what you’ve already created.

It Improves Conversion Rates and Retention

An important part of UX design is identifying what your customers need and want. By giving them a product designed for them, you can get them to convert quickly. More importantly, you will retain them.

It Helps Your Brand’s Reputation

So, you create products that are easy to use, efficiently designed, and meet customer requirements. That’s a good reputation to have. Keep doing that consistently and you will find people buying your products because they were built by you.

Now that you know why you need UX, here are some of the UX trends for digital product design in 2023:

UX Trends For Digital Product Design in 2023

According to the report, here are the top UX trends you need to keep in mind when designing your digital product.

UX Copywriting

Quick, snappy copy. Don’t bore users with long, wordy essays.

Inclusivity in Design

Design products so everyone can use them. Bear in mind cultural differences as well as physical disabilities.

AR/VR

It’s a lot more ubiquitous now, so use the power of augmented reality and virtual reality to make your digital product more interesting, exciting, and relevant.

3D Graphics

3D graphics give depth and detail to your product design. Make use of it—especially since modern technology can handle it without lagging or getting overloaded.

Innovative Landing Pages

Hook your audience with impressive landing pages. At the same time, remember that too much detail can be distracting. 

So, now that you know why you need UX in your digital product design, stop and plan your idea in a bit more detail. And, if you need professional help, you have companies like Luminos Software to help you.

Good luck!

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Computers & Software Technology U.K U.S

Review Your Cybersecurity Stack to Stop API Breaches

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Earlier this month (January 2023, if you’re reading this in the future), T-Mobile revealed that it had been hacked and had the information of 37,000,000 customers stolen. 

The company filed an 8-K form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is a document that companies must file if there is a development that shareholders should be aware of.

The form stated that the company had “…identified that a bad actor was obtaining data through a single Application Programming Interface (“API”) without authorization.”

Data breaches that exploit API security flaws are not new. Last year, a leading cybersecurity journal, SC Media, reported that API security incidents affected 95% of the surveyed organisations in 2021-22.

In a more recent article, the magazine discusses how re-evaluating the cybersecurity stack of the company might be essential for stopping API breaches.

If you aren’t sure what an API is, this article might be difficult to follow. So, to answer your question (and feel free to skip to the next section if you already know)…

What’s an API?

An API is a bit of software that helps two different applications “talk” to each other. APIs can be very useful in application and software development because they save you the time and effort of building a tool when something already exists. 

Simply use an API to get that tool to show up within your application and you’re done.

It’s like when you want to show your location on the map on your website. Why code your own map when you can use Google Maps and have it show up on your website using an API?

Why Are APIs Vulnerable to Attacks?

The problem is, with so many applications being built, the use of APIs has increased exponentially.

Since APIs are programs that transfer information between two entities, they are prime targets for those who want access to that information.

As a result, cyberattacks that exploit APIs are on the rise.

According to the SC Media article, the rate at which APIs are being developed makes them difficult to secure.

On top of that, most companies don’t even know how many APIs they have, let alone a complete list. So, they have no idea how many of their APIs can access sensitive information.

Finally, the biggest problem APIs are facing is attacks using bots. Malicious automation is used to find vulnerabilities in the APIs as well as to exploit these vulnerabilities to gain access.

That means bots can quickly—at a much, much faster rate than a human—get access to a company’s database and grab information that can then be used for nefarious purposes.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like developers aren’t doing anything to secure their APIs. API management best practices include a discussion about security. However, regular security tools, like WAFs and API gateways, can be inadequate for bot attacks.

Is Re-Evaluating Your Cybersecurity Stack the Answer?

In the article, SC Media cites a report by Forrester (Planning Guide 2023: Security and Risk) which says companies must evolve their defences to keep up with the evolving threats. 

That might mean reviewing your current cybersecurity stacks and removing tactics and solutions that don’t work. CISOs should also be focusing on API security and bot management in 2023, the article advises.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the bot defence should be “proactive and dynamic”. Companies should be aware of the potential vulnerabilities of their products and plan their defences accordingly, and not rely on a one-size-fits-all approach.

As the bots evolve and change their attack methods, your API security should be smart enough to block them from every direction. If it’s not, then it might be time to take a look at it with a critical eye.