On Wednesday evening, New Mexico’s Bernalillo County – which covers the state’s most populous cities of Albuquerque, Los Ranchos and Tijeras – officially reported that it was hit with a ransomware attack that began between midnight and 5:30 a.m. on January 5. County officials have taken the affected systems offline and cut network connections but most county building are now closed to the public. Emergency services are still available and 911 is still operating, but a Sheriff’s Office customer service window was closed....

Worth AU$7 million, the deal will see CSO Group deliver a fully-managed security monitoring service, security operations centre (SOC), and managed security information and event management, which will be delivered through a sovereign architecture via Macquarie Government’s protected cloud and government-certified environment. “Working with enterprise-grade Australian cybersecurity companies that house the data in a protected Australian data centre is a highly valuable requirement.” NSW DCJ CISO Matthew Fedele-Sirotich said. “Furthermore, the services offered enables our internal teams to conduct the in-depth threat hunts to continuously validate the secure nature of our environment....

Organisations that already are set up to comply with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), though, have a good foundation on which to work towards PIPL adherence. Passed in August, the Chinese legislation came into force last month, laying out ground rules around how data should be collected, used, and stored. It outlines data processing requirements for companies based outside of China, which included passing a security assessment conducted by state authorities....

Under the amendment to article 5 of the country’s Constitution, which relates to individual and collective rights, a new section has been added, noting “the right to protection of personal data, including in digital media, is ensured under the terms of the law.” The president of the Brazilian Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said that the enactment of the amendment focused on personal data protection is a demonstration of Congress’ commitment “to the non-negotiable value of individual liberty....

Facebook’s Q2 net income came to $10.4 billion, with earnings of $3.61 per diluted share. Revenue came to $29.08 billion, up 56 percent year-over-year. Analysts were expecting earnings of $3.02 on revenue of $27.82 billion. “We had a strong quarter as we continue to help businesses grow and people stay connected,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “I’m excited to see our major initiatives around creators and community, commerce, and building the next computing platform coming together to start to bring the vision of the metaverse to life....

When photos and videos are shared on WhatsApp, they are automatically saved to a recipient’s camera roll. The view once feature allows users to send photos and videos that disappear from a WhatsApp chat after a recipient has opened it once. Users will be unable to forward, save, star, or share the media that was sent as a view once media. When the media has been viewed, the message will appear as “opened”, which Facebook said will “help avoid any confusion about what was happening in the chat at the time”....

Facebook Shops, launched in 2019, enable businesses to set up their own digital storefronts within Facebook or Instagram. Facebook is now bringing Shops to WhatsApp and Marketplace on Facebook, a move that CEO Mark Zuckerberg said will make it easier for people to find the products or brands they want to engage with. Facebook is also introducing Shop ads, which is essentially a personalized ads experience based on a person’s shopping preferences....

Mentoring is here to help you reach your desired destination. Harvard Business Review suggests a transformational mentorship creates powerful benefits for the mentee and the mentor, helping both to express their ideas and to grow professionally. So, how can mentoring help you get the expertise and knowledge you require? Five business leaders give us their tips for making the most of mentorships. 1. Gain exposure to fresh business challenges Danny Gonzalez, chief digital and innovation officer (CDIO) at London North Eastern Railway, says one of the big pluses of mentoring is that it brings awareness of business concerns that might otherwise have remained hidden....

Also, be sure to check out our picks for best smartwatches that you can buy today, too. And, if you’re still in the market, don’t forget that the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 is also $20 off the original price right now. You’ll get a Daily Readiness Score to help you track those fitness goals with 20 Goal-Based Exercise Modes that include activities like running, biking, swimming, and more. You can see the distance traveled on GPS when paired with the phone....

It might be a missing document, lost paragraphs, formatting issues, or even being unable to open a document. Over the last 25 years, I’ve pretty much run the gamut of issues when collaborating. Back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, one of the biggest issues was finding a middle ground with a document file-type format that everyone could use. I was working with StarOffice, OpenOffice, Corel, AbiWord, and any other word processor I could install on Linux....

On February 14, FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova said the termination “of what would have been the largest semiconductor chip merger will preserve competition for key technologies and safeguard future innovation.” “This result is particularly significant because it represents the first abandonment of a litigated vertical merger in many years,” Vedova commented. Nvidia announced the purchase of Arm from SoftBank in 2020 for $12 billion in cash and $21....

The rise of ecommerce has presented an opportunity for retailers to analyze consumer needs and tailor their offerings to maximize revenue. Stor.ai, a digital commerce solution for grocers, believes gas station owners can jump on this trend and move from a vehicle-centric model to a customer-centric one. Gas stations today are already repurposing their store space to enable shoppers to receive deliveries at their convenience. I reached out to Mendel Gniwisch, CEO of Stor....

Retailers Are sports your thing and do you want some more sports memorabilia to add to your fan cave? Score a $50 gift card to Fanatics for just $40. Old Navy is offering a $10.50 discount on their $50 gift cards. Get clothes for the whole family, or keep it a secret for yourself, and score savings on this gift card. Make your house smell good this summer and fall with a $50 gift card to Yankee Candle for $10....

Starting in August, the Quest 2 will cost $399.99 and $499.99 USD for the 128GB and 256GB versions, respectively. There are no improvements to the hardware that come with the increased cost. However, for a limited time, customers who purchase the headset will be able to download the $30 VR rhythm game Beat Saber at no additional cost. Meta is also increasing the prices for Meta Quest 2 accessories and refurbished units....

CodeSpark’s goal is to help children learn to code by stimulating their curiosity about computer science through making programming more like play. Kids five years old and up can learn the basics through creative tools and coding challenges. It’s a really wonderful way for any child to learn to code. They’ll learn concepts like conditional statement, Boolean logic and sorting, loops, sequencing, events and more. Up to three children will have unlimited access to all of the story and game creation activities and puzzles....

Also: This 3D printing system converts waste sawdust into stunning wooden lamps and guitars Another kind of device, which also spans the range from hobbyist to industrial applications, is the CNC laser cutter/engraver, which can etch designs into a variety of materials, including plastic, leather, wood, metal and glass, and also cut out shapes from some of them, which you can then assemble into 3D objects. That’s why Glowforge calls its device a ‘3D laser printer’....

With client-side encryption (CSE) enabled, the email body, attachments, and inline images are encrypted. The email header, subject, timestamps, and recipients lists are not. Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, or Education Standard customers can now apple to Google to join the Gmail CSE Beta test via its new support page for the feature. Also: Google warns: Android ‘patch gap’ is leaving these smartphones vulnerable to attack It’s not available to users with personal Google Accounts, and not available to users with Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers Google explains CSE is different to end-to-end encryption (E2EE) because clients use encryption keys that are generated and stored in a cloud-based key management service, so admins can control the keys and who has access to them....

Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Google, published a blog post on Wednesday about the current data framework that is causing issues between the US and the European Union. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018 as a data privacy law to provide more privacy for citizens, deliver a better understanding of their rights when handing over personal data, and encourage organizations to take more precautions when handling information....

She previously served as assistant director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), where she led the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to protect and strengthen American critical infrastructure from cyber threats and its efforts to secure the 2018 midterm elections from digital interference. Roles like these saw Manfra become one of the most influential cybersecurity officials in US government, helping to form strategies to improve the cybersecurity of businesses and infrastructure, before switching to the private sector in December 2019....

Google Cloud’s partnership with Workday lands just days after an expanded pact with SAP. Google Cloud has been partnering with key software-as-a-service players to better target industries including healthcare, financial services, and retail. Under the deal, Workday Financial Management, Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) and Workday Adaptive Planning will run on Google Cloud. Workday customers can also run on AWS under a separate partnership. Workday also has another pact with Microsoft on integration between Azure applications....