Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a way for using a 3D-printing ink that contains calcium carbonate-producing bacteria, giving a result similar to mollusc shells or bone.

‘BacktoInk’ – Environmentally Friendly 

Researchers at EPFL’s Soft Materials Laboratory in the School of Engineering have successfully added the Sporosarcina pasteurii bacterium to 3D printing ink. When mixed with a urea-containing solution, it triggers a mineralisation process that produces calcium carbonate (CaCO3) that is light, strong, porous, and rigid, just bone or shells. This means that, using the new ‘BactoInk’, it’s now possible to produce a 3D-printed product of virtually any shape, using environmentally friendly materials and processes, which will gradually mineralise over the course of a few days to a solid state.

Mineral Particle Inks Failed In The Past 

Inks containing mineral particles have been tried in the past but have not been able to meet the flow conditions needed for successful 3D printing i.e., behaving like a solid when at rest, but still be extrudable through a 3D printing nozzle. Also, previous efforts have resulted in structures that were soft, or shrunk upon drying, leading to cracking and loss of control over the shape of the final product.

The Answer – A Polymeric ‘Scaffold’ Using BactoInk 

Lab head Esther Amstad explained why the bacteria-based ink method from the EPFL team has been successful where other mineral inks have failed, saying: “We came up with a simple trick: instead of printing minerals, we printed a polymeric scaffold using our BactoInk, which is then mineralised in a second, separate step. After about four days, the mineralisation process triggered by the bacteria in the scaffold leads to a final product with a mineral content of over 90 per cent.” 

The Result – A Strong And Resilient Bio-composite 

EPFL has reported that using BactoInk in a 3D printer produces a “strong and resilient bio-composite, which can be produced using a standard 3D printer and natural materials, and without the extreme temperatures often required for manufacturing ceramics.” 

No Living Bacteria In Final Product 

For those concerned about any possible dangers of the bacterial element of the ink, the EPFL researchers report that: “Final products no longer contain living bacteria, as they are submerged in ethanol at the end of the mineralisation process.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

This method of mineralising ink appears to have succeeded where others have failed and it’s believed that the versatility of BactoInk, combined with its low environmental impact and the excellent mechanical properties of the mineralised materials, could bring new possibilities for fabricating lightweight, load-bearing composites that are more like natural materials than to today’s synthetic composites. As such, the BactoInk method could have applications across a broad range of fields, including art, ecology, and biomedicine. The research team, for example, have suggested that it could be used in restoration of artworks e.g., by being directly injected into a mold or target site such as a crack in a vase or a chip in a statue. BactoInk’s mechanical properties such as its strength and shrinkage resistance mean that it could be well suited to both the repair a work of art, and preventing further damage during the restoration process.

One other very interesting environmental possibility for BactoInk could be in the building of artificial corals to help regenerate damaged marine reefs. Its bone-like structure may also lend itself to biomedical applications.

If you’d like a way to send web pages you find interesting to your inbox rather than bookmarking them in Chrome and forgetting about them, the InboxThis extension may be helpful. Here’s how to use it:

– Go to the Google Chrome Web Store and search for ‘InboxThis’. It’s a free browser extension that can send any webpage to your inbox in 5 seconds. N.B. other extensions and methods are available, and we have no commercial links with or reason to endorse this extension other than to highlight it as a potentially helpful tip.

– Add the extension (click on the ‘Add Extension’ button) – no signup or account creation is needed.

– When you’re on a page/article you want to save, click on the extension icon in Chrome.

– Check your email inbox. The webpage should be there.

Green distributed computer network heating company Heata is offering to provide up to 4.8kWh of free hot water per day in exchange for installing a business cloud server in your home.

Green Distributed Compute Network 

Heata, which began as an innovation project with British Gas, describes itself as “a ground-breaking green distributed compute network that uses the waste heat from compute to heat the water in people’s homes.”

Tackling Two Challenges With One Solution 

The company sees this as a way of tackling two challenges with one solution in that over 4 million UK households live in fuel poverty and data centres require vast amounts of energy and create significant heat. For example, it’s estimated that waste heat from a large data centre could provide hot water for 11,000 homes. Heata says that “moving heat is hard, it requires new infrastructure or a pre-existing heat network” but “moving bits and bytes is easy” so the idea of installing servers on the side of water tanks is a way of taking the servers to where heat is needed, thereby providing free hot water for those that want it. Heata says this turns a computing problem into a “social benefit” and supports the decarbonisation of the rapidly growing cloud computing industry.

How Does It Work 

The company fits a computer server unit to the side of domestic hot water tanks and the heat generated by the business cloud server heats the hot water. In return, Heata gets to expand its business cloud server network without the cost and complications of having to find/build and run data centres and deal with the heat from them.

Offer Example  

The Heata unit is reported to be currently only available as part of a government backed scheme in South East England. An example of a recent offer to customers is that (from Toms Hardware) in exchange for Heata installing a water-heating server unit next to the existing hot water cylinder, homeowners can get up to 4.8kWh of free hot water a day, the equivalent of 80 per cent of a UK household’s daily use for a whole year.

The Server Unit And ‘Thermal Bridge’ 

The computer server is mounted on Heata’s patented thermal bridge which is fitted to 450mm diameter domestic hot water cylinders and provides the attachment point for the server.

What About Your Router And The Power For The Server? 

Two key aspects of the deal that are less clear, however, are the fact that an extra (business) server will need to connect to the home’s router and network, and the unit will require electricity that the homeowner initially pays for (Heata says it will reimburse owners in the trial). These facts may well give potential customers some concerns such as:

– The bandwidth the unit will use and the associated costs and connection worries.

– The fact that it’s a strange computer on the home network that the homeowner has no access to and doesn’t know exactly what it’s doing, leading to possible security concerns.

That said, Heata has reportedly said that the server will only use a fraction of the bandwidth, it will only be engaged in tasks such as monitoring information and performing speed tests for most of the time, and later versions will be separated from a home’s broadband by fibre connections.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The huge growth in cloud computing has created the need for many more energy hungry data centres which in turn has created the issues of how to manage the heat they generate and minimise/reduce the environmental impact. Many ideas have been tried, e.g. underwater data centres, but part of the attractiveness of this scheme is both the social element, i.e. homeowners in a cost-of-living crisis with high energy prices getting ‘free’ hot water, plus the fact that the product appears to tackle several issues with one solution. Businesses always need affordable cloud computing which schemes like this may be able to help provide and the computing industry needs to rapidly find ways to decarbonise, which Heata’s offering also shows promise for. It could also have knock-on benefits and opportunities for broadband providers and for other computing-based companies looking to offer similar solutions.

Although Openview’s recent second report shows that most SaaS companies used usage-based pricing last year, many are now moving to hybrid models.

What Is Usage Based Pricing? 

Usage-based pricing (UBP) is a pricing model where customers are charged based on how much they use a particular product or service. In the context of SaaS (Software as a Service), usage-based pricing means that the amount a customer pays for the service is, therefore, directly tied to how much they use it. For example, a SaaS company that offers an email marketing service may charge customers based on the number of emails they send each month, or a SaaS company that provides a project management tool may charge customers based on the number of active projects they have at any given time.

Types 

There are many popular types of UBP, including pay-per-use, tiered pricing, subscription-based pricing, and freemium pricing, but the pricing model commonly used in industries such as software and SaaS, where businesses charge based on the number of employees or users accessing the product, is known as per-seat pricing.

61 Per Cent Used UBP Last Year 

Openview’s  second ‘The State of Usage Based Pricing’ report (published this month and based on a survey conducted among a diverse range of private SaaS companies in July-August 2022) shows that 61 per cent of SaaS companies used some form of UBP in 2022. The report also shows that another 21 per cent plan on testing UBP in the future.

Who? 

Some examples of well-known tech companies shifting to UBP in recent times include Apigee, Google Cloud’s API management platform, and vertical software giant Autodesk. UBP is, however, used by many other big names including Slack, Mailchimp, Spotify, and many more.

What Are The Main Benefits Of UBP? 

Some of the main benefits of UBP that explain why it’s been gaining in popularity in recent years include:

– It seems fair. UBP can be more fair than flat-rate pricing, as customers only pay for what they use. This ensures that customers who use less of a product or service pay less than those who use more.

– Cost-effectiveness. UBP can be cost-effective for both customers and businesses. Customers can save money by paying only for what they use, while businesses can reduce the amount of waste or excess inventory they have on hand.

– UBP is more flexible and allows customers to adjust their consumption based on their needs and budget. This can be particularly useful for customers who have fluctuating demand, such as those in seasonal businesses.

– Transparency. UBP is often more transparent than flat-rate pricing, as customers can easily see how their usage translates into costs. This can help build trust and loyalty between businesses and customers.

– It’s relatively simple to understand.

– It allows SaaS companies to share in their customers’ success, making it what could be called a Product-led growth (PLG) model, i.e. where product usage drives customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.

– It incentivises efficiency. UBP incentivises customers to be more efficient in their usage, as they will be directly rewarded for reducing their consumption. This can be particularly effective in industries where energy or resource conservation is a priority.

Why Charge On Usage Instead Of Users? 

Some reasons why UBP has been preferred over pricing based on user numbers in recent years include:

– Seat pricing doesn’t scale with the value of automation. Software increasingly automates manual processes so the more successful a product is, the fewer user seats the customer needs.

– With the rise of AI gradually eliminating the need for whole teams of people for ongoing tasks, it’s become more difficult to achieve Monetisation that’s tied to human users of a product.

– For many fast-growing software companies, the value is in the API, i.e. software talking directly to software, so there doesn’t need to be a user to see value.

– Value-based pricing. UBP aligns with the value that the software provides to the customer. If a customer is using the software frequently, then they will pay more, while a customer who uses it less will pay less. This model can create a stronger connection between the value the software provides and what the customer is paying for it.

– Customer acquisition. By using UBP, SaaS companies can attract and retain customers who might be hesitant to commit to a fixed per-user fee. This pricing model can be more attractive to customers who are new to a particular software solution or are just testing the waters. UBP can also help companies to acquire and retain customers who have variable usage patterns.

– Competitive advantage. Offering UBP can give SaaS companies a competitive advantage over their competitors. By providing flexible and cost-effective pricing, SaaS companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors and attract more customers.

– Improved customer retention. UBP can lead to higher customer retention rates since customers are only paying for what they use. If customers feel they are getting value from the software and the pricing is fair, they are more likely to stay with the company over the long term.

Changing – A Move Towards Hybrid Pricing 

In addition to showing how popular UBP still is, the report also highlights the fact that today’s SaaS companies are now turning to more complex, hybrid pricing models, and that usage-based models exist somewhere in the middle of a pricing method spectrum.

Figures show that it’s not simply a case of usage-based pricing or subscriptions and that the share of companies with a largely usage-based or pay-as-you-go model has declined year-over-year (22 per cent to 15 per cent).

The report makes the point that hybrid pricing models appear to be more effective in today’s uncertain market conditions, e.g. mass tech layoffs and the rise and fall of company valuations and can help companies win deals and meet customers where they are.

The future of SaaS pricing, therefore, appears likely to continue being more blurred, with companies using blended models, e.g. Zapier, offering subscription tiers that include consumption as one of its main variables.

Stacking 

One of the other SaaS pricing features noted by the report was that new stacks of products are being introduced by SaaS companies to help them offer more complex pricing and as a way of experimenting with (and changing) their pricing.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Broadly speaking, although UBP for SaaS companies is still on the way up, recent uncertain market conditions have seen many SaaS companies moving to hybrid models. Combining elements of different pricing models and creating new stacks of products have helped SaaS companies to take advantage of more complex pricing and have made them better able to weather the current economic challenges. It appears, therefore, that although UBP has many advantages and is still popular, the future is more blurred, hybrid pricing and UBP will exist in the centre of a spectrum of pricing model mixes rather than replacing other pricing models.

Twitter-owner Elon Musk’s latest decision to turn off SMS 2FA after 20 March unless you pay for Blue Tick has caused another storm of criticism.

What And Why? 

On 15 February, Twitter announced that: “starting today, we will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2-Factor Authentication unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers.” Twitter Blue is Twitter’s own paid-for authentication service which was ramped-up recently as a way of giving Twitter another revenue stream to get away from its near total reliance upon ad revenue.

Twitter justified the change by saying that: “unfortunately we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used – and abused – by bad actors”. 

SMS 2FA Known To Be Insecure 

It’s true to say that SMS as a form of 2FA has been known (for several years) to be much less secure for authentication than some other methods. For example, cyber criminals operate SIM jacking and SIM swap hacks and obtain leaked credentials like a username, cracked password, and phone number, enabling them to get past 2FA, e.g. using a password reset and fooling the device.

That said, at least having SMS 2FA is much better and more secure than having no second authentication factor enabled.

Non-Twitter Blue Users Have 30 Days  

Twitter also announced that for non-Twitter Blue subscribers (i.e. the vast majority of Twitter users) who are currently using SMS as their 2FA method on the platform, it’s a case of being given 30 days to disable SMS and find another third-party 2FA solution, after which time, SMS 2FA will be switched off. Twitter says that “After 20 March 2023, we will no longer permit non-Twitter Blue subscribers to use text messages as a 2FA method. At that time, accounts with text message 2FA still enabled will have it disabled”. 

What Are The Options? 

Twitter recommends using an authentication app or security key method instead. Examples of popular authentication apps include Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy, and LastPass Authenticator. A security key can use a USB based method, or some people connect wirelessly or through Apple’s lightning port. Examples of popular security keys include Yubico Yubikey, Kensington VeriMark USB-C, and Nitrokey FIDO2.

What If You Haven’t Found An Alternative In That Time? 

One of the main criticisms within the online storm following the announcement is that if non-Blue Tick users don’t get an alternative in place before 20 March they’ll simply be left with no protection and, presumably, open to security threats.

Others have questioned the fact that if Twitter’s move was motivated by security, wouldn’t they want their paid accounts to have a more secure method of 2FA than SMS too?

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Although it’s accepted that SMS for 2FA is one of the less secure methods, it seems likely that this change is more about money. For example, the Blue Tick service is a way to create a revenue stream beyond advertising and although it appears a little heavy handed, this announcement may get more Twitter users to sign up. Also, sending SMS messages costs money and Twitter presumably needs to save more money right now wherever possible. It’s not surprising that many users may feel a little concerned about being given a time limit and being essentially told to go and sort their own security arrangement out but given the troubles at Twitter lately, they may not be too surprised. That said, one positive aspect may be that it may increase awareness about the different types and brands of authenticators and security key options available and their pros and cons, and it may actually mean that non-Blue Tick accounts will be more secure and less at risk as a result.

In this insight, we look at the popular email authentication protocols SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, how they work, why they’re important, and what happens if they’re not set up properly.

What Is SPF? 

SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, is an email authentication protocol used to verify the sender of an email message. It is used to detect and prevent email spoofing, a common tactic used by spammers and cybercriminals to send email messages that appear to come from a legitimate source.

How Does SPF Work? 

SPF works by allowing the domain owner to publish a list of authorised email servers in the DNS record of their domain. When an email message is sent, the receiving mail server checks the SPF record of the sender’s domain to verify that the email was sent from an authorised server. If the sending server is not on the list of authorised servers, the receiving mail server may mark the email as spam or reject it outright.

Why Is SPF Now So Important? 

SPF is one of several email authentication protocols that can be used to combat spam and other forms of email fraud.

What Is DKIM? 

DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is an email authentication protocol that is designed to verify the authenticity of an email message and detect email spoofing. Like SPF, DKIM is used to combat spam and other forms of email fraud.

How Does DKIM Work? 

DKIM works by adding a digital signature to the header of an email message. The signature is generated using a private key that is known only to the sender’s domain. When the email message is received by the recipient’s mail server, the server can verify the signature using a public key that is published in the sender’s domain’s DNS records. If the signature is valid, the email is considered to be authentic, and the receiving server can then deliver the email to the recipient’s inbox.

DKIM can also help protect the reputation of the sender’s domain. By signing their email messages with a DKIM signature, legitimate senders can provide a mechanism for email receivers to determine that the message is legitimate, which can reduce the likelihood that the message will be marked as spam or rejected outright.

Why Is DKIM So Important? 

In combination with other email authentication protocols like SPF and DMARC, DKIM can provide a strong defence against email spoofing and other forms of email fraud.

What Is DMARC? 

DMARC, which stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, is an email authentication protocol that is used to combat email fraud and phishing attacks. DMARC is designed to give email domain owners greater control over how their emails are processed by receivers and provides them with visibility into how their domain is being used to send email.

How Does DMARC Work? 

DMARC works by allowing the domain owner to publish a DMARC policy in their DNS records that instructs receiving mail servers how to handle email messages that fail authentication checks. The DMARC policy can be set up to instruct receivers to either quarantine, reject or allow email messages that fail authentication checks (such as SPF and DKIM).

DMARC also provides feedback to the domain owner about how their emails are being processed by receivers. This feedback can include information about how many emails are passing or failing authentication checks, which email services are processing emails on behalf of the domain owner, and more.

Why Is DMARC So Important? 

By using DMARC, email domain owners can better protect their brand reputation, improve their email deliverability and reduce the likelihood that their domain will be used for fraudulent or malicious purposes. DMARC is often used in combination with other email authentication protocols such as SPF and DKIM to provide a more comprehensive email security solution.

What can happen if SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not set up properly? 

If SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not set up properly, it can leave a domain vulnerable to email-based attacks such as phishing, spamming, and spoofing. For example:

– If SPF is not set up properly, it can allow unauthorised senders to use a domain name to send email messages, which can lead to email spoofing. This can result in the recipient receiving a message that appears to be from a legitimate sender when, in fact, it is not.

– If DKIM is not set up properly, it can also allow unauthorised senders to use a domain name to send email messages. In addition, it can result in messages being marked as spam or rejected by email receivers, even if they are legitimate.

– If DMARC is not set up properly, it can result in a lack of visibility into how a domain is being used to send email, which can make it difficult to identify and respond to email-based attacks. It can also lead to email messages being marked as spam or rejected by email receivers, even if they are legitimate.

-Without proper setup of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, legitimate email messages may not be delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox, while malicious or spam messages may pass through to the inbox, potentially leading to security threats or the compromise of sensitive information.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Email is one of the most common attack vectors used by cybercriminals, with a considerable proportion of security threats arriving in emails. According to various studies and reports, the majority of cyberattacks and security threats are initiated through email. For example, the 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 85 per cent of all data breaches involved a human element, with phishing and credential theft being the top methods used by attackers. Additionally, the report found that 36 per cent of all breaches involved the use of stolen or compromised credentials, many of which were obtained through phishing attacks.

Also, the 2021 Microsoft Digital Defence Report found that phishing attacks were the most common type of threat observed, with attackers using a range of social engineering tactics to trick users into providing sensitive information or downloading malware.

Similarly, other studies have shown that a significant proportion of malware is delivered via email. For example, a 2020 report by cybersecurity company Symantec found that email was the most common vector for malware attacks, with over 70 per cent of all malware being delivered via email.

Overall, therefore, email should be a critical area of focus for businesses cybersecurity professionals, and it is essential that businesses and organisations take steps to protect themselves against email-based attacks. This can be done through the use of email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as well as through user education and training on how to identify and respond to phishing and other email-based threats. Therefore, it’s important for email domain owners to properly set up and maintain these email authentication protocols to ensure the security and integrity of their email communications.