Apple has released the iOS 18.1 developer beta for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 which initially gives users a taste of a limited number of Apple Intelligence features. Apple Intelligence is the company’s suite of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies (as announced WWDC24 in June) designed to enhance user experience on their devices.

The first wave of features to try is reported to include writing tools (proofread text, rewrite, and text summarising), Siri with and updated design, new Mail features (e.g., a summarise button for incoming emails), natural language search in Photos, audio transcripts, phone call recording, and more.

Although a limited number of Apple Intelligence features in this beta version, it’s been reported that other (beta) features will roll out later this year.

A Threat Landscape report from cyber security company Imperva has revealed that the number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks more than doubled globally last year, with the upward trend continuing in the first half of this year.

DDoS attacks overwhelm a target system with excessive traffic from multiple sources (multiple compromised systems, often infected with malware), causing it to slow down or crash, thereby denying service to legitimate users.

Imperva’s report attributes the increase in this type of attack to factors like geopolitical tensions, e.g. attacks on Ukraine are up by 519 per cent and attacks on Israel are up by 118 per cent. The report identifies the most attacked industries as being financial services, telecoms, and ISPs, which collectively account for around 60 per cent of all Layer 7 (flooding a website with fake traffic) DDoS attacks.

The advice to businesses looking to protect themselves from DDoS attacks is to implement robust security measures, such as using DDoS protection services, monitoring traffic, and having an incident response plan.

UK startup ‘The Tyre Collective’ has developed a tyre-dust magnet to attach to electric vehicles (EVs) to tackle the often-overlooked problem of tyre-dust microplastic pollution.

The Problem – The Dangers Of Tyre-Wear 

As explained by The Tyre Collective, “Tyre-wear is the second-largest source of microplastics in our oceans, toxic to marine life, and air particulate pollution”. The ‘tyre-wear’ it refers to are the particles of tyre dust, caused by friction on the road, that break off and are released every time a vehicle accelerates, brakes or corners. These tiny microplastic particles are both dangerous to health if breathed in, plus they pollute the environment.

Another interesting aspect of the problem is that EVs produce more trye-wear than regular vehicles because of their higher weight from heavy battery packs and instant torque, which increases stress on the tyres.

The Tyre Magnet 

The tyre-dust magnet, the first such device designed to capture tyre pollution, is a toaster-size device with a series of metal plates, that attaches to the undercarriage of a vehicle, behind the wheels. As the car drives, tyre dust from road friction is released as charged particles. The device uses electrostatics and airflow to attract and capture these particles, thereby removing the tyre-wear pollution at source.

How Effective Is It? 

As the Tyre Collective points out, the issue of tyre-wear particle pollution has been an overlooked area until now but “transport will never reach zero emissions, without capturing tyre-wear”.   

In terms of how effective the tyre magnet device is, The Tyre Collective says its technology can attract up to 60 per cent of a car’s tyre particles.

Upcycling 

One other advantage of the tyre magnet device is that the collected tyre-wear particles can be upcycled into a variety of applications creating a closed-loop system. Examples of where the upcycled trye particles can be used (industrial and consumer applications) include making bitumen, 3D-printing, shoe soles, and making high-performance activewear.

Which Vehicles? 

The Tyre Collective says it’s initially targeting logistic fleets, i.e. delivery and maintenance vans then moving onto buses and HGVs. Long term, the company aims to scale its devices across all vehicle segments and integrate them into new EVs globally.

Trials 

The tyre magnet was trialed last year on American EV manufacturer Rivian’s fully electric commercial vans. Other trials of the device have been with companies like CEVT & Volvo Cars, PostNL and BMW Financial Services.

There’s also another trial in the pipeline with a fleet of electric delivery vans owned by London-based startup HIVED.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

For businesses in the logistics and delivery sector, including those operating maintenance vans, the introduction of The Tyre Collective’s tyre-dust magnet offers an opportunity to reduce their environmental footprint. By integrating these devices into their fleets, companies could significantly cut down on tyre-wear pollution, contributing to cleaner air and a healthier environment. Additionally, this proactive approach may enhance the corporate image and attract environmentally conscious clients, while potentially lowering maintenance costs in the long run through reduced tyre-wear.

For buses and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), the benefits may be similarly substantial. These vehicles, often covering extensive miles and operating in urban areas, contribute significantly to microplastic pollution. By adopting the tyre-dust magnet technology, operators could play a crucial role in mitigating urban pollution, improving public health, and setting a precedent for sustainable transport. This could also align with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, potentially avoiding future compliance costs and penalties.

EV manufacturers stand to gain immensely from this kind of innovation. Integrating tyre-dust magnets into new EV models could, for example, enhance their appeal by addressing a significant environmental concern. As consumers become more eco-conscious, showcasing a commitment to reducing all forms of pollution, including tyre-wear, could provide a competitive edge. This integration also aligns with the broader industry goal of achieving zero emissions, reinforcing the sustainable image of EVs.

For The Tyre Collective, the successful deployment of their tyre-dust magnet represents a milestone in their mission to combat microplastic pollution. As their technology gains traction, they appear likely to establish themselves as leaders in environmental innovation in an overlooked area, opening doors for further research and development. The ability to upcycle collected tyre particles into new products will also create additional revenue streams and support a circular economy.

Residents in high-traffic areas could experience a direct positive impact from the widespread adoption of this technology. Reduced tyre-wear particles will mean cleaner air and a lower risk of respiratory issues associated with microplastic pollution. This improvement in air quality could lead to enhanced public health outcomes and a better quality of life for these communities.

From an environmental perspective, widespread implementation of tyre-dust magnets could lead to a significant reduction in microplastic pollution, benefiting marine and terrestrial ecosystems alike. This reduction is crucial for preserving biodiversity and ensuring the health of various species affected by microplastic ingestion.

Society as a whole also stands to benefit from cleaner air and a healthier environment. The reduced environmental impact of tyre-wear aligns with global sustainability goals and helps combat climate change. The positive ripple effects of this technology could, therefore, lead to greater public awareness and support for environmental initiatives, fostering a culture of sustainability.

The Tyre Collective’s innovative tyre dust magnet, therefore, could be a game-changer for multiple sectors and by effectively addressing this often-overlooked issue, it could provide a pathway to cleaner transport, healthier communities, and a more sustainable future.

Here’s a quick explainer that shows you how to update (and help optimise) your LinkedIn Profile Headline …

Rather than manually highlighting and deleting blocks of text, Microsoft Word lets you quickly select words and entire paragraphs using simple mouse clicks. This can really help to save time and increase your efficiency when editing documents. Here’s how it works:

Double click to highlight individual words

Simply double-click on any word to highlight it. This action will select the entire word, allowing you to quickly apply changes such as bolding, italicising, or copying the word.

Triple click to highlight whole paragraphs

In Microsoft Word, triple-clicking on any word within a paragraph will highlight the entire paragraph. This feature makes it easy to move, format, or delete large blocks of text without the hassle of dragging your mouse from start to end.

Following 8.5 million Microsoft devices being hit by a faulty software update from CrowdStrike causing global chaos, we look at what happened, how, and why.

The Worst Cyber Event In History 

The scale of effects of the disruption caused make this event, which began on 18 July (Microsoft) or 19 July (according to CrowdStrike), makes it the worst cyber event in history, beating the WannaCry cyber-attack in 2017 where 300,000 computers in 150 countries were affected.

Who Are CrowdStrike? 

Texas-based cybersecurity technology company, CrowdStrike, formed in 2011, provides an AI and machine learning powered, cloud-based enterprise endpoint protection platform (intelligent real-time antivirus) called Falcon which is used by a wide range of businesses and organisations.

What Caused The Problems? 

As part of the Falcon protection mechanisms, it receives regular software updates. However, the recent update which caused the outage was described as a “sensor configuration update to Windows systems”. In this case, the faulty sensor software update triggered a logic error which resulted in a system crash and blue screen (the ‘Blue Screen Of Death’ – BSOD) on impacted systems, i.e. the computer system for the companies that were running Microsoft operating systems and using CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform (those running Falcon sensor for Windows version 7.11 and above) were completely disabled.

The ‘sensor’ is a software agent installed on endpoint devices (such as Windows systems).

Only Windows Affected 

The faulty software update only impacted Microsoft because the Falcon sensor update was specifically designed specifically just for the Windows operating system and the logic error that triggered the system crashes and blue screens (BSOD) was tied to a component or function that is unique to Windows environments.

Enormous Impact 

The faulty CrowdStrike software update caused major disruptions across a wide variety of industries globally, which included:

Airlines

Airlines experienced severe operational disruptions, thousands of cancelled /grounded flights and causing delays and passenger queues at major airports, such as the UK’s Stanstead and Gatwick airports and Berlin’s BER and Newark International airports. Passengers faced long waits while the airlines struggled to manage schedules and customer service due to the system failures. Customers (many of whom only learned of the cancellation of their flight when they arrived at the airport) suffered delays, as well as the stress, disruption, and expense of having to find later alternative flights and alternative routes, and/or book hotels overnight, and pay more for overdue car parking back at home.

Healthcare 

Hospitals and healthcare systems were notably impacted, with some facilities facing delays in clinical procedures and disruptions in medical technology and communications. This situation forced many hospitals to implement manual restoration of systems and downtime procedures, which affected patient care and led to cancellations of some clinical services. Even pharmacies have been affected with customers unable to get their prescriptions.

Financial Services 

Many banks and financial institutions encountered issues processing transactions, leading to service interruptions. The outage affected ATMs and online banking services, causing inconvenience to customers and operational delays.

Media and Broadcasting

Broadcasters such as Sky News experienced temporary outages, affecting their ability to deliver news and updates to the public, thereby highlighting the apparent reliance of media companies on cybersecurity and IT infrastructure to maintain continuous service.

Emergency Services 

Emergency call centres also faced operational challenges, which impacted their ability to respond promptly to emergencies, leading to increased risk and delays in emergency response times, raising significant public safety concerns.

Retail 

Retailers also had difficulties, particularly in their point-of-sale systems and online platforms. This disruption led to transaction delays and affected inventory management, impacting both in-store and online sales.

Fix Issued 

CrowdStrike says it has issued a fix although this in itself may be time-consuming and disruptive because it involves having to apply the fix to each affected device separately and the need for a manual reboot in safe mode for affected computers, thereby creating considerable work and issues for IT departments everywhere.

Ongoing 

At the time of writing this, the many effects are ongoing, and are expected to last around one week.

Not A Cyber Attack, But Cyber Attack Risk Now Increased 

Although CrowdStrike Founder and CEO, George Kurtz, stressed in a statement that the outage was “not a cyberattack”, there are warnings that scams and cyberattacks should now be expected, e.g. cyber attackers setting up phishing websites and running scams under the guise of offering help / fixes for those affected. Secureworks, for example, has reported a spike in CrowdStrike-themed domain registrations (a sign of potential phishing websites being set up), and there have been reports of emails being circulated by scammers claiming to be ‘CrowdStrike Support’ or ‘CrowdStrike Security’. The advice, therefore, is for those affected to only use CrowdStrike’s website to source information and help.

Although not directly related, on the theme of online security and issues relating to antivirus software, Russian security company Kaspersky has just announced that it will be exiting the US market and consequently will be cutting staff ahead of a government-imposed sales ban. Kaspersky reports: “Starting from July 20, 2024, Kaspersky will gradually wind down its US operations and eliminate US-based positions” and that “The decision and process follows the Final Determination by the US Department of Commerce, prohibiting the sales and distribution of Kaspersky products in the US”.

Sorry! 

Following the CrowdStrike issue, the company’s CEO, George Kurtz, has issued an apology, saying: “I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for the outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority”. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The catastrophic event involving CrowdStrike’s faulty software update serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities that can arise from our reliance on advanced cybersecurity solutions. For businesses, this incident is a reminder of the critical importance of rigorous testing and validation processes for all software updates. It also highlights the need for robust contingency plans to ensure operational continuity in the face of unexpected system failures.

The extensive disruption across various industries, from airlines to healthcare, illustrates the interconnected nature of modern business operations and the potential widespread impact of a single point of failure. Companies must therefore try to prioritise not only their own cybersecurity measures but also closely scrutinise and manage the cybersecurity protocols of their service providers and partners.

The legal and financial ramifications of such events also can’t be ignored. The anticipated lawsuits and claims for damages resulting from operational disruptions and customer inconvenience could set significant precedents, influencing future legal standards and liability expectations in the cybersecurity sector. This legal landscape will likely demand that businesses enhance their insurance coverage and legal strategies to mitigate potential risks.

Also, the warning from CrowdStrike about the increased risk of cyber-attacks in the wake of this incident should prompt businesses to heighten their vigilance against phishing and other cyber threats. The surge in CrowdStrike-themed phishing websites shows the cruel and opportunistic nature of cybercriminals, and businesses should now ensure their employees are well-informed and equipped to recognise and respond to these threats.

While the disruption caused by CrowdStrike’s software update was not a cyber-attack, it has nonetheless amplified the need for businesses to adopt comprehensive cybersecurity strategies. This could include, for example, maintaining up-to-date security protocols, preparing for swift crisis management, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement in cybersecurity practices. Businesses that learn from this incident and proactively strengthen their cybersecurity frameworks will be better positioned to navigate the complexities of the digital age and safeguard their operations against future disruptions.