Technology

Craig Duncan, head of Sea of Thieves studio Rare, will take over as the Xbox Game Studios boss later this year.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Xbox Game Studios' current boss Alan Hartman will retire from the company at the end of November after being in the position for one year.

Duncan, who had led Rare for almost 14 years, has not only worked on the popular first-person, live-service pirate game but also the studio's Kinect titles. He has previously worked at multiple studios like Sumo Digital, Midway, and Codemasters, in different leadership roles over the years.

As the new head of Xbox Game Studios, Duncan will oversee Microsoft's Xbox teams, including the recently renamed Halo Studios, The Coalition, Turn 10, Playground Games, Rare, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs, World's Edge and more.

In his new position, Duncan will report to the president of Game Content and Studios, Matt Booty.

Sea of Thieves executive project, Joe Neate, and Rare studio director, Jim Horth, will replace Duncan at Rare following his departure.

Neate joined the Rare in 2013 after also working at Sumo Digital and Midway, while Horth has worked in several positions at the studio for over 20 years.

"Alan's career has been marked by innovation, dedication, and an unwavering passion for gaming," Booty said in an email to staff.

"Starting as a contractor at Microsoft in the fledgling CD-ROM group in 1988, Alan has worked on a variety of projects in his time here, from Age of Empires, to Brute Force as the studio head of Digital Anvil, to the founding of Turn 10.

"Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games delivered 13 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, building Forza into one of the top racing franchises in the world and regularly pushing the capabilities of our hardware.

"His work to advance accessibility in gaming has set a benchmark for the industry and under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios has shipped multiple critically acclaimed titles this year and set the stage for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, and more."

Hartman also shared a statement on his LinkedIn, saying, "Being a Studio Head in Gaming is one of the most rewarding and challenging roles in entertainment. I believe it is the best job at Microsoft. I always knew we had immense talent across XGS, but I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy spending time with our studio leaders and their teams.

"It has been an honor to represent XGS, and I truly mean this - a pleasure getting to spend time with all of our studios."

Talking about Duncan's new position as head, Booty added, "In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated game experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP."

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This Blueair air purifier is now back down to it's record low price, so grab yours now.

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One of the comfiest gaming headsets I've ever tested - the RIG 600 Pro HS - seems like it's about to get even comfier in a new collaboration with ear pad manufacturer Wicked Cushions.

This partnership with Nacon has led to the creation of the RIG 600 Pro HS Acid Camo edition. It's largely identical to the original model, albeit with a slick yellow-on-black camo style paint job and the addition of Wicked Cushions' 'WC PadZ' ear cups.

The RIG 600 Pro HS Acid Camo edition is due to launch on November 1, costing $89.99 which is actually 10 bucks less than the original model. It's also slated to be a GameStop exclusive product, meaning it'll be limited to shoppers in the US at least at launch.

In my review, I named the RIG 600 Pro HS one of the best PS5 headsets of last year, citing superb audio quality, an impressively detailed bass profile and superb comfort as major plus points. Especially as all that came in at a reasonable sub-$100 / £100 retail price. If you live in the US and you're looking for an excellent mid-range headset for less, this might be the model to go for as it's even cheaper than the base model.

Aside from the new paint job and those Wicked Cusions pads, you can expect bass boosted 40mm drivers, 18 hours of battery life via 2.4GHz (or 24 hours via Bluetooth), a flip-to-mute mic and compatibility with the RIG Navigator app for further customization and equalizer settings. While a PS5-facing headset, it's also compatible with PC, mobile, and Nintendo Switch via Bluetooth.

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Dynabook has announced the “world’s lightest” AI-powered business laptop aimed at professionals working on the go.

Weighing a mere 875 grams, the new Portege X30L-M features a 13.3-inch metal chassis, H-series Intel Core processors (Series 1), and Intel Arc graphics, providing premium performance capabilities for enterprise users.

The laptop features a 16:10 WUXGA display, providing users with more screen space for multi-tasking activities. Combined with in-built Intel Arc graphics, users are able to create detailed, eye-catching visuals for creative work, presentations, and general business purposes.

Everything you need to know about the Portege X30L-M

The Portege X30L-M is designed with a dark blue magnesium alloy chassis, which Dynabook describes as “both stylish and durable” and meets MIL-STD-810H testing standards.

Additionally, the new laptop from Dynabook offers up to 64GB LPDDR5x memory and up to 2TB SSD storage, as well as upgraded DTS-enhanced speakers and an AI-powered webcam.

On the AI front, the new Portege series boasts “advanced AI-powered features”, which includes noise reduction for clear communication during video calls, as well as face and eye-tracking tools.

Device battery management has also been optimized, Dynabook confirmed, to allow users to operate unplugged for longer.

Microsoft Copilot is integrated within the new Portege, allowing users to access AI-driven suggestions, automate repetitive tasks, and boost productivity.

“Security is a top priority for Dynabook. As a Microsoft Secured-core PC, the Portégé X30L-M provides comprehensive protection against privacy and security threats, making it one of the most secure Windows PCs on the market,” Dynabook said in a statement.

“It features a secure mix of hardware, firmware, and software protections, along with biometric authentication options such as fingerprint and facial recognition.”

The first iteration of the series, the Portege X30L, first launched in 2020, and James Robbins, General Manager at Dynabook Americas said this latest version marks a significant improvement in both capabilities and its lightweight design.

“With every new generation, we’ve not only increased the Portege X30L’s capabilities but have managed to shed even more weight, making it one of the most powerful ultralight business laptops available today,” he said.

Portege X30L-M: Additional features and pricing

In addition to a new sleek design and raft of AI features, the Portege X30L-M is also equipped with Wi-Fi 6E, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, USB Type-A ports, and a microSD card slot

Dynabook confirmed it also offers optional Thunderbolt 4 docking solutions to enable users to connect multiple external displays and accessories.

Pricing for the new laptop starts at under $1,399, and is available to order today from authorized Dynabook sales partners.

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American healthcare management organization Gryphon Healthcare recently suffered a supply-chain cyberattack in which sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of patients was stolen.

The company confirmed the news in a breach notification filed with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, stating a company partner that Gryphon provides medical billing services for was breached some time before August 13, 2024.

The company did not name the partner that was breached, but it seems that the breach gave the attackers access to personal and protected health information that Gryphon maintained.

No evidence of misuse

“As a result of this third-party security incident, an unauthorized actor may have accessed certain files and data containing information relative to patients for whom Gryphon provides medical billing services,” the company said in the filing.

“The information may have included your name, date of birth, address, Social Security number, dates of service, diagnosis information, health insurance information, medical treatment information, prescription information, provider information and medical record number," the filing continued.

The data stolen is more than enough to run highly sophisticated phishing attacks, identity theft operations, or even wire fraud. The total number of people affected by this incident stands at 393,358, Gryphon said, adding that it has seen no evidence suggesting that the data was misused. At this time, no threat actors have assumed responsibility for the attack.

Given the sensitivity of the information they handle, healthcare organizations are one of the most popular targets for ransomware attackers. These threat actors steal the information, and then threaten to release it to the public, unless a payment is made. Leaked patient data could result in loss of business, tarnished reputation, regulator fines, and even class-action lawsuits.

In fact, The Register reports Tulsa, OK-based Abington Cole and Ellery have already started appealing for victims of the data protection mess, and that is not the only class-action lawsuit against breached healthcare firms it is currently handling.

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The long-awaited major Windows 11 update (version 24H2) was supposed to bring shiny new features and security updates, but it also seems to be bringing headaches for a lot of people as well - and some users are complaining that their internet connections aren’t working after installing the update.

That’s right: in addition to issues like the dreaded blue screen of death crashes, a glitch making mouse cursors vanish, and worse, filling up your hard drive with files you can’t even delete, 24H2 might now impact your internet connection if you install the update. Windows Report, which broke the news, refers to a Microsoft Community forum post where a user describes encountering this problem on multiple devices.

Even if they could connect, some devices were still unable to access the internet, whether they were connected by Wi-Fi or by cable. Adding to the confusion, the user claims to have seen strange IP address numbers, starting with ‘169…’ which are unusual, as they usually start with ‘192’ and indicated that there was no network connection.

Basically, it seems this resulted in these PCs “thinking” they’re connected, but in fact not actually being so. The poster goes on to explain that they even tried updating and modifying software that could affect internet connectivity, such as drivers, firmware, and resetting network settings, and didn’t see much luck. Multiple people echoed the first poster’s complaints, and now PCWorld is reporting that it’s an issue that’s affecting both private computers and Windows 11 PCs connected to servers.

It appears that for many users, this problem was triggered by the update as their connection seemed fine before installing it.

Get a move on, Microsoft

The situation doesn’t look great right now, but the silver lining is that there is a workaround that will hopefully do the trick until Microsoft puts out an update resolving the problem. If your internet connection is down after installing this update, you’ll have to roll it back by uninstalling it, reverting your PC to the previous version of Windows 11 you had installed.

This looks to have helped fix the problem and restored internet connectivity for most people. PCWorld recommends that you check out the Community forum post to see if your experience matches up, and then you can follow its guidance about how to roll back a problematic Windows update.

The reason why I echo this suggestion is because it’s not totally foolproof, so you’ll have to decide yourself whether or not to roll back the update. Apparently, this workaround hasn’t resolved the issue for some devices, and it might be worth investigating further what solutions worked for others on the forum if you’re still affected.

I expect that Microsoft will acknowledge this shortly, and hopefully release an update addressing this issue - especially as Windows 11 24H2 is supposed to be a major, exciting update that will get people to upgrade, and embarrassing and frustrating problems like this certainly won’t help.

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The hosts are on the brink of relegation from Group A1 as they face Ronaldo and co. in Glasgow.

Group A1 clash sees third-placed Poles host the second-placed Croats.

Volt Typhoon has hit the headlines recently as a prolific cybercrime organization pursued by US authorities for its involvement in numerous attacks.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), alongside the National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and even the Five Eyes intelligence agency have frequently blamed the group for lurking on and attacking US critical infrastructure.

However, China has again doubled down on the claim that the group thought to be a Chinese state-sponsored is actually a US asset used to discredit its rival across the Pacific.

Lie to Me: Volt Typhoon III

China’s latest claim was released by China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), as part of a document published in five languages titled, “Lie to Me: Volt Typhoon III – Unravelling Cyberespionage and Disinformation Operations Conducted by US Government Agencies.”

China released a similar document in July 2024, titled “Volt Typhoon II – Exposing the disinformation campaign of US government agencies against the US Congress and taxpayers,” which claimed that US authorities exercised “warrantless snooping powers on all people over the world including Americans via FISA Section 702, so that the U.S. government agencies could eliminate the foreign competitors and defend the cyber hegemony and long-term interests of monopolies.”

The document asserts that China consulted over 50 cybersecurity experts, who collectively determined both the US and Microsoft do not have enough evidence to implicate China’s involvement with Volt Typhoon. However, the names of the experts are not included in the document.

The document also outlines a number of secret US surveillance capabilities unearthed by whistleblowers, such as the NSA Office of Tailored Access Operation program and the PRISM data collection program, which suspiciously share similarities with Volt Typhoon capabilities, CVERC claims. Both were exposed by former NSA intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

CVERC also suggests that the CIA Marble framework - used to obfuscate cyber tools and exposed by Wikileaks in 2017 - is also a part of Volt Typhoon’s playbook. The document also states that the terms used by western intelligence agencies to identify Chinese cyber criminal organizations use “obvious geopolitical overtones for hacker groups, such as 'typhoon', 'panda', and 'dragon' instead of 'Anglo-Saxon' 'hurricane', and 'koala'.”

The Register points out that Orientalism may exacerbate political tensions, but the authors may need to do some research into the origins of the word 'koala'.

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Some of Frontier Communications’ largest shareholders have voiced concerns over the company’s planned takeover by Verizon Communications – a deal worth an estimated $9.6 billion, reports have claimed.

Glendon Capital Management, the company’s second-largest investor, allegedly plans to vote against the deal according to unnamed sources familiar with the matter cited by Reuters.

Accounting for nearly 10% of all Frontier shares, Glendon believes Verizon’s offer of $38.50 per share undervalues the company, thus it will reject the offer during a vote planned for November 13.

Verizon-Frontier acquisition risk

The deal will require a majority vote in favor for approval, and Glendon’s significant role combined with its potential influence on other shareholders could sway the vote in favor of pushing for a higher valuation.

Cerberus Capital Management, another investor accounting for 7.3% of Frontier, has also expressed concerns about the deal, says Reuters, however how the firm will vote remains unconfirmed.

The deal, announced last month, already offered a 44% premium to Frontier’s 90-day volume-weighted average share price. Subject to a vote in favor, and subsequent regulatory approval processes, the acquisition could take up to 18 months.

Despite the healthy premium, investors and analysts are suggesting that the valuation is still too low, with New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin indicating that the company could push for a $67-per-share deal “comfortably.”

It’s unclear how Ares Management, Frontier’s leading investor with a 15.6% stake, will cast its vote.

When the deal was first revealed, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg described the merger as a “strategic fit” that would help both telecomms companies become more competitive across the US.

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Audio maker Raycon has today unveiled the company's first pair of bone conduction headphones, replete with water and dust protection, decent battery life, and low latency.

Like all of the best bone conduction headphones on the market, the Raycon Bone Conduction Headphones are designed to pipe audio to your eardrums using vibrations emitted into your skull. It's a slightly strange prospect for the uninitiated, but bone conduction headphones are extremely popular with runners, cyclists, and commuters. They're often lighter and more comfortable than many of the best headphones on the market, especially for those who struggle with the rubber tips of in-ear headphones. Furthermore, they let you listen to music and podcasts while retaining awareness of your surroundings.

Keeping up the trend, Raycon says its new Bone Conduction Headphones are designed for tough workouts and outdoor adventure. They feature an open-ear design and are designed to sit comfortably behind your ears. Retailing at $99 (UK and AU pricing tbc), they're not as pricey as some options on the market, so what features can users expect?

Raycon Bone Conduction headphones: The rundown

Raycon says its Bone Conduction Headphones are rated for IP68 water and protection, so they can handle sweat, dust, and rain. They can't be used in the pool or the sea for swimming, so they won't be joining the ranks of the best waterproof headphones anytime soon, despite the fact that many swimming headphones are also bone conduction.

They feature environmental noise cancellation during calls to cut out distant background noise and ultra-low latency of 60ms ensures a snappy Bluetooth connection with less lag, making them more suited to watching videos.

They also feature multipoint connectivity so you can bounce between two devices easily, such as a phone and tablet, without re-pairing or connecting each time. Battery life is rated for 14 hours of use at 50% volume, and a 10-minute quick charge will give you an hour of playtime.

The headband is made of a combination of steel and rubber that Raycon says provides strength, stability, and security during workouts. Audio-wise, they come with three sound profiles (Bass, Balanced, and Pure Sound) so you can choose a listening style that suits you. They also feature button controls for on-the-fly adjustments, and calls are made by way of two built-in microphones that also support Siri and Alexa.

Raycon's Bone Conduction Headphones are available from RayconGlobal.com today for $99.99.

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Slow Horses season 4 concluded on Apple TV Plus last Wednesday, October 9, but there'll be plenty more where that came from as the hit spy series will return with two more seasons. Season 6 was greenlit before the fifth installment even aired – it got renewed for season 5 in January after setting a new record for the streamer – so Apple's streaming service has a lot of confidence in this series.

Personally, I'm thrilled that Apple TV Plus continues to back its original content. It's already home to two of the best sci-fi shows around, which will both return in the next three months with new seasons: watch out for Silo season 2 and Severance season 2. Unlike recent Netflix cancelations, it seems like Apple TV Plus really wants viewers to see more of these great stories.

What do we know about Slow Horses season 6?

Confirming the news in a press release on October 15, Jay Hunt, creative director for Europe at Apple TV Plus said: “Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the Slow Horses, and I’m delighted that Gary Oldman will be leading this star-studded cast on another acerbic and action-packed adventure."

The release also teased a very short synopsis about one of the best Apple TV Plus shows, which revealed that season 6 would focus on the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them in "a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge". Of course, we still have season 5 to get through, so we'll have to wait a little while to see what happens next. But it is certainly good news that the story will continue!

With Slow Horses continuing to draw in big audiences, the show really is going from strength to strength. Season 5 is set to be based on the fifth book in the series London Rules, following an MP who goes on a political rampage as he and his tabloid journalist wife set their sights on MI5, so there is a lot of drama heading our way on the best streaming service.

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Not much has changed with Apple's tiniest tablet, but the A17 Pro chip brings support for new AI features.

Agentic AI (sometimes referred to as multi agent AI systems) is set to revolutionize business operations. Joe Dunleavy, Global SVP and Head of AI Pod at Endava, explains how this exciting technology will pave the way for a more transparent, auditable, and sustainable use of AI and how its impact will transform businesses on a large scale.

Until now, humans have needed to be in the driver’s seat when it comes providing granular instructions to AI technology. This ensured that AI is not only pointed in the right direction in terms of outcome but also helped to minimize any potential risks such as hallucinations, misinformation or biases. Additionally, organizations that deploy AI often merely enhance the efficiency of singular tasks, reaping short-term value rather than targeting large-scale autonomous automation.

However, AI systems are now able to handle more ambitious business processes, decision-making, and data transformation. Agentic AI is set to revolutionize how organizations across industries can leverage this technology to their advantage. With the help of agentic AI, they will soon be able to automate processes in entirely new, more efficient, and autonomous ways, allowing them to address complex business problems at scale and speed. But how do they get there in the most effective, secure and compliant way?

The three stages of AI transformation

To achieve this level of performance, automation, and autonomy, AI requires a solid foundation. The transformation evolves over three phases. The first stage focuses on enhancing day-to-day work by assisting with tasks such as summarizing documents or generating assets like presentations, leading to faster, more cost-effective and accurate results. In the next stage, automation processes become more integrated with business objectives. At this point, AI takes on more responsibility for task sequences, working alongside people rather than just following individual commands. This way, AI evolves from a tool into a trusted partner.

In the third stage, the technology achieves an even higher degree of autonomy. At this point, AI is no longer ‘just’ a teammate that collects, summarizes, and analyses information. Instead, it takes on an advisory, more ‘proactive’ role. This is made possible by AI-based, autonomously acting agents (agentic AI) that can work without direct human intervention within any environment, including with different large language models (LLMs) and cloud platforms. Unlike traditional AI models, which are programmed specifically for singular processes, agentic AI approaches can handle far more complex tasks.

In a team of autonomous agents (multi-agent system), each agent is assigned an individual role and fed the necessary knowledge. These agents can communicate and interact with each other as well as with their environment, react to changes, and contextualize their tasks to make holistic decisions and achieve the best possible outcome. All of this works with minimal human oversight, without the need to manually provide input at every step of the process.

Although agentic AI technology is still in its early stages, these systems can safely drive workflows forward with minimal supervision. While autonomous agents automatically perform time-consuming, mundane and repetitive tasks, they can accelerate the amount of work done in a specific timeframe, which can be applied across the business to drive large scale efficiencies. This frees up employees who can in turn focus on more complex strategic and creative challenges. This approach nurtures every employee’s potential, increases employee job satisfaction, and drives business growth and value.

Benefit from autonomous agents – but not without transparency

Autonomous agents can be applied to tackle complex and nuanced workflows in any imaginable industry. However, AI systems are usually built as so-called black boxes with their functions and processes neither visible nor comprehensible to their users. As a result, strictly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, insurance and energy —where strict rules govern the collection, processing and storage of sensitive data — are often reluctant to implement the technology in their daily business operations. After all, they have to adhere to specific requirements when collecting, processing, utilizing, and storing (sensitive) data. Just as it's important to not only reach the right answer but also demonstrate the steps taken in fields like law or accounting, these industries must be able to clearly show how AI arrives at its results to meet compliance requirements.

The solution to this challenge is a data-first approach. In order for these industries to use AI in their favor and optimize their processes, they must be able to break open the black box and disclose its contents in a transparent and auditable manner. An autonomous multi-agent system that reveals how AI agents ingest and transform data is ideal for addressing this challenge as each time an agent acts upon data, the system captures the relevant information surrounding the operation, creating a clear line of sight and understanding of the decision the agent makes as an audit trial. This breakdown allows both data and processes to be made visible, comprehensible, and common AI-related issues like AI hallucinations can be effectively circumvented.

With the help of agentic AI, businesses can automate sophisticated processes and solve complex business problems on a large scale, all while remaining compliant. As a result, the technology is key to unlocking productivity, satisfaction, business growth, and maintaining competitive advantage. This does not mean that employees will be replaced by the technology. Whilst it requires less human intervention and oversight, users remain in complete control of the AI system and at the heart of operations. AI might be in the driver’s seat, but users dictate the direction and can step on the brakes at any point.

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More details have emerged concerning the recent cyberattack against the Internet Archive, which appears to still not be fully recovered.

The archive is now back online, in a preliminary ‘read-only’ capacity whilst it continues to recover. Some services still remain offline, but the Wayback Machine operations have been resumed, although founder Brewster Kahle warned it may be suspended again in the case that it needs "further maintenance."

The incident came in the form of a Distributed Denial-of-service (DDoS) attack - which involves flooding a site with traffic to overwhelm a server, making it impossible to access. Research from Netscout revealed significant deviation of network traffic to archive.org, which supports the claims of a DDoS attack. Reports suggest there was at least 3 hours and 20 minutes of DDoS activity, and at least three distinct IP addresses used by archive.org received DDoS traffic.

Cautiously back online

In this specific case, the attack used two attack vectors: TCP reset floods and HTTPS application layer attacks. The TCP flood will flood a victim with huge numbers of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) reset packets, which tricks a computer into terminating its connection with others in its network.

In contrast, the HTTPS application layer attack will typically aim to overwhelm servers by targeting the application layer in order to disrupt the normal flow of traffic, rendering normal services unavailable.

By crawling the web, the archive and its 150 staff work to preserve internet pages and provide free access to thousands of books, videos, and audio files. The motive for the attack isn’t clear, but the hack is said to have exposed the data of up to 31 million users.

The compromised data, which is said to include email addresses, screen names, and Bcrypt passwords, could leave users exposed and at risk of threat actors using their information for nefarious purposes.

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Remember the SolarWinds supply chain breach in 2020 where more than 18,000 SolarWinds customers inadvertently installed updates containing malicious code? Cybercriminals used the codes to steal customer data and then spy on other organizations. That showed how even big companies can be vulnerable due to weak links in their tech supply chain.

Supply chain security is critical and the increasing use of mobile devices is transforming the workplace and industrial landscape. The reliance on these devices comes with significant security concerns, particularly in critical infrastructure sectors where breaches can have catastrophic consequences.

Mobile and IoT devices: The new frontier

In a survey of 600 security strategy, policy and management professionals from around the world, the Verizon Mobile Security Index (MSI) highlights this growing concern. Unsurprisingly, more than 80% of organizations consider mobile devices critical to their operations and 95% are actively using IoT devices. In fact, over half of those deploying IoT devices reported experiencing significant security incidents.

Challenges posed by the increase in mobile and IoT devices

A staggering 95% of companies surveyed actively use IoT devices, reaping considerable efficiency and innovation benefits. However, this widespread adoption also introduces significant security risks. In critical infrastructure sectors, where 96% of companies deploy IoT devices, 53% have experienced significant security incidents involving data loss or system failure.

Improving existing security concepts is essential, as nearly a third of those surveyed lack holistic monitoring of all IoT devices within their organizations. Additionally, 46% of critical infrastructure companies still rely on manual audits to verify the encryption of IoT devices.

These outdated methods are insufficient to withstand the complex threats of today's cyber world. Nevertheless, many companies are responding proactively, with 89% planning to increase their investment in mobile security solutions. Awareness of the need for modern security strategies is growing.

Emerging AI threats and related mitigations

In addition to IoT challenges, AI-supported attacks are emerging as a significant threat. With 77% of those surveyed expecting attacks like deepfakes and SMS phishing to be successful soon, and 88% of critical infrastructure respondents recognizing the importance of AI-based cybersecurity solutions, the urgency is clear.

To prepare for future threats, companies must adopt innovative technologies alongside classic security solutions. This includes comprehensive security concepts such as Zero Trust and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0, as well as meeting regulatory requirements like the EU’s NIS2 directive.

In Singapore, a new cybersecurity amendment was passed into law by the Singapore Parliament in May which significantly broadens the scope of regulated entities and systems beyond the critical infrastructure providers the Act was initially focused on.

This is a response to the rise of cloud computing and the growing role third party providers play in helping run tech platforms that underpin the economy, from energy utilities to public healthcare providers and the financial system. The Act has been expanded to cover Foundational Digital Infrastructure (FDI) providers, and systems that are virtual and located overseas.

The growth of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) further complicates the cybersecurity landscape. As sensors and specialized devices are integrated into corporate networks, it is essential to secure not only traditional IT systems but also address the specific requirements of IIoT.

From employee education to Zero Trust

To combat evolving threats, businesses are increasingly investing in mobile cybersecurity and adopting advanced security frameworks. The shift to remote and hybrid working arrangements, spurred by pandemic restrictions, along with the increased use of IoT sensors in smart city infrastructure and manufacturing plants, has driven companies to bolster their mobile cybersecurity efforts.

Approximately 84% of organizations have ramped up their spending on mobile device security. The persistent threats posed by shadow IT remain a significant concern. Respondents anticipate growing threats such as AI-assisted attacks, including deepfakes and SMS phishing, which necessitate more advanced threat detection, employee education, and adherence to cybersecurity standards and frameworks like Zero Trust.

Historically, mobile cybersecurity has often been overlooked as organizations focused on securing their core on-premise networks and cloud infrastructure. However, the MSI further reveals, mobile devices—whether smartphones, laptops, remote video cameras, or temperature sensors—represent critical endpoints that could be breached. This underscores the urgent need for businesses to modernize their security strategies to address the evolving threats posed by mobile and IoT devices.

"Navigating the future: Prioritizing mobile and IoT security in an AI-driven world"

As AI-supported attacks further complicate the cybersecurity landscape, it is imperative for companies to adopt innovative technologies and comprehensive security concepts to effectively combat these threats. Meeting regulatory requirements is also essential to ensure robust cybersecurity measures.

Securing critical infrastructure demands unwavering commitment. To build trust in public services and companies, organizational and security leaders must take decisive action. Business leaders need to ensure full visibility into all IoT projects across their organizations and enforce consistent standards for mobile security, IoT built-in device security, network segmentation, and data encryption.

Educating employees and end users about the dangers of credential theft, the importance of basic security hygiene, and the power of skepticism and situational awareness is crucial. Cultivating a robust cybersecurity culture within organizations is essential, as anything less than relentless protection efforts is insufficient when the stakes are so high.

This call to action extends beyond critical infrastructure organizations. The MSI revealed similar patterns of mobile and IoT security gaps across all industries. Public and private organizations must collaborate to deploy multiple layers of defense to thwart threat actors and safeguard the immense progress enabled by mobile and IoT connectivity. By doing so, we can better protect our data, systems, and overall digital presence in an increasingly interconnected world.

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