RoboGarden and University of Northern British Columbia Continuing Studies (UNBC CS) have announced a new collaboration, with RoboGarden offering its Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamp experience to the UNBC CS students. 

This learning program was developed with career progression and earning potential in mind, aimed to provide students with access to an industry with an average base pay of over C$88k per year, a release stated. It was created to offer guidance to anyone interested — with no prior programming experience or credentials required. 

The release also noted that new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) surveys of employers and workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors found that that both workers and their employers are generally very positive about the impact of AI on performance and working conditions, and that both training and worker consultation are associated with better outcomes for workers.

Based in Calgary, RoboGarden, a cloud-based publisher that delivers AI-driven digital skill learning experiences, is using its online learning platform to help offer this course to UNBC CS students.

Students work on 10 progressive learning modules delivered online through the RoboGarden platform. The course offers live virtual instructor sessions, providing students with industry expert instructors and curated content to help them prepare for the workforce. 

“Part of reimagining how we educate and learn to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world is through collaboration. Our partnership with RoboGarden to deliver this online, instructor-supported Machine Learning and AI Digital Workforce Upskilling Bootcamp will provide residents in northern British Columbia with the most up-to-date tools and resources in this field,” said UNBC Continuing Studies interim manager Stacey Linton. “This innovative partnership will empower our learners with the cutting-edge knowledge and skills to meet the emerging needs of the workforce, both at home and further afield.”

“We know that the Canadian economy across sectors is transforming rapidly with the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning-based tools, services and solutions,” said Dr. Mohamed Elhabiby, co-founder and president of RoboGarden. “It gives me great pleasure to know that we’re equipping the Canadian workforce with the skill sets they need to innovate and succeed in this new AI-driven era.”

Students can learn more, and enroll in the Machine Learning Foundations course by visiting the University of Northern British Columbia Continuing Studies program information and registration page.

The post RoboGarden and University of Northern British Columbia Continuing Studies to launch new machine learning & AI bootcamp first appeared on IT World Canada.

Imran Ahmed, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC) yesterday that Meta’s algorithms are designed to feed the spread of disinformation and, in turn, maximize user engagement.

Ahmed appeared by videoconference as a scheduled witness before the CHPC’s hearings into “tech giants’ use of intimidation tactics”.

The passage of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which led to Meta blocking news links for Canadians, has created a news vacuum which, he said, is being filled with the hate speech and disinformation generated by the platform’s harmful algorithms.

“Platforms’ algorithms don’t give you what you want. That’s a myth. They give you what they want you to want,” said Ahmed.

Meta and other platforms, he added, do not want editorial responsibility for their content for liability and financial reasons, and because content moderation and editorial control require lots of resources. 

However, by blocking news posts in Canada, Meta, he said, “is proving that they’ve always had an editorial power and will use it indiscriminately if content threatens their all important bottom line.”

He continued, “These highly personal, highly invasive systems have resulted in the polarization of economic, democratic and social thought and are correlated to a rise in radical hate groups networks’ extremism.”

Ahmed explained that what we’re seeing on social media is not the “content of a billion people” or the “global discourse”. It is, he said, “discourse controlled by algorithms which are designed for commercial impact.”

In October, 41 states in the U.S. sued Meta for allegedly harming the health of young users. 

Now, an unredacted court document in that lawsuit discovered by the New York Times revealed that Meta has allegedly, actively “coveted and pursued” under 13 year old users for years on Instagram, targeting young users, manipulating them into spending unhealthy amounts of time on the apps, promoting body dysmorphia, and exposing them to potentially harmful content.

The bar is low for Meta and other similar platforms, Ahmed lamented, and we have to come to expect them to behave in the worst way possible, which is why regulations are of value.

But tech giants like Meta engage in a wide range of intimidation tactics to counter regulation, said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next.

He detailed five intimidation tactics that goliaths like Meta use:

Threats to whistleblowers. A whistleblower shared documents with the Wall Street Journal that corroborated reports that Meta blocked news in Australia in March 2021, just as vaccines were being rolled out, and allegedly, purposefully during the most critical week of Parliament’s deliberations. He, however, got scared away from testifying and went underground.
Threats to investments. Mark Zuckerberg had allegedly threatened to pull back investment in the U.K. after he was asked to testify before its Parliament.
Threats to publishers and newsrooms. In 2018, Facebook allegedly threatened to sue the Guardian, a day before they reported on the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Record spending on lobbying, including through proxies. Google and Facebook registered in the top 10 lobbyists in the EU and the U.S.
Threats to consumers. Repeated claims that regulations will stifle innovation and end the free and open internet are made to drive outrage among consumers. Facebook, Kint said, often takes it a step further by suggesting it will have to charge for services, which could kill thousands of small businesses and cost millions of jobs.

Michael Geist, University of Ottawa internet law professor, however, argued that in Canada, for instance, there is ample evidence of regulatory capture, with legacy cultural groups dominating meetings with officials and time with the committee, and voices of Canadian digital creators, including those from BIPOC (“black, indigenous, and other people of color”) communities dismissed and at times disrespected.

Meta’s reaction to block news, he said, was a consequence of regulation and not a tactic to influence it, adding that Meta and Google have been consistent in their discourse from the beginning.

“It’s essential that this committee and the department ensure that it avoids regulatory capture and provides a forum for all voices. Failure to do so makes for bad policy and, I have to say, raises the risk of intimidation in which, inadvertent or not, it may be the government or this committee that can do some of the intimidating.”

The post ‘Meta has editorial power to use indiscriminately if content threatens their bottom line’, says Center for Countering Digital Hate first appeared on IT World Canada.

The Trudeau government’s proposed law regulating high-impact artificial intelligence systems is “fundamentally flawed” and gives so much power to a cabinet minister that it’s “an affront to Parliament,”  a Canadian privacy lawyer testified Tuesday.

The proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) fails to protect the public from significant risks and harms, and hinders innovation, Barry Sookman of the McCarthy Tétrault law firm told the House of Commons Industry Committee.

While it would set rules for how businesses should create and implement high-risk AI applications, Sookman complained AIDA doesn’t define “high-risk”, doesn’t include guiding principles on how AI systems will be regulated, and will hinder private sector innovation.

Not only that, AIDA puts too much power in the hands of the Minister of Innovation to create regulations for overseeing the proposed act, Sookman said. And while it would create an AI Commissioner to enforce the legislation, that person would report to the Minister and not be an independent officer of Parliament as is the federal privacy commissioner.

For this last reason, AIDA “is in my view an affront to Parliamentary sovereignty,” Sookman said. “AIDA sets a dangerous precedent. What will be next? Fiat by regulation for quantum computing? Blockchain? The climate crisis or other threats? We have no idea.”

AIDA “paves the way for a bloated and unaccountable bureaucracy,” within the Innovation department, Sookman maintained.

In short, he said, “in its current form AIDA is unintelligible.”

AIDA is part of Bill C-27, which also includes the proposed Consumer Protection Privacy Act (CPPA), an overhaul of the federal privacy legislation governing the private sector. Many critics have told the committee the two pieces of legislation are so important they should be split. Sookman’s criticism has so far been the most pointed — and perhaps more is to come, because so far the committee has asked witnesses to focus on the CPPA. Later, the committee will turn its attention to AIDA.

One problem is that, while the government has said it is open to amending the wording of AIDA, it hasn’t yet delivered precise wording. A committee-set deadline is approaching.

RELATED CONTENT: Government releases some proposed changes

Opposition MPs on the committee — and Sookman — worry final changes the government is willing to make won’t be delivered until after witnesses have testified.

The fight over what approach is best for overseeing AI systems comes as businesses rush to adopt generative AI systems like ChatGPT.

The fear of many privacy experts is that, unless there is quickly some sort of regulation, soon AI systems will be allowed to deny people the ability to get loans, insurance or jobs, based on biased algorithms.

The European Union is close to finalizing the wording of an AI Act, but one news report says there are disagreements on how foundation models like ChatGPT would be regulated. One proposal from France, Germany and Italy is that foundation models would face lighter regulation, only having to publish some information on things like how models are tested to ensure they are safe. Initially there would be no sanctions for companies that don’t publish such information.

Former B.C. and U.K. information and privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham, who also testified Tuesday, approvingly said the proposed U.K. law “reads like a product safety statute.”

In the absence of AI regulatory laws, Canada and other countries say businesses and governments should follow certain guidelines for AI systems. This week, for example, 18 countries agreed on guidelines businesses should follow for the secure design, development, deployment, and operation of artificial intelligent systems.

Tuesday’s hearing also briefly delved into approaches by other governments:

— in the U.S., rather than wait for Congress to pass legislation, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order to federal departments buying and firms wanting to sell AI solutions to Washington. Federal departments and agencies have to develop standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy based on guidelines issued by U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Developers of the most powerful AI systems are required to share their safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government.

— in the U.K., Sookman noted with approval, a private member’s AI bill has two features: A designated cabinet minister can create regulations controlling AI, but the regulations have to be approved by Parliament; and the proposed law would include principles that regulations have to follow, such as ensuring high impact AI systems deliver safety, security and robustness, and transparency into how they were tested before being released. “This is genius,” Sookman said. AIDA should adopt both features, he added.

Denham noted the U.K. government has decided not to regulate AI, but to give existing regulators the powers they need to oversee the technology. The government has also created an AI Institute to encourage all digital regulators to work together. This, she said, is a “wait-and-see approach.”

So far, it seems, the Canadian government is sticking with AIDA.

The post Proposed Canadian AI law ‘fundamentally flawed,’ Parliament told first appeared on IT World Canada.

More ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector.

Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It’s Wednesday, November 29th, 2023. I’m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com and TechNewsday.com in the U.S.

The healthcare sector continues to be a popular target of ransomware gangs. In the latest incidents Ardent Health Service, which runs 30 hospitals in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and New Jersey had to divert some emergency room patients to other area hospitals after a ransomware attack. The attack started on Thanksgiving Day. Ardent has had to shut down a number of its IT systems, including its health care records.

Meanwhile for the second time in two months an American distributor of medical products called Henry Schein Inc. has been hit by the BlackCat/AlphV ransomware gang. “The threat actor from the previously disclosed cyber incident has claimed responsibility,” the company said in a statement last week. In an update issued Monday the company said it has restored its e-commerce platform in the U.S., and expects to be back online in other countries soon. The suspicion is the gang re-encrypted the company’s files when ransom negotiations stalled. Researchers at BlackFog note the company is no longer on the gang’s ransomware list of victims, possibly indicating negotiations resumed or a ransom was paid.

Separately, as part of a continuing crack-down on ransomware gangs authorities in Ukraine arrested a man man allegedly behind a group that deployed four strains of ransomware against organizations in 71 countries. The Europol police co-operative said the arrest took place last week, which also saw four others detained. The gang’s tactics included brute force attacks, SQL injection attacks and sending emails with infected attachments.

Here’s a factoid for thought: According to BlackBerry’s November threat intelligence report, 52 per cent of the new software holes listed in the National Vulnerability Database had a severity score of 7 or more out of 10. Fifteen per cent of vulnerabilities had a score of 9. Question: Does your IT department have a process for determining how fast a critical vulnerability is patched?

Here’s another set of factoids: Researchers at Hornetsecurity looked at 45 billion emails that went through its systems in the past year. More than one-third of the messages were categorized as unwanted. Of those 3.6 per cent had either malicious phishing or web links. Question: Does your IT department have solutions for effectively scanning emails for malicious content?

Here’s another piece of data I pulled from a report: There’s been a ten-times increase in the number of deepfake videos, audio recordings or documents detected in the past 12 months. That’s according to researchers at Sumsub in their annual Identity Fraud Report. Question: Does your IT department have solutions for detecting synthetically generated fraud documents?

iPhone owners who have updated to iOS 17 should think about changing the default setting of a new feature called NameDrop. According to researchers at BuddoBot, it allows users to easily share their contact info by bringing iPhones close together. However, having the capability turned on all the time is a privacy risk. All proximity-based data-sharing features on any mobile device should be turned off until they are needed.

Finally, if you use the Google Chrome browser there’s an emergency update to be installed. You should be running version 119.0.6045.200.

Follow Cyber Security Today on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or add us to your Flash Briefing on your smart speaker.

The post Cyber Security Today, Nov. 29, 2023 – More ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector first appeared on IT World Canada.

A conference puts fake women in its speaker’s list to showcase diversity?, Global authorities arrest members of a major ransomware group, the potential of wooden data centers and is the association between poor mental health and internet usage a myth?

These and more top tech stories on Hashtag Trending.

I’m your host James Roy.

DevTernity, a coding conference has been canceled after allegations surfaced that there were one or more fake women in the speaker’s list.

Eduards Sizovs, the organizer of the conference confirmed the presence of at least one fake speaker,and said “The wrong conclusion has been made: we’ve done that to ‘boost diversity.’ And that’s a big and wrong ouch,”

Gergely Orosz, author of The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter flagged the fake profiles on social media.

One of the suspected fake speakers is Anna Boyko, purportedly a staff engineer at Coinbase and Ethereum core contributor. Orosz said she did not exist, and her name was removed from the speakers’ list.

Coinbase also confirmed that it was not aware of any employees speaking at the conference.

Another dubious profile was Alina Prokhoda, said to be a Microsoft MVP and WhatsApp senior engineer and whose name also vanished off the speakers’ list. No trace of hers could be found online either.

Meanwhile, Liz Fong-Jones, field CTO at Honeycomb.io pointed out that the Instagram posts of a popular female coding influencer largely mirror those of Eduards Sizovs, the very organizer of DevTernity.

​Scott Hanselman who works on the Web Platform Team at Microsoft and who was scheduled to speak said, “I remind all tech conference organizers that there are THOUSANDS of speakers of all walks of life, genders, ages, and backgrounds.”

Source: The Register, Engadget

Law enforcement agencies from seven nations have arrested the core members of a ransomware group linked to the attacks of more than 250 servers belonging to organizations in 71 countries. These attacks netted the group hundreds of millions of euros.

Europol said that five individuals were arrested in Ukraine including the 32-year-old leader of the group and four of its “most active accomplices.”

This operation follows other arrests in 2021 when the police detained 12 more suspects that were part of the same ransomware group linked to attacks against 1800 victims in 71 countries.

The cybercriminals would normally deploy different types of ransomware such as LockerGoga, MegaCortex, HIVE, and Dharma, and then present a ransom note to the victim to pay the attackers in bitcoin in exchange for decryption keys. They also use malware like Trickbot and post-exploitation tools such as Cobalt Strike in their attacks.

A spokesperson for Europol said that the latest arrest has led to the dismantlement of the group but that  there are still a few members which are being sought after, though they are of lesser importance.”

Source: The Register, Bleeping Computer

Are wooden data centers the key to sustainable design? 

Vertiv, a US-based manufacturer of turnkey digital infrastructure solutions seems to think so.

The company introduced TimberMod, a modular wooden data center concept that’s designed to help organizations reduce their carbon footprint and meet their sustainability goals.

This comes as issues around data center emissions are sounding alarm bells for harming the environment, especially as demand for data centers continue to boom.

Data centers are often primarily composed of non-renewable resources like steel and cement. Cement, for instance, is said to account for around 8 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Timber buildings, on the other hand, are sourced from sustainably harvested wood. 

Now, it’s fair to ask about fire safety- is wood suitable for housing servers and other power-hungry equipment?  Chief technology officer, Mikael Svanfeldt at Swedish-based EcoDataCenter explained that cross-laminated timber is different from normal wood and is actually self-extinguishing due to the lamination.

Vladimir Galabov, research director at Omdia’s cloud and data center unit said, “Prefabricated data centers can already shorten build time by 40-80%. The initial indication is that prefabricated modules made of timber are quicker to build than their steel or composite material alternatives, further shortening build time. It’s time to open our minds and embrace this solution which can reduce a data center building’s carbon footprint by two-thirds.”

Source: Data Center Knowledge

Reddit might be weighing yet another IPO. 

In December 2021, the company filed a draft registration statement with the SEC to go public. That was right after Reddit bagged in a beefy $410 million financing led by Fidelity, valuing it at $10 billion. 

Then, in January of 2022, Reddit even got Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to work on the listing. At the time, it was considering a valuation of as much as $15 billion.

The IPO waters got eclipsed with Reddit’s war against the moderators but it’s now back on the table.

It is not known at what valuation it would go public next year if it does go through with the offering. The company has not commented on the rumours.

Source: Tech Crunch

There have been age old claims on the negative impact of internet use, social media, smartphones etc. But a recent study from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) seems to debunk that long-held belief.

The researchers gathered data from 2.4 million people, between the ages of 15 and 89 in 168 countries between 2005 and 2022.

The report looked at the psychological well being of the participants based on self-reports of life satisfaction, positive experiences, and negative experiences. This was then contrasted against each country’s internet and mobile broadband adoption over the past two decades.

The study also looked  at mental health using meta-analytic rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm over 20 years and their associations with internet-technology adoption.

The researchers concluded that there have been only small and inconsistent changes in global well-being and mental health across the past twenty years and this is despite the increase in global internet usage.

One author of the research said, “It is indeed possible that there are smaller and more important things going on, but any sweeping claims about the negative impact of the internet globally should be treated with a very high level of skepticism.”

However, the report agreed with other studies on the association between social media use and life satisfaction being more negative at specific time windows in adolescence.

Meta, for instance, came under fire recently doing very little to protect the mental health of younger users on its platforms and allegedly even actively coveting and targeting these demographics.

The study called on technology firms to be more open with their information for the sake of studies like these.

Source: TechSpot

And that’s the top tech news for today.

Hashtag Trending goes to air 5 days a week with a special weekend interview show we call “the Weekend Edition.”

You can get us anywhere you get audio podcasts and there is a copy of the show notes at itworldcanada.com/podcasts 

And while we cover cybersecurity stories that we think are of general interest, you can keep really up to date on cybersecurity with our podcast featuring security journalist Howard Solomon. It’s called CybersecurityToday.  It’s rated as one of North America’s top 10 tech podcasts.

I’m your host James Roy.  Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

The post Hashtag Trending Nov.29- Fake women in the speaker’s list of a tech conference; Wooden data centres; Link between poor mental health and internet usage a myth? first appeared on IT World Canada.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested C$1.4 billion in Canada since June of 2016 and plans to invest C$21 billion by 2037. That was just one of the announcements at a special briefing session for the Canadian media at AWS’ re:Invent 2023 conference this week. Rejean Bourgault, country leader and managing director, public sector for AWS Canada, outlined a number of ways in which AWS is investing in Canada and the Canadian ICT sector.

New availability zone in western Canada

Bourgault announced that the company will officially launch a new “availability zone” in Calgary in early 2024. This brings the number of zones in Canada to three, which Bourgault stated was more than any other cloud provider.

The new western zone will reduce latency for companies in Western Canada, but it will also provide a number of other benefits.

Having a new major infrastructure in the west also allows large companies and governments to have a second geographically separate backup while still retaining their data in Canada. Bourgault pointed out, for example, that military requirements specify at least 1,000 kilometre separation for backup facilities, but the new facility will far exceed those requirements, giving “more than 3,000 kilometre separation of the facilities.

“Local zone” expansion

AWS is also making more investments in what it terms “local zones” that place compute, storage, database, and other select services closer to large population areas such as the one in Toronto. The aim of these is to provide the bandwidth and latency needed to support demands for high response, low latency and the growing demand for edge computing in key locations with significant population density and high usage.

Sustainability investments

Bourgault also touted the company’s commitment to sustainability and renewable energy. AWS, he noted, is “committed to be ‘net zero’ by 2040, ten years ahead of goals of the Paris accord.”

He noted that the company has also pledged to be using 100 per cent renewable energy sources by 2025, a goal that is both realistic and achievable, according to Bourgault. He noted that Amazon is already at 85 per cent of its target and is already the “largest purchaser of renewable energy in the world.”

Such investments are critical, given that by some estimates, the ICT sector already accounts for about seven per cent of global electricity consumption, currently representing somewhere from three to five per cent of global carbon emissions. The growth in cloud computing is accelerating rapidly with the vast amount of compute required for AI, which could take it to more than 13 per cent of global consumption.

Bourgault also pointed out that meeting these objectives has further economic benefits in Canada. The company has invested hugely in wind and solar. It has announced two giant solar farms, the largest of which, with over 1.3 million solar panels, is in western Canada. It also has a new 485 megawatt wind farm coming online in Alberta.

Social and educational investment

The company has recently announced plans to help contribute to education on cloud computing and AI in Canada, aimed at creating an AI ready work force. This is part of a worldwide program that, among other things, is providing free AI skills training to over 200,000 Canadians so far and has a goal of two million Canadians by 2025.

These courses are free, and more information can be found in a story published earlier on IT World Canada.

$8.5 billion in economic impact

Overall, Bourgault noted, the company believes that in 2021, it helped create over “C$8.5 billion of economic impact in Canada,” and “contributed to the growth of 308,000 businesses, which helped increase GDP growth by 1.7 per cent.”

Addition investments would continue this trend and further support the Canadian ICT sector and its contribution to the Canadian economy.

The post AWS touts growth, investments in Canada and progress on sustainability at re:Invent 2023 first appeared on IT World Canada.

There is a distinct good news-bad news scenario quickly developing now that Broadcom’s US$69 billion acquisition of VMware has been formally approved.

News of the monumental deal finally going through came last week with the approval by China, which resulted in Hock Tan, president and chief executive officer of Broadcom, issuing the following statement: “We are excited to welcome VMware to Broadcom and bring together our engineering-first, innovation-centric teams as we take another important step forward in building the world’s leading infrastructure technology company.

“With a shared focus on customer success, together we are well positioned to enable global enterprises to embrace private and hybrid cloud environments, making them more secure and resilient. Broadcom has a long track record of investing in the businesses we acquire to drive sustainable growth, and that will continue with VMware for the benefit of the stakeholders we serve.”

From a financial perspective, the good news is that, according to investment.com, analysts at UBS and BofA (Bank of America) raised their price targets for Broadcom in research notes today. BofA’s analysts “lifted their firm’s price target for the stock to US$1,200 from US$1,050 per share, reiterating a Buy rating on the stock,” an article stated.

The bad news revolves around VMware personnel departing, some by choice, others after receiving a layoff notice. Among those announcing they were leaving was former VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram, who on his LinkedIn page, posted a modified version of an internal email that he had sent out last Wednesday when the deal was finally approved.

It read, in part, “it has been my absolute privilege and honour to lead VMware for the last three years. During this time, we have navigated a dizzying journey together that spans the full lifecycle of a business — from raising debt financing to spinning off from Dell and operating as a standalone public company, to being acquired by Broadcom and executing through a complex regulatory process to finally arrive at this milestone moment in VMware’s history.

“Throughout it all, I have been amazed at the resiliency and focus of the VMware team as we repeatedly beat our financial goals, broke new ground with our product releases, and took time to celebrate the values that make us a special company.”

He went on to write, “Regardless of whether you are joining Broadcom or starting your next chapter elsewhere, I wish each of you the very best and all the success in making a positive impact in this world.

“As for myself, I plan to take a short break, rejuvenate, and then find a new and impactful mission into which I can pour my energy and passion. I will also continue my association with VMware as a strategic advisor to Hock Tan. I have no doubt that our paths will cross again. Until then, thank you, goodbye and good health.”

Other VMware employees will have no choice but to take a break after news broke yesterday that layoff notices had been issued to a number of them.

Scott Young, principal advisory director at Info-Tech Research Group, said today that layoffs at Broadcom were expected upon the closing of this deal.

The company, he said, has “a proven track record of efficiently integrating acquisitions and ensuring that its Total Debt to LTM Adjusted EBITDA ratio trends relatively rapidly downward. Its playbook to do this will include immediately eliminating duplicate and administrative functions wherever possible as soon as possible. The expectation would be that the bulk of layoffs will fall into these categories.”

The recent restructuring of VMware into four divisions (VMware Cloud Foundation, Tanzu, Software Defined Edge, Application Networking and Security), added Young, “shows that Broadcom sees growth in infrastructure and potentially has less interest in the (unmentioned) end user compute area of the business. This could potentially lead to another area where jobs could be eliminated.”

The post Broadcom update: Layoff notices issued for some VMware employees first appeared on IT World Canada.

Social media platforms should be forced by the Canadian government to toughen their privacy practices, an expert told a parliamentary committee looking into illicit data harvesting by apps like China-based TikTok for foreign governments on Monday.

Ottawa banned federal employees in February from using TikTok on government-owned internet-connected devices following a similar ban in the U.S. in December 2022. Ottawa added a ban on using China-based WeChat in October.

“Despite being framed as a national security threat, to date there’s still no public evidence that the Chinese government has spied on Canadians using a backdoor or privileged access to the TikTok app,” Anatoliy Gruzd, Canada Research Chair in Privacy-Preserving Digital Technologies at Toronto Metropolitan University, told the House of Commons Ethics, Privacy and Access to Information Committee.

However, he added, “there are valid concerns regarding the potential for TikTok and other platforms to be exploited by malicious actors for propaganda and radicalization.”

For example, he said, according to a national survey his research lab released last year, half of Canadians reported encountering pro-Kremlin narratives on social media. And in August, Meta — which owns Facebook and WhatsApp — reported a sophisticated influence operation from China that spanned multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube. The operation tried to impersonate E.U. and U.S. companies, public figures, and institutions, posting content that matched their identity before shifting to negative comments about Uyghur activists and critics of China, he said.

Therefore, Gruzd said, “we must take a comprehensive approach to address these issues by compelling platforms to commit to

— adopting the principles of privacy by design and by default;

— investing in expanding their trust and safety teams by partnering with fact-checking organizations and providing access to credible news content. “Unfortunately,” he said, “some platforms, like Meta and X, are doing the exact opposite;”

— and sharing their data with researchers and journalists. TikTok currently doesn’t provide data access to Canadian researchers but does offer it to those in the U.S. and Europe. “Sadly,” Gruzd said, “TikTok is not alone in this regard. X has recently shut down its free data access for researchers,”

It’s important to shift the focus from the responsibility of internet users to only share personal information online when necessary to one of developing strategies that compel social media companies to implement privacy by design and by default, Grudz said.

“Currently, it’s all too common for platforms to collect more data by default than necessary,” he said.

Parliament shouldn’t ban all Canadians from accessing an app, Gruzd added. That could lead to mistrust of Ottawa, legitimize censorship and create an environment for misinformation to thrive.

Last week, Cherie Henderson, an assistant deputy director of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), which oversees the protection of federal communications, told the committee about foreign government use of social media. Much of her presentation was reflected in the annual National Cyber Security Threat Assessment released last October.

While Henderson said she worries about foreign interference here from Iran and North Korea, she saved her toughest words for Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

“Foreign state actors leverage all viable means to carry out their foreign interference activities, and social media platforms are ideal tools,” she said. “The Russian Federation and PRC exploit social media to spread disinformation, leveraging suggestive algorithms to amplify echo chambers and manipulating content for unsuspecting viewers.”

“The PRC uses its unfettered access to harvest data at a scale that outpaces every other country in the world combined, while fiercely protecting their own information. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, will only further enable their nefarious activities.”

“It is imperative that Canada builds resilience against foreign interference. This includes bolstering awareness of the PRC’s ability to harvest and use Canadians’ information obtained through social media to conduct foreign interference.”

Threat actors like social media platforms because of the data they generate and collect, she noted. Platforms run surveys, correlate data sets and request access to users’ personal data through terms and conditions, enabling access to users’ messages, photo albums and contact lists. Some of this data is benign in isolation, she said. But when collected and correlated on a massive scale it can provide detailed patterns and insights on populations, public opinion and individual networks.

As a result, Henderson said, Canadians should think carefully before sharing personal information on social media apps “especially when it is with foreign-owned companies” whose governments are not our allies.

The post Compel social media apps to toughen their privacy, trust practices, Parliament told first appeared on IT World Canada.

Coffee Briefings are timely deliveries of the latest ITWC headlines, interviews, and podcasts. Today’s Coffee Briefing is delivered by IT World Canada’s editorial team! 

Missed last week’s Coffee Briefing? We’ve got you covered.

Canadian 5G users want the best quality of experience and will pay more for it

A new study by Ericsson ConsumerLab reveals more than one-in-five Canadian 5G smartphone users will pay more for a 5G plan that ensures elevated network performance. This would include a plan that caters to high-performing video streaming, gaming, and other popular apps that boost user satisfaction. 

The 5G Value: Turning Performance into Value report by Ericsson ConsumerLab examines the business potential for communication service providers (CSPs) as consumer satisfaction with 5G rises, with Canada showing a 12 per cent year-over-year increase. 

This increase is fuelled by more 5G devices in the market, faster speeds, and an increase in 5G availability.

The report also found that Canadian 5G users are three times more likely to switch providers over poor 5G connectivity experiences in crowded locations like shopping malls and arenas. 

In addition, 41 per cent of users demand more data to justify price hikes, with 17 per cent looking for bundles with innovative services. Twenty two per cent expect high quality performance, and prioritize connectivity.

Canadian holiday shoppers interested in GenAI, Acenture survey finds

Source: Accenture

According to Accenture’s 2023 Holiday Shopping Survey, 45 per cent of global retail executives said they are experimenting with generative AI to see how it can enhance their business.

Canadian consumers are on board with it too, especially if the technology helps them save time and money. However, the more invasive it gets, the more resistant consumers are.

Key consumer highlights from Accenture’s survey reveal: 

49 per cent would welcome AI assistance online to track prices and notify them of significant reductions.
42 per cent would welcome AI assistance with returns and refunds.
27 per cent would welcome AI in recommending other products that pair well with their purchase history, such as accessories to match a dress.
22 per cent would welcome AI assistance for virtual try-ons; for example, to see if a clothing item suits them.

Deloitte Canada reaches agreement for carbon credits with CarbonCure

As part of Deloitte Canada’s commitment to sustainability and climate action, the firm has announced a multi-year agreement with CarbonCure Technologies for the purchase of high-quality carbon credits. Through this agreement, Deloitte said it will directly support the deployment of CarbonCure’s carbon removal technologies around the globe.

Recognized as the North American Cleantech Company of the Year in 2020, and grand prize winner of the Carbon XPRIZE in 2021, the Halifax-based firm has developed technologies that, according to a release, “inject captured and liquefied CO2  from industries and Direct Air Capture (DAC) into concrete. This not only permanently stores CO2 , but increases the concrete’s strength, resulting in economic and climate benefits.”

The multi-year agreement, it said, helps evolve Deloitte’s carbon management strategy to support development and scale of meaningful market solutions.

“Corporate buyers play a critical role as early investors in climate solutions that enable decarbonization of high-emitting industries and permanent carbon removal,” said Sheri Penner, managing partner of purpose and sustainability at Deloitte Canada. “Supporting the development and verification of high-quality carbon removal credits is crucial to scale the gigaton market that is needed to meet net-zero.”

KPMG in Canada, Chainalysis team up with pact to prevent crypto fraud

Source: KPMG and Chainalysis

KPMG in Canada and Chainalysis have announced they are teaming up to help reduce the threat of crypto fraud with the signing of a strategic agreement in which KPMG will join the Chainalysis Solution Provider program. 

The collaboration advances the certification of KPMG professionals as Chainalysis Certified Investigators, a release stated, which in turn enhances their ability to assist clients across public sector agencies and private sector businesses to detect and prevent illicit activity related to cryptoassets.

“Our clients look to us as trusted advisors in the cryptoasset space, and our relationship with Chainalysis is a commitment to helping those clients be more agile, innovative and compliance-focused in an ecosystem that’s constantly evolving,” said Kunal Bhasin, partner and cryptoassets and blockchain co-leader at KPMG in Canada. “This collaboration will help to further solidify KPMG’s expertise in forensic investigations and cryptoassets and blockchain technology.”

The combination, the release said, leverages the expertise of both firms to provide enhanced blockchain monitoring, support, governance, and risk management to help organizations adhere to evolving cryptoasset regulations and advance their Anti-Money Laundering Compliance programs.

Persistent claims first with new open source maintenance service

Source: Persistent Systems

This week, provider of digital engineering and enterprise modernization services Persistent Systems launched what it called a “unique maintenance service” that it said is the first-of-its-kind, and keeps an organization’s open source software up to date with all patches, bug fixes, and the latest software releases.

A release from the firm said the new offering is comprised of a “dedicated team of experts and specialists dealing with a wide range of complex software, equipped with the latest technologies, and backed by a knowledge base to help clients maintain their open source software with all releases for the continuity of business operations.”

Known as Persistent Open Source Hub and available on a subscription basis, the offering is a partnership between Persistent and Lineaje Inc., which specializes in software supply chain security management and whose technology and AI capabilities are integrated into the service.

Lineaje will enable Persistent to help clients gain visibility into open-source components and provide impact assessment and prioritization of maintenance based on compatibility, integrity, and security in their supply chain, the release said.

“While open source software offers numerous advantages, it also presents particular challenges in an enterprise environment,” it said. “Organizations face delays in software upgrades and maintenance while waiting for the open source community to provide fixes, which in turn means potentially missing software delivery and security compliance obligations.”

More to explore

AWS re:Invent grabs the spotlight, with cloud, cybersecurity and AI in a business focus

As its re:Invent conference opens in Las Vegas this week, AWS will make the case that it, too, has a leading role in the transformation that lies at the nexus of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity.

OpenAI saga ends as deal reached to reinstate Altman as CEO

Ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be returning to his position with the company, OpenAI said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Canadian organization are not prepared for new ESG standards and reporting regulations, study finds

Canadian organizations are nowhere near ready for the new environmental, social and governance standards and reporting regulations, a study finds.

Mitacs celebrates researcher spearheading the development of next-gen AI networks

Nonprofit research organization Mitacs conferred the Mitacs Award for Exceptional Leadership on Georges Kaddoum, a top researcher at Montreal-based École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS).

Ottawa and provinces should harmonize privacy laws, says think tank

Ottawa should consider squeezing the provinces to enact similar federal, provincial and territorial privacy laws across Canada, says a new paper from the C.D. Howe Institute, which argues commonality will benefit businesses and consumers.

Broadcom’s VMware acquisition now official, GlobalData issues warning

The time it took for the US$69 billion purchase of VMware by Broadcom to finally be approved has potentially affected VMware’s standing and share value in the cyber security industry, says data and analytics firm GlobalData.

Channel Bytes November 24, 2023 – Open source maintenance service launches; KPMG in Canada & Chainalysis partner against crypto fraud; Protera offers enterprise cloud management platform; and more

Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.

Listen to the latest episode of Hashtag Trending

Hashtag Trending Nov.28- Files disappear from Google Drive; Meta’s spokesperson on Russia’s wanted list; Japanese tech startups woo employees back into the office with cash bonuses

Listen to the latest episode of Cybersecurity Today

This episode reports on the latest ransomware attacks, and details of how a gang that scams people selling used products online works

Listen to the latest episode of Hashtag Tendances

If you live in Québec, or prefer to consume the latest technology news in French, our sister publication Direction Informatique has you covered. Follow them on Twitter as well.

The post Coffee Briefing Nov. 28 – Canadian 5G users will pay more for quality experience; Holiday shoppers on board with GenAI; KPGM and Chainalysis partner; and more first appeared on IT World Canada.

Catherine Luelo, Canada’s chief information officer, has announced her resignation, two years after taking up the job to modernize the technology systems of the federal government.

Shortly after the news broke, Luelo appeared by videoconference as a previously scheduled witness before the House of Commons Ethics Committee’s hearings into the use of social media by foreign entities for unethical or illicit sharing of personal information.

She was called on because of her recommendation in February to forbid federal employees from using China-based TikTok on federally-issued internet-connected devices. 

Luelo confirmed she will be leaving her post at the end of December, although she did not specify her reasons for leaving. However, she discussed the state of the federal IT systems, starting by referencing the recent report of the Auditor General on the progress of its IT modernization program.

In that report, the Auditor General said that the Treasury Board, which oversees the shared IT systems most departments use, “did not do enough to lead and support partner departments and agencies to modernize outdated information technology systems. It has been more than 24 years since the government first identified aging systems as a significant issue and the secretariat still does not have a strategy to drive modernization.”

Two thirds of the departments’ and agencies’ applications were reported as being in poor health and in critical need of modernization, that report said.

Luelo made clear that the former head of Treasury Board was supportive of her work.

But, she added, “I think [the Auditor General’s report] is a good and accurate reflection of where we find ourselves in terms of our current state of technology. We’ve not advanced in the last 13 years, and I don’t think that is a win for Canadians. In terms of my tour of service, it was always intended to be that [a term, rather than a career], and I hope that other private sector leaders will do the same. It is an incredible opportunity.”

She became Canada’s CIO in July 2021, at the height of the pandemic, which greatly shed light on the dire need for the government to modernize its IT systems and deliver efficient and secure services to citizens. 

A year into her appointment, she spearheaded the Digital Ambition, a government-wide strategy focusing on several digital transformation priorities, including ensuring operations are safe, progress is measurable, service is consistent and personalized for citizens, and a digital-first mindset reigned in the government.

However, speaking at technology conference FWD50 recently, Luelo addressed the numerous challenges that the various levels of government face in their digital transformation journey.

She said, “The government has to do the “hard work” of modernizing core and underlying systems, some of which are 50 years old.” Modernizing large projects, she added can be like a “well of despair,” adding they require “a lot of hard, but perhaps not so sexy work.”

Recent research by IDC, in fact, showed that 92 per cent of government agencies recognize that there is the need for a digital first strategy. Despite that, only 33 per cent are actively moving to it, while another 40 per cent are getting lost in the complexity and multiplicity of digital channels.

Related:

Government of Canada’s DX journey riddled with cyber-struggles, technical debt and staffing concerns: Report

The same research points to roadblocks like growing cyber threats, struggles with combining old and new technology systems, resulting in technical debt, and the lack of talent, an issue also acknowledged by Luelo.

“That role has to be one of the toughest CIO jobs in the country,” said David Shipley, chief executive of New Brunswick’s Beauceron Security. “She led during some of the most intense years where online government was more important than ever to Canadians.”

He added, “The technology debt at the federal government level is Herculean and requires much more support and attention at the political level and more scrutiny and interest by everyday Canadians. Neither of which I think are forthcoming.”

Luelo affirmed at FWD50 that public servants have to build credibility and win back the trust of Canadians by getting projects done on time and budget.

She said during the House of Commons Committee meeting today, “I wish we could go more quickly on things. We need to go more quickly on things. I think there is an overhead dealing with all of the different layers around government, past and present.”  

This story will be updated.

The post Canada’s CIO Catherine Luelo resigns, highlights the fractured federal IT systems at the House of Commons first appeared on IT World Canada.