PossibleThreat Articles

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Security

ComputerWorld Independent 

After the remote-work rush, vacant offices and empty downtowns

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Core business centers in large and small cities throughout the US are suffering the effects of hybrid- and remote-work policies, which has led to a 20% to 40% reduction in office space use, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

The switch to primarily remote work at the start of the COVID pandemic in March 2020 left downtowns largely empty. Since then, commercial areas have seen a slow, but steady, return to the office, with average office occupancy hitting 50% of pre-pandemic levels this past March, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group.

But that’s enough to offset sizeable drops in the value of office space, and the need to re-think what an “office” now is. In San Francisco, for example, an office building worth $300 million before the pandemic could now be worth just $60 million, an 80% loss in value. Nearly 30% of downtown office space is vacant, according to CBRE.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

How to use Google passkeys for stronger security on Android

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Still signing into your Google account by tapping out an actual password? That’s, like, so 2022.

Now, don’t get me wrong: The tried-and-true password is perfectly fine, especially if you’re using it in conjunction with two-factor authentication. But particularly for something as important as your Google account, you want to have the most effective security imaginable to keep all your personal and/or company info safe.

And starting this week, you’ve got a much better way to go about that.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple, Google team up to tackle Bluetooth tracker-stalking terror

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The days when people can be abusively tracked using devices such as Apple’s AirTags may be numbered; both Apple and Google today jointly announced work on a new standard that will prevent this from happening and hinted that Android users will soon be able to tell whether they’re being tracked by an AirTag.

Got to stop tracker abuse

The two companies say they have been working on a new industry specification to help prevent Bluetooth location-tracking devices being used to track people without permission. They also seem to have the industry behind them, as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have all expressed support for the draft specification, which has been filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple, platform security, and the next big war

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When Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2016 warned of a cybersecurity war, he was specifically discussing the pressure Apple then faced to create back doors on its platforms so law enforcement could snoop on users.  

He was championing encryption and opposing the creation of designer vulnerabilities that can be exploited by any entity that knows they exist. Since then, we’ve seen a cancerous tumult of surveillance as a service that companies such as the NSO Group break out, each of them using the kind of hard-to-find flaws governments may insist on platform providers creating.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Businesses, beware: The Motorola ThinkPhone comes with a major caveat

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Let me just preface this by saying: No, the saga we’re about to dive into isn’t in any way related to April Fools’ — as far as I can tell, anyway. After all, we’re at the start of May.

And yet, one of Android’s best-known phone-makers is putting out a new device with such eye-rollingly off-the-mark claims, I can’t help but wonder if maybe they got mixed up on months and meant this to be a joke. It’s so hilariously and obviously ironic, I’m just not sure what else to make of it.

So here it is: Motorola’s got a new business-aimed Android phone called the Motorola ThinkPhone. It’s the first time the company — which has been owned by Lenovo since 2014, when Google broke our hearts and pawned the brand off after a glorious 20 months of control — is bringing a classic Lenovo name into the Motorola and Android arena this prominently.

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