When done right, faxing is a very secure means of communication. Lawyers and doctors continue to use faxing — and it’s not because they are lax about document security. Most companies still using fax do so because it meets strict compliance requirements in industries like healthcare and finance, where secure document transmission is critical. Modern cloud-based fax services enhance security by using encryption, secure data centers, and audit trails to protect sensitive information and ensure compliance. So yes, fax is secure, that’s the short answer. Like any other communication channel, fax is as secure as the network it’s running on. If you use a business phone service that includes fax, then you don’t have to worry about securing the infrastructure — but you still have to enforce strong passwords, enable MFA, delete old user accounts, and so on. Let’s go through everything in detail. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more Is faxing safe for sensitive information? Yes. It’s perfectly legal and secure to fax a check, a lease, or any other document. As a direct means of point-to-point transmission, fax machines can successfully send sensitive data without exposing it to third parties during transit. In fact, faxed documents are considered legally binding and are included among the approved communication methods regulated in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 — which governs the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). Whether offline or over the internet, any establishment that faxes confidential information about your health is legally required to enact strict procedures and processes to maintain your privacy. In short, providers must take all necessary steps to control who has access to your data and how it is communicated, including asking for your permission. As a result, only authorized individuals should be able to access and fax your records. Administrative personnel are also advised to take extreme caution when it comes to ensuring that your fax number is accurate, reconfirming receipt immediately after sending. Such measures protect not only your confidential data but also the business itself from hefty fines. Most online business fax solutions include modern security measures to protect your sensitive data. These hosted services often encrypt your fax transmissions and store your data using Transport Layer Security (TLS), establishing a unique “handshake” between two user ports to guarantee a safe connection. During transmission, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 256-bit encryption ensures that all data is kept secure and inaccessible to cyberattacks. This security protocol uses a symmetrical algorithm and a 256-bit key to transform your data into a code that is undecipherable to humans and computers alike. Learn more about how encryption works to keep your data safe. How secure is faxing via a fax machine? Anytime you send a fax, whether analog or digital, there are opportunities for data interception or infiltration that can present a dangerous security breach. Because traditional fax machines are not connected to an office’s online network, they are not “hackable” in the same way that an online file might be. Although a landline can potentially be hacked via wiretapping, most cyber attackers are searching out weak spots in your digital framework. The real vulnerability of analog faxing lies in its points of origin and receipt. For example, many fax machines store unencrypted electronic copies of each transmission on their hard drives. In some cases, these copies will get backed up to a company’s shared fax server, creating the potential for online interception. Other problem areas include the human errors of misdialing a recipient’s fax number or leaving an incoming fax sitting in the machine’s tray for any amount of time. Your method of storing or shredding any fax printouts also deserves careful consideration, as any missteps can lead to an unauthorized person obtaining sensitive data. As for the role of telephone companies, they are required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to secure records regarding your billing information and service usage. They are not, however, generally held responsible for any breaches in your fax line or protocols. Similarly, the FCC demands that internet providers protect personal customer records and clearly communicate relevant network management protocols. Such features often include the most recent iteration of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption to keep your data safe from prying eyes. Nevertheless, an attacker may still hack your information by getting ahold of your password or running a phishing scam to access any faxes stored on your company’s server. Once again, your provider is not typically considered at fault for these breaches. Keeping your fax system truly secure means taking extra precautions to make sure your data ends up in the right hands. The best practices for supporting a safe transmission include: Setting access codes for any personnel who might use the machine. Calling beforehand to confirm that your recipient is standing by to retrieve the document. Securing the machine hard drive to ensure that all information stored on a shared server is encrypted and purged at regular intervals. Following any additional protocols when sending sensitive data, such as including a HIPAA-compliant cover sheet. Using only dedicated machines located in a secure area of your office space rather than a public device. The last thing I’ll say is — and this is true of any tech, not just faxing — is that it’s essential to have Multi-Factor Authentication enabled on any account that has access to sensitive information. MFA is an easy and effective way to prevent phishing attacks. Is faxing secure from a public fax machine? While it may be tempting to send a fax at your nearest FedEx shop or hotel business center, remember that

By Adam Lidgett ( December 13, 2024, 7:41 PM EST) — A Delaware federal magistrate judge has sided with Samsung on how to interpret a key claim in a wireless communications patent it was accused of infringing, finding the term was indefinite…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Midjourney, the popular AI image generation startup with more than 21 million users on its Discord server alone, is branching out from AI image creation and editing. Patchwork revealed Max Kreminski, leader of Midjourney’s Storytelling Lab, demoed the new tool, called “Patchwork,” in a livestream screenshare on Discord and X via Restream. Screenshot of a Patchwork world. He clarified that it would be a stand alone app that would require Midjourney accounts to log into, and that the URL would be available as a “research preview” in the Midjourney Discord server’s “updates” channel. Users will need to connect their Midjourney Discord account to their Google Account to access Patchwork’s research preview. The company posted instructions for doing so on its X account. The tool appears to be a web-based blank white, infinite canvas with a “toolbox” on the left side of the browser screen, showing a variety of buttons labeled for “character,” “event,” “faction,” “place,” “prop,” and “random,” as well as tools such as “note,” “image,” “portal,” “save” and “share.” “Save” downloads a JSON file with links to all the Midjourney images created in the canvas. Midjourney considers each canvas a separate digital “world.” To switch between worlds, the user creates a “portal,” a small black circular button. To generate a new world, the user enters a text prompt into an editor bar at the top of the “create” screen and selects one or more of a set of 10 different image styles. This then produces a new whiteboard with a bunch of new still image assets and text boxes or entities known as “scraps”, including input boxes that allow the user to prompt new images or settings that fit the initial world description, even whole new AI generated character descriptions. In the demo livestream, the character name automatically populated with Marcus “Dizzy” Gillespie, echoing the name of the famous jazz musician. Dragging the description into a new character image creator box produces four new AI-generated images. Adding new character boxes, the user can then prompt to create names and characteristics, as well as motivations that can spur a conflict for the basis of a story. The user can then link characters together with lines that denote connections between them. They can also write action sequences and scene descriptions that each narrate a story. Each character can be used in multiple images and these images gathered together with a single option. The user can “share” the board with other Midjourney users who can collaborate, purportedly in real-time, with multiple cursors moving across the same shared canvas. A single world can support dozens, even up to 100 users, according to Kreminski. However, he noted that the more users, the more chaotic the experience would be. Kreminski said only users who are logged in can view boards (for now), but in the future, boards may be viewable by non-users. He mentioned that tabletop roleplaying groups were already using the feature to chart their campaigns. He also said that Midjourney version 7 (V7) would include a setting to allow multiple character consistency across different and new images. Moving towards immersive, 3D worlds Kreminski further revealed that there were at least 3 different large language models powering the application, including a fine-tuned open source one unique to Midjourney. Ultimately, it appears to be a novel, complex, powerful, somewhat overwhelming yet compelling tool for storyboarding. I could easily see it being used by writers and film directors, game designers, comic book creators and even live theater directors and writers. In the long term, Kreminski said there was a “very clear path in terms of escalation of the details and interactions in the worlds,” including fully immersive 3D virtual reality scenes, but that was likely years away. The news comes as other AI researchers, startups such as Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, and big tech companies such as Google seek to develop AI that can create 3D immersive, navigable worlds online from simple prompts or images. More Midjourney updates coming soon In addition, Midjourney’s creator David Holz joined the announcement livestream to state the startup would launch multiple model personalization modes in the coming days. Currently, Midjourney allows users to rate images to personalize the kinds of visuals they want to see in generations, and fine-tune the model to personal preferences. Now, the startup will allow users to have multiple personalized versions they can toggle between. In addition, Holz shared that Midjourney would allow users to upload and reference multiple images to boards to guide generations. Furthermore, sometime after Christmas (December 25), Midjourney will be introducing video models and a Midjourney V7 AI image generator that will feature increased prompt understanding. Holz further revealed that Midjourney is working on three to four new hardware projects and said the startup was “trying to branch out and become a full research lab…it may take us six months to announce all six things.” source

Today’s enterprise architecture (EA) practices are critical to enable a firm’s customer-obsessed digital transformations. As more traditional EA practices become commoditized, enterprise architecture management suite (EAMS) vendors that show strong use cases to support real transformations will emerge as market leaders. These transformation-enabling use cases include AI-powered features, support sustainability goals, offer modeling and assessment capacities, and provide architecture-empowering functions. We just published The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Architecture Management Suites, Q4 2024, in which we evaluate the 12 most significant vendors — Ardoq, Avolution, Bee360, Bizzdesign, BOC Group, MEGA International, North Highland, Orbus Software, SAP LeanIX, Software AG, Sparx Systems, and ValueBlue — on their current offering, strategy, and customer feedback. Of these 12 vendors, four Leaders emerged: Orbus Software, MEGA International, Bizzdesign, and Software AG. Our assessment unveils that the leading vendors stand out because: They possess competitive AI use case capabilities. AI is in its nascent stage, and forward-thinking Wave Leaders have swiftly capitalized on this emerging technology. Key features offered by the Leaders include text recommendation engines, chatbots, smart agents, and AI-assisted roadmap capabilities. These functionalities leverage common large language models and incorporate the retrieval-augmented generation technique to enhance performance and accuracy. They offer ways to support sustainability goals. Sustainability features are a key differentiator for each Wave Leader. These include a hub capacity that enables strategic planning and measurement of the IT estate, from materiality assessment to carbon-footprint calculation, as well as integration with sustainability software. They provide the best modeling and assessment capacities. Diagramming and visual comparisons of objects are foundational features of EA tools, rooted in the core competencies of architects. Leading providers offer advanced capabilities such as process modeling, process mining, business capability mapping, and comprehensive assessments, all essential for effective analysis and communication. They empower architects, helping them be more proficient. Leaders consistently focus on empowering architects through various means, including digital twins, EA democratization, process mining, low-code/no-code solutions, demand management, strategic portfolio management, and architecture decision records. They also promote the use of APIs and microservices to encourage loose coupling. Forrester clients should use the report to create a shortlist of relevant EAMS vendors. Forrester clients can also book a guidance session or inquiry with me to discuss how to apply the Wave to their specific requirements. I would like to thank my colleague Paul McKay for his continuous support and editorial guidance and of course Min Say, who made this complex project a relatively easy task. source

By Amanda Robinson, Barron Avery and Sarah-Jane Lorenzo ( December 13, 2024, 6:03 PM EST) — On Nov. 20, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved a bill that would enhance federal efforts to implement a new supply chain security enforcement initiative. The bipartisan bill seeks to strengthen the role and authority of the Federal Acquisition Security Council…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

If you administer a Linux server, you likely will have to create users and groups. You will be limited in a few crucial ways without knowing how to create users. First off, new users cannot be added to a system. Second, you might have to create a user to install a piece of software. As for groups, beyond having to create groups for the successful installation of certain software, this is a great way to control user permissions for directories. Chances are you will also have to do this from the command line. Because of the necessity of this task, I want to walk you through the process of: Creating users. Creating groups. Adding users to groups. Let’s dive in so you can up your Linux admin game. SEE: Top Commands Linux Admins Need to Know (TechRepublic Premium) Creating users For this, we will be using the useradd command. This command is pretty flexible and allows you to create users who can log in or even users who cannot (when creating a user for a software installation). The basic syntax of the command is: useradd [options] username Say, you want to create the user olivia such that she has a home directory and can log in. If you were to issue the command: sudo useradd olivia The user would be added, without a home directory and be locked out of logging in. Instead of issuing the command without arguments, let’s go with this: sudo useradd -m olivia The above command would create the user and also create the user’s home directory to match the username. So, if you looked in the /home directory, you would now see olivia. But what about that lockout issue? There are two ways you can do this. If you’ve already created the user, you could issue the command: sudo passwd olivia You will be prompted to enter and verify the new password. At this point, the user account will be unlocked and they can log in. If you want to do this all in a single step, that command would look like this: sudo useradd -m olivia -p PASSWORD Where PASSWORD is the password you want to use for the user olivia. Once the user logs in, they can change their password by using the passwd command, entering their current password, and then entering/verifying their new password. If you need to create a user that has no home directory and is locked out from logging in, you can do this with the following commands: sudo useradd -M USERNAMEsudo usermod -L USERNAME Where USERNAME is the name of the user to add. The first command creates the user without a home directory, and the second command locks the user from logging in. SEE: How to Connect to Linux Samba Shares from Windows (TechRepublic) Creating groups and adding users Now it’s time to create a group. Let’s create the group editorial. To do this, you would issue the command: sudo groupadd editorial Now, we want to add our new user, olivia, to the group editorial. For this, we will take advantage of the usermod command. This command is quite simple to use. sudo usermod -a -G editorial olivia The -a option tells usermod we are appending, and the -G option tells usermod we are appending to the group name that follows the option. How do you know which users are already a member of a group? You can do this the old-fashioned way: grep editorial /etc/group The above command will list pertinent information about the group. This shows the members of the editorial group. Image: Jack Wallen. Another method for finding out who is in a group is with the command members. This command isn’t installed on most distributions, but can be installed from the standard repositories. If you’re using an Ubuntu distribution, the command for installation would be: sudo apt-get install members Once installed, the command for listing out who is in our editorial group would be: members editorial That’s much more efficient than using grep and will only display the member names for the group. Here’s another way of showing the members in the editorial group. Image: Jack Wallen. SEE: How to Add an SSH Fingerprint to Your known_hosts File in Linux (TechRepublic) User management made simple If you were concerned that managing users on Linux would be a challenge, you should now be able to set those concerns aside. Truth be told, user management on Linux is quite simple — you just need to know which commands to work with. For more information about these tools, issue the commands man useradd, man groupadd, man usermod, and man members. source

Boston Dynamics’ robot dog “Spot” has become somewhat of an internet sensation, no doubt thanks to its (perhaps disturbingly) killer dance moves or displays of super-strength.    But Spot is far from the only robodog on the block. One of its competitors is ANYmal, an autonomous quadruped that’s impressively good at everything from parkour to climbing ladders.    Apart from doing tricks, ANYmal also has a real job. It does routine inspections in some of the toughest places on Earth. Think old nuclear power plants, abandoned mines, and offshore oil rigs.  The 💜 of EU tech The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now! Cameras, sensors and gas detectors act as the robodog’s eyes and nose — spotting obstacles, and potential safety hazards, and even sniffing out gas leaks. With its AI “brain,” it plans safe paths and knows where it’s been.  ANYmal is so good at its job, that some of the world’s biggest industrial companies — the likes of BP, Equinor, and Petrobas — have adopted it as part of their workforce.   ANYmal’s human master is ANYbotics, a company spun out from ETH Zurich in 2016. The startup has just raised $60mn to build more inspection robots and make them smarter.   Currently, close to 200 ANYmal’s are deployed at worksites across the world. As of last year, the company reported having more than $150mn in pre-orders. “This additional funding allows us to scale globally, enhance our AI-driven capabilities, and continue to deliver unmatched value to our customers across industries,” said Dr. Péter Fankhauser, the company’s co-founder and CEO.  ANYbotics recently opened an office in Silicon Valley to tackle the American market. This will put it into closer competition with Spot, which also does its fair share of industrial inspections.  The company said it is investing in software and hardware development, including new, built-in GPUs intended to make ANYmal faster at processing information, detecting anomalies and overall making it better at its job. ANYbotics trains its robot using AI computing from Nvidia.   This latest funding brings ANYbotics’ total raised to over $130mn. The round was led by Qualcomm Ventures and Supernova Invest, with participation from TDK Ventures and other new investors.     source

When you have a young daughter like I do, it’s almost impossible to avoid getting swept up into the Taylor Swift fan frenzy. After attending one of her concerts recently with my family, I came away impressed by her talent and even more so with her entrepreneurial mindset, brand management, and resilience. In my nearly three decades of financial management and capital markets experience, I’ve learned many lessons and fundamental truths. And as I thought more carefully about the business aspects of her success, I realized there are five essential insights that every enterprise CFO can benefit from and apply to their financial leadership of a large enterprise. And there’s even more to learn: Harvard University now offers a course on Taylor Swift, and similarly inspired courses are sweeping colleges nationwide. The five lessons I’ve curated here are ones most CFOs are probably already aware of, yet the stellar examples set forth by Swift serve as useful reminders to spark renewed energy, in a creative way, toward action. 1. Diversification of Revenue Streams According to The Washington Post, Swift’s “…record-shattering Eras Tour is set to be the most lucrative concert run in American history.”  CNBC adds, “the Eras Tour concert film has shattered records and helped the theater industry weather a light release calendar.” Swift has not limited herself to just album sales and concert tours, she has also smartly diversified her income streams through merchandise sales, brand partnerships, and streaming platforms that in total have helped to propel her into the billionaire’s club, according to Forbes. Her savvy is a good reminder for enterprise CFOs on the importance of diversifying revenue sources to reduce risk and ensure stability. 2. Data-Driven Decision-Making Swift has been known to use data analytics extensively in her career. “Working with her team, the pop star adds a personable human touch to the marketing mix: through using data-driven trend-based insights to create musical arrangements, video content, and engaging social media campaigns that appeal to a wealth of audience segments,” according to a Digital Marketing Institute article focused on four lessons digital marketers can take from Swift’s marketing genius. Successful enterprise CFOs apply this lesson daily by leveraging data analytics to make informed financial decisions, optimize processes, and identify growth opportunities within their organizations. 3. Strategic Negotiation Negotiations with music labels and streaming platforms, such as her decision to re-record her music, demonstrate Swift’s strategic negotiation skills. In 2015, she went head-to-head against Apple, prompting the company to drop its plan not to pay artists royalties during the trial period of its new streaming service. Successful CFOs know that in the dynamic world of finance, strong negotiation skills are of pivotal importance to managing risk, driving growth, and accelerating profitability. And, as Swift has demonstrated, negotiation isn’t just about striking deals—it’s about aligning interests, identifying allies for mutually beneficial outcomes, and building solid relationships. 4. Brand Management Swift has also carefully managed her brand, crafting a strong and authentic image that resonates with her audience. According to Forbes Australia, she, “…has mastered the art of storytelling, using her music and public image to create a narrative that fans can relate to.” After master recordings of her first six albums were sold to Ithaca Holdings in 2019, she moved to regain ownership of her legacy by re-recording the songs from the albums. CFOs can learn from her brand management strategy and how it can impact financial performance, customer loyalty, and market positioning. By leveraging financial data and insights, CFOs can contribute to the success of their brand by helping to define profitable positioning, recognize high-value customer touchpoints, and balance resource priorities for market segments.  Moreover, with the insight gathered, the CFO can guide the organization to be calculated and assess the proper ROI when protecting one’s hard earned intellectual property, which is a very costly, but sometimes necessary, endeavor. 5. Adaptability and Resilience Finally, throughout her career, Swift has adapted to changes in the music industry and overcome challenges. Successful CFOs are continually learning, and are adaptable and resilient, especially in the face of economic fluctuations, regulatory changes, and unexpected events, ensuring their organizations remain financially stable in turbulent times. And as economic uncertainty shows no sign of abating, CFOs will continue to be integral leaders in demonstrating adaptability and resilience to ensure long-term success for their organizations. Creative inspiration While the entertainment industry and the corporate world are different in many ways, these five lessons from Taylor Swift’s successful career—diversification of revenue streams; data-driven decision making; strategic negotiation; brand management; adaptability and resilience—serve to remind and inspire CFOs to think creatively while adapting to changing circumstances and making strategic decisions. Learn more: CFO and finance leaders, discover how more than 5,300 clients have saved an estimated total of over $8B to date on enterprise software maintenance costs with Rimini Street. source

By Alex Lawson ( December 13, 2024, 2:05 PM EST) — A pair of lawmakers on Friday leaned on TikTok to ensure it meets a Jan. 19 deadline to sell its operations or face a U.S. ban, while also pressing tech giants Apple and Google to be prepared to deplatform the video-sharing app if it refuses to sell…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI’s latest release, Projects in ChatGPT, addresses the need to organize files and conversations on ChatGPT. The feature is similar to Google’s popular NotebookLM application.  During the sixth day of its “12 Days of OpenAI” live stream, the company presented Projects in ChatGPT, allowing users to create folders and add conversations and documents, bringing these capabilities together in one place.  OpenAI rolled out Projects to ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Teams subscribers on Friday. However, ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users will have to wait until January to access the new function. The company said it will “work hard” to offer Projects in ChatGPT to all users. Projects can be accessed on the ChatGPT website or the Windows desktop app. Mobile app users and MacOS desktop app users can view Projects.  The feature is reminiscent of Google’s NotebookLM, although that application is more geared toward research. Unlike NotebookLM’s Audio Overview, Projects on ChatGPT does not offer podcast narration. However, users of Projects on ChatGPT can still access other features of ChatGPT in conversations, such as Voice Mode, web search and Canvas.  NotebookLM proved so popular that some businesses began using the app beyond research, including in CRM-like tasks, thanks to its ability to organize files and other information on a specific topic.  Make a project  Projects will appear in the ChatGPT sidebar. To create a new one, click the “Plus” icon. Then, you can can name the project and customize its colors.  One feature of Projects is the ability to customize how it will respond through custom instructions. For example, a project manager can open a project to build a website. They can explain what the project is and what the website is for, and instruct ChatGPT to favor opening ChatGPT’s Canvas for coding.  Then, users can upload related documents to fill the website. Projects takes information from uploaded documents and chats associated with it. You can move existing conversations on ChatGPT to a Project and have it reference those chats as data sources.  OpenAI plans to expand the types of files Projects supports next year and add connections to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. The company will also offer the option to toggle models through Projects.  All-in-one platforms Features like Projects in ChatGPT show how much OpenAI, Anthropic, and other chat providers want users to stay on their platforms to do their work.  OpenAI rolled out Canvas in October and expanded its access earlier this week. Canvas allows users to generate and edit text or code in ChatGPT without copying and pasting code elsewhere. Anthropic’s Claude Artifacts functions the same way, but it can also show a website prototype. Remaining on the main chat platform, Projects in ChatGPT lets users organize and work in the same window, showing that OpenAI plans to keep all of its new features in one place. Unlike Projects in ChatGPT, NotebookLM — which runs on an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Flash and lets people chat with Gemini — is a separate app from the Gemini chatbot or Google’s other products, like its coding assistants.  source