Helping consumers find the perfect glasses is a booming global business, spawning giants like Warby Parker in the U.S. and Lenskart in India. In the Middle East, this market is producing its own rising powerhouse: Eyewa.Eyewa, based in Dubai and Riyadh, sells a wide range of eyewear products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light glasses, and contact lenses, through a DTC e-commerce and retail platform across five Mideast markets.Now, the company has raised $100 million Series C round. The round, led by global growth investor General Atlantic, brings Eyewas total funding to $130 million since its 2017 launch.Founded by Anass Boumediene, Mehdi Oudghiri, and Abdullah AlRugaib all former Bain & Company consultants Eyewa initially entered the eyewear market as an e-commerce retailer for third-party brands. However, the company soon launched its own brands after identifying unmet needs in the Middle East.Between 2015 and 2017, co-CEOs Boumediene and Oudghiri led Foodpandas regional operations under Rocket Internet and DeliveryHero ownership. Their experience scaling the food-delivery business which they claim to have grown 50x in three years and taken to profitability motivated them to start their own company.After our time with Foodpanda, we were hooked on entrepreneurship and knew we wanted to start something of our own, shared co-CEO Boumediene on a call with TechCrunch. We wanted to find the right problem to solve, so we started exploring ideas and comparing challenges we saw across different regions.From delivering food to selling eyeglassesThe founders brainstormed 87 ideas, and after filtering options with a list of 15 criteria and conducting a six-month evaluation, they landed on the eyewear market, a vastly different industry from food delivery. They discovered demand for eyewear was growing significantly, but the supply wasnt keeping up. Myopia was rising in the regions relatively young population (one study shows that the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in the UAE is around 27%). In addition, local eyewear companies were focused on in-store sales, rarely did any e-commerce, and their brands werent affordable or tailored to the mass market.With no prior experience in the eyewear industry, Eyewa started by selling eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban, Gucci, Prada, and Johnson & Johnson, online for two years.By then, it had enough data on customer behavior, including cart additions, website searches, and purchase patterns, to design and launch its own in-house brands. Now, Eyewa has nine proprietary brands for diverse preferences, from older customers seeking functional eyewear to younger buyers looking for trendy options. Currently, 96% of Eyewas revenue comes from these in-house brands, which, according to the company, has been key to keeping prices affordable for the mass market, including smaller cities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.Eyewa markets its eyeglasses, even the prescription ones, as fashion accessories, unlike traditional retailers, who tend to treat customers as patients, selling expensive brands like Prada in sterile settings.We kind of turned around the way we look at the eyewear experience, where fashion is the thing that customers really care about from a choice perspective, co-CEO Oudghiri commented on the call. So thats what we focus on in the retail experience and the health care aspect, we take care of it. Were going to give you very high-quality lenses and exhaustive eye tests, and well make sure that you have the best health quality for the eyewear that you buy. But what we want to push in the retail experience is the fashion.Eyewa also keeps prices low: In the Gulf states, Eyewas entry-level eyeglasses, including lenses, are priced around $100, approximately 50% less than similar products available in traditional stores.Scaling its omnichannel experienceAs an e-commerce platform, Eyewa exclusively served customers who already had prescriptions and knew the glasses they wanted. But thats not exactly a mass market. So it began opening retail stores in December 2020 as Covid lockdowns slowly lifted.The move allowed it to reach a broader customer base, as most eyewear shoppers still prefer in-store experiences to try on frames and complete their purchases. This also allowed Eyewa to own the full customer journey by providing eye examinations, which could only happen in physical stores equipped with optometrists and exam rooms.Eyewa raised a $21 million Series B from several investors, including Nuwa Capital and Endeavor Catalyst, in 2021 to scale this effort, and since then, it has grown to 150 stores, all wholly owned and operated no franchises. The startup, which now employs 1,300 people, claims to be the largest eyewear brand in Saudi Arabia by store count and the fastest-growing eyewear retailer globally.To put this growth into perspective: global benchmarks like Warby Parker took seven years to grow from their first store to 100, and Lenskart in India took about six years to achieve the same milestone.Were the fastest growing globally, but even across categories in the GCC, no other retailer in any other vertical did one store to 100 in less than four years. So we really executed super fast, Boumediene remarked.Boumediene declined to disclose how much eyewear the company has sold since its launch but did say Eyewa is profitable and growing at over 50% year-over-year in revenues. The company intends to add at least 100 more stores across six countries, including Qatar, its next market, in 2025; it will also open a production facility and fulfillment centre in Riyadh next quarter, said the executive.With this round, General Atlantic joins a growing list of U.S. investors deepening their presence in the GCC by backing startups and establishing local teams, after receiving capital from the regions sovereign wealth funds. It seems there is a lot of newfound global interest in the region. Weve had the VC ecosystem develop in the last five years, and many investments happen in early stage, commented Mehdi. But its great to see now more established growth and private equity funds starting to look at the region and the likes of General Atlantic coming, and hopefully many more that will follow.Badwa Capital and Turmeric Capital also participated in the round.

In this weeks fxpodcast, we sit down with Alexandra Castin, head of Adobes Firefly generative AI team, to discuss the evolution of generative AI, Adobes unique approach to ethical content creation, and the groundbreaking work behind Firefly.This podcast is not sponsored, but is based on research done for thenew Field Guide to Generative AI. fxguides Mike Seymour was commissioned by NVIDIA to unpack the impact of generative AI on the media and entertainment industries, offering practical applications, ethical considerations, and a roadmap for the future.The Field Guide is free and can be downloaded here: Field Guide to Generative AI. From GANs to Multimodal ModelsAs you will hear in the fxpodcast, Adobes journey with generative AI began in 2020, when Adobe introduced Neural Filters in Photoshop. At the time, the focus was on using GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) to generate new pixels for creative edits. Today, Adobes scope has expanded dramatically to include Diffusion Models, Transformers, and cutting-edge architectures.For me, the core principle of generative AI hasnt changedits about the computer understanding user intent and synthesizing responses from training data, Alexandra explains. The models have evolved to not only understand and generate text but also create and enhance images, videos, audio, and even 3D assets.Adobe is uniquely positioned in this space, as its product portfolio spans nearly every creative medium. With Firefly, theyve embraced multimodal generative AI to create tools that cater to text, images, audio, video, and beyond.All these images are generated with Adobe Firefly from text alone, with no other input.FireflyFirefly is Adobes flagship generative AI platform, now integrated into industry-leading tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. According to Alexandra, Fireflys strength lies in its training data: At its core is a set of high-quality data we have the right to train on. Thats what sets Firefly apartits both powerful and safe for commercial use.One standout feature is Photoshops Generative Fill, which Alexandra describes as a co-pilot for creatives. Users can guide Photoshop with text prompts, allowing Firefly to generate precise visual results. The technology has democratized generative AI, making it accessible and practical for VFX professionals and enthusiasts alike.Ensuring Ethical AIAdobe has been a staple of the creative community for over four decades, and with Firefly, theyve prioritized respecting artists rights and intellectual property. Alexandra points to Adobes commitment to clean training material as foundational to Fireflys strategy.Weve implemented guide rails to guarantee that Firefly wont generate recognizable characters, trademarks, or logos, she says. This safeguard ensures that users work remains free from unintentional infringementa critical consideration in the commercial space.The C2PA Initiative: Building Trust in MediaOne of Adobes most significant contributions to the generative AI landscape is its leadership in the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Launched in 2018 from Adobe Research, the initiative addresses the growing concern around misinformation and content authenticity.Think of it like a nutrition label for digital media, Alexandra explains. The goal is to provide transparency about how a piece of content was created, so users can make informed decisions about what theyre consuming.The initiative has attracted over 3,000 organizations, including camera manufacturers, media companies, and AI model creators. By embedding content credentials into outputs, the C2PA aims to establish a universal standard for verifying authenticitya crucial step as generative content continues to explode.Looking AheadAs the generative AI landscape evolves, Firefly represents Adobes commitment to balancing innovation with ethical responsibility. By building tools that empower creators while protecting intellectual property, Adobe is aiming to build a future where generative AI becomes an indispensable part of creative workflows.Join us on this weeks fxpodcast as we dive deeper with Alexandra Castin into the future of generative AI, Adobes strategic plans, and the lessons learned along the way.

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For years, Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA)a public school known for offering the first Arabic-English dual-language program in New York Cityhas been sited in a handsome brick school building at the intersection of 3rd Avenue, Schermerhorn Street, and Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn. Every day, KGIA students spill out onto a tree-lined triangular plaza overlooking Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer. KGIAs old building was designed by C. B. J. Snyder, an architect who served as superintendent of New York public schools between 1891 and 1923. During his tenure, Snyder built more than 400 schools in the Beaux Arts, Flemish Renaissance revival, and collegiate gothic styles. The New York Landmarks Conservancy has called Snyder an unsung hero of the city for his efforts.Now, KGIA students and faculty enjoy a new building sandwiched between Flatbush Avenue and State Streetright next to KGIAs old buildingwhich it shares with P.S. 456, or the Elizabeth Jennings School for Bold Explorers. But the design by Architecture Research Office (ARO) isnt far off from the creations Snyder ideated in the century past, albeit with a contemporary twist, and state-of-the-art passive house systems. This is all to say that, in short, the new school by ARO is meant to last.The primary schools pickup and drop-off area is on State Street. (James Ewing/JBSA)They told us, the building had to last 100 years, Stephen Cassell, a principal at ARO, told me one afternoon in November, referring to an early client meeting in 2016 with the New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA). We were touring AROs recently completed school building at Alloy Block, together with Adam Yarinsky, a fellow ARO principal. After turning a corner, we noticed that children had taken pink chalk to one of the new buildings exterior walls made of Ironspot brick, with colors that shift in the light, prompting a smile from Cassell and Yarinsky. Seeing kids use the building is really the most rewarding thing, Yarinsky said. We were here a few weeks ago when we met a woman who had just dropped her daughter off. Someone told her that we were the architects, and she unsolicitedly said people are loving the building. Its all been so satisfying.For the KidsYarinsky and Cassell both teach studios at MIT. There, they task students with considering spaces for early childhood education in Boston. ARO has worked on campus projects for some time now, too, including a recently completed hall at University of Washington Tacoma, and an ongoing one for business students at Rice University.ARO is also currently renovating an old bank in Brooklyn Heights that will soon host classrooms for St. Anns, the illustrious school founded by Stanley Bosworth. The Brooklyn offices recently completed school building at Alloy Block was its first for NYCSCA. But it was also the first New York school building that uses passive house principals more broadly. Local Law 31 of 2016, which mandated city-owned capital projects to be built to consume less energy than buildings built under current standards, meant that the playbook had to essentially be rewritten for the school, a challenge ARO responded to with enthusiasm and vigor.The school has a terrace designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects overlooking Flatbush Avenue. (James Ewing/JBSA)At Alloy Block, the high school (KGIA) and elementary school (P.S. 465) each have dedicated classrooms, libraries, stairwells, and terraces, but share two gymnasiums/auditoriums, and kitchen facilities. The cooking area is sandwiched in between the dining areas, which dont touch. There are also two exterior spaces designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects: One on the ground floor State Street side, and the other on Flatbush Avenue, one story above the sidewalk level retail space. The lobbies each have bespoke installations by Alfruz Amighi and Wendy Letven, one of which references KGIAs namesake, Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American poet. The building they share touches 505 State Street, known as New York Citys first all-electric tower, designed by Alloy, an architecture and development company. Alloy was AROs partner on the school project; it also owns the retail space that spreads into parts of the schools ground floor.A rooftop play area for primary school students is located on the State Street side. (James Ewing/JBSA)The school building and its accompanying tower sit just across from Atlantic Terminal, within walking distance from AROs Downtown Brooklyn office. It impressively uses less than one-third the amount of energy that other New York City school buildings use on average, ARO shared. This will make it the first New York City school building to meet efficiency standards set by Passive Houses Institute US (PHI) when its certification process completes before the year is over. To achieve PHI certification, architects kept super-insulation, airtightness, and heat recovery in mind. All windows are triple-paned, not unlike the recent rehab by Bruner/Cott at Harvard GSDs Gund Hall. Spectacular VernacularInside, the material selection is attractive and economical: The furniture is made of white oak, blue and yellow subway tile lines much of the walls, and the vast stairwells are coated in yellow. The thoughtful interior finishes, matched with Ironspot brick outside, makes the building feel modern and timeless, much like Snyders earlier works all over the city that still stand to this day.Economical materials were selected throughout the school, including blue and yellow subway tiles. (James Ewing/JBSA)The site ARO was given ultimately yielded a thoughtful floorplan, where essentially two volumes meet at a pinch point. Subway lines bustle below grade, necessitating a careful structural grid. Also, a second tower by Alloy will soon go up in the void behind the school, the old Snyder building, and the new all-electric tower. ARO leveraged this floorplate by creating dynamic, angled, corridor spaces that contrast nicely with the typical rectilinear ones from yesteryears that dont perform well for neurodiverse students.Floors four and five host 500 primary school students. Floors six and seven are for 350 high school students. The primary and high schools each have their own vertical circulation infrastructure (stairwells and elevators) to make for ease of passage. For safe pickup and drop-off, the primary schools entry is on State Street, a quiet brownstone-lined road. The high school, meanwhile, is off of Flatbush Avenue, bounded by 3rd and 4th Avenues.State Street and Flatbush Avenue have different energies, so the facades were designed accordingly. The former is serene and has low audio volume; and the latter is typically clogged with traffic, but looks out onto Downtown Brooklyn.A typical high school classroom (James Ewing/JBSA)The dining area for high school students is faced with floor-to-ceiling windows. (James Ewing/JBSA)Repetitive inset windows match the rhythm of the schools neighbors on State Street. Meanwhile, the Flatbush Avenue sides ground plane is lined with glass, and passersby can see into the retail space adjacent to the school building. On the State Street side, the facade shifts in and out just enough to create dynamic shadow lines, offering reliefs. The envelope is made of concrete block back up, a fair amount of insulation, and brick hangers that are longer than normal. These hangers tie the brick to steel, creating deeper windows than your standard new building. Theres a fair amount of detailing that went into the envelope, Cassell said. The windows are actually this subtle green and black hue, something we thought went nicely with the neighboring brownstones.The new schools Ironspot brick was selected to match the context. (James Ewing/JBSA)In the end, these kinds of projects are the most rewarding for us, Yarinsky shared. Its going to be in the city for a long time and theres so much it offers in terms of equity, and supporting very different neighborhoods from all over the city.

Avant BasicA new generation of postmodern design plays into similar 70s pastiche, but without the political teethByElizabeth Goodspeed November 26, 2024Design (Elizabeth Goodspeed)SHAREYou cant step into a millennials apartment today without tripping over a piece of furniture with wiggly lines. From the resurgence of neobaroque furniture to the playful, almost cartoonish typography on product packaging, postmodernism is back, yet again. Once a rebellious movement that sought to undermine the coldness of modernism with irony and eclecticism, postmodernism, or PoMo for short, has mellowed into something a bit more cheerful and accessible, with the focus on visual delight rather than intellectual depth. But theres a reason this trend is sometimes called Avant Basicits avant-garde aesthetics stripped of their edge for the mainstream. Of course, the new millennium has already seen one rehash of postmodernism: the Memphis Groupinspired aesthetics of the Indie Sleaze 2000s. In 2012, mixtapes and graphic tees alike indulged in clashing colors, squiggles, and geometric typefaces like Babyteeth (first made famous in a Bob Dylan poster by Milton Glaser, later resurrected on a 2006 album for the Rapture). But as the word sleaze may suggest, this second pass at Memphis Milano brought much of the same cynicism and cheeky bad taste as its predecessors. While 20th-century postmodernism used irony to question rigidity and dogmatism in modern design, Indie Sleaze PoMo widened its aperture to lambast the prosperity promised by the digital age and consumer-driven culture.Read more on aninteriormag.com. Furniture DesignPostmodernism

The Paris and Brusselsbased practice challenges the colonial authority of the global north, inprojects both close to home and further afieldNew South was shortlisted in the AR Emerging awards 2024. Read about the full shortlist hereIn 1992, Meriem Chabani relocated from Algiers to Paris, where she would grow up holding on to the dream of one day moving back home, a dream that has yet to come true. The experience of living between a nation in the global south and its colonial counterpart in the global north informs New South, the Paris and Brusselsbased architecture practice that Chabani runs with John Edom. New South grew out of a research collective including other members from the diaspora, all united, according to Chabani, by the desire to reset the global south as a locus of knowledge and a centre of contemporary architecture.These principles are realised in built form in the Swann Arr cultural centre in the rural township of Taungdwingyi, Myanmar, designed in collaboration with the architect Franois Le Pivain. The architects were approached by a group of local businessmen looking to support cultural development in the area. The clients wanted a flashy symbol for the town, la Bilbao, an idea that was at odds with New Souths desire for a project rooted in its cultural and material context. This kicked off a yearlong process of refining the brief and convincing the clients of the viability of local precedents; their instinct was to build with brick rather than concrete and steel due to its use in local vernacular architecture and the ability to produce it nearby. The architects then engaged in a process of community consultation and workshops with the clients, local residents and their families. Through this process, New South developed the participatory, researchbased methodology that has become the bedrock of the practices work; it is central to projects currently in construction, including the transformation of the Jacques Franck Square in Brussels, as well as their ongoing refurbishment of the offices of Paris Habitat (Pariss largest social housing landlord).Construction of the Swann Arr cultural centre began in 2019, surviving the Covid19 pandemic and a military coup (during which one of the clients was imprisoned), and was completed in early 2022. The building comprises a cinema, market, exhibition space, multipurpose rooms, offices, caf and media library, its floors connected by a wide, wraparound staircase. The facade at ground level is lined with bamboo shutter doors, which open onto the street, allowing the covered market to spill out.New South are currently in the early stages of another public project in a different context: a mosque and cultural centre in Pariss historically workingclass but now heavily gentrified 11th arrondissement. Once completed, the centre will accommodate up to 1,200 visitors in a series of flexible prayer spaces that will double up as rooms for sport, teaching, meeting and study. This blending of the sacred with the profane ensures that money can be generated from commercial uses, and ties in with the practices ongoing research into how sacred spaces can inform sustainable practices and counter the financialisation of the construction industry.Produced for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, Mediterranean Queendoms is a carpet capturing the history of Meriem Chabanis Algerian family across the Mediterranean. Queendoms are the domestic spaces ruled over by women, across many homes and continentsCredit:New SouthArtistic production is also a key part of New Souths work. Mediterranean Queendoms, a handtufted carpet displayed at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, chronicles domesticity across the Mediterranean, as told through the lens of the matriarchs in Chabanis Algerian family. Chabani wanted to explore a form of storytelling that doesnt borrow from the tools of architectural discourse; instead, New South created a carpet, in reference to the ways North African cultures embed stories in domestic objects through weaving.The practice is currently engaging in the lengthy process of gaining approval and support from the state for the mosque against the backdrop of rising nationalist sentiments, notably demonstrated by the farright National Rally party gaining ground in the 2024 French elections, and the recent passing of the covertly antiMuslim legislation known as the loi sparatisme (separatism law). If realised, the mosque will be the second largest purposebuilt mosque in Paris. The project will bring visibility to Muslim practices that have too often existed at the citys margins.

Published November 26, 2024 6:00am EST close 'CyberGuy': Don't chance it. Secure your retirement accounts with a VPN and protect your future Kurt Knutsson explains how to safeguard retirement accounts from cyber threats with a VPN: encryption, anonymity, secure access. Protecting your financial future goes beyond smart investing and saving. It's crucial to safeguard your retirement accounts from cyber threats. While many believe that usingpublic Wi-Fi to check their 401(k) or IRA is harmless, the reality is that without proper protection, you could be putting your hard-earned savings at risk. Let's explore why using a VPN (virtual private network) is essential for securing your retirement accounts and how you can implement this extra layer of security.1 WEEK LEFT!IM GIVING AWAY A $500 GIFT CARD FOR THE HOLIDAYSEnter bysigning up for my free newsletter. A woman using a VPN on her tablet (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)How VPNs workVPNs operate through two primary mechanisms: IP address masking and data encryption. When you connect to a VPN, it hides your real IP address by assigning you a new one from their server network, effectively preventing websites and cyber criminals from tracking your location or identifying you based on your IP address.Simultaneously, VPNs encrypt all data transmitted between your device and the internet, rendering it unreadable to anyone who might attempt to intercept it. This encryption process ensures that sensitive information, such as credit card details, remains confidential throughout your online activities. By combining these two powerful features, VPNs create a secure tunnel for your internet traffic, significantly enhancing your online privacy and security. A woman using a VPN on her cellphone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Understanding the risksWhen you access your retirement accounts online, especially through public Wi-Fi networks, you're potentially exposing sensitive financial information to cybercriminals. These hackers can intercept your data, steal your login credentials and potentially drain your accounts. What's more concerning is that retirement accounts are often less frequently monitored than regular bank accounts, making them an attractive target for cybercriminals. A woman using a VPN on her cellphone and a laptop (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Why a VPN is crucial for protecting your retirement accountsBy creating an encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic, a VPN makes it extremely difficult for hackers to intercept your sensitive data. Here's a deeper look at why VPNs are indispensable for safeguarding your retirement accounts:1) Robust encryptionVPNs employ military-grade encryption protocols, such as AES-256, to scramble your data. This means that even if a cybercriminal manages to intercept your information, it would appear as an indecipherable jumble of characters. For your retirement accounts, this translates to an extra layer of security for your login credentials, account numbers and financial transactions.2) Enhanced anonymityBy masking your IP address and replacing it with one from their servers, VPNs make it significantly harder for malicious actors to track your online activities. This anonymity is crucial when accessing financial accounts, as it prevents cybercriminals from identifying you as a high-value target based on your browsing habits or the financial institutions you visit online.3) Secure remote accessThe ability to check your accounts while traveling or usingpublic Wi-Fi is convenient but risky. A VPN provides a secure connection, essentially creating a protected tunnel between your device and the financial institution's servers. This is particularly important for retirement accounts, which may not have the same level of fraud protection as checking or savings accounts.However, check if your retirement fund platform permits VPN usage, as some might flag it as unusual activity.4) Protection against man-in-the-middle attacksVPNs are excellent safeguards against man-in-the-middle attacks, where hackers position themselves between you and the website you're trying to access. By encrypting your data from end to end, VPNs make it nearly impossible for attackers to insert themselves into your connection and steal your information.5) Bypassing geo-restrictions safelyIf you're traveling abroad and need to access your U.S.-based retirement accounts, some financial institutions may block access from foreign IP addresses. A VPN allows you to connect through a U.S.-based server, ensuring you can manage your accounts securely from anywhere in the world. A woman using a VPN on her laptop (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)7 steps to secure your retirement accountsTo ensure the security of your retirement accounts, follow these steps:1) Choose a reliable VPN:Select a reputable VPN service with strong encryption protocols..2) Always use VPN on public Wi-Fi:Never access financial accounts on public networks without activating your VPN first.3) Enable two-factor authentication (2FA): Add an extra layer of security to your accounts byenabling 2FA.4) Use strong, unique passwords:Create complex passwords for each of your accounts and consider using a password manager. Consider using apassword manager to generate and store complex passwords.5) Regularly monitor your accounts: Check your retirement accounts frequently for any suspicious activity.6) Keep software updated: Ensure your devices and apps are alwaysup to date with the latest security patches.7) Be wary of phishing attempts: Don't click on suspicious links or provide personal information in response to unsolicited emails. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.Get my picks for the best 2024 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.Kurt's key takeawaysSecuring your retirement accounts is not just about protecting your current savings; it's about safeguarding your future. By implementing a VPN and following best security practices, you're taking proactive steps to ensure that the nest egg you've worked so hard to build remains safe and secure. Remember, the small investment in a quality VPN service is negligible compared to the potential losses from a compromised retirement account.Have you ever experienced a security breach? If so, what happened, and how did you respond to it? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Best gifts for Men | Women | Kids | Teens | Pet loversCopyright 2024 CyberGuy.com.All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurts free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

A ransomware attack on the systems of Blue Yonder, a specialist supply chain management software provider based in the US, continues to cause knock-on impacts to the systems of multiple UK-based retailers, including major supermarkets.The attack unfolded prior to the weekend of 23 and 24 November, and impacted the organisations managed services hosted environment.Since learning of the incident, the Blue Yonder team has been working diligently together with external cyber security firms to make progress in their recovery process, Blue Yonder said in a statement. We have implemented several defensive and forensic protocols.With respect to the Blue Yonder Azure public cloud environment, we are actively monitoring and currently do not see any suspicious activity, it said.The experts along with the Blue Yonder team are working on multiple recovery strategies and the investigation is ongoing.In its most recent update, the organisation said: The Blue Yonder team is working around the clock to respond to this incident and continues to make progress. There are no additional updates to share at this time with regard to our restoration timeline.Blue Yonder has not shared any additional information as to the identity of the ransomware actor behind the cyber attack.Read more about supply chain securitySoftware supply chain security has reached an awkward stage for enterprise IT, as platform and security pros grapple with adding upstream tools to existing workflows.Supply chain risks have become more complicated and continue to affect a variety of organisations, but Synopsys Tim Mackey believes AI could help create more secure software.JFrog and GitHub released a set of focused integrations that provide better visibility across the software supply chain and advance the idea of EveryOps.In the UK, customers such as Morrisons and Sainsburys said they have seen impacts. Morrisons told trade sector magazine The Grocer that it used Blue Yonders warehouse management systems and had been forced to revert to back-up processes.The outage has caused the smooth flow of goods to our stores to be impacted, said a spokesperson. Morrisons suppliers, meanwhile, revealed they were left unable to fulfil deliveries.Sainsburys added that it was putting contingency processes in place.Other customers of Blue Yonder are known to include the other major supermarket chains, Asda, Tesco and Waitrose, and multiple suppliers of consumer goods. Also confirmed to be impacted is Starbucks, where store managers have been forced to resort to analogue processes after their workforce scheduling tools went down.Coming ahead of the busy holiday retail period, and just days before the US Thanksgiving break, the cyber attack on Blue Yonder has prompted discussion that the incident was specifically timed to cause the maximum amount of disruption US retail customers of Blue Yonder include the operators of multiple major supermarkets, although the scale of the impact to these businesses, if any, is unknown.Semperis vice-president Dan Lattimer said retailers should be braced for more incidents during their peak trading season.This attack was likely calculated as the hackers are aware that the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching and disruptions in the supply chain will leave many grocery stores in the US with empty shelves at the worst possible time, he said.While details on the specifics of theBlueYonderattack are scant, it is yet another reminder how damaging supply chain disruptions become when suppliers are taken offline.James McQuiggan, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, said the ripple effects of the Blue Yonder cyber attack emphasised the need for users to prioritise third-party management in their risk frameworks something that was talked about in the wake of other supply chain attacks going back years.Organisations should address any third-party failures in their incident response (IR) plans, including detailed procedures for alternative processes and clear communication paths to keep staff informed and operations running during outages, he said.Organisations cannot predict every third-party failure, but fostering a culture of preparedness through simulations and drills that mimic SaaS [software-as-a-service] outages can build staff readiness and reduce operational downtime during actual events.The multi-complex nature of SaaS networks requires IR planning to include proactive coordination and ensure business continuity to reduce the risk of downtime or disruption to the business in the face of third-party disruptions, said McQuiggan.

Mehdi - stock.adobe.comNewsGoogle Cloud research highlights potential for GenAI to transform public sector service deliveryResearch commissioned by Google Cloud suggests encouraging the public sector to step up its adoption of generative artificial intelligence technologies could have a transformative impact on the public purseByCaroline Donnelly,Senior Editor, UKPublished: 26 Nov 2024 10:32 Encouraging the public sector to ramp up its adoption of automation and generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools could generate annualised savings of 38bn by 2030, according to Google Cloud research.The public cloud giant commissioned policy research consultancy Public First to look into the potential benefits that expanding the use of AI and automation technologies could bring to UK-based public sector organisations.As part of this process, 415 UK-based public sector workers were asked how they think AI could change the way the public sector works.Their feedback was combined with modelling by Public First to conclude that increasing the adoption of AI in the public sector could save it around 38bn a year by 2030.By facilitating more effective working practices and automating repetitive, bureaucratic tasks, generative AI could save enough time to allow for an extra 3.7 million GP appointments, a 16% increase in the teacher-to-student ratio and free up the equivalent of over 160,000 police officers, said Public First partner Jonathan Dupont in a blog post.The feedback received from survey respondents further suggests AI could have a transformative impact on how administrative tasks are tackled in the near term, before going on to create efficiencies in more complex public sector workflows and operations.For example, 81% of respondents said they expect AI to cut the time it takes to fill out paperwork, while 79% predicted the technology would aid with transcriptions and the taking of meeting notes.In the longer term, AI will enable more significant innovations: increasing efficiency, reducing waste, and ultimately allowing for [a] redesign of how public sector services and jobs roles work, said the accompanying 49-page report by Public First.This will take a few years as technology such as AI agents matures, and the wider public sector works to put in place supporting data and skills infrastructure. By facilitating more effective working practices and automating repetitive, bureaucratic tasks, generative AI could save enough time to allow for an extra 3.7 million GP appointments, a 16% increase in the teacher-to-student ratio and free up the equivalent of over 160,000 police officers Jonathan Dupont, Public FirstFurthermore, more than half (56%) of the respondents anticipate that AI will complement the work of public sector workers, rather than replace it, and assist them in meeting the sectors ongoing challenge of having to do more with fewer resources.For the time being, while there is a lot of optimism about the potential for AI to change the way the public sector works, adoption of the technology is still at relatively low levels. For example, just 12% of respondents said they had significantly deployed AI tools.Around half of those we spoke to (47%) thought AI adoption in their institution would take place slower than other technologies such as the cloud or social media, said the report.When we asked them about the barriers to their institute making more use of AI, it became clear that this was not because they could not think of good use cases. Instead, the larger concerns seemed to be around security, legal requirements, lack of skills and reliability. However, when it comes to unlocking the full potential of AI in the public sector, the report urges the government, public sector organisations and tech companies to collaborate and focus on addressing these concerns.There were also concerns raised by respondents about how skilled public sector workers are in using AI, and also about the quality of the datasets they have at their disposal to train their models on.For instance, the research highlighted that AI skills shortages exist in the public sector workforce, given that only 34% of public sector respondents said they were confident their employees had the right skills to use AI tools.Meanwhile, 55% of public sector respondents said they would need access to different or better-structured datasets to fully take advantage of AI.AI will work best when existing public sector datasets are linked together in a secure and private way, the report added. The lesson from previous examples of digital government reform is that this often takes a strong lead and enforcement from the centre.Responding to the results, technology secretary Peter Kyle said the surveys findings are a powerful reminder of the revolutionary impact GenAI stands to have on government services.Today we have an opportunity to drive forward public service reform by empowering citizens with the information and tools they need to make better choices and hold services to account, he said.Now the digital centre of government, my department is testing how we can put AI to work in the public sector, whether thats speeding up finding information on Gov.uk or empowering teachers by reducing administrative burdens, allowing them to dedicate more time to what they do best.Read more about vertical adoption of generative AI (GenAI)Study from customer experience technology provider shows AI-powered personalisation, loyalty and human-like interactions redefine success for CX leadersBT is rolling out Amazons GenAI coding tool to 1,200 developers and said it has now helped write 200,000 lines of code.In The Current Issue:Computer Weekly announces the Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2024From beauty model to tech role model this years most influential woman in UK techComputer Weeklys Women in UK Tech Rising Stars 2024Download Current IssueAI and analytics? 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