You’re probably familiar with the online dangers that you could come across while working from home on your own computer or one provided by your employer. Spam, malware, adware, and viruses are just some things to think about. With the future of the workplace now possibly heading into the online metaverse, these are all dangers that could still come up for workers — and Microsoft has a warning about it.
In a recent post, Charlie Bell, the executive vice president for security, compliance, identity, and management at Microsoft, talked about the cornerstones for securing work in the metaverse. Bell believes that with the metaverse, the security stakes will be higher than imagined, and lists ways that companies and the major players in the space can stay safe when bringing workers online to the virtual metaverse. More importantly, though, he also touched on how anyone can easily be impersonated in the metaverse.
“Fraud and phishing attacks targeting your identity could come from a familiar face – literally – like an avatar who impersonates your co-worker, instead of a misleading domain name or email address. These types of threats could be deal-breakers for enterprises if we don’t act now,” explained Bell.
So, how can this security and trust be accomplished? According to Bell, it’ll have to do a lot with information sharing and collaboration on metaverse technologies. It also has to do with adopting multi-factor authentication and password-free authentication in metaverse platforms. Even giving IT admins a console to control the experiences is something that Microsoft and Bell suggest.
According to Bell, the security of work in the metaverse has to come from the apps within, and there’s only “one chance” to establish specific security principles that can create trust and peace of mind for metaverse experiences while it’s still new. “The security community must work together to build a foundation to safely work, shop, and play,” said Bell.
Transparency is the final way of securing the metaverse for everyone. Bell hopes that those who hold leadership positions in the space will be prepared to answer questions from security experts about terms of service, encryption, and vulnerability reporting. “Let’s make the lessons we’ve learned about identity, transparency, and the security community’s powerful collaboration our top ideals to enable this next wave of technology to reach its full potential,” said Bell.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.