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May 16, 2018 By PC Portal

Reimagine accessibility and foster inclusion in the modern workplace

On May 17, 2018, Microsoft joins in marking the seventh Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), a day dedicated to raising awareness of accessibility in the digital world. In honor of this day, we are releasing a short film: Empower every person: reimagining accessibility.

This film features accessibility experts from Microsoft and our partners: US Business Leadership Network, Be. Accessible, TD Bank (Canada), and Rochester Institute of Technology. It introduces best practices to build more modern and inclusive workplace environments and how accessible-by-design technologies empower every person to create, communicate, and collaborate. It also showcases new capabilities in Microsoft 365 being unveiled today that make it easier to create accessible content.

As more people across the world join in marking this day and take actions every day to create a more accessible digital world, people of all abilities will be able to fully participate and contribute. More than one billion people need assistive products to be independent and productive, but only 1 in 10 have access. Delivering experiences that empower every person to achieve more is what energizes us at Microsoft to do our best work, and I invite everyone to bring that energy to making accessibility non-negotiable in their places of work and across the whole digital landscape.

I continue to be inspired by the ever-increasing number of organizations prioritizing accessibility, and collectively there has been clear progress. However, given adults with disabilities have twice the unemployment rate of those without, more progress is needed to enable the transformative change we all want. At Microsoft, we found that addressing accessibility requires attention in all stages of product development: design, implementation, and testing. Making things accessible from the get-go is not only affordable, but also beneficial for a broad set of people. Given this, our mainstream technologies—such as Microsoft 365—include built-in assistive technologies and accessibility features.

Empowering people with disabilities to create, consume, and share content in their preferred way is a key part of the Microsoft 365 vision for accessibility. In line with this vison, we created new Ease of Access settings in Windows 10 and built-in settings, such as Read Aloud and Dictate in Office 365. These capabilities are designed to support people with a range of access needs: vision, hearing, and interaction. For example, to make interactions more efficient for keyboard users, we have introduced text suggestions that suggest the top three words while typing in on-screen keyboards as well as hardware keyboards. Adoption metrics are a great indicator of product value. Three years ago, we introduced Learning Tools as an add-in to help the 1 in 5 people who exhibit signs of dyslexia. After embedding Learning Tools into mainstream Office 365 applications and the Microsoft Edge browser, we have over 10 million monthly active users. Inclusively designed tools are clearly beneficial for everyone, and I continue to be energized by the powerful stories of inclusion in action told by people whose lives are transformed through Learning Tools and other accessibility features built into Microsoft 365.

Diversity is a strength for any business, and diverse teams must be able to seamlessly collaborate. Another key part of the Microsoft 365 vision for accessibility is to empower everyone to create accessible content and provide equal access to information to people with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, or dyslexia. AI is already infused in Microsoft 365 to help with several aspects of image, audio, and video accessibility. With automatic alt-text for images in Word and PowerPoint, we give you a head start by providing descriptions for images recognizable by Computer Vision. The Presentation Translator add-in for PowerPoint enables you to display live subtitles in more than 60 languages. Additionally, Microsoft Stream generates automatic transcripts for videos in English and Spanish using AI to convert speech to text.

In the coming months, we will ship new features to Microsoft 365 that will make it even more efficient for everyone to create accessible content and ensure diverse teams can collaborate inclusively.

Accessibility Checker—Already discoverable next to Spelling Checker in several Office 365 PC and Mac applications, the Accessibility Checker will be enhanced to run proactively in the background. It will alert you in real-time of issues that make your content difficult for people with disabilities to access. For example, it will alert you of low-contrast text that is difficult to read because the font color is too similar to the background color.
MailTip—A MailTip will be offered in Outlook for PCs to remind those who collaborate with you to check the accessibility of their content if you indicate that you prefer accessible content, similar to the MailTip available in Outlook Web Access today.
Recommended Actions—A new Recommended Actions menu will be introduced within the Accessibility Checker to make it easier to fix flagged issues. It will recommend actions such as Add a description, Mark as decorative, and Suggest a description for me for a picture in a document that is missing alternative text.

We’re on a journey at Microsoft to design, build, and launch more accessible products to foster digital inclusion in the modern workplace. I invite you to join us on this journey as we reimagine accessibility. Visit the Microsoft accessibility site to learn more about our approach. Share your learnings with #ReimaginingAccessibility and continue the conversation with @MSFTEnable on Twitter.

The post Reimagine accessibility and foster inclusion in the modern workplace appeared first on Microsoft 365 Blog.

May 15, 2018 By PC Portal

Bad Apps: Protect Your Smartphone from Mobile Malware

Reading Time: ~2 min.

Smartphone apps make life easier, more productive, and more entertaining. But can you trust every app you come across? Malicious mobile apps create easy access to your devices for Android and iOS malware to wreak havoc. And there are many untrusted and potentially dangerous apps lurking around in app stores determined to outsmart your smartphone. With the average user having 35 apps installed on their phone, according to Google, it’s easy to see why smartphones can be such a easy target.

But my iPhone is safe, right?

Both Apple iOS and Android devices are targeted by hackers, and while the latter is a more popular target, both platforms are both susceptible to various types of cyberattacks. After all, Apple’s latest version of iOS 11 was cracked just one day after its release via vulnerabilities in the Safari web browser, according to ZDNet.

Protect yourself from bad apps:

All of this means that unprotected smartphones are soft targets for cybercriminals, with weaknesses that hackers can ultimately exploit to generate revenue. The first defense is knowing that you can’t trust all apps. These tips will also help you stay protected as you search for the good ones:

Download apps from reputable stores. The major, reliable providers are Galaxy Apps (Samsung), the App Store (iOS), Amazon App Store, and Google Play (Android).
Google Play, for example, scans 50 billion apps daily to detect malware before publishing new ones.
Disable “Unknown Sources” for Android devices, which prevents installing apps from sources other than the Google Play Store. So, if you use Amazon App Store, you’ll need to enable “Unknown Sources”. In that case, be mindful before allowing any other app or website to install something on your phone. It should also be noted that changes to this functionality are coming with the latest update to Android’s Oreo operating system.
Keep Android USB debugging off. It can prevent outside malware from accessing your phone through corded connections, such as from a public charging station.
Don’t jailbreak your iPhone. Allowing access and changes to your phone’s software can allows outsider apps that may not be trustworthy.
Beware of any website, text, email, or anything asking you to install an app. Search for your own apps at the store and research all apps before installing.
Beware of granting excessive permissions. Apps that perform basic functions, such as a flashlight, don’t need to access your personal information, for example.
Read app reviews before installing, and review and report sinister apps. Users working together as a community can help alert unsuspecting victims to phony apps.
Be cautious about providing your credit card or banking information. Avoid making transactions over apps that are not well known to you or the user community and be careful about hidden charges such as microtransactions.
Install OS and other software updates. It always recommended to keep your OS and apps updated with the latest patches. It’s also smart to consider phones from vendors that release prompt security patches. Many software updates are designed to defend against malware and other emergent threats.
Use trusted internet security software. No matter how careful you are, it is wise to employ a reputable layer of online security.

Prevention, prevention, prevention.

Sometimes free mobile apps, including free security software apps from unknown providers, are suspect. The convenience of a quick download and excessive trust are not worth saving a few seconds or cents. Do your research, follow these 10 tips, and protect your well-being on any mobile device.

The post Bad Apps: Protect Your Smartphone from Mobile Malware appeared first on Webroot Blog.

May 15, 2018 By PC Portal

Trends in the workplace—white paper on the cultural transformation

Digital transformation is reshaping our global economy, including the way people work individually and in teams. As companies seek to empower people to do their best work, a cultural transformation isn’t just inevitable—it’s essential. Microsoft is partnering with customers to foster a modern workplace that is productive, responsive, creative, and secure. To learn more, read the white paper “New Culture of Work.”

The post Trends in the workplace—white paper on the cultural transformation appeared first on Microsoft 365 Blog.

May 15, 2018 By PC Portal

Unlocking the power of the team with Surface Hub 2

Today we’re previewing the new Surface Hub 2, built from the ground up with Microsoft Teams in mind. More flexible and powerful than its predecessor, the Surface Hub 2 is designed to fit any workspace or work style. Head over to the Windows blog for all the details.

The post Unlocking the power of the team with Surface Hub 2 appeared first on Microsoft 365 Blog.

May 14, 2018 By PC Portal

Using ISO 27001 to guide your GDPR breach response plan

Among the many changes GDPR will usher in, one of the biggest for many organisations will be mandatory breach reporting. From May 25, all organisations holding personal data about European Union residents must disclose a breach if it is “likely to result in risk to personal data”.

What’s more, organisations must report such breaches within 72 hours of discovering one. Reacting in such a short timeframe calls for a robust response plan. Unfortunately, experience to date suggests such plans tend to be conspicuously absent. The ISO 27001 Information Security Standard can help.

ISO 27001 can enable organisations to map an incident response plan that covers not just IT, but also people and processes. A good plan will cover the following steps:

Detect
Contain
Eradicate
Remediate
Recover
Review
Communicate.

Who implements the plan?

Incident response often falls solely – and unfairly – on the shoulders of the IT team. “It can’t just be the IT person’s job. It has to involve the whole business: this is a business risk and a business issue,” said Brian Honan. He added that GDPR applies to physical information, not just data on IT systems. Brian was speaking as part of a panel discussion on GDPR at the ISO 27001 Ireland event last week.

He recommended that a security response team should include representatives from information security, operations, HR, legal, PR, and facilities management. HR should be involved because if it’s an internal breach, the organisation may need to discipline a member of staff. Recovering from a breach often creates a fraught, high-pressure environment. HR can also play a role by helping to coach employees and manage their time. “Breaches don’t just happen between the hours of 9 and 5,” Brian said.

Involving a legal team is also important because organisations will probably need to deal with the appropriate data protection authority. “Speak the right language to the right people. You don’t want to open a can of worms by saying wrong thing to the regulator,” Brian said.

Sending the right message

Too often, organisations fall back on stock answers like “a sophisticated breach” when there’s little evidence to support the claim. Having PR expertise on the incident response team helps to ensure the organisation’s public statements are consistent, timely and truthful.

Brian also recommended including a representative from facilities management on the team. That’s particularly useful if a breach involved a break-in where CCTV cameras and physical security could prove vital.

“The key thing is, engage early with the business, find out what is important to them. Find out what you need to have in place. Establish relationships. Know who you need to contact in the regulator’s office or the supervisory office, find out what way you will contact them. And other relevant bodies you may need to contact. And think about what external expertise you may need. It’s important that you have those contact details already,” Brian said.

Ensuring transparency

To make sure the response process is repeatable, Brian recommended documenting all policies and procedures. “Transparency is important… It’s very easy to get caught in heat of moment in a breach, but then afterwards, can you recall what happened?”

Data breach notification also brings suppliers under its umbrella since many organisations now outsource their data hosting to third parties. “If your data is in a data centre or with a hosting provider, do you have an agreement in place so that they will let you know if they have had a breach? That’s a new thing to worry about. You may have to report a breach because one of your suppliers has had a breach,” Brian said.

Alerting mechanisms are vital because they can provide the information a response team needs to react appropriately to a breach. The 72-hour reporting window means that you don’t need detailed forensic analysis to start with. That can happen at a later stage. Teams should identify tools or software they will need both to detect possible breaches and to manage the response process. Brian suggested using examples like last year’s Equifax breach as the scenario for a desktop exercise to practice breach response. “If your vulnerability scanner didn’t work, how would you act? Use it as a learning mechanism,” he said.

People power

Staff training can also strengthen an organisation’s ability to spot potential breaches as well as responding to them. Brian referred to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report which found that many breaches come to light not via tools but through people noticing something strange. “The number one detection tool we have is our staff,” he said.

The last reason for implementing a breach response plan is simply reputation management. “It’s not that you’ve had a security breach that will damage your brand, it’s how well you respond,” Brian concluded.

The post Using ISO 27001 to guide your GDPR breach response plan appeared first on BH Consulting.