IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Wednesday, October 12, 2022

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> This is just to update you that as part of our on-going development and

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> improvement, we will imminently be introducing company mobile telephones

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> for Support Team staff.

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> Whilst we are also constantly seeking cost savings and efficiency

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> improvements and consequently as you know are looking at significant

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> structural changes in the organisation, we also have significant

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> security obligations for our own compliance and business requirement

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> obligations to our clients.

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> However, as well as helping with our security compliance we believe this

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> will be a very positive improvement in the ease of use for support

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> telephony. xxxxxx will distribute full details and instructions shortly.

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> Thank you in advance for helping with the smooth introduction of these

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> devices!

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If this is about facilitating MFA, please provide phones with batteries that can be detached/removed in order to ensure the risk introduced isn't greater than the risk lowered.

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> Hello Support Team,

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Hi,

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> With more customers demanding tighter security, the upcoming ISO audit

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> requirements being more strict this coming November, and a general need

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> to ensure you have the right tools for the job, Sirius will now be

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> issuing work mobile phones to Support staff.

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> This has been under consideration for several years pending the right

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> combination of business, customer, and financial requirements being met

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> for deployment. Whilst the company continues to need to make overall

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> financial savings and to achieve better efficiency, a number of pressing

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> factors have become primary drivers to make this change happen now. (For

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> example, you will be aware of becoming an increasingly

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> important client of late and the imminent expansion of the support

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> contract with them is key.)

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We still need a wiki page for them. ;-)

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> We expect this to be a very positive step for Support Staff and should

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> make a number of key processes more straight forward whilst also

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> enabling key business benefits and security improvements.

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> Key purposes/benefits of introducing support mobile phones:

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> 1. To enable 2FA and secure authentication for both xxxx and customer

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> environments

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When I saw the previous message I responded with "If this is about facilitating MFA, please provide phones with batteries that can be detached/removed in order to ensure the risk introduced isn't greater than the risk lowered."

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It's understandable that some of these schemes do not support a landline.

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> 2. Separating work and personal devices as a benefit for both work

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> (security) and life-balance (you can turn it off when not on shift)

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Not applicable to me as I don't use such a device.

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> 3. A step towards replacing the legacy Cisco handsets

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The Cisco handsets have worked well for almost a decade. They were always more reliable than Google Voice.

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> 4. The devices will integrate with the native platform for Google Voice

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> and be a backup/forwarding target for that

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We already have a dedicated computer for Google Voice. Plus, it has several fallbacks in place.

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> 5. A backup data connection to work from in case of local internet outage

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I think we still have a USB dongle for this somewhere. A SIM card should be enough to facilitate it. Our connection has generally been reliable for years.

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> The company policy on mobile devices and security is currently being

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> updated to reflect this new tool, but please pay particular attention to

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> the following key notes:

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> * The devices will remain the property of the company

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> * The devices must be used solely for work purposes and only by yourself

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> * The devices will be controlled centrally by Sirius, usage will be

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> visible to management

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It seems like sole purpose of it will be 2FA. Any simple phone that can do SMS can handle robust 2FA. Anything "apps" can introduce more risks.

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> * The devices must not leave the UK without prior specific permission

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> from management

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> You have already agreed to abide by the xxxx IT policy and all usage

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> of the device should be in accordance with this.

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> Devices will be distributed shortly and will include a Mobile Device

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> Guide to allow a quick set-up. Please read through the Mobile Device

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> Guide asap once available (which will be assigned to you in Citation)

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> and then agree to the contents and terms, after which your device will

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> be sent out.

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If, as stated above, I "already agreed to abide by the xxxx IT policy and all usage of the device should be in accordance with this," then why do I need to sign an additional document? Anyway, I think this needs to be discussed with staff. I wasn't told anything about this until today and it seems like a lot of resources are spent on just an MFA appliance.

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Regards.

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[01:30] <xxx> https://theintercept.com/2022/09/07/microsoft-military-union-cwa/

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-theintercept.com | Labor Union Censored Report Criticizing Microsoft’s Military Contracts

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[01:30] <xxxx> Not sure if you've covered this

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[01:30] <xxxx> It's from the tech-inquiry.org guy

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[01:31] <xxxx> I keep trying to tell him to pay more attention to what Nat Friedman is doing, but he's looking for direct links to the military

Oct 12 03:17

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[01:31] <xxxx> And government spending

Oct 12 03:17

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<li>

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<h5><a href="https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/13087.html">Skipping releases when upgrading Debian systems</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diziet.dreamwidth.org | diziet | Skipping releases when upgrading Debian systems

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<p>Debian does not officially support upgrading from earlier than the previous stable release: you’re not supposed to “skip” releases. Instead, you’re supposed to upgrade to each intervening major release in turn.</p>

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<p>However, skipping intervening releases does, in fact, often work quite well. Apparently, this is surprising to many people, even Debian insiders. I was encouraged to write about it some more.</p>

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</blockquote>

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<h5><a href="https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/10/11/create-vector-video-art-with-an-arduino/">Create vector video art with an Arduino</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.arduino.cc | Create vector video art with an Arduino | Arduino Blog

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<p>The Smart-Badge recognizes kitchen activities with its suite of sensors BLOG HOME Create vector video art with an Arduino ARDUINO TEAM — October 11th, 2022 Unless you’re very young, then you probably remember watching a CRT (cathode-ray tube) television. Those work by directing an electron beam very quickly along row after row while pulsing power to create raster images. But it is also possible to

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create vector images by directing the electron beam along paths instead of scanning, which you might notice is what an oscilloscope does. Trevor combined these two ideas and made a video explaining how you can create vector video art with an Arduino, a handful of resistors, and an oscilloscope. A conventional analog oscilloscope contains a CRT just like an old tube TV. But instead of sweeping the electron beam to scan line by line, they direct the

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beam according to the voltage of the input signals. One signal pushes the beam up and down in the Y axis, while the second signal pushes the beam left and right in the X axis. That is useful for visualizing electrical signals for analysis, but it also means that controlling the position of the electron beam is as simple as adjusting the voltage of the oscilloscope’s input signals. Not all oscilloscopes give users the ability to adjust the strength

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of the electron beam, or even to turn it off. For that reason, Trevor’s tutorial relies on timing to control intensity. If the beam remains in a location for a long time, it will produce a brighter spot. If it jumps quickly from one location to another, it will produce almost no light along the path.</p>

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</blockquote>

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<h5><a href="https://baronhk.wordpress.com/2022/10/11/i-finally-got-around-to-submitting-a-web-compatibility-problem-report-on-comed-the-illinois-electric-company-to-pale-moon-forum/">I finally got around to submitting a Web Compatibility problem report on ComEd (the Illinois electric company) to Pale Moon Forum. (Microsoft-related)</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-baronhk.wordpress.com | I finally got around to submitting a Web Compatibility problem report on ComEd (the Illinois electric company) to Pale Moon Forum. (Microsoft-related) | BaronHK's Rants

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<p>According to Mozilla documents, it would seem at least one of these problems is occurring because Microsoft is using -webkit-autofill when there’s been an unprefixed version of this for years and “For the best browser compatibility use both” the Webkit prefixed version and the unprefixed version of “autofill”.</p>

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<p>Microsoft’s sites are usually very poorly coded (like Outlook WebMail) and when the Illinois electric company, ComEd, switched to Microsoft Azure, they got this mess.</p>

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</blockquote>

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<h5><a href="https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/10/11/the-smart-badge-recognizes-kitchen-activities-with-its-suite-of-sensors/">The Smart-Badge recognizes kitchen activities with its suite of sensors</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.arduino.cc | The Smart-Badge recognizes kitchen activities with its suite of sensors | Arduino Blog

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<p>We all strive to maintain healthier lifestyles, yet the kitchen is often the most challenging environment by far due to it containing a wide range of foods and beverages. The Smart-Badge project, created by a team of researchers from the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), aims to track just how many times we reach for the refrigerator door or drink water using machine learning and a

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suite of environmental sensors.</p>

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</blockquote>

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