This new PDF tool might be the best way to keep your confidential data safe

Foxit has announced the release of Smart Redact – an AI-powered tool that can detect and redact sensitive information contained within PDF documents. 

The new tool promises to provide businesses with a more efficient way to stay compliant with global data laws and regulations like GDPR. Now, firms can search and hide sensitive data without having to exit the PDF editor and disrupt the workflow. 

Smart Redact comes as an optional add-on. However, it’s built directly into Foxit PDF Editor – considered one of the best PDF readers for Windows – so unlike other PDF plugins, you won’t need to install it. You just need to switch it on. 

 Smart, sensitive, secure

Privacy-conscious Foxit users are no strangers to redaction. The PDF editor, which we champion as one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives, included the option to manually locate and mark text, images, areas, and even whole pages for redaction. 

Now, Foxit claims that Smart Redact “builds upon the redact capability in PDF Editor by expanding the number of automatic sensitive data pattern searches, including those without static patterns, such as person names, organization names, personal roles.”

Alongside the AI tool, user profiles are also now available. Profiles let you set certain types of confidential data that are always to be obscured. That means you won’t have to constantly search and scrub protected information across multiple documents and document types, as Smart Redact will automatically do it for you. 

With cybersecurity front of mind, Smart Redact is TAA compliant and SOC 2 Certified. Data transferred between the software and the Foxit cloud server deploys AES-256 encryption. 

Frank Kettenstock, Foxit CMO, said “By leveraging artificial intelligence, Foxit Smart Redact dramatically improves the productivity of knowledge workers involved in redaction. Users will save time and reduce the potential for errors.”

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Norton looks to keep you safe from ID theft with new Identity Advisor Plus platform

Norton has launched a new Identity Advisor Plus service for identity theft protection and restoration

The antivirus and security software provider says it developed the software to tackle potential ID theft and the restoration of ID theft, which it claims has affected 30% of Brits.

The company cited its own recent research that found over half (55%) of British adults admitting they would have no idea what to do if their identity was stolen.

Norton Identity Advisor Plus 

Dark web monitoring from Norton ID theft advisor plus

(Image credit: Norton Security)

Norton Identity Advisor Plus offers a mix of social media monitoring, personal information monitoring and dark web monitoring tools to highlight suspicious activity on existing accounts. The software also highlights if personal information is being accessed elsewhere on the web without consent. 

The social media monitoring software focuses on the most popular social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Customers can sign up to use the new Identity Advisor Plus software now, with an easy-to-use Norton dashboard allowing its experts to detect any suspicious activity on your behalf, from £29.99 for the first year

The subscription also comes with Identity Restoration Support, including a devoted Restoration Specialist who acts as your case manager for handling any information breach, collecting ID theft case evidence and overseeing any necessary communication with third parties. They’ll also talk you through any necessary steps to restore your online identity and recover stolen information until your case is resolved. 

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Norton 360 running on a PC, laptop and phone

(Image credit: Future)

The launch is the latest release from Norton as it bids to help keep customers safe and secure online.

The cybersecurity experts have also recently  released Norton 360 Advanced, a complete online security package to keep your data private and secure online. The platform includes a password manager, 200GB PC cloud backup, a secure VPN and parental control tools in order to help defend your whole family against cyberthreats. 

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We've put together a help guide on which Norton antivirus plan you should get. Alternatively, here’s our rundown of the best identity theft protection services, best password managers, best antivirus software and best VPN service providers available today.

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WhatsApp introduces new privacy settings to keep you safe

WhatsApp is giving its legions of users greater control over who can see data about them. As part of a move to protect people from unauthorized third-party apps, new privacy controls are rolling out.

If you've noticed that you have been unable to see the online status of businesses or contacts you are trying to connect with, these changes help to explain just why this is.

If you have never chatted with a particular account, you will not be able to see either their online status, or details of when they were last seen. The same is true of other people's – and apps' – ability to see information about you.

WhatsApp says of the changes that “to improve the privacy and security of our users, we're making it harder for people you don't know and haven't chatted with from seeing your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp.”

To allay fear about the implications of the change, WhatsApp adds: “This will not change anything between you and your friends, family, and businesses who you know or have previously messaged”.

Keep it private

On the face of things, this feels like quite a small change, but it's just one of a growing number of privacy and security tools available to WhatsApp users.

It also helps to close a fairly significant security loophole that was being used by some third-party tools. There are a number of apps available for download that can be used to track people's online status – or at least they could be used fore this purpose before WhatsApp introduced the changes.

For anyone who is concern about their privacy, but particularly anyone who has been a victim of cyberstalk, these changes are great news that will be warmly welcomed.

Via WABetaInfo

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Firefox 95 wants to keep itself safe from code security flaws

The latest version of Mozilla Firefox is including a welcome security upgrade that the company hopes can keep its browser safe from code-based attacks.

Available now, the desktop and mobile editions of Firefox 95 will come with RLBox technology, which looks to prevent and limit any damage caused by code security flaws or bugs.

The “novel sandboxing tool” will look to make Firefox the most secure browser option around, the company claims.

Firefox security

RLBox was developed by Mozilla alongside researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Texas.

The tool uses WebAssembly to isolate potentially buggy code, ensuring no possible infections or flaws are able to launch or execute without the user knowing.

Mozilla notes that although all major browsers, including Firefox, run web content in their own sandboxed process, hackers often chain together two vulnerabilities to break through -one to compromise the sandboxed process containing the malicious site, and another to escape the sandbox.

This has previously meant having to hoist subcomponents of a browser into a separate process, but this has some limitations – which is where RLBox comes in.

“Rather than hoisting the code into a separate process, we instead compile it into WebAssembly and then compile that WebAssembly into native code,” Mozilla says.

Although not suitable for every component, Mozilla says it is working on expanding the reach of RLBox as much as it can – including to other browsers. The company shipped a prototype to its Mac and Linux users to test in 2020, showing it can operate effectively across different operating systems.

“RLBox is a big win for us on several fronts: it protects our users from accidental defects as well as supply-chain attacks, and it reduces the need for us to scramble when such issues are disclosed upstream,” Mozilla's Bobby Holley wrote in a blog post announcing the news.

“This technology opens up new opportunities beyond what’s been possible with traditional process-based sandboxing, and we look forward to expanding its usage and (hopefully) seeing it adopted in other browsers and software projects.”

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