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Facial recognition will soon be optional for government agencies using ID.me
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The identity verification company ID.me has announced that it will make facial recognition verification optional for public sector government partners.

The Virginia-based company recently made headlines after the IRS revealed its plans to require US taxpayers to submit a video selfie in order to create an account on its website. However, following backlash from citizens,  privacy advocates and lawmakers, the government agency has since backtracked on these plans.

In a press release, founder and CEO of ID.me, Blake Hall explained that the company will now provide public sector employees working for the government with a new option to verify their identities, saying:

“We have listened to the feedback about facial recognition and are making this important change, adding an option for users to verify directly with a human agent to ensure consumers have even more choice and control over their personal data.”

Not a biometrics company

ID.me will now give government agency employees the option to verify their identity with an expert human agent as opposed to having to submit a video selfie.

At the same time, beginning on March 1, all of the company's users will be able to delete their video selfies or photos. This is good news due to the fact that if ID.me were to fall victim to a data breach or even suffer a data leak, employees who used its identity verification service could be at high risk of identity theft as cybercriminals would have access to a great deal of their personal information.

Read more

> IRS drops use of facial recognition for ID verification

> Many Americans aren't aware they're being tracked with facial recognition while shopping

> Thousands of US government agencies using facial recognition without permission

In its press release, ID.me also pointed out that it is an identity verification company and not a biometrics company. So far, the company's trained agents have already verified the identities of over 3m Americans including the unbanked, homeless and international users. During the pandemic, law enforcement and government agencies also employed ID.me's services to prevent criminals from committing unemployment fraud.

While the IRS has dropped its plans to implement identity verification for US taxpayers, the government agency could reverse course in the future.

Via Gizmodo

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Using Gmail on iPhone should now finally be a lot easier
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Google has unveiled a number of updates and upgrades for Apple devices, including a selection of new tools for Google Meet and Gmail on iPhone and iPad.

The new Google Workspace additions include a homescreen widget for Gmail, which means users will be quickly able to view, edit and reply to emails when on the move.

Rolling out now having first been announced back in November 2021, Gmail version 6.0.211226 now includes a new “Email updates” widget that gives speedy access to your messages without needing to open up the full app – useful if you're dashing to a meeting or hopping on a train. 

Gmail on the go

Google notes that the new widget will give users access to the senders and subject lines of your most recent emails right on your Home Screen.

It joins the existing “Quick email actions” homescreen item, and will also allow users the option to compose new messages immediately – and even be available in dark mode.

The other significant addition is picture-in-picture mode for Google Meet, allowing users to have multiple apps open and displaying when on a video conferencing call, which could be extremely useful for workplace users.

Going forward, iPhone and iPad users can dial in to a meeting on their device, but also be able to forward an email, share a document or just do some extra research whilst the call is continuing. Navigating outside of Google Meet will minimize the app, which can be resized or moved around the Home Screen however you like. 

“If you use Google apps to get work done on your iPhone or iPad, we’re making some improvements to help you stay organized and productive,” Luke Wroblewski, Director, iOS at Google, wrote in a blog post.

“We hope you enjoy these new features…and that they help make it easier to get your work done on iOS devices.”

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Retailers using WooCommerce are the next target for Magecart card skimmer attacks
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Three new Magecart attacks are taking advantage of potential vulnerabilities in the WooCommerce ecommerce platform, experts have warned.

Discovered by RiskIQ, the vulnerabilities target retailers using third-party themes and tools to integrate into  WooCommerce pages that are particularly prone to Magecart risk.

As a result, many consumers are potentially vulnerable to having credit card details stolen ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Magecart threat 

Further research by Barn2, a software company that specializes in WooCommerce products and WordPress, found that WooCommerce represents 29% of the top one million websites using ecommerce technologies. This exceeds five million active installs of the free plugin as of early 2021.

WooCommerce is notably popular because it is a free to use and easily customisable WordPress plugin. 

“WooCommerce users are often small and medium-sized businesses, sometimes considered the most vulnerable, as they lack resources for complex and highly-vetted third-party tools. As we've seen over the years, both small and large retailers can be the targets of Magecart skimming,” RiskIQ wrote in its blog post.

In a typical Magecart attack, threat actors use a vulnerability and weaknesses in an ecommerce platform to inject a malicious code that skims online payment forms to intercept the payment information of unsuspecting customers.

As these third-party tools integrate with thousands of websites, when one supplier is compromised, Magecart has effectively breached thousands of sites at once.

RiskIQ's detection of skimmers and other malware shows the innumerable ways threat actors gain access, deploy, and hide their tools on victim websites and advice site operations to regularly inspect their crontab commands for strange contents, ensure that access permissions are correct, and audit file access to it.

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Microsoft accused of using Windows to push OneDrive and Teams over rivals
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A coalition of software and cloud companies has filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC) against Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior of bundling its OneDrive cloud storage, Teams, and other services with Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The Coalition for a Level Playing Field includes several European Union (EU)-based companies led by open source hosted cloud storage vendor Nextcloud.

“This is quite similar to what Microsoft did when it killed competition in the [web] browser market, stopping nearly all browser innovation for over a decade. Copy an innovators' product, bundle it with your own dominant product and kill their business, then stop innovating,” says Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud.

Big Tech 

Arguing that Microsoft’s behavior is bad for the consumers, the coalition has asked the EC to enforce a level playing field for all the players, and ensure that Microsoft doesn’t leverage its dominant market position in the operating system sector to drive out competition in other segments.

Besides Nextcloud, the coalition includes several prominent open source, and non-profit organizations, such as European DIGITAL SME Alliance, the Document Foundation, and the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).

On their homepage, the coalition suggests that the anti-competitive behaviour of Big Tech is not only killing competition, but in doing so is harming the consumers and business. 

“Microsoft is integrating [Microsoft] 365 deeper and deeper in their service and software portfolio, including Windows. OneDrive is pushed wherever users deal with file storage and Teams is a default part of Windows 11. This makes it nearly impossible to compete with their SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] services,” reasons the coalition.

To further drive home the point, it argues that while Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have grown their market share to 66% in the EU, the share of local providers has contracted from 26% to 16%. 

If you looking to make you business data omnipresent, these are the best business cloud storage services

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Microsoft Teams might finally be worth using in Windows 11
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Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11 that makes it even easier to share content from other apps to Microsoft Teams with attendees while in a meeting.

With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22499 to the software giant's Dev Channel, Microsoft is rolling out a new feature that allows Teams users to quickly share content from open app windows directly from Windows 11's taskbar to their video calls.

This new update builds on another recently released feature that introduced the ability to quickly mute and unmute active meeting calls right from the taskbar.

By making it easier to share content during Teams calls, Microsoft will eliminate the need to switch back and forth between apps just to share or reshare a window. With less interruptions, meeting attendees will have a much easier time focusing on their meetings in Teams.

Sharing open windows in Teams

Windows 11 Insiders can now test out this feature after downloading the latest preview build of Microsoft's new operating system.

When in a meeting in Microsoft Teams, users can share content from their open windows by hovering over the apps in their taskbar. A new “Share this window” button will appear underneath an app's preview and by clicking on it, they can share their open windows with other attendees in a video call. By hovering over the window again and clicking “Stop Sharing”, users can stop Teams from showing content on their PC or they can also choose another window to share content from it instead.

This new feature also works while presenting full screen presentations in PowerPoint and by moving your mouse to the bottom, the taskbar will pop up so that users can share or stop sharing their presentations without interrupting attendees.

According to a new blog post from Microsoft, the company is rolling out this new feature to a subset of Windows Insiders with Teams for work or school installed though it will be rolled out to even more users at a later date. The software giant also plans to bring this functionality to Chat from Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Teams for Home) at a later date.

Looking to improve your video calls? Check out our roundups of the best video conferencing software, best business webcams and best headsets for conference calls

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