The Flexbooker Data Breach | Cyber news

The Flexbooker Data Breach | Cyber News

FlexBooker, a digital scheduling platform or online appointment scheduling tool helps in booking appointments, employee calendar synching, automatic time zone conversion, having waitlist feature, integrate other video calling applications. Many tax companies, food and beverage companies and manufacturer companies use FlexBooker within their organization around globe. It helps as smarter way to deal with business. 

In January 2022, FlexBooker accepted and apologized for a data breach occurred in last December, that involved the sensitive information of 3.7 million users including full names, email addresses, phone numbers and appointment details. There were some partial credit card data available along with hash password value. 

The company told that, the customer database which was maintained at ZDNet in an Amazon server.  The Flexbooker have mis-configured the AWS account. That AWS server was compromised by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.  However within next 12 hours Felxbooker have restored their backup and were able to operate normally.

A hacker group known as “Uawrongteam” has claimed responsibility for this DDoS attack. During this incident, the system data storage was accessed and downloaded. After downloading, the data were leaked on an online forum which was a dedicated trading of hacking data in dark web. As per hackers, the database was filled with around 10 million lines of customer information (demographic data).

Things need to be considered to keep safe organizational data:

• Always use encryption for data at rest and in transit.
• Organization should review user access policy and user access list on regular interval.
• Customer should use strong password and change that regularly.
• Passwords should be protected.
• Build effective backup system and recovery system in place on a high priority.
• Protect your system from unexpected power outage.
• Use firewall and antivirus to protect the sensitive data.
• Customers should be aware that, they should not give their personal data unless it’s mandatory to provide.
• As well human error cannot be ignored so continuously educating your work force through training programme is vital to protect the organization from data breach.

So concern about privacy is important!! Never Keep it under estimated. 

-DR

Understanding Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality Basic understanding

Many of us must have experienced Virtual reality or VR box using with mobiles. VR is the use of computer technology to build simulated  environments or programming environment having intelligent interfaces. Virtual reality places the user inside a three-dimensional experience and in which an apparently real situation associated to space and time factor is virtually emulated. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed in and interact with 3D worlds.

Technology

VR technology commonly consists of different types of gadgets such as headsets, specialized data globes, camera, vive controller, joysticks and motion trackers. Driven by applications or web-based VR, the technology is accessible via a web browser.

Virtual reality (VR) is an all-enveloping artificial and fully immersive experience that obscures the natural world. 

The key features of VR:

Believable:

Virtual Reality primarily focuses on creating an environment, where user need to believe it first when presented before them or otherwise the illusion rendered by virtual reality would tend to disappear.

Interactive: 

virtual reality systems focus on generating a thrust with the user in terms of interaction and giving realistic experience.

Immersive: 

The immersive experience gives the viewer the experience to manipulate or interact with the imagination or the virtual world.

There are many types of VR available such as;

• Fully Immersive
• Non-immersive
• Augmented Reality
• Collaborative VR
• Web based VR

Fully Immersive

A fully immersive VR experience is obtained based on the integration of three different aspects. In the first case, a virtual world needs to be developed based on the application of a computer simulation that encourages the users to fully explore and get immersed in such. Secondly, an effective computer is needed that helps in easily tracking the movements of the users on a real-time framework and thereby adjust the experience of the latter. Finally, in the third case, a hardware needs to be linked to the computer that contributes in immersing the users inside the virtual or simulated world. It gives 360 degree feelings to the user that they are in a environment.

Non-immersive VR

In non-immersive VR, it provides a computer generated environment without feeling of being deeply involved in the virtual world.

Augmented reality (AR) 

AR came in to picture now a days that enhances users’ real-world views with digital covers that comes with highly visual and interactive artificial objects. In AR, the real world is viewed directly or via a device such as a camera to create a visual and adds to that vision with computer-generated inputs such as still graphics, audio or video. 

AR is different from VR because it adds to the real-world experience rather than creating a new experience from scratch.

Collaborative VR

Collaborative VR or collaborative environment is where collaboration occurs from remote location such as virtual meeting room for meetings.

Example: Facebook, The wild, Arthur, Hoppin, Moot Up, Glue, etc.

Web based VR

Web VR is something you can experience the VR in your browser. It provides better performance as well, it supports both VR and AR. 

Examples of web based VR are, showroom, Zoo, Interspace sudio, Konterball etc. 

So this is only basics about the virtual reality presented for your understanding. 

Thanks!!

-DR

Robotic Process Automation or RPA

Robotic Process Automation or RPA

Automation

Automation is nothing but using machines to replace the human works only, not humans.

Automation is known in various ways such as;

Bots, Business process automation, RPA, email automation, software robotics, intelligent automation, digital labor, artificial intelligence, robots taking jobs.

Many of us heard, RPA will replace our jobs and we will be job less. But that is just a false statement by a robot. 

RPA or Robotic Process Automations does not have actual involvements of machinery or mechanical robots. It is software robot that optimizes business processes by minimizing the human errors and duplicating the human actions in digital applications.

It is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy and manage robots that duplicate human actions. Now it came to social media platform also, where you can sleep at night and your chat bot can work for you. 

A Software that mimics human behavior. This human behavior is rule based and requires digital inputs for the software. 

Below is the list of RPA functions based on  use cases

• An RPA can log in to an application
• File Management including moving files and folders 
• Developing Chat Bot chat with predefined options 
• Copy and paste data 
• It can complete online forms
• Help in email processing
• It can answer to telephones
• Can understand screen contents
• It can navigate systems
• It can identify and extract data  
• Candidate recruitment Process
• HR system
• Time and Attendance Management System
• Education and Training purpose
• Supply and Demand Planning
• Social Media Handle

In contrast to traditional software, RPA can work across multiple sectors such as Power and utility Sector, Healthcare Sector, Telecom and IT and can operate various applications through one single user interface.

Benefits:

The benefits of RPA is as mentioned below:

• RPA streamlines workflows which leads to organizations make more profit.
• It can help many industries to address their specific operational issues in new ways.
• It become flexible and more responsive.
• Enables in decreasing operational cost.
• Improves compliance and customer satisfaction.
• You have more time to think how you can further develop.
• It can help in accelerating the transformation with greater resilience.
• More accuracy and boosted productivity. 

Example of RPA tools such as UiPath, BluePrism, Automation Anywhere, work fusion, Kofax, Edgeverve, Kryon Systems etc. Further you can search these software company’s own websites and refer to their white papers. 

So these software bots work instead of human to do repetitive and lower value work so that, human are free to focus on the things they do best, think more on innovation. 

Note that RPA is not Artificial Intelligence (AI). But if we mix AI in to RPA, it can result us more output and increases the work capacity. 

So this is just a overview and you can refer other sources for further understandings. 

-DR