Systems

  • Exclusive: MI5 to review IT staff

    The existence of IT staff is not often reported, despite our absolute dependance on their skills to maintain critical systems.

    This is becoming more prevalent as AI and other integrations are supposed to update old networks and bring together a more coherent practice across the UK.

    Now, according to MI5, a lack of attention to the progress of staff in this area has meant that security compromises from external sources aren’t the main source of concern for their experts anymore.

    It’s the vulnerabilities – left in place by lacklustre or underperforming staff – that have wreaked havoc for the human worker population in many fields of employment.

    It has led to a high level step to review the staff that work in this sector in the UK, as part of a far-ranging security review.

    The problems are obvious and many community networking groups have been setup as long-running campaign organs to draw attention to increasing problems.

    It includes new staff being given incorrect login credentials for buildings and computers; managers being told they’re fired in error and proceedings filed immediately; and suppliers having their contracts terminated.

    The review will last for years, according to the amount of work undertaken. It’s said funding has been set aside to determine the specific outcomes.

  • Security: Systems crime

    The term ‘system’ has been in use for a longer time than many people may realise. It’s referred to a huge array of rudimentary ways of doing things in many different walks of life.

    Its usage nowadays is usually in relation to a plethora of computer technologies which populate and cross pollinate in personal and professional contexts everywhere.

    The most important are in banking and its the very backbone of the work being done. It doesn’t matter what decade it is, the systems used in banks are always of the highest security.

    An illustrative graphic (Credit: ChatGPT).

    However, it’s made it a hotspot for many types of shadowy crime. The account of a bingo hall, golf club, or library may not ring into the millions, but it can be lucrative if these are all put together.

    It doesn’t revolve around breaking into vaults to steal hard cash. The early ‘hackers’ were not download hitmen but private individuals who peeked into sets of records or information.

    It’s believed many intelligent people in the 1970’s and 1980’s used this sort of subterranean crime to make money on the side. It’s because they could put random facts together.

  • Business Leader: ARM

    Origins

    ARM started as a new company by Acorn Computers, Apple, and VLSI Technology. It aimed to design chip parts to power the next technological revolution.

    ARM logo & cofounders.

    Present Day

    It now competes with the likes of Nvidia in an increasingly saturated market. It’s maintained dominance in mobile markets and increased in AI technology.

    Distinctives

    ARM makes designs that underlie core architecture in complex computing systems. It’s involved in cloud computing, data centres, and advanced AI.

    It publicly trades as ARM (NASDAQ).