Business

Microsoft faces criticism over email hack, experts call for free forensic data access

In late June, one of cybersecurity expert Steven Adair’s clients got an alert from Microsoft: one of the client’s employees working on human rights issues had their email account compromised. The client wanted to know if Adair could get to the bottom of it.

Adair, who used to work in cyberdefense at the US space agency NASA before setting up his own firm, Volexity, immediately launched an investigation – and hit a brick wall.

“We pored over every detail related to this user’s behavior,” Adair told Reuters on Thursday. “We couldn’t turn up anything.”

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The hackers who broke into his client’s emails were the same set of sophisticated cyber spies Microsoft this week blamed for stealing emails from senior US officials, including State Department employees and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Microsoft said the hacks worked not by hijacking computers or stealing passwords but by taking advantage of a still-undisclosed security issue with the company’s ubiquitous online email service.

Because Adair’s client – whom he declined to identify – was not paying Microsoft for its premium security suite, detailed forensic data was unavailable and Adair had no way to figure out what had happened.

“We basically became a spectator at that point,” he said.

Adair is now pushing for Microsoft to provide the additional data to its clients free of charge, a campaign that has picked up steam in the wake of the breach amid disquiet with the software giant’s security practices in government circles.

US Senator Ron Wyden said Microsoft should offer all its customers full forensic capabilities, saying that “charging people for premium features necessary to not get hacked is like selling a car and then charging extra for seatbelts and airbags.”

Microsoft did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Adair’s experience, Wyden’s comment, or other criticism of its security.

In a blog post that first outlined the hack late on Tuesday, Microsoft said that “accountability starts with us” and that it was “continually self-evaluating, learning from incidents” and strengthening its defenses.

A storm in the cloud

For years individuals, organizations and governments have been moving their emails, spreadsheets and other data off their own servers and on to Microsoft’s, taking advantage of cost savings and the integration with the Redmond, Washington-based company’s suite of office tools. At the same time, Microsoft has promoted the use of its own security products, prompting some clients to abandon what they saw as redundant antivirus programs.

The process of migrating an organization’s data and services to a big tech firm is sometimes called “moving to the cloud.” It can boost security, especially for small organizations that lack the resources to run their own IT or security departments.

But competitors squeezed by Microsoft’s security offering are sounding the alarm over how wide swaths of industry and government were effectively putting all their eggs in one basket.

“Organizations need to invest in security,” Adam Meyers of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike said in an email distributed to journalists on Wednesday. “Having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security can end in disaster.”

Frustration is also building with Microsoft’s licensing structure, which charges customers extra for the ability to see detailed forensic logs like the ones Volexity’s Adair could not access. The issue has been a point of contention between the company and US government ever since a hack of business software company SolarWinds was disclosed in 2020.

Adair said he understood that Microsoft wanted to make money from its premium security product. But he said having more eyes open to cyberthreats would be a win-win for the company and its customers. He noted that the hackers – which Microsoft nicknames Storm-0558 – were caught only because someone at the State Department with access to Microsoft’s top-of-the-line logging noticed an anomaly in their forensic data.

“Having Microsoft further empower customers and security companies so they can work together is probably the best way,” Adair said.

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Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.