Month: October 2024

It’s a wrap for the HoloLens 2 headset

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed it is no longer producing the HoloLens 2, the company’s second-generation augmented reality headset first launched five years ago at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

At the time of launch, analysts predicted the new device could build momentum for augmented reality (AR) technology, which had so far failed to get serious traction. This is something that, for the most part, has not materialized.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company has also “signaled a last time to buy for customers and partners. Support for HoloLens 2, including security updates, will end on Dec. 31, 2027.”

The spokesperson added that Microsoft “will continue to invest in mixed reality opportunities with first-party software solutions and services, partnering with the broader mobile phone and mixed reality hardware ecosystem. In addition, we remain fully committed to the IVAS program with the US Department of Defense.”

The IVAS program was launched three years ago. Microsoft said in a blog at the time that “the United States Army announced that it will work with [it] on the production phase of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program as it moves from rapid prototyping to production and rapid fielding. The IVAS headset, based on HoloLens and augmented by Microsoft Azure cloud services, delivers a platform that will keep soldiers safer and make them more effective.”

Beginning of the end

Early last year, the company, facing macroeconomic uncertainly and slowing growth, confirmed it was laying off 100 employees working on its HoloLens, Surface laptop, and Xbox products, which essential closed down that division.

Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said the decision to cease production is a “formal acknowledgment of something that most of the industry had already been quite aware of for a while. Microsoft had significant layoffs in the Mixed Reality division and jettisoned the MRTK (Mixed Reality Toolkit) framework that powered much of the HoloLens’ software.”

It was pretty clear, he said, that “Microsoft was no longer investing in AR from a hardware side and only wanted to be a software provider, being a launch partner for Apple on Vision Pro, and also having productivity tools and gaming for Meta Quest.”

Who picks up the slack?

According to Sag, “Microsoft’s strategy has long been hardware agnostic thanks to its approach to OpenXR and embracing more open-source software, so many of Microsoft’s partners could potentially port some of their work to other enterprise AR platforms out there. The biggest problem I see is that there aren’t many standalone AR platforms out there that are a likely successor to the HoloLens 2 other than the Digilens ARGO.”

Digilens, said Sag, is “both a waveguide supplier and a headset maker, and seems to have gained a lot of momentum recently with many of Microsoft’s past partners, and I believe is best positioned from a hardware and software perspective to help past HoloLens 2 customers. Not only that, but at AWE 2024 this year, Digilens was the first to demonstrate Google’s Gemini running on any AR headset.”

While other companies like RealWear and ThirdEye do exist, he said, “they are less powerful platforms and may deliver a different kind of experience than HoloLens wearers are expecting. RealWear is assisted reality using a monocular LCD, and ThirdEye uses waveguides with see-through AR, but it only features an XR1 chipset that will likely need remote rendering for improved graphics.”

Enterprise AR use case shows real promise

Scott Bickley, research practice lead at Info-Tech Research Group, described the move by Microsoft as “ unfortunate, because the augmented reality use case for enterprise purposes in the industrial space held real promise. In my opinion, the R&D justification was built atop much broader and deeper virtual reality use cases that were never grounded in ‘reality’ to begin with.”

It may, he said, also “be a blessing in disguise if the alternatives can meet this need and emerge from the Social Media space at a more realistic price point, such as the Quest series of products from Meta, priced in the hundreds of dollars vs $3,500 for a HoloLens.”

To date, said Bickley,” the adoption of HoloLens is pathetic, with maybe a couple hundred thousand units sold across all generations of the product. Stack that against an investment likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even a billion, and the ROI just never materialized.”

The need for augmented-reality-based solutions in the manufacturing and industrial space is a real gap,” he said, “however, that use case alone was not enough to power continued R&D costs from Microsoft.”

WWW creator Tim Berners-Lee closes down his foundation

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

The World Wide Web Foundation, the organization whose mission has been to make the web safer and more accessible, has shut down, according to The Register. The foundation, which close its virtual doors Sept. 27, says its mission has largely been fulfilled and other organizations can take over the work.

When the organization was founded in 2009, just over 20% of the world’s population had access to the internet, with few groups working to change that reality. Today, that number has climbed to around 70%, and many organizations are working to raise it higher.

The foundation’s co-founders, World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Rosemary Leith, said in a statement posted on the Foundation’s site that there are other challenges they want to focus on.

In particular, they write, is the social media companies’ model of commoditizing user data and concentrating power on the platforms, which runs counter to Berners-Lee’s original vision for the web. The foundation was wound down so he can focus on decentralized technologies such as the Solid Protocol, a specification that allows users to securely store data in decentralized data storage units known as Pods.

That technology has been under development since at least 2015.

WWW creator Tim Berners-Lee closes down his foundation

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

That technology has been under development since at least 2015.

Microsoft Copilot gets Voice and Vision features

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

Microsoft on Tuesday announced several updates to its free Microsoft Copilot and paid-for Copilot Pro services aimed at making the personal AI assistant more powerful and easier to converse with.

Among the updates is Copilot Vision. Built natively into Microsoft’s Edge browser, the Vision feature lets Copilot see what a user sees when surfing the web. It can then respond to queries about the contents of a web page in natural language — highlighting reviews to help choose a film on Rotten Tomatoes, to give one of Microsoft’s examples, or assisting with research.

“We believe Copilot can go beyond answering basic questions and generating content, to offering more complete support for you and your tasks,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and consumer chief marketing officer, said in a pre-recorded press briefing.

The service will be limited to a list of pre-approved websites initially, said Microsoft. The company’s AI models won’t be trained on the content Copilot views.

“Increasingly, generative AI assistants are becoming multi-modal (language, vision and voice) and have personalities that can be configured by the consumers,” said Jason Wong, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner. “We will see even more anthropomorphism of AI in the coming year.”

Mehdi said Microsoft has taken steps to “respect and protect” user privacy when accessing Copilot Vision, which is turned off by default. “You must actively choose to enable the Copilot feature,” he said. “You have clear notification it is on, no conversations or content are stored beyond the active session, and none of the Copilot Vision interactions will be used for training.”

The feature will initially roll out in the United States via Copilot Labs, a new service where paid Copilot Pro subscribers can test upcoming AI capabilities. Copilot Pro costs $20 per month.

Another experimental feature available in Copilot Labs is Think Deeper, which enables Copilot to “reason” and answer more complex questions.

“Think Deeper takes more time before responding, allowing Copilot to deliver detailed, step-by-step answers to challenging questions,” Microsoft’s Copilot Team said in a blog post. “We’ve designed it to be helpful for all kinds of practical, everyday challenges like comparing two complex options side by side. Should I move to this city or that? What type of car best suits my needs? And so on.”

Think Deeper is available now to a limited number of Copilot Pro customers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Microsoft has also announced a refresh of the Microsoft Copilot mobile app, with a UI that is “leaner, simpler, warmer, and all around more approachable,” said Mehdi. The new Copilot app rolls out today.

Conversations with the AI assistant will be more realistic and natural with the introduction of Copilot Voice, Microsoft said. The revamped voice interface promises faster responses and the ability to interrupt when the Copilot is speaking; users can also now select from four different voices to interact with when talking with the Copilot assistant.

“With the new Copilot Voice, you’ll have a smoother and more engaging conversation, because responses are faster and you can easily interrupt and direct your experience,” said Mehdi.

One of the Copilot voices can also be chosen to read out a Copilot Daily news digest — a summary of news from authorized content sources. (Microsoft has partnered with Reuters, Financial Times, German publisher Axel Springer and others.) It will also provide weather forecasts, with a reminder function also in the works.

Copilot Voice is initially available in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It will expand to more regions and languages soon, Microsoft said. Copilot Daily is rolling out now starting in the United States and the United Kingdom with more countries coming soon.

To help new users get started, Microsoft has released Copilot Discover, which provides guidance on the AI assistant’s features and “conversation starter” suggestions.

Copilot Discover Cards — Microsoft Copilot’s new Discover feature provides guidance on the AI assistant and conversation starters.

Microsoft

The introduction of realistic AI assistants is part of a wider trend, said Wong. Gartner predicts that, by 2026, 80% of the top 100 consumer brands will offer anthropomorphized generative AI agents to drive consumer loyalty.

It’s not just Microsoft Copilot; Google Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and X.ai Grok are all developing multi-modal agents that will “entertain, inform and connect the consumer to relevant services and products,” said Wong. “This is the next frontier — and battleground — of customer experience.”

Microsoft Copilot gets Voice and Vision features

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

Microsoft on Tuesday announced several updates to its free Microsoft Copilot and paid-for Copilot Pro services aimed at making the personal AI assistant more powerful and easier to converse with.

The service will be limited to a list of pre-approved websites initially, said Microsoft. The company’s AI models won’t be trained on the content Copilot views.

The feature will initially roll out in the United States via Copilot Labs, a new service where paid Copilot Pro subscribers can test upcoming AI capabilities. Copilot Pro costs $20 per month.

Another experimental feature available in Copilot Labs is Think Deeper, which enables Copilot to “reason” and answer more complex questions.

Think Deeper is available now to a limited number of Copilot Pro customers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“With the new Copilot Voice, you’ll have a smoother and more engaging conversation, because responses are faster and you can easily interrupt and direct your experience,” said Mehdi.

To help new users get started, Microsoft has released Copilot Discover, which provides guidance on the AI assistant’s features and “conversation starter” suggestions.

Microsoft

JNUC 2024: Jamf brings AI and more to Apple enterprise

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

Apple management and security services provider Jamf unveiled a series of tools and features to support Apple admins at its well-attended JNUC event Oct. 1, with a focus on AI, security, and all-new solutions to make it easier to manage large Apple fleets.

“In today’s environment, support of hybrid and remote work is the norm and the need for protecting one’s environment is a must. Jamf recognizes the responsibility of an Apple admin has only grown more complex,” said Jamf CEO John Strosahl.

This year’s announcements certainly seem to reflect the increasing scale of challenges in distributed environments. “We’re streamlining the user experience, making security compliance easier than ever to achieve, and even providing each customer with a seasoned Jamf expert,” Strosahl added.

What did Jamf announce at JNUC 2024?

Improvements discussed at JNUC included:

AI Assistant.
Declarative Device Management.
Compliance Benchmarks.
Self Service+.

Apple’s enterprise-focused director of product marketing, Jeremy Butcher, joined Jamf leadership on stage to share insights into what Apple is itself doing to support enterprise deployments of its products.

These span the gamut of the company’s products, from new APIs and automated enrollment for Vision Pro to new features in Apple Business/Schools Manager that make it possible for admins to disable Activation Lock on managed devices. They also include management tools to enable or disable Apple Intelligence. “There’s obviously so much more, but I think most of you have probably been living it for a while,” he said as he left the stage.

With that, let’s take a look at what’s new:

What is AI Assistant?

Jamf CTO Beth Tschida arguably shared the most significant news. Jamf last year began working with generative AI as it attempted to build tools to optimize Apple admin workflows. Tschida explained the motivation: “All of you are in the middle of a rapidly evolving ecosystem,” she said. “Information comes at you at an overwhelming rate.”

The Jamf AI Assistant aims to help navigate all that data. “Think of it like having a Jamf expert at your side to help you make better decisions,” she said during the keynote speech.

AI Assistant is a powerful natural language interface that will soon be available with retrieval-augmented-generation (RAG) functionality in its initial beta offering. Full functionality and availability in admin portals is set for early 2025.

AI Assistant combines a vast knowledge base powered by RAG and direct integration with Jamf’s product APIs. What that means is that the AI can gather, analyze, and present the most relevant information — and can also actually do things for admins, such as creating subgroups of users for policies. What’s noteworthy about the implementation is that when it does perform a task, it explains what it has done and why in a side window; it’s a big deal, given the black-box decision-making practiced by some AI tools. Enterprise users, in particular, need to know why a certain decision was made.

“AI Assistant will have the ability to decode and contextualize security alerts, providing context about their severity and potential impact, suggest next steps, and take direct action, while keeping a human informed and in control,” said Tschida. “Within seconds, AI Assistant provides a thoughtful response, drawing from its vast knowledge base.”

The bottom line? What in the past would have taken IT admins many steps can now be handled in a few clicks using a natural language request.

AI Assistant has another set of tools: it can help admins identify patterns in breaches and integrate with Jamf’s security features. That’s a big deal, as it makes for faster response times, more accurate threat assessments, and tougher security.

Declarative Device Management with a twist

Jamf has long been an advocate for Declarative Device Management (DDM); like Apple, it believes DDM to be the future of device management. At JNUC, it announced improvements to its Blueprints features, touting a future-ready approach to managing device settings, commands, app installations, and restrictions — all through DDM.

Molly Mosely, Jamf vice president for product strategy, explained what this is capable of: “You can choose common task templates or build your own. You can drag-and-drop items to build your own custom blueprint, managing everything from Safari extensions to passcodes to use of external storage, and more.”

If the demo from JNUC is to be believed, Blueprints should empower Apple admins to easily and swiftly apply policies across their entire fleets (or parts of those fleets). The company can also make new APIs from Apple accessible across all Jamf users just by adding the appropriate API within the blueprint interface.

Compliance Benchmarks

Another useful set of tools to manage an uncertain world helps admins ensure macOS systems are security compliant. Built on the macOS Security Compliance Project and Jamf Compliance Editor, Compliance Benchmarks in Jamf Pro “simplifies building, managing, auditing, and reporting on CIS benchmark compliance,” the company said.

Available first to Macs (coming later to iPads and iPhones), Compliance Benchmarks bake in key compliance measures and gives admins an immediate view of where they and each device are in terms of maintaining such compliance.

The idea seems solid. It enables admins to ensure industry standards are met when it comes to such compliance. “You shouldn’t have to be a security expert to feel confident your data is protected,” Jamf said.

This takes away the complexity of managing multiple products, with there is more to come. Jamf confirmed it is working with partners to give admins much deeper insight into activity on their fleets using telemetry data, enabling much more in depth compliance management and control. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to audit your Macs like never before.

Self Service+

Jamf has offered a Self Service solution for a while. Self Service+ builds on those features, delivering them through a user-focused application that lets those using managed devices find their own way. This means a company-branded, curated overview of apps and content can be made available. What’s new is that end users can also monitor all their notifications and security alerts within the portal. That makes it easier to ensure employees can find what they need and stay informed without needing to work through multiple apps.

It also makes deployment and provisioning of apps and services a great deal easier for IT.

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JNUC 2024: Jamf brings AI and more to Apple enterprise

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

What did Jamf announce at JNUC 2024?

Improvements discussed at JNUC included:

AI Assistant.
Declarative Device Management.
Compliance Benchmarks.
Self Service+.

With that, let’s take a look at what’s new:

What is AI Assistant?

The Jamf AI Assistant aims to help navigate all that data. “Think of it like having a Jamf expert at your side to help you make better decisions,” she said during the keynote speech.

The bottom line? What in the past would have taken IT admins many steps can now be handled in a few clicks using a natural language request.

Declarative Device Management with a twist

Compliance Benchmarks

Self Service+

It also makes deployment and provisioning of apps and services a great deal easier for IT.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.

AI could be a good replacement for bad bosses – and expensive consultants

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

The capabilities and shortcomings of generative AI (genAI) have been discussed extensively since the technology’s breakthrough in 2022. In particular, its downsides are often in the foreground — driven by the fear of potentially losing one’s job due to artificial intelligence (AI).

A scientific experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge and British AI start-up Strategize.inc confirms these fears. Bad CEOs and management consultants, in particular, have to fear being replaced by AI.

‘Maximized without regard to losses’

Here’s how the experiment was done:

The study involved students and experienced banking executives — a total of 344 people.
They went through a simulation based on gamification elements in which they had to make CEO decisions. The quality of these decisions was recorded using various metrics. The participants had to complete several rounds that built on each other in the form of business years. More than 500,000 decision combinations were possible per round.
A digital twin of the US automotive industry was used as the data basis; it included information on car sales and pricing strategies as well as overarching factors such as economic trends and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The goal: to maximize market capitalization, which results from a combination of sustainable growth rates and free cash flow (and not being fired from the virtual board by meeting various KPIs). “This goal served as a realistic benchmark to measure the actual performance of CEOs,” the scientists wrote.
GPT-4o from OpenAI was then confronted with the same tasks and the results were compared with those of the best two human participants from both groups.

“The results were both surprising and provocative and challenged many of our assumptions about leadership, strategy and the potential of AI when it comes to high-level decision making,” the researchers reported. GPT-4o consistently outperformed the best human participants on almost all recorded metrics, designed products with surgical precision, and kept costs tightly under control. However, the researchers complain: “GPT-4o was dismissed from the virtual board faster than the students.”

They attribute this primarily to so-called “black swan” events: “We integrated these unpredictable shocks to simulate sudden price fluctuations, changes in consumer behavior and supply chain problems,” the scientists said. The top performers among the students approached these risks with caution. They focused primarily on remaining adaptable in uncertain times rather than pursuing short-term profits.

GPT-4o, on the other hand — like the best bank managers — took a different path, as the researchers note: “The AI adopted an optimization mindset and maximized growth and profitability regardless of losses — until it was thrown off course by a market shock.”

AI may be able to learn and iterate quickly in a controlled environment, but it does not cope well with unforeseen, disruptive events that require human intuition and foresight. This does not reflect well on the banking executives, who were also fired from the virtual board more quickly than the students: “Both GPT-4o and the executives succumbed to the same flaw: excessive trust in a system that rewards aggressive ambition, but also flexibility and long-term thinking.”

As for the genAI tools for OpenAI, the researchers nevertheless drew a positive conclusion: “Despite its limitations, GPT-4o delivered an impressive performance. Although the AI was dismissed more often than the best human players, it was still able to hold its own against the best and smartest participants.”

What does this mean for companies?

The researchers draw various conclusions from their experiment. Here is a brief summary:

Generative AI can no longer be ignored as a strategic resource. The experiment shows that even uncoordinated models can provide creative, strategic input, given the right prompts. The bottom line is that AI produces strong results, especially when it comes to generating value for shareholders.
Data quality is crucial. In order for AI to exceed its own expectations in terms of corporate strategy, high-quality data is needed, similar to that used in the experiment. The initiators of the experiment are convinced that a robust data infrastructure is a prerequisite for AI in the boardroom.
AI efficiency is not risk-free. Aggressive maximization strategies could lead to disastrous results without sufficient foresight. Therefore, genAI tools should not work unsupervised nor should people use the tools without foresight, said the researchers.
Accountability and genAI do not mix. The fact that AI systems are difficult or impossible to hold accountable makes transparent guardrails all the more important. According to the scientists, this is the only way to ensure that genAI-based decisions align with corporate values.
Digital twins play a central, strategic role. According to the researchers, digital twins of a corporate ecosystem, “populated” with several LLM agents, could represent a valuable sandbox for AI leadership. This not only ensures a safety buffer in the event of missteps, but also provides CEOs with important insights for better decisions.
Management consultants could be facing disruptive times. With the emergence of “artificial CEOs,” scientists predict hard times for consultants: “Companies like McKinsey could be faced with their services being supplemented or replaced by AI systems.”

Bosses who are open to modern leadership methods have less to worry about in terms of being replaced by an AI system, the researchers said: “AI cannot fully assume the responsibilities of a CEO. But it can significantly improve strategic planning processes and help prevent costly mistakes. The real power of generative AI lies in enriching CEOs’ decision-making and enabling them, through their analysis and simulation work, to focus on their human skills: making strategic, empathetic and ethical decisions.”

The researchers see one main risk for CEOs: “Clinging to the illusion that we will continue to hold the reins alone in the future. The future of leadership is hybrid. The CEOs who will be successful are those who see artificial intelligence as a partner, rather than as competition.”

California’s effort to find appropriate AI rules is a fool’s mission

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a key piece of AI oversight legislation Sunday, he said he did so because the measure “falls short of providing a flexible, comprehensive solution to curbing the potential catastrophic risks.”

He then said he “has asked the world’s leading experts on genAI to help California develop workable guardrails for deploying genAI, focusing on developing an empirical, science-based trajectory analysis of frontier models and their capabilities and attendant risks.”

Those would be laudable sentiments if any of them had any chance of actually delivering a more secure and trustworthy environment for Californians. But Newsom, one of the nation’s smarter politicians, well knows that such an effort is a fool’s mission. I could add cynically that the governor merely wants to be seen trying to do something, but why state the obvious?

Problem One: GenAI deployments are already happening and the technology is being deeply embedded into untold number of business operations. It’s all-but-ubiquitous on the major cloud environments, so even an enterprise that has wisely opted to hold off its genAI efforts for now would still be deeply exposed. (Fear not: There are no such wise enterprises.)

The calendar simply doesn’t make sense. First, Newsom’s experts get together and come up with a proposal, which in California will take a long time. Then that proposal goes to the legislature, which means lobbyists will take turns watering it down. What are the chances the final result will be worthy of signature? Even if it is, it arrive far too late to do any good.

Candidly, given how far genAI has progressed in the last two years, there’s a fine chance that had Newsom signed the bill into law on Sunday, it would have still been too late.

Part of the reason for that is because the enforcement focus is on AI vendors, and it is highly unlikely that state regulators will be able to effectively perform oversight on something as complex as genAI development is today.

In his veto message, Newsom pointed to the flaw of vendor oversight, but zeroed in on the wrong reason.

“By focusing only on the most expensive and large-scale models, SB 1047 establishes a regulatory framework that could give the public a false sense of security about controlling this fast-moving technology,” he said. “Smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 — at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good.”

In short, the governor is arguing that regulators shouldn’t only look at the biggest players, but focus on many of the smaller specialty shops as well. That argument makes sense in a vacuum. But in the real world, regulators are understaffed and under-resourced to effectively manage a handful of major players, much less the many niche offerings that exist. It sounds great spoken from a podium, but it’s not realistic.

Here’s the real problem: No one in the industry — big players included — truly knows what genAI can and can’t do. No one can accurately predict its future. (I’m not even talking about five years from now; experts struggle to predict capabilities and problems five months from now.

We’ve all seen the dire predictions of what might happen with genAI. Some are overblown — remember the extinction reports from February? And some are frighteningly plausible, such as this Cornell University report on how AI training AI could lead to a self-destructive loop. (By the way, kudos to Cornell’s people for comparing it to Mad Cow disease. But to make the analogy work, they created the term Model Autophagy Disorder so they could use the acronym MAD. Sigh.)

There is a better way. Regulators — state, federal and industry-specific — should focus on rules for enterprises and hyperscalers deploying genAI tools rather than the vendors creating and selling the technology. (Granted, the big hyperscalers are also selling their own flavors of genAI, but they are different business units with different bosses.)

Why? First of all, enterprises are more likely to cooperate, making compliance more likely to succeed. Secondly, if regulators want vendors to take cybersecurity and privacy issues seriously, take the fight to their largest customers. If the customers start insisting on the government’s rules, vendors are more likely to fall in line.

In other words, the paltry fines and penalties regulators can threaten are nothing compared to the revenue their customers provide. Influence the customers and the vendors will get the message.

What kind of requirements? Let’s consider California. Should the CIO for every healthcare concern insist on extensive testing before any hospital uses genAI code? Shouldn’t those institutions face major penalties if private healthcare data leaks because someone trusted Google’s or OpenAI’s code without doing meaningful due diligence? What about a system that hurts patients by malfunctioning? That CIO had better be prepared to detail every level of pre-launch testing.

How about utilities? Financial firms? If the state wants to force businesses to be cautious, there are ways of doing so.

Far too many enterprises today are feeling pressured by hype and being forced by their boards to jump into the deep end of the genAI pool. CIOs — and certainly CISOs — are not comfortable with this, but they have nothing to fight back with. Why not give CIOs a tool with which to push back: state law.

Give every CEO an out for not risking their businesses and customers by accepting magical-sounding predictions of eventual ROI and other benefits. Regulators could become CIOs’ new best friends by giving them cover to do what they want to do anyway: take everything slowly and carefully.

Trying to regulate vendors won’t work. But giving political cover to their customers? That, at least, has a real chance of succeeding.

The lesson of Helene: you and your business need satellite comms

October 1, 2024 / Security – Computerworld

Whatever Apple’s long-term plans for satellite connectivity, one facet that cannot be ignored is that its Messages via Satellite system is already saving lives — including among iPhone users affected last week by the horror of Hurricane Helene.

The aftermath of Helene

While there seems no end to all the bad news playing out worldwide at this time, a sizable chunk of the United States was particularly impacted by Helene. When that storm hit, it wiped out power grids and cell service, wrecked infrastructure and took scores of lives across several US states. The hurricane wiped out communications for inland, leaving victims stranded with no way of getting help (particularly in light of a massive Verizon outage at the same time).

That is, unless people had iPhones. Reports have appeared on social media explaining how compatible iPhones running iOS 18 enabled those impacted by the storm to send and receive messages via satellite to seek help or let family know they were safe. Apple is well aware of the damage wrought by this disaster; company CEO Tim Cook has promised the company will donate to support relief efforts on the ground.

What is Messages via Satellite?

Available in the US with iOS 18 on iPhone 14s or later models, Messages via Satellite allows users to send and receive texts and other communications using iMessage and SMS when a cellular or Wi-Fi connection is not available.

“Messages via Satellite automatically prompts users to connect to their nearest satellite right from the Messages app to send and receive texts, emoji, and Tap backs over iMessage and SMS,” Apple explained. “Because iMessage was built to protect user privacy, iMessages sent via satellite are end-to-end encrypted.”

Messages via Satellite is essentially an extension to the SOS via satellite service Apple introduced in 2022. It’s available at present only in the US and Canada.

How it works

To receive messages, you or your contact must be running iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, or later.

To use Messages via Satellite, follow these steps:

First, you must be outside with a clear view of the sky and horizon.
Open Messages, and if you have no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage, a prompt appears.
Tap Use Messages via Satellite.
Follow the instructions to connect to a satellite.
You will then need to select Messages from the selection of services that appear.
Enter your message and tap send.
The message is likely to take longer than usual to send.
Contacts receiving your message will see a status message to show you’re using satellite.

You can also use SMS via satellite — just open Settings>Apps>Message and turn on Send as Text Message and then connect to satellite to send. To reply to SMS messages via satellite, requires iOS 17.6 or later.

When will the service be international?

Apple’s partner in satellite connectivity, Globalstar, continues to launch new satellites to support the expanding service. Regulatory filings from that company suggest it hopes to launch an additional 26 satellites by next year, with at least one report claiming it will have 3,000 in place eventually. At least one space expert thinks Apple will eventually choose to widen the network to become a full satellite-based communication service.

It is likely Apple will follow a cadence similar to the manner in which it made Emergency SOS via satellite available once that service was initially launched in the US and Canada. It opened up in France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, and the Netherlands across the following year and in Japan a year later.

A lesson for everyone

All of this is important in terms of saving lives and providing reassurance for families and friends of those in the disaster-hit areas, but the fact that these devices have helped maintain community resilience amid disaster might also be a salutatory lesson in business resilience. After all, other than avoiding platforms characterized by frequent ransomware attacks and spiralling ancillary security support costs, it just might be that smartphones equipped with satellite connectivity could become a vital business asset as we navigate an increasingly uncertain world.

After all, why should SpaceX dominate such an economically and socially essential asset as satellite communications? It makes sense for every business to ensure there are multiple providers of such a strategic essential — particularly to maintain business and community resilience.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.