Tag: london | Page 2

Techstars London welcomes new managing director

January 28, 2022/in Internet Security

Techstars, a global investment business that provides access to capital, one-on-one mentorship, and customised programming for early-stage entrepreneurs, has announced the appointment of Saalim Chowdhury as Managing Director of Techstars London. He follows predecessor Eamonn Carey.

Formerly a Partner at 500 Startups, Chowdhury will lead the growth of the startup accelerator in London, as it expands to two programmes a year, in April and September. Techstars London will open to startups across new sectors, welcoming more b2b startups in healthtech, fintech and web3, and using technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Techstars London is looking for early-stage founders who would benefit from a programme that develops entrepreneurial talent, accelerates startup growth, and gets them closer to product-market fit. Whilst the programme is London-based, Chowdhury’s focus will be on attracting startups around the UK and will be touring the country to do so.

Speaking on his appointment as the new Managing Director of Techstars London, Saalim Chowdhury, said, “What drew me to Techstars is the deep commitment to developing founders and communities, especially here in the UK and Europe. Global rivals continue to dramatically increase class sizes, with little or no footprint in Europe, but Techstars is staying at 12 companies per batch. Instead, we’re increasing the number of programmes in key cities like London and hiring more talent to deliver them, so that we can continue to foster personal connections and development, individual attention and a deeply bonded community.”

“I want to work with founders that are creating services for new audiences, or changing the way convention has been dictated for years, mostly by bringing perspectives from one industry to another. There must also be a positive impact on society. The goal is to create stronger startups from a more diverse range of backgrounds.”

“Eamonn has left big shoes to fill, and I am eager to continue and expand upon his great work. I’m delighted to lead this growth from London, as Techstars doubles down in the UK”

Over 200 UK startups have been through a Techstars…

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St. Thomas move to ditch in-person voting in 2022 draws concern from local cybersecurity expert – London

November 19, 2021/in Internet Security

Voters in St. Thomas, Ont., won’t be heading to the polls in 2022 as they have in years past to cast their ballot in a municipal election.

City officials say they’re doing away with in-person paper ballots in favour of online and telephone voting next year in a bid to make the experience more convenient for residents and to spark greater voter turnout.

St. Thomas offered online voting during the 2018 election, but only in advanced polls alongside telephone voting. For election day itself, voters had to cast a ballot in person.

“It worked really, really well. The time people were online in order to do it (was) under five minutes. Our election day, we used the paper ballot and we heard a lot of people about long line-ups and not convenient polling stations,” said St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston of the 2018 election.

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“We’re going to make it so that you can vote from your La-Z-Boy or wherever you are in the world.”

Those without computer or telephone access will be directed to visit a Mobile Voter Help Centre where they cast a ballot and be assisted by municipal staff.

In the 2018 race, of the 10,259 recorded electors, 5,736, or roughly 56 per cent, voted in person, while 4,205, roughly 41 per cent, voted online, election data shows. Only 318 people chose to vote by phone.

In all, voter turnout was 36.09 per cent, with 80 per cent of those casting ballots recorded as being over the age of 45.

“During the pandemic, people have really concentrated on being able to use services like online purchasing or online ordering from restaurants. It’s become a far bigger part of our life, and we think we can make it part of the election process pretty smoothly,” Preston said.

Click to play video: 'TTC investigates data breach potentially impacting 25,000 employees, former employees'

2:27TTC investigates data breach potentially impacting 25,000 employees, former employees

TTC investigates data breach potentially impacting 25,000 employees, former employees – Nov 8, 2021

“Almost every bank has a huge…

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Letter from London: Ransomware is wreaking havoc in Hackney

August 3, 2021/in Internet Security

Vicki Bates, a retail worker who lives in east London, has been furloughed twice during the coronavirus pandemic and says she is owed nearly £1,000 ($1,400) in housing benefit by her local authority. She has been unable to log into her account on Hackney Council’s website since October 2020 and describes her predicament as the culmination of months of administrative errors.

“I really rely on those payments to be able to get things for my daughter,” she told me, during a telephone conversation. “We’ve got her school uniform to buy in the next couple of months. That is a large chunk of money and a bit of a worry.”

Bates is one of tens of thousands of Hackney residents — the borough is home to some 280,000 people and 10,000 businesses — who have been affected by a crippling ransomware attack on the council’s website. (In the interest of full disclosure, I live in Hackney and use the website regularly.) The breach took place in October 2020, disabling a number of vital local services, including systems that allow residents to access social security benefits, and pay rent and council tax.

Over the past few years, ransomware attacks on public and private institutions, including councils, utility companies and banks, have become an increasingly common form of online terrorism. In late 2020, dozens of U.S. hospitals and healthcare organizations were hit by malicious code distributed by cyber-criminals. Security analysts said the hacks were tied to a Russian gang known as UNC 1878 or Wizard Spider

Large corporations and financial institutions have the means to pay off ransomware gangs. For example, Brazil-based JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processing company, gave the equivalent of $11m to hackers who broke into its computer system in June.

Ransomware attacks on public institutions like Hackney council have become common in the last few years.

However, U.K. local authority budgets have been progressively slashed since the financial crisis of 2008, rendering most councils incapable of spending such large sums of money, even if they could get past the miles of red tape necessary to do so. Hackney has faced some of the most brutal cuts in…

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