Google Assistant Sensitivity; Snapchat Use Gets Big Increase; Facebook Algorithm Squashes Fake Accounts; Amazon Looks at Ring Facial Recognition

Google is starting to “roll out gradually” a feature allowing you to customize voice detection sensitivity on Google Assistant devices, a spokesperson confirmed to The Verge. Although the feature has not been widely released yet, the “‘Hey Google’ Sensitivity” feature displays a slider that allows you to increase or reduce the sensitivity with which Google Assistant devices pick up the command “Hey Google.” The new setting is meant to decrease accidental activations of your Assistant.

With more users stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, Snapchat has more users than ever. Engadget.com says Snapchat gained 11 million users during the first quarter of 2020, a significant uptick from the 8 million it added last quarter quarter, and well ahead of the company’s expected growth. It now has 229 million daily active users, up 20 percent from last year. Like other social networks, Snapchat has seen a surge in usage in recent weeks, but CEO Evan Spiegel says that not all the extra growth is due to the coronavirus. They have also grown programming consumption with Snapchat Discover.

Facebook engineers, in a blog post, describe an algorithm — SybilEdge — that detects fake accounts that evade Facebook’s anti-abuse filters at registration time but that haven’t friended enough people to perpetuate abuse. According to venturebeat.com, The goal is to mitigate the accounts’ ability to launch attacks against other users. An analysis from Oxford found that 33% of people have seen some form of misinformation about COVID-19 on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Amazon subsidiary Ring, which has partnerships with almost 1,200 law enforcement agencies nationwide, does not currently include facial recognition or license plate scanning tools in its home surveillance line of consumer products. Arstechnica.com reports that The company appears to be evaluating adding both tools… raising additional privacy concerns. Potential new features for Ring include options for enabling or disabling the camera both physically and remotely, both visual and audible alarms to ward off “would-be criminals,” and potential object, facial, and license plate detection.

Fandango Buys Vudu; Netflix Android ‘Screen Lock’; Electric Co’s Look to AI; iPad Pro Delay

Movie ticketing company Fandango has agreed to buy Walmart’s on-demand video streaming service, Vudu, for an undisclosed sum. Techcrunch.com says the video service reaches more than 100 million living room devices across the U.S., including smart TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other over-the-top streaming devices, as well as Windows 10 and Mac computers, and iOS and Android mobile devices. To date, the Vudu app on mobile has been installed more than 14.5 million times. As a part of the agreement, Vudu will continue to power Walmart’s digital movie and TV store on Walmart.com.

It can be frustrating-to put it lightly- to accidentally tap a button and mess up playback when watching Netflix on your phone. Now, Netflix is rolling out a new feature for Android devices that tries to prevent that. This new feature, which 9to5Google spotted, lets Android users avoid accidental touches when using the Netflix mobile app. A “screen lock” option will now appear at the bottom of your screen after you start watching a TV show or movie. Enabling screen lock will stop the button prompts, helping to prevent you from stopping playback or accidentally enabling subtitles.

With the shelter in place due to the coronavirus, the shift has strained the utilities supplying power to the nation’s electrical grid. According to venturebeat.com, U.S. electricity use on March 27, 2020 was 3% lower than the prior year, a loss of about three years of sales growth. The rise in household electricity demand won’t offset reduced business electricity demand, because residential demand is just 40% of the total. Some utilities are now employing AI to ensure that operations aren’t interrupted in the coming months, thereby preventing blackouts and brownouts.

Last week, analyst Jeff Pu told investors that the rumored high-end ‌iPad Pro‌ may be delayed until early next year due to the device’s “complex panel design.” Macrumors.com reports that Apple originally planned to launch the device in the fall, but has given up on meeting this roadmap because of the outbreak. Back in December, before the global health crisis took hold, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was developing up to six Mini-LED products, including a 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌. The iPad Pro with LIDAR that just launched looks like it will be the standard bearer for the rest of this year.

Tesla Updates Powerwalls; Facebook- New Game Streaming App; Uber Revives Goods Delivery; Amazon-Thermal Cams for Warehouse Employee Fever Checks

What happens if you have a Tesla Powerwall, and there’s a power outage and the battery pack has to juggle the needs of both your home and your EV? Engadget.com reports that Tesla has released a software update that will coordinate with the company’s cars to prioritize charging during power outages. Charging will slow down if there’s a high load in your household during the outage, and will even stop entirely if the Powerwall dips below an “energy threshold.” The feature is currently available to North American owners who drive a Model 3 or Model Y.

Twitch and YouTube don’t have much competition when it comes to streaming platforms for the gaming community, but Facebook wants to change that with a new dedicated mobile gaming app. The verge.com notes that Facebook initially had a number of games in their main app from the likes of Zynga. Facebook’s gaming app will largely curate and focus on the streaming community, although it will also highlight casual games that people might play online already, including Words with Friends. The app, which is set to be introduced today on Android, then on iOS devices once “Apple approves them.”

Uber is reviving an attempt to offer deliveries of goods as well as people and food, as it searches for new sources of revenue during the coronavirus outbreak.
Its latest effort to transport items ranging from medical supplies to pet food via two new services, Direct and Connect, follows a recently accelerated push into online groceries. Financial Times says Uber has cautioned that its new logistics services may not outlast the current lockdown if the car-booking service cannot run the operations profitably.

Amazon has started to use thermal cameras at its warehouses to speed up screening for feverish workers who could be infected with the coronavirus, according to Reuters. The cameras in effect measure how much heat people emit relative to their surroundings. They require less time and contact than forehead thermometers, earlier adopted by Amazon.Cases of the virus have been reported among staff at more than 50 of Amazon’s U.S. warehouses.

Bezos Calls for Global COVID-19 Testing; Google Slowing Hiring; Facebook Warns Users Re Interacting With Fake COVID-19 Info; Apple-Modular, High-End Noise Cancelling Headphones

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has called for testing everyone regularly for COVID-19, and not just his own employees, as the effort begins to bring the world back to work and some intermediate step towards normalcy as we wait for a vaccine for the virus. Geekwire.com reports that Bezos made the virus and response to it the main topic of his annual letter to shareholders. He noted how the company has been adapting to the crisis, and also how Amazon has seen the extent of how people depend on the company. Bezos feels that there needs to be regular testing of people, even those showing no symptoms, as we move to get the economy back up and running. People who test positive would be quarantined and those who aren’t could continue working without fear of constantly being exposed to the virus. Bezos ended the letter quoting Dr. Seuss: He quoted Dr. Seuss to end the letter: “When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”
“I am very optimistic about which of these civilization is going to choose,” Bezos said.

Google has said that it will slow hiring for the rest of 2020, and will adjust its investments in areas like data centers and marketing…all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to theverge.com, the info came out in an email from CEO Sundar Pichai to employees, which was obtained by Bloomberg. The Verge got this from Google when they inquired: “We’ll be slowing down the pace of hiring, while maintaining momentum in a small number of strategic areas, and onboarding the many people who’ve been hired but haven’t started yet.” Google had hired 20,000 in 2019, and had planned on a similar number of hires in 2020. Microsoft is also temporarily ratcheting back hiring a bit due to the epidemic. As we reported earlier, Facebook will still tack on an additional 10,000 this year, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Google drops back to a similar number.

Facebook will start notifying users if they have liked, reacted, or commented on COVID-19 misinformation that has since been removed. Engadget.com says that the alerts will appear in a person’s news feed, and will include links to COVID-19 myths debunked by the WHO. The alerts should start popping up in the next few weeks. The effort will be similar to the bogus pages run by the Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency. There will also be notices posted when users search for vaccine related content, and referrals to the WHO and CDC for actual, credible information. In March, Facebook displayed warnings on about 40 million posts related to COVID-19. Facebook claims that on flagged posts 95% of users didn’t go ahead and view the fake content.

Apple has been rumored to be working on pricey noise-cancelling headphones…bearing the Apple brand and not Beats. Now, techcrunch.com reports that the noise-cancelling ‘cans’ will use tech like the AirPod and AirPod Pro ear buds have…and more. They will apparently be made with interchangeable parts that will allow some moddiing with custom accessories. They may have some different headbands and ear cups for workouts as opposed to long term wearing, for example. They will apparently have a ‘retro look,’ stealing from such brands as Master + Dynamic…which already makes high-end, noise-cancelling headphones with Bluetooth and replaceable ear cups. As previously reported, Apple will continue to market the Beats brand as a separate line of headphones. An FCC filing points to imminent release of an updated PowerBeats Pro fully wireless in ear sport headphone.

New 4.7 Inch iPhone SE; Washington Sate Sues Facebook Over Political Ads; Google-Emergency Fund for Local Journalism; Zoox Settles Lawsuit With Tesla

Apple has unveiled the expected smaller, cheaper iPhone. Macrumors.com reports the new iPhone SE has a 4.7 inch display, A13 Chip, and Touch ID. Best of all, it starts at $399 with 64 gigs of memory. The color selection is limited…black white, and (Product) RED. You can order your new SE starting this Friday, and it will be available at Apple Authorized retailers beginning April 24th. It does just have a single camera, but the Apple cam software should give you very good pictures considering that…it will support Portrait mode and Smart HDR.

The state of Washington has sued Facebook for violating its state political ad law. According to geekwire.com, this is the second lawsuit by the Washington Attorney General against Facebook for violating a law that requires any entity selling political ads to maintain a publicly available database of those ads and details on who purchased them. The first one, in 2018, was settled when the social network paid a $238,000 fine. The state also settled a similar suit against Google at that time. The new lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, claims Facebook sold ads to at least 171 political committees in Washington state, generating at least $525,000 in revenue. Those findings come from investigations by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and attorney general’s office. The ad disclosure law has been on the books in Washington state since the 1970’s.

Google is creating a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to help support local newsrooms around the world. News departments had already been scuffling along when the coronavirus hit, causing ad revenue to evaporate. Venturebeat.com says Google is pointing to the fact that local news has become even more vital amid the widespread lockdowns aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19. Even though revenue has dropped, readership, listenership, and viewership is up notably as people seek out the latest virus info in their own area. Google hasn’t said what kind of cash they are pouring into the fund, but a similar one has been started by Facebook, which pledged $100 million. Local news organizations have until April 29th to apply for relief to the Google fund.

Self-driving car startup Zoox has settled a lawsuit with Tesla. According to reuters.com, the startup admitted some new hires poached from Tesla brought along certain Tesla documents. Tesla had alleged that the employees stole proprietary information and trade secrets for developing warehousing, logistics and inventory control operations. Zoox is required to pay an undisclosed amount in the settlement agreement, and also get an audit to ensure no employees have retained or are using confidential Tesla information.

Facebook Blocked Nutty 5G Conspiracy Groups; Amazon Stock Hits All-Time High; Google Designed Chips Coming to Pixels; Ford Patent App To Sniff Out Stinky Rideshares; Half Million Zoom Accounts Sold on Dark Web

Facebook gets rapped frequently…and often appropriately…for not policing their platform to clean up lies, fake reports, and conspiracies, but here’s a case where they jumped right in and blocked a couple of nutzo conspiracy groups. Businessinsider.com reports that the two anti-5G groups had users that were using conspiracy theories that 5G cellular radio waves caused the coronavirus. The groups were “Stop 5G UK” and “Destroy 5G Save Our Children,” were open for anyone to join and had thousands of members. The ‘Stop 5G UK’ group was also pushing the drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus. The drug is not proven as an effective treatment. This group had already gotten up to 60,000 members, while the other one had 2500 when shut down. Two 5G cell phone towers in Britain had been set on fire by anti-5G groups in the past week, and members of one of the groups were openly discussing more plans to attack 5G towers. Anti-5G activists believe that 5G radio waves harm humans. But radio waves are low energy compared to other types of radiation, and Cancer Research has concluded that neither 4G or 5G cause cancer. A note about radio waves…viruses don’t travel on radio waves, nor do radio waves weaken your immune system so the coronavirus can sicken or kill you.

While the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the markets and business, one particular business has done quite well…Amazon. As we reported yesterday, they are looking for another 75,000 employees to add to the 100,000 they tacked on last month. Geekwire.com says that this morning, Amazon stock was up over 4%, and hit a record price of $2262 per share. The online giant is now valued at $1.1 trillion! According to a survey by analysts at Jefferies, Amazon was the only online retailer that saw consumers increasing their spending since the pandemic hit. Amazon will be reporting 1st quarter earnings later this month, and there could be a major ‘virus bump’ in the figure!

Google has apparently been working with Samsung on its own silicon. According to 9to5google.com, axios got some details on the project, that appear to make it more than a rumor. One is the code name….’whitechapel.’ The chips could appear in Google’s flagship smartphones by next year, and after that find their way into Chromebooks. The Google designed chip would have an 8 core ARM processor, as well as hardware “optimized for Google’s machine-learning technology” in part “dedicated to improving the performance and “always-on” capabilities of Google Assistant.”

Not all patent applications ever see the light of day, and here’s an unusual one from Ford. Cnet.com says earlier this month, Ford filed one that would let you see…in addition to the usual info about ride sharing vehicles, if there are any smells that might irritate or offend you. An example they gave was that…say you are allergic to pachouli, and the driver is an old head who wears that scent. You would want to avoid that car. Ford apparently would use an environmental sensor to pick up and determine the nature of the smell in the car, then compare the odors and their concentrations to a list of thresholds set by the ride-hailing customers. Whether it’s pungent cologne or food smells, that might bug you or set off an allergy, an interesting idea.

Zoom just can’t buy a break. Getting too big too fast with all the working at home, more bad stuff keeps creeping out. Now, according to bleeping computer, over 500,000 Zoom accounts are being sold on the dark web and hacker forums for less than a penny each…some are being given away for free! The credentials are scooped up via credential stuffing attacks where threat actors attempt to log into Zoom using accounts leaked in older breaches. Successful logins are compiled into lists and sold to other hackers. The net is, change your password and use a unique one if you are going to continue to use Zoom!

Apple- iPad Style Chassis for iPhone 12; Tesla Still Plans Robotaxis This Year; Amazon to Hire 75,000 More; Big Tech Hiring Aggressively

Apple is still planning a Fall hardware release. As has been reported earlier, the 4 iPhone 12 models will have flattened stainless steel edges, as opposed to the present rounded ones. The top models will have LiDAR scanners like the top iPad. Appleinsider.com also reports that there will be a new HomePod, weighing in at about half the size of the present one…at a welcomed lower price point! The oft-rumored Air Tags? A new tip says they will be sold with a keychain and a leather sleeve. While the iPhones and the rest may be delayed past September due to the coronavirus, they are all still expected this Fall.

Paging Korben Dallas! Over the weekend, Elon Musk reasserted that Tesla still plans to have a million robotaxis on the pavement by the end of the year…pending regulatory approval. Electrek.co says once final approval is given, Tesla will push out an over-the-air software update that will activate ‘Full Self-driving Capability.’ If this seems improbable considering the disruption from the coronavirus pandemic, keep in mind that it wouldn’t be the first time Musk was overly optimistic about a timeline for Tesla feature releases! Don’t be surprised if it is mid or late 2021 before the robo fleet is actually on the road.

Amazon has tacked on 75,000 of the 100,000 employees they had expected to add in the last 4 weeks…due to increased demand from the coronavirus pandemic. According to techcrunch.com, the company now expects to add another 75,000 full and part time positions to the 100,000 previously announced. They have also bumped up the amount being poured into pay increases to over $500 million. Amazon says they are positioning some of the openings as an option for anyone seeking work “until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back.” They are putting more into safety, after much outcry— rolling out temperature checks across fulfillment centers and Whole Foods stores, as well as distributing masks to employees and conducing daily audits of these practices. There have still been calls for brief, complete closures of distribution centers for deep cleaning after virus infected staffers have had to leave sick. No word that they intend to go that far, however.

Besides Amazon, other big tech firms are stating up, as they did during the last financial crisis. Businessinsider.com reports that Google, Apple, and Facebook are all looking to increase staff. All are looking for engineers, data scientists, cyber security experts, and designers. Facebook has said they will hire at least 10,000 new employees by the end of the year. All seem wide open to poaching employees from smaller startups or tech companies that aren’t as well heeled or are in shutdown mode.

Microsoft-Coronavirus Changes to Work Permanent; Teen iPhone Ownership All Time High; Facial Recognition Gaining on Masked Faces; Disney + Passes New Milestone

It’s not only Zoom (with related security issues) that has seen an enormous leap in usage….so has Microsoft Teams with its built in video for meetings. Theverge.com reports that Microsoft has seen a 200% bump in use since mid March. They are up from 900 million minutes a day to 2.7 billion meeting minutes! In fact, they saw an increase from 32 million daily active users to 44 million in just a week last month. Microsoft has scaled up server space for Stream, and has opened up the limit from 10,000 participants to 100,000! Microsoft believes this will become the new normal. They are predicting that companies will have to change it up, and have some people come in to the office on X days and others on Y days, with many working from home the majority of the time. They point to China, where the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted, but they are still seeing double the active daily Teams users. We’ve covered Zoom, but besides it and Microsoft, Google and Slack have also seen huge bumps in usage.

The iPhone continues to dominate the teen category, with some 85% of teens surveyed by Piper Sandler owning iPhones (or more accurately their parents owning them!), and 88% expecting an iPhone to be their next phone. According to macrumors.com, the figure is up 2% from last year. 8% said they planned to get an Android, down from 10% a year ago. The new version of the cheaper iPhone SE could push Apple’s penetration into the teen market past 90%. This survey of teens has been done annually since 2001.

There has been a lot of scary stuff going on in facial recognition…as we noted in a story yesterday about a company that has scraped billions of pics from the net to go into a database they sell to law enforcement. A new wrinkle is all the mask wearing due to the coronavirus. Venturebeat.com says Google’s facial recognition system to unlock thePixel 4 is designed to recognize an owner and open even if they have on sunglasses, or have shaved or grown a beard, but it is totally worthless when someone is wearing a mask due to the coronavirus. Apple’s Face ID is similarly confounded. With Apple, you can make an additional account and train the iPhone to recognize you with the mask on, as it can do so with just the top half of your face. Photos in the police database of companies like Clearview AI can’t fare any better than the phones, with people all walking around in masks. Now, they are scrambling to build work arounds which they hope will get them to the claimed 95% accuracy (which is pretty dubious….most experts say none of the large database systems are into the 90% accuracy range yet…most are in the mid to upper 80s. If you are rocking a Pixel or you have an iPhone and don’t want to teach it to recognize you with the mask, just go back to using the password unlock for now. This is one situation where fingerprint ID systems on phones may surge in popularity!

Only active since last fall, Disney Plus has now passed 50 million subscribers. That number has also increased dramatically from just two months ago when the House of Mouse reported 22 million subscribers. According to theverge.com, this comes on the heels of adding service in the UK, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland. This is massive growth, and a big user base, but it is still dwarfed by Netflix, with their 167 million subscribers. Disney owned Hulu has 30 million users, but that is US only for now. The streaming service couldn’t be more timely, with theatrical releases on hold and the parks closed, Disney has been able to release Frozen 2 and Onward to streaming to help push subscribership.

Twitter CEO Donates Big to COVID-19 Research; Also Twitter- We’re Sharing More of Your Data; Amazon Getting Large ‘Virus Bump’ in Orders; Facial Recognition Co Tied to White Nationalism; US Users Don’t Understand 5G

Some billionaires have really stepped up, donating millions to coronavirus relief or research. Now, Jack Dorsey of Twitter (and Square) ups the ante, but pledging a billion dollars. Cnet.com notes that the amount is over a quarter of his net worth. Can you imagine if most other billionaires followed suit? Of course, Bill and Melinda Gates have given away billions, and Gates is personally paying for testing 7 different potential vaccines at once…which is insanely expensive…but come on, billionaires…this virus doesn’t discriminate…it could get you, too!

In not so cool Twitter news, the platform has taken away a privacy feature that let users stop sharing some private info with advertisers. It had prevented Twitter from sharing info like the has you saw or interacted with and the tracking ID for your phone! Now, that info is shared by default, and CAN’T be turned off! There is an exception by law for the EU and the UK, so if you are there, you are in luck on this.

As most people realize, online grocery buying has increased in a big way since the sheltering in place has been going on. According to geekwire.com, RBC Capital Markets has run some numbers, and believes more people will be buying this way in the future. To the surprise of no one, Amazon is getting a windfall. RBC calculates that Amazon’s online grocery arm could move $70 million in gross merchandise by 2023…that’s triple 2019’s number and would make grocery items a material part of Amazon’s total revenue. In a 1,500-person survey, run over the past two weeks, 42% of respondents buy groceries online at least once a week, up from 22% in 2018. Amazon is the most frequent destination for shoppers, with 60% using the tech giant to buy groceries online, compared to 47% for Walmart.

We have reported previously on a startup that scraped billions of images from platforms like Facebook, Google, and YouTube, then has been selling software that matches unknown faces in photos or video with those in the massive database they have amassed to law enforcement. Now, businessinsider.com says that…in addition to basically stealing all these images of you and others, Clearview AI turns out to have a have a CEO named Hoan Ton-That, an Australian, who has been connected with far-right provacateur Chuck Johnson, Pizzagate conspiracy peddler Mike Cernovich, and Pax Dickinson, who has been known to express sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and classist views on Twitter. One of the company’s employees, a Marko Jukic, has quite a history of ethno-nationalist rhetoric that has been published online under another name. After an inquiry by businessinsider.com, he was canned by the company. Meanwhile, Ton-That has released a statement distancing himself, saying “I am not a white supremacist or an anti-semite, nor am I sympathetic to any of those views. They are abhorrent and I reject them wholly and without reservation.”

As the newly-merged T-Mobile/Sprint (which has kept the T-Mobile name) rolls out 5G, a report from Waveform indicates that most customers really don’t understand it, and that it’s unlikely to pry huge numbers of them away from their present carriers like AT&T and Verizon. According to zdnet.com, of those two, the study found that AT&T would get hit worse than Verizon…with around 28% of customers expressing interest in switching. Over at Verizon, 45.3% said they weren’t interested in moving to the new T-Mobile at all. Only 32.8% of all those surveyed said they ‘very clearly’ or ‘extremely clearly’ understand the benefits of 5G, in spite of big marketing campaigns pushing the new generation of wireless. In a word or two, when it is finally implemented most everywhere, you will be able to get faster speeds over your cell connection than most of you have been getting on your home WiFi!

iPhone 12-Smaller Notch & 3D Cam Rumor; WhatsApp Limits Forwarding Viral Videos; Facebook Launches ‘Tuned’ App; Nasa- ‘Exponential’ Jump in Malware Attacks with Working at Home

A couple of leaked images showed up on social media today indicating a couple of hardware changes for iPhone 12. Macrumors.com reports a Twitter user called Fudge posted drawings of the front and back of the handset. The front shows a notably smaller notch, which is in keeping with the prediction of analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that the iPhone 12 will have a smaller front camera lens and smaller notch. The front screen drawing also shows different sized boxes, which may mean that widgets are finally coming to the iPhone’s home screen. The back drawing shows 4 similar sized circles and a smaller one in the center of the camera bump. This may point to a new 3D camera that has been rumored.

Beginning today, WhatsApp is putting limits on forwarding messages. The software looks for ‘highly forwarded’ messages….those sent through a chain of 5 or more people…and limits them to being forwardable to a single person beyond that. According to theverge.com, they think this may put truth and fiction on a bit more even footing, by slowing down the rate at which some items travel through the app. Previous efforts had already slowed down WhatsApp messages about 25% as they traveled around the world. The company is particularly concerned with so-called ‘cures’ for COVID-19, and hopes the new action will cut those down.

Facebook’s dating feature hasn’t exactly exploded, but that isn’t keeping the social media giant from rolling out new products. The New Product Experimentation team has launched an app called Tuned, which is designed to be a ‘private space’ for couples to connect. It is iOS only right now, and The Information says it can be used to share mood, exchange music, and even create a digital scrapbook. It connects with Spotify to facilitate music sharing. While the app doesn’t require a Facebook account, it utilizes their data rules…that means it will get the same ad targeting as Facebook has.

It shouldn’t be much of a shock with so many people working from home, but NASA says there is an ‘exponential’ increase in malware attacks since the onset of sheltering in place and working from home. According to arstechnica.com, they have noted a doubling of email fishing attempts and double the amount of their systems’ mitigation attempts to block malicious sites. Putting it simply, NASA says this all indicates that employees and contractors are clicking on malicious links sent in email and text messages at twice the rate as normally occurred in the office. Many have suggested VPN use to cut down on malicious attacks, but NASA workers practically all use VPN due to the nature of their work. The space agency notes that using a VPN to get to your work desktop does not add any additional protection from phishing scams or malware attacks. Just do yourself a favor and avoid clicking on links in email. If you copy and paste the link into your browser, and have good security software, it may alert you to the fact that it’s a bogus link.