British public help reach major milestone in fight against scammers

Two months ago the government launched the Suspicious Email Reporting Service which allows users to forward on suspicious to be investigated for fraud or phishing.

Since then they have gone on to receive over one million reports. Here is what they’ve had to say about it:

Reaching the milestone of one million suspicious emails reported is a fantastic achievement and testament to the vigilance of the British public. “The kind of scams we’ve blocked could have caused very real harm and I would like to thank everyone who has played their part in helping make the internet safer for all of us. “While it’s right that we should celebrate reaching this milestone, it is important for all of us to remain on our guard and forward any emails that don’t look right to report@phishing.gov.uk.”

What's been targeted?

AN influx of cryptocurrency investment scams is among a range of online threats which have been blocked as a result of more than 1 million suspect emails being reported by the public in just two months.

More than half of the 10,000 online links to scams blocked or taken down by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) with the help of the public relate to cryptocurrency schemes, where investors are typically promised high returns in exchange for buying currency such as Bitcoin.

How do I use the service?

The Suspicious Email Reporting Service was launched as part of the Cyber Aware campaign, which promotes protective behaviours to keep your online accounts and your devices as secure as possible.

To use the reporting service, people are asked to simply forward suspect emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. If they are found to link to malicious content, it will be taken down or blocked, helping prevent future victims of crime.

person-using-macbook-374720

You’re of course also welcome to contact ITP if you are worried about any email that comes through. Give us a call or use the form below.

Microsoft Teams New Features

Microsoft Teams is working on some exciting new features which we would like to share with you. Here is what they’ve had to say on the matter.

As the global response to COVID-19 evolves, communities around the world have moved from an era of “remote everything” into a more hybrid model of work, learning, and life. And as we all scramble to keep up, the future of work and education is being shaped before our eyes. At Microsoft, we’ve spent the last few months learning from our customers and studying how they use our tools. We’ve also worked with experts across virtual reality, AI, and productivity research to help understand the future of work. These findings guide us as we design technology to help our customers today and in the future.

Together Mode

Together mode is a new meeting experience in Teams that uses AI segmentation technology to digitally place participants in a shared background, making it feel like you’re sitting in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class. Together mode makes meetings more engaging by helping you focus on other people’s faces and body language and making it easier to pick up on the non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction. It’s great for meetings in which multiple people will speak, such as brainstorms or roundtable discussions, because it makes it easier for participants to understand who is talking.

Dynamic View

While Together mode offers an extraordinary new meeting experience, it’s not intended for every meeting. We believe that traditional video meetings people use every day can also be more engaging and dynamic. A set of enhancements we call dynamic view gives you more control over how you see shared content and other participants in a meeting. Using AI, meetings dynamically optimize shared content and video participants. New controls—including the ability to show shared content and specific participants side-by-side—let you personalize the view to suit your preferences and needs.

Task App

The Tasks app in Teams, rolling out this month, provides a new unified view of tasks from across Microsoft To Do, Planner, and Outlook. Smart lists like “Assigned to me” bring tasks together across different shared plans, whether you’re on desktop, web, or mobile. Add Tasks as a tab in a channel and get your familiar Planner tab experience with the new list view.

For more info and features you can visit the Microsoft Teams announcement page for this here.

You can also contact ITP using the form below and we’d be happy to talk to you about how Teams can help your business.