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The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

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The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned that in the face of mounting North Korean provocations, South Korea might consider building its own nuclear weapons or asking the United States to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to the South, as it did during the Cold War. Although Yoon later stressed that his comments did not represent official policy, they were still significant—marking the first time that a South Korean president has raised the prospect of acquiring nuclear weapons since Washington withdrew its own nukes from the South in 1991.

Yoon’s comments are not the only indication that U.S. allies in East Asia are growing concerned about the credibility of Washington’s so-called extended deterrence commitments. These allies have little doubt that adversaries of the United States would think twice about attacking the U.S. homeland for fear of overwhelming retaliation; Washington is ably deterring that sort of aggression. They are increasingly uncertain, however, that U.S. deterrence extends to them. Would the United States honor its pledges to use the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to deter and, if need be, defeat external attacks on the territory and sovereignty of its allies?

In Japan, which has barred the possession, production, and introduction of nuclear weapons since 1971, discussions about acquiring a nuclear deterrent have not yet entered the mainstream. Nonetheless, unease is growing in the Japanese government about the ability of the United States to uphold its security commitments. In March 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested that Japan should consider a nuclear-sharing arrangement like the one NATO maintains with Washington. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida quickly dismissed Abe’s suggestion, but last month, a meeting between Japan’s foreign and defense ministers and their American counterparts for the first time included a dedicated discussion of extended deterrence at this level, reflecting Japan’s heightened focus on the issue.

Worries about U.S. security guarantees extend beyond elite policy circles in Seoul and Tokyo. The Japanese and South Korean publics are also increasingly concerned about the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence and support moves to bolster their own countries’ defenses. A February 2022 poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace showed that over 70 percent of South Koreans support going nuclear and over 50 percent favor the return of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula. And according to a December 2022 poll conducted by the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, more than 80 percent of Japanese consider China, North Korea, and Russia as military threats. Strong majorities also support the Kishida government’s plans for unprecedented spending increases, underscoring the public’s concerns.

To assuage Tokyo and Seoul, the United States should make a concerted effort to shore up the credibility of extended deterrence. That means acknowledging the sources of allied fears, emphasizing that the presence of American troops in Japan and South Korea ties together the fates of the United States and its allies, increasing nuclear-related cooperation and planning with both countries, and possibly launching preliminary discussions about the potential redeployment of U.S. tactical nukes to South Korea. 

DRIVERS OF DOUBT

Allied apprehension about U.S. security commitments may seem puzzling in light of the Biden administration’s emphasis on shoring up U.S. alliances and the broad alignment of the Biden, Yoon, and Kishida administrations on North Korea and regional policies. But even at the best of times, maintaining the credibility of external deterrence commitments is a challenge. Doing so requires convincing allies not just that the United States has the capabilities to deter and defend against potential attacks against them but that it also has the will to use those capabilities—even if that means putting U.S. cities at risk. This is an inherently difficult endeavor, so a baseline of allied doubt about extended deterrence is predictable and normal.   

In latest years, however, the level of doubt among Japanese and South Korean officials has exceeded that normal baseline level. Rapidly intensifying threats—particularly from North Korea, China, and Russia—have created unique and urgent security challenges that Tokyo and Seoul worry the United States is either unwilling or unable to address. In 2022, for instance, North Korea embarked on an unprecedented campaign of weapons development, testing over 90 cruise and ballistic missiles of various ranges (one of which flew over Japan) and preparing for a nuclear test, which would be the seventh it has carried out since 2006. This turbocharged testing spree has enabled Pyongyang to advance toward its aim of credibly threatening to strike the U.S. homeland with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, a capability that could sow doubt among U.S. allies about Washington’s willingness to put its own territory at risk to defend them. North Korea has also introduced a “first use” nuclear doctrine—threatening to use nuclear weapons in response to military interventions, regime-change efforts, or even new sanctions by outside powers—and is getting close to being able to deploy tactical nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield.

China’s sweeping military modernization is also fueling Japanese and South Korean security concerns. After more than two decades of near double-digit growth in defense spending, including efforts to Boost its missile capabilities and dramatically expand its nuclear arsenal, China is increasing its maritime and air activity near Japan, including making regular incursions into the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands (known in China as the Diaoyu Islands). China’s behavior has also increasingly unnerved South Korea as Beijing has come to see Seoul’s missile defense systems—including the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployed in 2017—as threats to China rather than as mere defenses against North Korea.

The war in Ukraine has provided North Korea with an ideal environment to accelerate its nuclear and missile programs.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s “no limits” partnership with Beijing have contributed to the uneasiness of Japan and South Korea, as well. For Tokyo, these developments have underscored the need to reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Both Kishida and Yoon have drawn direct connections between the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific, suggesting that Russia’s moves in Ukraine could spur China to attempt to take Taiwan by force or potentially tempt North Korea to invade the South. Japan’s new national security strategy, released in December 2022, notes that “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has easily breached the very foundation of the rules that shape the international order” and that “the possibility cannot be precluded that a similar serious situation may arise in the future in the Indo-Pacific region.” Joint Chinese-Russian exercises near Japan last May and November further jarred Tokyo, as did China’s decision to fire five missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone during major military exercises around Taiwan in August.

For Seoul, the war in Ukraine has amplified the sense of vulnerability that comes with being a nonnuclear state next to nuclear-armed North Korea. Both Japan and South Korea worry that Russia’s aggression in Europe will distract the United States from the rapidly evolving array of security challenges in Asia. And Yoon recently pondered whether a prolonged war “could send a message to North Korea that the international community would fail to respond to an act of invasion with the appropriate sanctions or punishment, and that message would further encourage the North to conduct provocations.” The war in Ukraine has also provided North Korea with an ideal environment to accelerate its nuclear and missile programs, since Beijing and Moscow are no longer willing to join Washington and its allies in punishing Pyongyang for its provocations.  

Finally, U.S. allies in Asia are concerned about developments in the United States itself. In particular, they worry that a future U.S. administration could downgrade the importance of alliances, as U.S. President Donald Trump did during his administration. Both Tokyo and Seoul look at the lingering strain of “America first” thinking in U.S. politics and wonder whether Washington will remain committed to protecting them.

GOING IT ALONE

Japan and South Korea have responded to this heightened sense of vulnerability in part by increasing their own military capabilities. To enhance deterrence against North Korea, South Korea has developed a “three axis” defense system that consists of a preemptive strike platform, air- and missile-defense systems, and a retaliation plan designed to incapacitate the North Korean leadership and military facilities in the event of an attack. In order to fund this system and other defense capability improvements, South Korea has said it aims to increase defense expenditures by an average of 6.8 percent per year over the next five years, spending a total of $261 billion.

Japan has also taken bold steps to enhance its defense capabilities. It has committed to increasing defense spending by more than 60 percent over the next five years and to acquiring “counterstrike capabilities” that would enable it to strike North Korea or mainland China in the event of an attack. These pathbreaking steps, outlined in three strategic documents released late last year, represent the most dramatic advances in Japan’s defense capabilities since the end of World War II.

The United States has enabled these moves by its allies to take on greater defense responsibility while also reassuring them of the credibility of its security commitments. The Biden administration has supported the resumption and expansion of joint military exercises with South Korea, and in May 2021, Washington and Seoul announced the removal of restrictions on the range of South Korean missiles. The United States has also expressed support for Japan’s acquisition of “counterstrike capabilities” and is poised to sell U.S.-made Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, which Japan plans to deploy on naval destroyers by 2026. And President Joe Biden has reiterated the United States’ commitment to defend its allies with the full spectrum of military capabilities, including nuclear weapons. He has also elevated extended deterrence dialogues with Japan and South Korea and encouraged greater missile defense cooperation among the three allies.

But these efforts, though important, have not been sufficient to extinguish allied concerns about extended deterrence. That is partly because reassurance alone can never be enough; nuclear commitments inevitably invite doubt that the United States would really risk a nuclear attack on one of its cities to defend Tokyo or Seoul. Moreover, the success that U.S. alliances have had in deterring a major war over the last eight decades ironically means that Washington’s security guarantees have never been put to a hard test.  

U.S allies also have bureaucratic reasons for their persistent doubts. Some U.S. officials have been reluctant to involve allies in the United States’ nuclear enterprise and operations much beyond occasional site visits. Some of this hesitancy stems from concerns about the security of classified information, but some of it stems from a general “just trust us” attitude with regard to nuclear weapons that has started to undercut the effectiveness of U.S. alliances. Extended deterrence dialogues with Japan and South Korea have become more detailed and comprehensive over time, and visits to facilities that support the U.S. nuclear umbrella offer some insight and assurance to U.S. allies. But they fall short of real transparency; there is a sense that the allies are little more than nuclear tourists.

AIN’T NOTHING LIKE AN ALLIANCE

Given these lingering doubts (and the costs that U.S. security guarantees entail for the United States), some analysts argue that Washington shouldn’t bother trying to salvage extended deterrence and that U.S. allies in East Asia should seek their own nuclear weapons. After all, this would lower some risks to the United States and allow highly capable allies to shoulder more of the responsibility for their own defense. Yoon has said publicly that South Korea could develop its own nukes quickly and with the support of its public. Alliance skeptics in the United States may even interpret such comments as further proof that the alliance system is outdated, costly, and dangerous because it has the potential to draw Washington into faraway conflicts.

Some U.S. commentators have wondered whether Washington ought to encourage U.S. allies to go nuclear. Such viewpoints are worthy of consideration, especially because they have gained adherents among advocates of restraint and isolationism on both the left and the right. But they rarely acknowledge all the problems that an indigenous nuclear program in South Korea would introduce—including forcing Seoul to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and likely face sanctions, and risking a regional nuclear arms race between China, North Korea, South Korea, and possibly others. Indeed, a nuclear South Korea would almost certainly strain the U.S. alliance network in Asia, unleashing a divisive debate in Japan about that country’s military posture and the future of the U.S.-Japanese alliance, and creating additional friction in Tokyo’s relationship with Seoul. Australia would also likely worry about the destabilizing effect of a nuclear South Korea and the implications for other actors in the region, including Taiwan.

Those who advocate for downgrading or abandoning alliances would also need to detail an alternative method for managing the United States’ most serious geopolitical challenge—China—as well as issues such as climate change, pandemics, and supply chain problems that by their very nature cannot be handled by one country alone. Given that no such alternative has been offered, the United States will need to continue the difficult but necessary slog of shoring up extended deterrence, ensuring that this decades-old tool for maintaining regional peace and stability is up to the significant challenges of the coming decade.

A COMMUNITY OF SHARED FATE

To that end, Biden should build on the efforts his administration has already undertaken to restore the credibility of U.S. security guarantees. He should start by acknowledging the causes of allied concern: not just the increasing military capabilities of regional rivals but also the U.S. political realities that have caused allies to question Washington’s will to protect them from growing threats. Only by being more frank and open with allies—particularly regarding the nuclear aspect of extended deterrence—can the United States hope to assuage their fears.

At the same time, the Biden administration should emphasize that more than its credibility is at stake when it promises to use the “full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear,” to defend Tokyo and Seoul: more than 80,000 U.S. forces are stationed in Japan and South Korea, and 120,000 U.S. citizens live in the two countries, creating what the political scientist Joseph Nye calls a “community of shared fate” that binds the United States to its allies. This shared fate forms the core of extended deterrence and is a costly signal of U.S. resolve to deter and defend its allies against external aggression.  

To develop stronger bonds of trust, the United States should also create a framework for joint nuclear planning with Japan and South Korea similar to a NATO planning group, which would offer Tokyo and Seoul more insight into U.S. decision-making and processes involving nuclear weapons. Such a framework would allow the United States to plan bilaterally and trilaterally while remaining in control. The Biden administration might also consider augmenting existing bilateral extended deterrence dialogues by creating a new trilateral strategic dialogue to increase information sharing and identify coordination opportunities. If either Tokyo or Seoul is hesitant to participate, the exchange could be conducted at the so-called track 1.5 level between officials acting in an unofficial capacity and nongovernmental experts.

The United States should strengthen its regional military and nuclear posture as well, including possibly by doing more to showcase its nuclear capabilities. This could involve continually deploying submarines that can be equipped with nuclear missiles to the region or deploying aircraft capable of both conventional and nuclear missions on a rotating basis. The three allies should also explore opportunities for more joint military activities related to extended deterrence, such as combined Japanese and South Korean escorts of U.S. strategic bomber flights.

Finally, Washington should consider laying the groundwork for the possible redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. Under the present circumstances, the United States should not redeploy such weapons or support South Korea’s acquisition of them. But Washington and Seoul should consider beginning and publicly acknowledging planning for a potential future tactical nuclear redeployment to South Korea. This planning could include conversations about the infrastructure and military prerequisites for storing such weapons on the peninsula, as well as the potential downsides of doing so, including the high likelihood that tactical nukes would become targets for North Korean missiles, the potential for nuclear redeployment to heighten tensions in the region, the redundancy of tactical nuclear weapons given other U.S. capabilities, and the challenges these weapons could pose to controlling escalatory spirals in a crisis.

Before they make any decisions, the allies might also consider conducting war games to map out potential phases of preparation for redeployment, all contingent on changes in the threat environment. Such exercises would signal U.S. resolve and commitment to Japan and South Korea without crossing the proliferation threshold. They would also pressure Pyongyang to halt its provocations and perhaps spur China to rein in North Korea in order to prevent the return of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula. It is possible that Pyongyang would respond to planning of this kind with additional provocations, but the North could hardly be more belligerent than it was in 2022, when it conducted scores of missile launches. And in any case, the costs of North Korean provocations pale in comparison to the benefits of shoring up extended deterrence, which has underwritten 70 years of peace on the peninsula.

Allied concerns about U.S. credibility will never disappear entirely. But they can and should be managed to avoid the erosion of alliances. New levels of doubt among U.S. allies call for Washington to devise new ways to restore the credibility of extended deterrence—both to reduce Japan’s and South Korea’s sense of vulnerability and to ensure that U.S. alliances in Asia remain a force for stability long into the future.

Your 15-inch laptop display is feeling cramped, and you work in one place mostly. For about the same money that you would spend on a midrange-to-high-end laptop with a 17-inch screen (or more likely, less), you can get an all-in-one (AIO) computer with a 23-inch or larger display.

Of course, buying a highly integrated system like this is more exacting than your average desktop. Why? You're buying a computer and a monitor in one, and the inherent limits on what you'll be able to upgrade down the line makes smart buying up front crucial. Indeed, landing the right AIO is more like shopping for a laptop than a desktop.

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The Best Aussie Desktop Deals Available Now

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6 Core VEGA Graphics 16GB 240G SSD Gaming Computer Desktop PC – A$799 (was $999, 20% off)
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• Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 3 Tiny, 12th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD – A$1,059 (was $1,809, save $750, 41% off)
• Thermaltake Computer System Rapture V2 - AMD Ryzen 5-3600, NVIDIA RTX 3060, 500GB SSD + 2TB HDD – A$2,078.30 (was $2,238.48, 7% off)
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Check out more Australian tech deals here.

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We've outlined below our top picks among AIO desktops we've tested. Read on for our lab-tested favorites, followed by the buying basics you should know when buying one. Also note: At the very end of this article is a detailed spec breakout, in handy chart format, of our top choices.

The first thing to look at (no pun intended) is the display—the centerpiece of any AIO. While some less-expensive AIO PCs will come with panels smaller than 23 inches, those are better suited to exceedingly cramped spaces such as classroom labs or dorm rooms. (Go much smaller than that, and you might as well just buy a big-screen laptop.) What you really want is a display at least 23 inches on the diagonal—and larger is better if you can do it. The biggest all-in-ones we've seen to date have curved 34-inch screens.

With a screen 23 inches or larger, you're almost guaranteed a native resolution of at least 1,920 by 1,080 pixels (aka, full HD), and larger screens will go even higher. In many cases, that's up to 4K—3,840 by 2,160 pixels—for a conventionally shaped screen, or 3,440 by 1,440 pixels on an ultra-wide display. High resolutions of that kind provide you the ability to view multiple windows side by side, or view a spreadsheet three to four pages wide. Indeed, if you're a multitasker, the more screen room, the better.

Though it's not a concern to those with 20/10 vision, a larger screen and a higher native resolution will let you increase the font size on your Word documents or Excel spreadsheets while still keeping a lot of information on the screen at one time. Desktop screens tend to be brighter than laptop displays in general, as well. Look for in-plane switching (IPS) technology for the best screen quality. IPS screens are inherently better at off-axis viewing, which means you won't have to be sitting perfectly centered to see accurate colors and all the detail in your images.

To touch-screen or not to touch-screen—that is a question of personal preference. The tiled Start interface in Windows 10 was designed with touch panels in mind, and it makes interacting with your various applications as easy as ever. Although these can be fun and functional for families, a touch screen isn't 100% necessary for everyone, especially if you plan to use the all-in-one like a traditional computer. If you're looking at a Apple iMac all-in-one, on the other hand, the decision is made for you: macOS doesn't take advantage of touch screens, and no Macs offer them.

Don't fret either way. Scrolling with a mouse or a touchpad will still be as quick as or quicker than on a touch screen, because with an AIO, you have to reach up to the screen, taking a hand off the keyboard or mouse. Selecting text for copying and pasting is easier with a mouse, too. If you fill out forms online and switch among text-entry boxes, pull-down menus, and check boxes, you'll be able to enter data more quickly with a keyboard and mouse.

If you're planning on using the touch screen at least 50 percent of the time, look for systems with screens that can recline down to horizontal, or almost horizontal. This lets you use the system like a large tablet, so you don't have to hold your arm out constantly to use the touch screen. Think about using an ATM: The vertical screen is fine for a 90-second transaction, but it would become tiring after 10 minutes or more. It comes down to simple ergonomics.

Speaking of vertical orientation, the occasional AIO will come with a stand that lets you pivot the screen into a portrait orientation. Portrait mode lets you view content such as webpages and appropriately shaped pictures without wasted space to the sides of the screen. It's a boon for web developers, as well as layout artists still working on print publications. If portrait mode is something you'd be interested in, make sure the system features auto-rotate; without it, you'll need to switch display settings every time you pivot the display. Portrait pivoting is far more common in stand-alone desktop monitors than in AIOs, though.

AIO Basics, Part One: The Core Components

PC manufacturers are generally slower to update AIOs than their other offerings, so many of the units here are running slightly older processor generations like Intel's 10th Generation ("Coffee Lake") and 11th Generation ("Tiger Lake" mobile or "Rocket Lake" desktop-grade) chips. As 2022 continues, we may see more systems adopt Intel's 12th Generation ("Alder Lake") processors, but most have so far stuck with older Intel chips or AMD alternatives for price and power draw considerations. Any modern processor will help with editing photos or videos, or running intensive media processes in the background while you work on several tasks in the foreground.

AMD's Ryzen chips have appeared in a few all-in-ones, in the form of Ryzen 5 and lower-powered Ryzen 3 processors. Some of our top picks are Ryzen models, and the company's chips are turning up in highly regarded powerful laptops. But in general, Intel CPUs dominate the AIO PC market. Meanwhile, among Macs, Apple's existing AIO, the 24-inch iMac based on the Apple M1 processor, is the harbinger of where things are likely going for the iconic iMac.

When looking at and comparing CPUs in AIO PCs, a key distinction to work out is whether the AIO uses a full-desktop CPU or a mobile one. All else being equal, a full-desktop chip is preferable. How to tell: Mobile chips from the likes of Intel (as mentioned, most desktop AIOs will use Intel chips, as opposed to ones from rival AMD) will have a "U," "Gx," (where "x" is a number) "H," or "HQ" appended to the end of the chip model number. A desktop CPU will have no letter at the end, or perhaps a "K" or "T."

An 8GB helping of DDR4 RAM should be the minimum amount of system memory you settle for. (We haven't seen a 12th Generation Intel CPU-based AIO yet, but when we do, some will surely support the newer DDR5 memory standard.) Although 4GB will work fine for very basic tasks, you'll feel the pinch of such a low-spec computer sooner. That said, 8GB or 16GB will let you keep dozens of tabs open on your browser and still have room left over for a demanding program such as Photoshop. And 16GB is the recommended minimum for professional content-creation use.

AIO Basics, Part Two: Storage and Ports

As far as storage, look for a boot drive of at least 1TB capacity if you're going to store any video on your PC. Videos clog up hard drives faster than just about any other type of file. If you're a heavy obtain fiend, opt for a 2TB drive. The only issue is that a traditional spinning hard drive is relatively slow at booting and loading apps. If you'd rather have a snappier system that's more speed demon than file-storage repository, look for an AIO that uses a solid-state drive (SSD) as the boot drive. (Most now do.) If you keep all your files on a central network-attached storage (NAS) device or stored in the cloud, just about any SSD or hard drive 500GB or larger should be sufficient. That's enough for the operating system and a handful of frequently used programs.

You can have the best of both worlds with an all-in-one PC that boots from a SSD but has an additional spinning hard drive for storage. In that case, look for at least a 256GB SSD boot drive and 1TB of supplemental hard drive storage if you're a power user. You'll need more storage (2TB to 4TB) if you plan on keeping your entire video, music, and photo collection on your AIO.

Adding an extra terabyte or so is also easy with an external drive. SSDs cost more per gigabyte than regular spinning hard drives, but SSDs boot up and wake from sleep so much faster than regular drives that we highly recommend them as boot drives. In some older AIO models, opting for an AIO with an Intel Optane Memory solid-state caching module supplementing a platter hard drive can speed up tasks like loading apps, but for true speed, insist on a "real" SSD as your primary (C:) drive. Unfortunately, some AIO PCs are hard or impossible to upgrade yourself, so make sure you get what you need at the start.

Because an all-in-one is, at its heart, a computer, it should have all the ports you expect to need during your day-to-day activities, particularly USB ports (in easy-to-access places, if at all possible). You may also want a dedicated Ethernet port, though all-in-ones today come with Wi-Fi support built in, so you can easily hook up the system to the wireless network you already have in your home or office.

Also handy is an HDMI input port, which gives you the flexibility to use the AIO as a discrete display for a separate PC, a game console, or other video source. It also gives an AIO with a nice display some potential utility years down the road as a stand-alone monitor, when the PC portion inside becomes obsolete.

The Pros of AIOs...

Even if you find a 17-inch-screened laptop you like, you'll need a strong back to carry it anywhere; 6 pounds and up, plus an AC adapter, is the norm for machines like these. (See our top picks among 17-inch laptops.) So we suspect you won't travel with a 17-inch machine very much, making even a small-screen AIO a viable stay-at-home alternative. And because AIO desktops are plugged in, you won't ever run out of battery power, even when you leave your system in sleep mode for weeks.

Because AIOs tend to use more powerful processors than laptops do, all-in-one PCs will execute CPU-intensive tasks more rapidly, on the whole. Some 3D games will run better, too, thanks to the discrete graphics chips in some A-grade AIO PCs. (To find AIOs with discrete chips, look for graphics solutions dubbed GeForce GTX or RTX, GeForce MX, or Radeon RX, as opposed to Intel Iris Xe, UHD, or HD Graphics, or AMD Radeon Vega integrated graphics.)

Other advantages? You can share the PC among the members of a family, and use it to store centrally accessible photos, music, and videos. And a large, widescreen AIO PC makes for a fine videoconferencing system. Rather than having the family crowd around your iPad or a little laptop screen, seat them in front of a 27- or 34-inch AIO desktop so you're not subconsciously squeezing together to "fit on the screen." Plus, a large AIO screen is good for watching a movie from 5 or 6 feet away, so a couple in, say, a studio apartment could use a big-screen AIO as a TV in front of a small sofa or loveseat. Or, if you place the system in a central location, such as your kitchen counter, you can monitor your children when they're online.

But these PCs aren't just good for play. A few years back, Apple brought the AIO further into workstation territory with the iMac Pro. The starting price for this monster machine at launch was high at $5,000, but it packed a jaw-dropping amount of muscle: It has a 27-inch 5K screen and is configurable with up to an 18-core processor, 128GB of memory, and 4TB of solid-state storage. (Note that it is still for sale at this writing from non-Apple sources, often used or as a refurbished model, but as of March 2021, Apple noted that it would be discontinuing the iMac Pro.) In most cases, this kind of muscle is found only in elite-grade tower PCs, but the very best AIOs can rival a high-end desktop.

...and the Cons

Because they have bigger screens, AIO PCs are physically larger than laptops. Of course, you provide up the ability to easily move them from room to room, but AIOs are still more portable than tower PCs. All-in-one PCs don't have the expandability that you're going to find in most towers, but they do tend to be more stylish.

That said, towers are still better than all-in-one PCs when you need to do intensive work like CAD/CAM or scientific data processing, and most of them are expandable in ways far beyond even the most upgrade-generous AIO on the market. PC gamers, especially, will get much more value out of a stand-alone tower in which they can swap out a graphics card than in a fixed-config AIO PC.

What Is the Best All-in-One Computer to Buy?

The next time you're online and thinking that you really need a bigger screen than the one on your current laptop or tablet, take a look at an all-in-one desktop. You may be surprised how much screen, and how much power, they deliver for the money versus a like-priced laptop.

Also, be sure to check out our top desktop picks overall, as well as our favorite desktops for work and for PC gaming. Below, though, are the top AIOs that have passed through our labs of late.

When Lagos-based investigative journalist, Kabir Adejumo contacted a chief in Ibeju-Lekki in Nigeria’s south western state of Lagos, he was not expecting a death threat to follow. He had reached out to the chief for a right of reply for his report following accusations that the chief raped a 17-year-old girl. But instead of giving his side of the story, the chief threatened the journalist.

“He told me he controls a lot of thugs in the axis and he knows that I live in Ajah and if care is not taken, I would be assaulted physically. I didn’t feel threatened but anytime I have to pass through the Ibeju-Lekki axis, it comes to my head: If this man or his people should see me, am I sure I would return home?” Mr Adejumo said to PREMIUM TIMES.

This was not the first threat the journalist has received from an alleged GBV offender. In another story in the same report, detailing how the police connive with accused rapists to frustrate justice for victims and survivors, Mr Adejumo narrated the experience of a family that accused their pastor in Lagos of raping their 15-year-old daughter for three years. He received a threat for this too.

While the traditional ruler threatened to kill the reporter, the cleric cursed and warned that he would “go spiritual to ensure I am not useful to my family,” said Mr Adejumo, the Assistant Investigations Editor at HumAngle.

According to a 2022 survey published by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) in its Gender-Based Violence Reporting Handbook, of 120 Nigerian journalists interviewed, threats were the second topmost challenge mentioned by those reporting GBV, after silence from victims and survivors.

While Mr Adejumo was threatened directly, Chioma Ezewanfor, a radio journalist at Nigeria Info in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State in the South-South region of Nigeria, said her organisation had been threatened with lawsuits by alleged perpetrators.

The most latest incident occurred in November 2022 when she interviewed a woman who accused her husband of domestic violence.

“We spoke to him on the telephone and he declined. He charged into our office and identified me and some members of my organisation and told us we will hear from his lawyers,” Mrs Ezewanfor told PREMIUM TIMES.

It didn’t bother her because she knew alleged perpetrators, “will do anything to prevent the story from going on air.”

Journalists facing attacks can get support through initiatives like AsariTheBot by CJID. The rapid response tool, which connects journalists to legal aid, is part of the Press Attack Tracker which documents attacks against journalists.

However, Busola Ajibola, Deputy Director of the Journalism Programme at CJID, said that attempts to offer legal support to journalists who need it have yet to be successful. Mrs Ajibola said that journalists who had previously indicated an interest in getting legal assistance through AsariTheBot later retracted their complaint or expressed a desire to settle the matter out of court for fear of reprisals.

For this reason, Mrs Ajibola recommended that newsrooms employ active legal teams to support journalists before and after the publication of their stories.

She also said there should be constitutional measures against people who attack journalists and added that CJID was mulling instituting a register of attackers, documenting their names and faces, sending them to global communities and embassies and tagging them as “enemies of democracy.”

Second-hand trauma

Besides threats, the journalists interviewed for this report said they also suffer psychological distress while covering GBV stories. This aligns with a report by African Women in Media, in which women journalists covering stories on sexual and gender-based violence said they suffer trauma in the line of duty.

Journalists covering GBV stories suffer secondary trauma from their sources and repeated exposure could morph into post-traumatic stress that manifests in various forms, according to Ayo Ajeigbe, Lead Clinical Psychologist, at Olive Prime Psychological Services in Abuja.

This was the case for Ene Oshaba, Head of the Gender page at BLUEPRINT Newspaper who covered a story on a 32-year-old man who kidnapped a 16-year-old. When the girl was found, she was pregnant and her abductor refused to release her.

The divisional police officer (DPO) told Ms Oshaba to drop the story and not to waste her time on the matter to avoid indirect threats.

“When he (DPO) told me that and upon seeing the expression on his face, I decided to drop the story. I am looking out for my family. I have little children and I do not want anything that will put me in harm’s way because I am a single mum,” she said.

While Ms Oshaba dropped the story, she said it affected her, not because the police declined to take action, but because she imagined her daughter in the shoes of the abducted girl.

“I could not believe this was happening because I live in the same town. I cannot imagine someone could hold my daughter captive, and get her pregnant. It replayed in my head because of the fear I had for my child,” said the stunned Ms Oshaba.

Like Ms Oshaba, Mr Adejumo was also affected by the report of the rape of the 15-year-old whose story he covered because the child repeatedly attempted suicide after the sexual violence.

“It took a toll on me particularly when I wanted to write the story as I had to replay the experiences of the girl in my head and her several attempts of suicide. I would start writing and the experiences would flash through my head. I had to stop and put it off. This happened repeatedly because I had to imagine what she went through to tell her story,” he said.

In spite of how he felt, he pushed the trauma to the back of his mind because he felt obliged to publish the story since the reporting was funded.

Neither Mr Adejumo nor Ms Oshaba sought professional help. They tried to forget and moved on to the next story.

Mr Adejumo sees the distress that arises from covering GBV stories as an occupational hazard and sees no point in seeking therapy. Ms Oshaba, on the other hand, now knows the dangers of not seeking help for secondary trauma, after attending a trauma workshop by PAGED Initiative, a non-governmental organisation that advocates for gender parity.

In CJID’s survey, 54 per cent of the 50 journalists who covered GBV cases said they experienced trauma in the course of their works, but only 11 per cent sought psychosocial care.

Mr Ajeigbe, a psychologist, said it is dangerous to ‘pile up’ unresolved traumatic incidents. He said that a journalist who does not seek professional help after covering stories on gender-based violence and traumatic events may unconsciously suffer post-traumatic stress which has an influence on their behaviour and relationships.

“Most people are experiencing post-traumatic stress but they do not know and it is affecting our day-to-day events,” said Mr Ajeigbe.

To tackle this, he advised journalists to attend debriefing sessions offered by psychologists immediately after covering the story even if they feel fine or participate in counselling or therapy sessions in the long run.

He also proposed that media houses consider the mental health of their staff and organise activities like team bonding sessions which will help the staff’s mental health and invariably Boost their productivity at work.

Mrs Ajibola of CJID said that while the organisation has referred journalists for therapy sessions, newsrooms should incorporate mental health into their workflows.

“You (newsrooms) should be concerned about the mental health of your journalists. The job that journalists do is a very overwhelming job. What is the Nigeria Union of Journalists doing? What journalists experience has a direct impact on their mental health and they suffer a nervous breakdown in real-time,” she said.

A report published by IJNET observed that many newsrooms in Nigeria do not prioritise the mental health of their reporters. However, some organisations have conducted mental health workshops for Nigerian journalists, though these services are short-term and intermittent.

In South Africa, the South African National Editors’ Forum, partnered with a mental health services organisation to create programmes that prioritise wellness in newsrooms across the country. In the United States of America, a 2021 study found that comfort dogs were a coping mechanism for broadcast journalists covering traumatic events.

Low impact from reporting

Besides threats and psychological distress, journalists surveyed in the GBV reporting handbook decried the lack of justice after highlighting cases of GBV in the community. Of the journalists surveyed, 38 per cent said that justice was not achieved, a further 38 per cent were unsure, while only 24 per cent said that justice was served following their reporting. As a result, the journalists said that their stories had no impact.

Mrs Ezewanfor, News Manager at Nigeria Info radio station, said that less than half of the cases in the GBV stories covered by her newsroom ended in convictions and described this as discouraging and one of the downsides of covering GBV stories.

“You put in a lot of energy and effort but somehow it doesn’t end the way you want in getting justice for survivors. It is either the family pulls out and settles out of court,” she explained.

Likewise, Chika Mefor-Nwachukwu, a senior development reporter at Aljazirah Newspaper, said that she feels guilty when her story doesn’t lead to justice for the survivor, especially when the perpetrator continues with the assault despite being exposed.

In April 2022, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, revealed that only 16 out of 5,100 GBV cases had ended in conviction. She attributed the low conviction rates to the slow judicial process and lack of funding of the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.

Lekan Otufodunrin, Executive Director of the Media Career Development Network, urged journalists to go beyond reporting and draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the published report as a way to address the challenge of low impact.

“They should also write a report when there is an impact by saying, after this organisation’s report, this impact happened. This would encourage sources to know that there could be impacts from reports,” he said.

He also proposed that media houses collate and evaluate published reports at the end of the year and seek alternative ways to follow up on the reported stories.

“When writing a report, we hope that there is an impact. But when there is none, be comforted you have told the story. The impact might not come immediately. It could happen years later when someone sees the report and decides to help.”

This is a strategy that Mrs Ezewanfor has taken to heart. Instead of feeling discouraged by the low conviction rates, she views her reporting on GBV as a means to document and archive the stories and to strengthen the conversations on GBV. “This is what has kept me going,” she said.

Family interference

Journalists covering GBV are also discouraged when families of survivors withdraw from the pursuit of justice. Princess-Ekwi Ajide, a broadcast journalist with Anambra Broadcasting service, experienced this while reporting on a 14-year-old who was raped by her teacher. The case was reported to the police and they visited the hospital to get more evidence.

However, upon subsequent follow-up, the survivor’s father told the journalist to stop working on the report. When she asked him if he had been threatened, he asked her why she was taking a painkiller for someone else’s headache.

READ ALSO: SPECIAL REPORT: In Nigeria, safe shelters are helping survivors of GBV

“I felt defeated. It was disheartening and I cried because it felt personal and the family did not understand the importance of reporting so that the man (perpetrator) will not do it to someone else,” the Anambra state reporter said.

The CJID GBV handbook explained that stigmatisation, victim-blaming, self-blame, fear of reprisal and lack of trust in the justice process are some of the factors why many survivors and their relations keep the trauma of the abuse and discontinue the process to prosecute the perpetrator.

Other barriers to covering GBV stories

Journalists interviewed for this report and the CJID GBV handbook also mentioned other challenges they face when reporting on gender-based violence, namely: accessing information from survivors, their families, the community, and law enforcement agencies; lack of cooperation and the unprofessional conduct exhibited by prosecuting agencies; editorial sabotage and lack of interest by newsrooms and lack of funds to follow up GBV cases.

The journalists called for these challenges to be addressed so that they can keep telling these stories with the hope of exposing the rot and getting justice for survivors through their reporting.

This article was produced as part of the WA GBV Reporting Fellowship with support from the Africa Women’s Journalism Project (AWJP) in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and through the support of the Ford Foundation.

The growing anger over the cash crisis resulting from the Central Bank of Nigeria currency redesign policy boiled over on Wednesday as protesting customers torched banks and destroyed Automated Teller Machines in Edo and Delta states.

The violence, which paralysed social and economic activities in the two states, also claimed three lives while many others were injured during the riot.

The protests equally spread to Oyo, Ondo, Benue and Kwara states as residents vented their anger over the scarcity of cash which had made life unbearable for many Nigerians.

Trouble started in Benin, the Edo State capital after the bank customers besieged the state branch of the CBN at 9, Akpapakva Road to lodge their old naira notes around 8 am.

Findings indicated that the people were calm as they waited at the gate for the officials to attend to them.

However, at some minutes to 10 am, a Hilux van carrying some officials attempted to enter the premises but the people stopped it in the belief that it was there to convey new naira notes.

The police officers guarding the office appealed to the people to allow the vehicle to access the premises but they were adamant and attempted to invade the premises.

The restive bank customers threw stones and sticks at the vehicle and in an attempt to disperse the crowd, the police mistakenly shot a male customer dead, further inflaming the protesters.

 At 11.45 am, our correspondent also observed two corpses, one in Upper Sakponba and the other in Uselu, but the circumstances of their death were not clear.

However, the development led to an all-out offensive from the protesters who attacked nearly all the banks along the Akpkakpkava Road.

They also stormed the Sterling Bank, UBA, GTB, Access, Zenith, Stanbic IBTC and others destroying their ATMs and buildings with stones.

The rioters later took over the Ring Road and were throwing stones at anything in sight.

Banks attacked

At Upper Sakponba, they attacked the UBA and destroyed a part of the bank as the workers fled the premises.

The Third Junction was also blocked while motorists and a police team were prevented from accessing the Upper Sakponba area.

To restore peace and order in the metropolis, soldiers and policemen were quickly dispatched to the crisis zones and the custodial centre to prevent a jailbreak.

Also, members of the Edo State Security Network and vigilantes paraded the street, dismantling the roadblocks set up by the protesters in different parts of the city.

In Warri, Delta State, youths protesting the rejection of the old naira notes razed several vehicles parked in front of First Bank Plc, Access Bank and Union Bank branches located in the Orovwohworun area of the Udu.

As early as 9 am, the bank customers started arriving in the area which became crowded within a short time.

But they grew restive after waiting for some time without being attended to by the bank officials.

They became uncontrollable and set fire to vehicles parked in front of the banks.

No fewer than four vehicles were razed by the protesters in and around the Udu Express Junction and Ovwian area of Udu.

The PUNCH gathered that the protesters, who comprised mainly tricycle and motorcycle commercial operators, similarly attacked the ATM points before setting the banking halls on fire.

The mob blocked a section of the road before torching Access Bank and other banks.

One of the protesters who did not disclose his identity said, “We are hungry and we are in a cash dilemma. No new naira notes and they are rejecting the old ones. People cannot eat, do business, we are hungry and people are dying and they are still saying politics.”

Also, a fuel station in the area was set on fire for rejecting the old notes.

There was tension following heavy gunshots fired by soldiers and policemen drafted to protect banks in Udu, Effurun and Warri.

The Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Command, Bright Edafe could not be reached for comment on the incident as of the time of filing this report.

Oyo protesters

In Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, as early as 7 am, protesters started barricading the major roads to protest the naira and fuel crises in the state.

They also blocked the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, grounding vehicular movements and commercial activities.

Our correspondent observed that the youth mounted roadblocks at the Iwo Road, Agodi Gate axis, Challenge, Olorunsogo, and Academy areas.

Other areas that were locked down included the state secretariat, Poly Road, Sango, Mokola, Dugbe, Orita Challenge, Beere, Total Garden, Bodija Oju’rin, Eleyele, Ologuneru, Gbopa and Apete, all within Ibadan North, Ibadan North West and Ido Local Government Areas of the state.

The PUNCH reports that a similar protest which rocked the city on February 3, was hijacked by suspected miscreants who set ablaze a police station and stole the station’s plasma television set.

They vandalised a branch of Wema Bank in the area and looted some roadside shops.

Banks, public and private schools, shops and companies hurriedly shut down for fear of being attacked.

A protester stated, “I have never experienced this kind of frustration in my life, and I want to believe that the people in government are doing this intentionally. They have their target. They wanted to add to our suffering so that we will not come out during the election, but they have failed.’’

Motorists expressed worries over the development. Mr Dapo Adedeji said he was on his way to Lagos from Osogbo when he met the youth on the Iwo Road and they asked him to turn back.

He said, “I first met them at Iwo road, and they sent me back so I followed other vehicles to Old Ife road. Luckily, I was able to get to this place (Olorunsogo) but these guys are radicals because they were carrying sticks and almost broke my windscreen but I quickly reversed.’’

“This is getting serious and the government should do something. The last time I experienced this kind of thing was during the EndSARS (protests). They shouldn’t allow things to get to that level again,” he added.

Similarly, Ayorinde Taiwo said he had been waiting for the roadblocks to be removed from the road for over three hours.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress in the state has accused the state Governor, Seyi Makinde, and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party of masterminding the protest.

 A statement by the APC Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, on Wednesday, said, “There are all indications that the pockets of protest being witnessed in some major parts of Ibadan were coordinated and sponsored by the PDP government in the state with a view to frustrating the presidential rally of APC which was moved from Tuesday last week and rescheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) as it became imperative for us to act in the mood of the nation.’’

Ondo protesters

Scores of commercial motorcyclists took to the streets of Akure, the Ondo State capital and some other towns in the state in protest against the scarcity of the new naira notes and rejection of the old currencies by commercial banks.

The protesters barricaded the Oba Adesida Road at the popular First Bank Roundabout Alagbaka area, chanting various solidarity songs and causing traffic logjam for hours.

 Panicked by the gathering, which was less than 500 metres from the Akure branch of the CBN, the banks in the area swiftly shut their doors.

In Owo town, youths and market women also staged a protest, blocking all the major roads and halting vehicular movements.

They also visited the palace of the Olowo to present their grievances to the traditional ruler.

The Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, appealed to them to be peaceful and avoid any action that could cause a breakdown of law and order in the ancient community.

 The monarch said, “This is, no doubt, a trying period in the life of the people of Nigeria and I want to appeal to you not to do anything that will break the law and disrupt the peace of the town.”

Like their counterparts in other locations, youths of Otukpo town in Benue State thronged the federal highway along Otukpo/Enugu roundabout to protest the scarcity of fuel and new naira notes.

They blocked the highway with bonfires, leaving many commuters stranded for several hours.

The police spokesperson in the state, Catherine Anene, could not be reached for comment but police sources said the youth were later dispersed.

 Similarly, there was a riot in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday following the rejection of old naira notes by traders and commercial vehicle operators.

The protests started from the Oko-Olowo market axis and spread to Oloje, Alore, Omoda and Adangba, Gambari, Gama, Offa motor park, Kilanko, Geri Alimi, Yakuba and Kwara Polytechnic axis of the Ilorin metropolis.

Motorists deserted the roads as disused tyres were set on fire while commuters were stranded.

Trouble started at the Oko-Olowo market at 10 am on the outskirts of the state capital after a disagreement over the rejection of the old naira notes.

Also at Yakuba/Kwara Polytechnic/University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, three taxi cabs were vandalised while no fewer than five tricycles were damaged following a brawl between the commercial vehicle operators and some youths over the rejection of the old notes by the drivers.

The situation was, however, brought under control by the state police command which drafted its men to the various flashpoints.

The state police command confirmed the arrest of five persons.

A statement by the Kwara State Command spokesman, Okasanmi Ajayi, said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Paul Odama, had ordered aggressive motorised and foot patrols of the metropolis.

In his reaction, the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu- Gambari, expressed worry about the current situation and called for calm and perseverance.

“I have said on several occasions that the Ilorin Emirate is known for harmony, let us resist all forms of temptations.  Governments at all levels are working assiduously towards ensuring that the hardship is curtailed.  Let us remain peaceful and together, we shall overcome this hard time,” the Chairman of the Kwara state traditional council appealed.

The state governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, urged the people to remain calm, saying, “we’re in this together.”

 In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the police fired several tear gas canisters to disperse the hundreds of depositors who thronged the CBN branch located along Udo Udoma Avenue, to lodge their old naira notes.

 The incident caused a stampede as the bank customers fled to escape the toxic smoke.

Justifying the police action, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macedon, explained that the policemen were deployed at the scene when the crowd was becoming riotous.

He said “Today (Wednesday), there was a large crowd in the CBN vicinity and the crowd was becoming rowdy and it was almost becoming riotous. So, the police as an agency saddled with the responsibility of maintaining law and order cannot fold their arms and allow a breakdown of law and order.

“So, the Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durusinmi, in his wisdom, deployed officers and men to restore law and order, and that is exactly what happened. Nobody was harassed, or molested; nothing untoward happened.”

The development came even as thousands of commuters were stranded following the rejection of the old naira notes by transporters operating in the state capital.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has said its February 8 order restraining the Federal Government and its agencies from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the use of old N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes still subsists.

The court made the clarification on Wednesday following a complaint by the counsel to Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, SAN, that the Federal Government and its agencies had failed to comply with the order and had allegedly directed the rejection of the old notes.

Mustapha said the plaintiffs had filed a notice of non-compliance with the order of the court made on February 8 and demanded that the apex court took action against the respondent to protect the dignity of the court.

The court had, in its ruling, granted the prayer of the plaintiffs barring the FG from implementing its demonetisation policy and ending the cash swap policy on February 10 pending the hearing and determination of the plaintiffs/applicants’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

But addressing the court during Wednesday proceedings, Mustapha said, “That order has been flouted by the government. We are talking of executive lawlessness here. We have filed an affidavit to that effect; we want the court to renew the order for parties to be properly guided.”

After listening to Mustapha’s complaint, Justice John Okoro, who presided over a seven-member panel of the court, asked him to file a proper application to put forward his complaints and to enable the respondent to respond appropriately.

Okoro said there was no need for a renewal of the court’s order.

He noted that since the order made by the court on February 8 was made pending the determination of the motion for injunction filed by the plaintiff, the order still subsisted since the motion had yet to be heard.

Justice Amina Augie, a member of the seven-member panel,  told Mustapha that his application concerning noncompliance with the apex court order was not ripe for hearing.

 “We cannot take your application (concerning the refusal of the defendant to comply with the order) because it is not before us. The defendant needs to respond to it,” Augie said.

 Reacting to Mustapha’s concerns, another member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, asked if the Supreme Court order does not subsist pending the determination of the substantive suit.

 “Go back to the order that was made and check if it does not subsist,” he advised.

 The Supreme Court subsequently fixed February 22 for a hearing of the suit filed by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states challenging the propriety of the naira swap policy of the Federal Government.

The court chose the date after joining the Attorneys General of Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ondo, Ogun and Ekiti states as co-plaintiffs in the earlier suit filed by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states.

The court also joined the Attorneys General of Edo and Bayelsa states as co-respondents. Both states elected to side with the Attorney General of the Federation originally listed as the sole respondent.

The court ordered that the suits filed separately by Nasarawa, Rivers and Kano states on the same issue be consolidated with the ones filed by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states.

The court ordered parties to file all necessary documents before the hearing set for next Wednesday.

 Okoro, before adjourning, told the lawyer to the AGF, Kanu Agabi, SAN, to advise his client to ensure the availability of the new notes for Nigerians.

“Tell your client to let people have money. If they go to the ATM, the plaintiffs will come and withdraw the case. Make money available to the poor masses. You should know that a hungry man is an angry man. I say no more,” he said.

Responding, Agabi said, “Many people don’t have money. They blame it on the Federal Government and the AGF. I don’t have money too. Things have been bad for a long. It is not today that the problems started.”

Governors Nasir El-Rufai and Yahaya Bello of Kaduna and Kogi states were in court to witness proceedings.

Speaking after the court proceedings, Bello said the states were not at war with the FG over its cashless policy but were only concerned about its negative impact on the citizens.

In a related development, the Rivers State Government said it had filed a separate suit against the FG on the implementation of the currency swap policy.

The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, disclosed this to our correspondent on Wednesday.

Finebone explained that the state decided to file a separate suit, rather than join other states that were already in court for a number of reasons.

He stated, “We refused to join. We have filed our own case. When you have a case and a case you should join, there are factors you consider.

“You will consider factors of others who are joining and those who are defending. You will also judge the substantive matter, the way it was filed and everything to be sure that there are no loopholes.

“If you consider that there are flaws, for example, just saying, you may decide to file yours if you think you will do better with your own.

“So there are many reasons the Rivers State Government decided to file its own, instead of joining.”

In the meantime, Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to order the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele,  to reverse the controversial new naira design policy.

 Akeredolu decried the alleged non-obedience of the CBN to the court order on the old notes’ deadline extension, noting that both the new and old notes should be allowed to co-exist.

 The governor stated this on Tuesday evening while receiving members of the Youth Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, led by Seyi Tinubu, the son of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

According to him, the timing of the new naira policy was wrong, arguing that the problem created by the naira and fuel scarcity had affected the rating of the APC ahead of the general elections.

 He said, ”We have a problem we are facing in this country today. Our rating as a party is not that favourable. Let’s not deceive ourselves. Must it be now that we will have this financial policy?

“How? Fuel and everything? Things are not easy. This policy is not right at this time. It should be reversed. Reserve it and tell CBN that we are reversing it. Let old and new notes co-exist.

 “Okada, taxis, banks are not taking old notes again. There is an injunction and everyone is behaving like there is no injunction. We have said that this man (CBN Governor) should be removed when he contested to be President. The man is not fit for that position. A man who attempted to be President will frustrate us at this time.”

 But the President, Wednesday morning, met with the APC standard bearer, Tinubu, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to senior Presidency sources, the meeting which was held at Buhari’s official residence explained his 40-minute lateness to the Federal Executive Council meeting.

The PUNCH reported that Buhari arrived at the Council Chambers at around 10:40 am, about an hour after the usual time of 10:00 am.

 Sources explained that Buhari’s delay was also informed by his decision to monitor the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the CBN naira policy.

 There are indications that the Lagos State Government may prosecute anyone found culpable of rejecting the old naira notes in the state.

This indication was made known in a release by the state government on Wednesday.

The state government cautioned those rejecting the old notes to put an end to their actions, noting that those who failed to heed the directives might face prosecution.

The statement partly read, “The Lagos State Government wishes to put on record the patience and calmness of Lagosians following the controversy generated by the Naira shortage crisis.

“The state government has joined the dispute at the Supreme Court, which today adjourned the hearing of the matter till February 22. When the matter first came up on February 8, the apex court said the old notes remained legal tender.

“That position has not changed. The state government hereby warns those rejecting the old notes to desist from doing so or face prosecution. It is against the law to reject the old notes as doing so is contrary to the position of the Supreme Court.”

The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission said its operatives had arrested five fuel station managers, allegedly selling fuel above government-regulated price.

 The acting Chairman of the commission, Balarabe Mahmoud,  made this known at a news briefing on Wednesday.

 He said over the past week, the commission had been receiving formal complaints from members of the public concerning the issue of the redesign of the naira note and fuel scarcity that continued to linger.

 He said operators of the commission found out that some filling stations sold fuel above government-approved price while some adjusted their litre to extort unsuspecting customers, by selling the product at high prices.

 Balarabe lamented the attitude of some filling stations for rejecting the old naira noted despite the supreme court order.

 “We went out to monitor the activities of such filling stations. We all know of the Supreme Court order which was earlier slated today to determine the deadline, but it further extended the deadline to 22nd March 2023 to determine the deadline of the old naira notes.

 “People should continue to use the old naira notes as legal tender in line with the order of the Supreme Court. We discovered that some filling stations are conniving with PoS operators to extort customers,’’ he explained.

The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Wednesday, threatened that he might consider getting security agencies to arrest anyone who refused to accept old naira notes in the state.

 Abiodun said the state government would clamp down on banks and businesses rejecting the old naira notes.

 He said the directive became imperative after an on-the-spot assessment of business transactions at some filling stations in Ijebu-Ode

 Meanwhile, PoS operators in Kebbi State have complained about the difficulty depositing their old notes at the state headquarters of the central bank.

The Chairman,  AMMBAN Kebbi, Jemilu Musa, who spoke to The PUNCH on Wednesday,  said the online link provided could not generate reference numbers for over 20 members who tried to fill out the forms.

He said, “We got to the CBN headquarters at 7 am and up till now, we have not been able to deposit our old notes. They asked us to fill out a form uploaded on the CBN portal which we did, the link is showing an error connection. We are here stranded with our old notes.

“Nobody is attending to us. We were only given a link to fill in. We don’t even know our fate whether they will collect the old notes or not. We are still with our old notes, the link is not accessible and I was unable to generate the reference number. Over 20 of us tried it and it has the same error message.”

Customers in FCT

In Abuja, angry cash depositors prevented movement in and out of the CBN office in Garki, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The customers, who visited the CBN office to deposit their old naira notes as directed by the apex bank, prevented staff and visitors from accessing the building in anger over the long process of depositing the old notes.

Angered by the development, the customers were said to have blocked the entrance to the apex bank’s office for hours, preventing access to the building.

A customer said, “We had been waiting here for hours without achieving anything. They said we should write names, we did but still nothing. The portal is malfunctioning. No one came out to provide us a form to fill. People came from as far as Suleja hoping to deposit cash and return home. This is double ‘wahala’. You stress to deposit old notes, you stress to get new notes.”

It was gathered that police officers from the FCT Police Command were called in to calm the depositors.

Dateline Moscow and Kyiv: Rectification of names.

Ukraine at D+348: Preparing for the first anniversary of the invasion. (CyberWire) Russia moves conscripts to assembly areas, and a dark web souk appears on Moscow's electronic billboards.

Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow repeats warning that Nato countries supplying Kyiv with arms risks ‘unpredictable escalation’ (the Guardian) Russian defence minister accuses Nato of trying to ‘prolong the conflict’

Ukraine Warns Russia Is Planning Major Offensive (Wall Street Journal) Kyiv says Russia is amassing troops and Studying for a new push along the eastern front. This comes amid a signal that Ukraine may reshuffle in its military leadership following a corruption scandal.

Russia-Ukraine war: Wagner founder challenges Zelensky to a dogfight for control of Bakhmut (The Telegraph) The founder of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group challenged Volodymyr Zelensky to a dogfight on Monday for the control of Bakhmut, as Ukraine braced for a renewed Russian offensive.

Ukraine releases video appearing to show Russian troops beating own wounded officer (the Guardian) Footage thought to show Wagner group fighters beating commander with what appear to be shovelsWarning: video contains footage that some viewers may find distressing

Austria’s About to provide Russia a Soapbox at the OSCE (Foreign Policy) Vienna will allow sanctioned Russian parliamentarians to attend the next big security meeting on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Perspectives on Ukraine and the Russian Invasion (Global ECCO) Dr. Douglas Borer, Department of Defense Analysis at the US Naval Postgraduate School, asked Dr. Myerson some questions about the causes of the Russian war against Ukraine, the role of allies in Ukraine’s defense, and his perspective on how the war might end.

How Russia Decides to Go Nuclear (Foreign Affairs) Deciphering the way Moscow handles its ultimate weapon.

U.S. Leadership on Ukraine Is Increasing European Dependence (World Politics Review) Unwillingly and unintentionally, US leadership on Ukraine war policy is increasing Europe’s dependence. That could be a problem.

American conservatives are right behind Ukraine – but they want a better strategy than Biden’s (The Telegraph) The White House has been reactive, often only moving after significant Congressional and international pressure

Japan’s Long-Awaited Return to Geopolitics (Foreign Policy) Tokyo’s abandonment of its post-1945 security stance is another fallout from Russia’s war.

Analysis: Swiss neutrality on the line as arms-for-Ukraine debate heats up (Reuters) Switzerland is close to breaking with centuries of tradition as a neutral state, as a pro-Ukraine shift in the public and political mood puts pressure on the government to end a ban on exports of Swiss weapons to war zones.

The Deeper Reason Netanyahu Won’t Arm Ukraine Against Russia (Foreign Policy) Jerusalem’s ties to Moscow are partly about security. They’re also about illiberalism.

The Ukraine war is fuelling and obscuring cyberattacks (The National) The fighting is dominating the attention that might otherwise be given over to understanding the links between online threats and modern warfare

Darknet drug market BlackSprut openly advertises on billboards in Moscow (The Record from Recorded Future News) It's unclear why BlackSprut was able to buy the Moscow billboard space, but Russia is known for some permissiveness toward darknet groups.

Inside Safe City, Moscow’s AI Surveillance Dystopia (WIRED) Moscow promised residents lower crime rates through an expansive smart city project. Then Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Russia ends disclosure rules for officials, citing wartime secrecy needs (Washington Post) In the latest indication of expanded state secrecy in wartime Russia, President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation that will exempt Russian lawmakers from a previous requirement that they disclose details of their income, expenses and property.

Russian Deficit Soars to $25 Billion on War Spending, Oil Embargo (Wall Street Journal) The government’s budget recorded its deepest deficit to start the year in more than a decade.

Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities

Foreign states already using ChatGPT maliciously, UK IT leaders believe (CSO Online) Most UK IT leaders are concerned about malicious use of ChatGPT as research shows how its capabilities can significantly enhance phishing and BEC scams.

Ransomware Hits Unpatched VMware Systems: 'Send Money Within 3 Days' (Virtualization Review) Users who neglected to install security patches issued by VMware two years ago are now being hit by a big ransomware attack wave.

Massive ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide (CSO Online) Cybersecurity agencies globally — including in Italy, France, the US and Singapore — have issued alerts about a ransomware attack targeting the VMware ESXi hypervisor.

CISA steps up to help VMware ESXi ransomware victims (SC Media) CISA says any organization experiencing a cybersecurity incident tied to VMware ransomware campaigns should immediately report it to CISA or the FBI.

‘Massive’ new ESXiArgs ransomware campaign has compromised thousands of victims (The Record from Recorded Future News) Thousands of servers running an unpatched version of VMware's ESXi product are vulnerable to ESXiArgs ransomware, researchers say.

GuLoader Malware Using Malicious NSIS Executables to Target E-Commerce Industry (The Hacker News) South Korean and American e-commerce industries have been targeted by a GuLoader malware campaign.

Polygraph: Click Fraud Scammers Are Targeting Pay-Per-Click Affiliate Schemes (GlobeNewswire News Room) Pay-per-click affiliate schemes are vulnerable to sophisticated click fraud techniques....

Hackers hit Vesuvius, UK engineering company shuts down affected systems (Graham Cluley) Vesuvius, the London Stock Exchange-listed molten metal flow engineering company, says it has shut down some of its IT systems after being hit by a cyber attack.

British steel industry provider Vesuvius ‘currently managing cyber incident’ (The Record from Recorded Future News) Vesuvius Plc confirmed that the incident “involved unauthorized access to our systems,” but it did not provide further details.

Multiple DMS XSS (CVE-2022-47412 through CVE-20222-47419) (Rapid7) Through the course of routine security testing and analysis, Rapid7 has discovered several issues in on-premises installations of open source and freemium Document Management System (DMS) offerings from four vendors. While all of the discovered issues are instances of CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, in this disclosure, we have ordered them from most severe to least.

CyRC special report: Secure apps? Don’t bet on it (Application Security Blog) The Cybersecurity Research Center conducted a security analysis of the 10 most popular Android sports and betting apps.

Highmark Health Suffers Phishing Attack, 300K Individuals Impacted (Health IT Security) Highmark Health notified 300,000 individuals of a phishing attack that potentially compromised protected health information.

Cybersecurity Incident Under Investigation in Berkeley County Schools - 19,000 Students Have Day Off (WV MetroNews) More than 19,000 students got the day out of school in Berkeley County on Monday (February 06), but it was a workday for staff.  This after a cybersecurity incident in the district Friday. Berkeley County Schools sent out a message saying they are  investigating the “cause and scope.”

West Virginia students returning to class after days-long outage following cyberattack (The Record from Recorded Future News) Nearly 20,000 students in West Virginia were forced to miss classes on Monday due to a cyberattack that crippled their school.

MTU close Cork campuses after a 'significant' IT breach (Cork Beo) All full-time and part-time classes have been cancelled

Trends

Cybercrime Shows No Signs of Slowing Down (Dark Reading) Look for latest trends in attacks, strategies, and vulnerabilities to continue gaining steam throughout 2023.

Cyber Apocalypse 2023: Is The World Heading For A ‘Catastrophic’ Event? (Forbes) According to the 2023 Global Cybersecurity Outlook from the World Economic Forum, the world is facing more and potentially catastrophic cyber-attacks. Here, we explore what that means.

Blog | Permiso 2022 - End of Year Observations () The Permiso p0 labs team provides an overview of what they have observed from the front lines of cloud attacks over 2022, and where they expect cloud attacks to head next!

DataDome’s Inaugural E-Commerce Holiday Bot & Online Fraud Report Reveals the US as the Top Source of Bot Attacks (DataDome) Study finds US generated 10 times the number of bot attacks compared to China, the second highest source during the 2022 holiday season.

State of the Cloud 2023 (Wiz) The Wiz Threat Research team looks back on the past year to highlight trends and the state of cloud usage based on visibility across our customer base.

Marketplace

IronNet Signs Contract to Enhance Cybersecurity of U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Following Successful Pilot Program (Business Wire) Agreement addresses cyber threats against the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) by using the IronNet Collective Defense℠ Platform to Boost threat visibility and anonymized intelligence sharing

Bitwarden Boosts FIDO Alliance Membership (Business Wire) Bitwarden, the leading open source password manager trusted by millions, today announced that it has expanded its partnership in the FIDO Alliance, an

Netsurion CRO John Addeo Honored on 2023 CRN Channel Chiefs List (GlobeNewswire News Room) Netsurion, a leading provider of managed XDR, today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel...

Sumo Logic SVP of Global Partners and Alliances Named as a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (GlobeNewswire News Room) Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), the SaaS analytics platform to enable reliable and secure cloud-native...

Aqua Security’s Jeannette Lee Heung Named a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (GlobeNewswire News Room) Lee Heung was behind the Aqua Advantage partner program launch driving a surge in channel revenue...

Axis Channel Leader Nicholas Mirizzi Receives 2023 CRN Channel Chief Honor (PR Newswire) Axis, the leading innovator in Security Service Edge, today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized Nicholas...

Jamie Hawkins of DH2i Honored as a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (DH2I) Recognized for Dedication, Innovative Strategies, and Programs That Have Driven Partner Success

Brillio Appoints Navneet Narula to Lead Global Banking and Financial Services Unit (CXOToday.com) Industry veteran tapped to turbocharge company’s burgeoning BFSI vertical    Brillio, a leading digital transformation services and solutions provider

Moti Gindi, Former CVP of Security Products at Microsoft, Joins Apiiro as Chief Product Officer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Moti, who built Microsoft Defender into a multi-billion dollar business, joins Apiiro to scale the growing business...

Folio Photonics Expands Engineering Leadership Team with the Appointment of Greg Kittilson as Vice President of Engineering (Business Wire) Announces Great Leap Forward with Newly Patented Systems and Methods for Increasing Data Rate and Storage Density in Multi-Layer Optical Discs

Products, Services, and Solutions

Cognni Launches AI-Powered Automated Infosec Risk Assessment Product (GlobeNewswire News Room) The new risk-assessment tool can scan all the data held by an organization in minutes and provide a detailed report on risks and the mitigation measures...

Cequence Security Enhances API Security Testing Capabilities (Business Wire) Cequence Security, the leading provider of Unified API Protection, today announced it has enhanced the testing capabilities within its Unified API Pro

Keyfactor Global Channel Program Hits New Milestones as Businesses Prioritize Machine Identity Management (Business Wire) Keyfactor appoints Michael de Paris as VP of EMEA Channels; SVP of Global Channel Joe Tong named to 2023 CRN Channel Chief List.

Cadien Cyber Response Launches to Deliver Incident Response & Complex Digital Forensics Services (Dark Reading) Cadien Cyber Response, a US-based incident response and complex digital forensics firm, formally launched operations today and unveiled its team of leading industry and government cyber experts focused on reactive services.

Baffle Makes Multi-Tenant Data Security for SaaS Providers Even Easier (GlobeNewswire News Room) Record-level Encryption Isolates Customer Data; BYOK Gives Customers Complete Control

How Parallel Loop Empowers Torq Users to Rapidly Automate Bulk Data Processing Up to 10x (Torq) Torq is proud to introduce Parallel Loop, a new capability that enables users to process bulk data from myriad security tools with unprecedented ease. It also provides the power of orchestration like no other automation tool in the security automation industry with true parallelism. That means multiple tasks can be run simultaneously, and optionally, on […]

Snyk Achieves FedRAMP “In Process” Milestone (GlobeNewswire News Room) With Expected FedRAMP Authorization, Snyk to Address Crucial Need for Developer Security in Public Sector

Coalfire Compliance Essentials Optimized for Automated Evidence Collection (PR Newswire) Global cybersecurity pioneer Coalfire announced today major innovations to its Compliance Essentials solution, including advanced automated...

Deepwatch Advances SecOps Platform to Detect and Contain Identity Threats (Business Wire) Introduces Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) for Rapid Containment of Identity Compromise

Technologies, Techniques, and Standards

Agencies Seek Public Input on Updates to Guiding Plan for Cyber R&D (Nextgov.com) The document is updated once every four years.

How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Spy Game (SpyCast) Mike Susong (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the impact and potential of AI on the intelligence field. Mike is a former CIA case officer who now oversees global intelligence for a risk management company.

Why Crowdsourced Security is Devastating to Threat Actors (Security Intelligence) See how crowdsourcing security is an effective tool against phishing and other cyber threats.

How to deal with sneaky spear phishing- and more - on Safer Internet Day (WatchGuard Technologies) In support of a safer Internet for all here are some insights on today’s most prevalent threats and what you can do to stay cyber secure. Follow our tips and protect yourself and your business.

Design and Innovation

Microsoft announces surprise event for tomorrow with Bing ChatGPT expected (The Verge) Microsoft won’t be streaming this event, though.

The Race to Build a ChatGPT-Powered Search Engine (WIRED) A search bot you converse with could make finding answers easier—if it doesn’t tell fibs. Microsoft, Google, Baidu, and others are working on it.

Google has unveiled its ChatGPT rival and is promising its will offer AI-powered search 'soon' (Silicon Valley Business Journal) Google is following through on CEO Sundar Pichai's promise last week to open up it AI tools to the public.

Google launches ChatGPT rival called Bard (BBC) Google is launching an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered chatbot called Bard to rival ChatGPT.

Google Releases ChatGPT Rival AI ‘Bard’ to Early Testers (Bloomberg) Microsoft expected to announce ChatGPT integration into Bing search engine

Academia

The SANS Institute Reopens HBCU Cyber Academy Application Window to Address Growing Need for Cybersecurity Professionals (PR Newswire) The SANS Institute is proud to announce the reopening of the HBCU Cyber Academy application window from February 1, 2023 to March 1, 2023. The...

Legislation, Policy, and Regulation

Chinese hacking probably outweighs balloon, experts say (Washington Post) Don’t forget about Chinese hackers

Quad Joint Statement on Cooperation to Promote Responsible Cyber Habits (The White House) We the Quad partners of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States are launching a public campaign to Boost cyber security across our nations: the

Wikipedia unblocked in Pakistan after Prime Minister's intervention (TechCrunch) Pakistan has unblocked Wikipedia in the South Asian market, three days after the online encyclopedia was censored in the nation.

What CISOs need to know about the renewal of FISA Section 702 (CSO Online) Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act sets out the rules for the US intelligence community around gathering information abroad—but is it inadvertently being used at home too?

Let Section 230 Stay (The Information) Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of litigation. The action—a consolidation of lawsuits filed against Google, Twitter and Facebook—attempts to hold these platforms liable for their automated recommendation of content to users. Social ...

Biden taps experts in threat intel, networking and satellite cybersecurity for telecom advisory board (SC Media) The Biden administration appointed new leaders for the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council, while adding a number of other notable tech and cybersecurity executives.

Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement

China’s tech weapons roll in to quell demonstrations, identify protesters (The Record from Recorded Future News) At a time when an errant spy balloon has raised new questions about President Xi Jinping’s absolute control over all things Chinese, we take a look at how his regime quelled last year’s Covid protests and how an arsenal of digital weapons helped tighten his grip on power.

U.S. senators question Meta over Chinese, Russian access to Facebook data -statement (Reuters) A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators said on Monday they had sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioning the company about documents that they say reveal that Facebook developers in China and Russia had access to user data.

Police hacked Exclu 'secure' message platform to snoop on criminals (BleepingComputer) The Dutch police announced on Friday that they dismantled the Exclu encrypted communications platform after hacking into the service to monitor the activities of criminal organizations.

Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested in France (Naked Security) Company transcribed ultra-personal conversations, didn’t secure them. Criminal stole them, then extorted thousands of vulnerable patients.

How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Psychiatrist Became a Key Player at Crypto Exchange FTX (Wall Street Journal) Hired as a coach at the crypto exchange, George Lerner was there for its dramatic downfall.

Politie leest opnieuw mee met criminelen (Politie) De politie en het Openbaar Ministerie in Nederland zijn er opnieuw in geslaagd toegang te krijgen tot data van een cryptocommunicatiedienst van criminelen en de afgelopen vijf maanden hun…

Eurocops shut down Exclu encrypted messaging app (Register) German and Dutch authorities say the app was a favorite of organized criminals and drug smugglers

Marketplace

CTM360 Recognized as a Global Leader in Digital Risk Protection (DRP) Enabling Technology by Frost & Sullivan (Business Wire) Historic First Arab World Cybersecurity Technology Company to Capture 2022 Frost & Sullivan Leadership Award

NSA Bills Itself as a 'Soft Landing Place' for Laid off Tech Workers (Nextgov.com) The intelligence agency has been quietly moving over the past few months to recruit talented workers affected by the wave of layoffs at tech companies and startups.

iWeb Technologies Completes Transition to Become Leaseweb Canada (Leaseweb) Cloud and Server Hosting Services Provider Announces New Name and Product Launches for Canadian Customers

Progress Completes Acquisition of MarkLogic (GlobeNewswire News Room) Acquisition expands Progress’ industry-leading product portfolio and continues to deliver on Total Growth Strategy BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 07, 2023 ...

Elite Roster of Cybersecurity Investors Backs Lineaje to Deliver Industry-first Supply Chain Security Solution (Business Wire) The company also unveils seed investors, SBOM360, and distribution partnerships, validating approach to detecting software supply chain attacks

Industrial Cybersecurity Innovator Opscura Receives $9.4M in Series A Funding as Critical Operations Transform (Business Wire) Repeat and new investors back Opscura’s safe and simple approach to cloak and secure ICS networks

Jamie Hawkins of DH2i Honored as a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (DH2I) Recognized for Dedication, Innovative Strategies, and Programs That Have Driven Partner Success

Axis Channel Leader Nicholas Mirizzi Receives 2023 CRN Channel Chief Honor (PR Newswire) Axis, the leading innovator in Security Service Edge, today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized Nicholas...

Aqua Security’s Jeannette Lee Heung Named a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (GlobeNewswire News Room) Lee Heung was behind the Aqua Advantage partner program launch driving a surge in channel revenue...

Sumo Logic SVP of Global Partners and Alliances Named as a 2023 CRN Channel Chief (GlobeNewswire News Room) Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), the SaaS analytics platform to enable reliable and secure cloud-native...

Netsurion CRO John Addeo Honored on 2023 CRN Channel Chiefs List (GlobeNewswire News Room) Netsurion, a leading provider of managed XDR, today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel...

Bitwarden Boosts FIDO Alliance Membership (Business Wire) Bitwarden, the leading open source password manager trusted by millions, today announced that it has expanded its partnership in the FIDO Alliance, an

IronNet Signs Contract to Enhance Cybersecurity of U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Following Successful Pilot Program (Business Wire) Agreement addresses cyber threats against the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) by using the IronNet Collective Defense℠ Platform to Boost threat visibility and anonymized intelligence sharing

Keyfactor Global Channel Program Hits New Milestones as Businesses Prioritize Machine Identity Management (Business Wire) Keyfactor appoints Michael de Paris as VP of EMEA Channels; SVP of Global Channel Joe Tong named to 2023 CRN Channel Chief List.

Mobilicom Joins U.S. Cybersecurity Working Group AUVSI to Set Industry Standards (GlobeNewswire News Room) AUVSI is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of uncrewed systems – maritime, land robotics, and drones Cybersecurity...

Elon Musk says Twitter will provide a free write-only API to bots providing 'good' content (TechCrunch) Elon Musk said that due to feedback Twitter will provide a write-only API for "bots providing good content that is free."

Juniper Networks Looks to Drop Specializations in Partner Program Reorg (Channel Futures) Juniper Networks announces partner program changes, including a transition to “solution building outcomes” instead of specializations.

OpenAI Dangles Perks and Early Access to Win Investments in AI Startups (The Information) OpenAI has proven itself to be a prolific fundraiser, collecting billions of dollars from Microsoft and others to perfect its artificial intelligence software. Lately, it’s also been flexing its muscles as an investor in other AI startups, a strategy that could tie a generation of young ...

Dell to Cut 5% of Workforce (Wall Street Journal) Dell Technologies said it is cutting about 5% of its workforce as market conditions continue to erode.

Earnings Tracker: Takeaways From Apple, Amazon and This Week's Other Results (Wall Street Journal) Apple and Amazon reported their latest quarterly results after the close on Thursday, as did Google parent company Alphabet. Shares of all three tech giants fell soon after. Read up on how they did: [Apple Sales Shrink as Covid Disruptions in China Slow Production](https://www.wsj.com

TikTok’s Transparency Campaign Echoes Effort by Huawei to Ease Security Concerns (Wall Street Journal) The Chinese-owned app is opening testing centers and promising access to core technology, similar to largely unsuccessful tactics used by the telecom giant.

Cyren Announces Global Reduction in Force; Liquidity Challenges (Cyren) Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN), a provider of inbox security and threat detection solutions, today announced that, in response to current market conditions and associated challenges with raising additional capital, the Company approved a plan to reduce its workforce by approximately 121 employees, representing substantially all of the Company's workforce.

Layoffs Broke Big Tech’s Elite College Hiring Pipeline (WIRED) Students from top schools used to waltz from Silicon Valley internships into lucrative jobs. Now, some are reconsidering their options.

Darktrace boss defends UK cybersecurity firm amid short-seller attacks (the Guardian) Embattled firm to launch £75m share buyback to bolster stock price after criticism of sales and marketing

Axiad Appointed to FIDO Alliance Board - Axiad (Axiad) Leader in Passwordless Orchestration Brings Extensive Experience, Understanding of Enterprise Authentication Requirements, to Help Strengthen...

Darktrace announces stock buyback as short-sellers circle (Computing) Plans to buy back up to 35 million shares as finance firms QCM and Marshall Wace bet against it

Layoffs Broke Big Tech’s Elite College Hiring Pipeline (WIRED) Students from top schools used to waltz from Silicon Valley internships into lucrative jobs. Now, some are reconsidering their options.

Splunk to Cut About 325 Jobs, Scale Back Outsourcing (Wall Street Journal) The software company also said it would scale back the use of external agencies and consultants as it seeks to cut costs.

Cofense Continues Strong 2022 Momentum with Expansion into Mid-Size Market (Business Wire) Cofense, a global email security company and leading provider of phishing detection and response (PDR) solutions, today announced its future expansion

Radiant Logic Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Brainwave GRC (Business Wire) Radiant Logic, the Identity Data Fabric company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brainwave GRC, a leader in

Products, Services, and Solutions

6clicks Adds GPT-3 to Accelerate Risk Management, Automate Compliance Mapping and Advance Accuracy (PR Newswire) 6clicks, the GRC innovators, today announced "Ask Hailey," the next step in Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) through the...

Devolutions Premieres Enhanced Suite of Remote Connection and Password Protection Solutions at MSP Expo (GlobeNewswire News Room) Seamless Integrations Poised to Drive MSP Revenue with Increased Levels of Productivity, Efficiency, Security and Compliance...

Intel 471 Announces Powerful and Scalable Attack Surface Protection Solution Suite (PR Newswire) Intel 471, the premier provider of cyber threat intelligence solutions across the globe, today announced the release of its suite of Attack...

Infosec Launches New Office Comedy Themed Security Awareness Training Series (Infosec) Ten clients were recognized in the 2022 Infosec Excellence Awards Program.

SlashNext Expands Collaboration with Microsoft as It Joins the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA) (PR Newswire) SlashNext, a leader in SaaS-based Integrated Cloud Messaging Security across email, mobile or web messaging apps, today announced they are now...

KnowBe4 Joins Microsoft Intelligent Security Association and Integrates With Microsoft Security Products (KnowBe4) KnowBe4 Joins Microsoft Intelligent Security Association and Integrates With Microsoft Security Products

Sonar Launches SonarQube 9.9 LTS to Help Organizations Achieve a State of Clean Code (Business Wire) Sonar’s improved speed, security and scalability empowers organizations to boost the quality of their code systematically and predictably

Baffle Makes Multi-Tenant Data Security for SaaS Providers Even Easier (GlobeNewswire News Room) Record-level Encryption Isolates Customer Data; BYOK Gives Customers Complete Control

Keyfactor Global Channel Program Hits New Milestones as Businesses Prioritize Machine Identity Management (Business Wire) Keyfactor appoints Michael de Paris as VP of EMEA Channels; SVP of Global Channel Joe Tong named to 2023 CRN Channel Chief List.

Cequence Security Enhances API Security Testing Capabilities (Business Wire) Cequence Security, the leading provider of Unified API Protection, today announced it has enhanced the testing capabilities within its Unified API Pro

Cognni Launches AI-Powered Automated Infosec Risk Assessment Product (GlobeNewswire News Room) The new risk-assessment tool can scan all the data held by an organization in minutes and provide a detailed report on risks and the mitigation measures...

ArmorPoint Announces Strategic Partnership With CONNECT LATAM (GlobeNewswire News Room) Cybersecurity Solution Expands Footprint in Latin America Through Partnership with International Value Added Distributor...

Fortinet Unveils New ASIC to Accelerate the Convergence of Networking and Security Across Every Network Edge (Fortinet) Fifth-generation security processing unit (FortiSP5) delivers unparalleled levels of power-efficient performance to open new frontiers for securing the branch, campus, 5G, edge compute, operational technologies, and more

OPSWAT Unveils New Mobile & Rugged Portable Media Security Solution for Critical Infrastructure (GlobeNewswire News Room) ARC Industry Leadership Forum attendees are among the first to experience the MetaDefender Kiosk K2100, a new ultra-rugged security solution built for...

SaiFlow Expands into North American Market and Releases Findings on Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in EV Charging Software (GlobeNewswire News Room) SaiFlow offers strategies for working with OEMs, charge point operators and utilities to mitigate these threats...

Radware launches new cloud security centers in Australia, Canada and New Zealand - Intelligent CIO APAC (Intelligent CIO APAC) Radware, a leading provider of cybersecurity and application delivery solutions, is to launch new cloud security centers in Melbourne, Toronto and Auckland. The facilities will reduce traffic latency as well as increase service redundancy and mitigation capacity to help customers defend against denial-of-service attacks, web application attacks, malicious bot traffic and attacks on APIs. It […]

Akamai offers micro-segmentation for Kubernetes clusters (SC Media) Attacks on Kubernetes clusters have increased, so researchers welcome the news from Akamai that security teams can now segment K8 clusters.

New infosec products of the week: February 3, 2023 (Help Net Security) The featured infosec products this week are from: Arkose Labs, Hornetsecurity, HYCU, KELA, and Trulioo.

Silverfort launches free identity risk assessment | Silverfort News (Silverfort) Free identity risk assessment provides insight into the identity security gaps and compliance with cyber insurance policies.

Netwrix 1Secure: New SaaS Auditing Solution Tailored for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) (Netwrix) Netwrix’s new product empowers MSPs to secure and support clients from a single console.

DoControl's SaaS Security Platform Is Now Available on the AWS Marketplace (PR Newswire) DoControl, the automated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) security company, today announced general availability of its no-code SaaS security...

Dashlane's Mobile Code Now Publicly Available (Dashlane Blog) The Dashlane Android and iOS application code is now publicly available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license.

Corvus Supercharges Cyber Underwriters with Corvus Risk Navigator™ (Business Wire) Corvus Insurance, the leading provider of Smart Cyber Insurance® products powered by AI-driven risk data, announced today its all-in-one cyber underwr

Keyfactor Achieves Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Compliance Certification (Business Wire) Keyfactor, the machine and IoT identity platform for modern enterprises, today announced it is now Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI D

Splashtop Launches New Antivirus Capabilities Powered by Bitdefender (GlobeNewswire News Room) Further Protects Businesses of All Sizes with Sophisticated, Unified Endpoint Security...

NordLocker’s new feature allows users to share files via a link (GlobeNewswire News Room) NordLocker, an encrypted cloud storage provider, is pleased to announce that both business and individual...

NTT enhances its Managed Campus Networks portfolio with Palo Alto Networks Prisma® SASE to address networking, security and business management challenges (NTT) NTT Ltd., a leading global IT infrastructure and services company, today announced the addition of Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE to its Managed Campus Networks portfolio. The new offering is a comprehensive managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution that includes SD-WAN, cloud-delivered security, and enhanced automation and reporting.

Check Point Unveils Risk Management Engine for Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (MSSP Alert) Check Point bolsters its CloudGuard Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) to help security teams quickly respond to alerts.

Check Point Software Join Forces with Samsung to Elevate Mobile Security (Check Point Software) The move to mass remote working saw the mobile attack surface expand dramatically, resulting in 97% of organizations facing mobile threats from several

Sonatype Launches Industry's First ‘Run Anywhere’ Platform for Software Supply Chain Management (GlobeNewswire News Room) The addition of cloud to on-premises and fully disconnected deployment options make it the most versatile software composition analysis and application...

Cowbell Partners with Millennial Shift Technologies to Deliver Cowbell Prime 100 and 250 (PR Newswire) Cowbell, the leading provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), today announced a partnership with Millennial...

Lumen wins $223 million Defense Information Systems Agency contract (PR Newswire) Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) recently won a $223 million contract from the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to provide secure,...

Taking the next step: OSS-Fuzz in 2023 (Google Online Security Blog) Posted by Oliver Chang, OSS-Fuzz team Since launching in 2016 , Google's free OSS-Fuzz code testing service has helped get over 8800 vul...

People

Cyara Expands Leadership Team by Appointing New Chief Sales Officer & Chief Customer Officer (Business Wire) Executive additions will further expand company's position as leader in customer experience assurance and drive customer satisfaction

Folio Photonics Expands Engineering Leadership Team with the Appointment of Greg Kittilson as Vice President of Engineering (Business Wire) Announces Great Leap Forward with Newly Patented Systems and Methods for Increasing Data Rate and Storage Density in Multi-Layer Optical Discs

Moti Gindi, Former CVP of Security Products at Microsoft, Joins Apiiro as Chief Product Officer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Moti, who built Microsoft Defender into a multi-billion dollar business, joins Apiiro to scale the growing business...

Andreessen-Backed Cybersecurity Software Firm Tanium Taps Next CEO (Bloomberg) Dan Streetman to be CEO, Hindawi named executive chairman. Tanium has entertained prospects of going public since 2016.

NTT New Zealand appoints new head of cyber security (Reseller News) ​IT infrastructure and services company NTT has appointed Darren Ryland as head of cybersecurity for New Zealand.

George Bonser Joins Drata as VP of Sales in EMEA (PR Newswire) Drata, a continuous security and compliance automation platform, today announced the appointment of George Bonser as VP of Sales for the EMEA...

Sigma7 Expands Advisory Board with Four New Appointments (Business Wire) Esteemed government and business leaders add geographic and industry-centered reach

Dashlane Names John Bennett as New Chief Executive Officer (Dashlane Blog) JD Sherman and Dashlane welcome John Bennett as the new Chief Executive Officer. Bennett brings over 30 years of experience leading high-growth B2B SaaS and communication companies.

Cyara Expands Leadership Team by Appointing New Chief Sales Officer & Chief Customer Officer (Business Wire) Executive additions will further expand company's position as leader in customer experience assurance and drive customer satisfaction

Vanta Names Security Leader David Eckstein as CFO (Business Wire) Vanta, the leading trust management platform, announced today that it has appointed David Eckstein as its Chief Financial Officer, effective immediate

Brillio Appoints Navneet Narula to Lead Global Banking and Financial Services Unit (CXOToday.com) Industry veteran tapped to turbocharge company’s burgeoning BFSI vertical    Brillio, a leading digital transformation services and solutions provider

Moti Gindi, Former CVP of Security Products at Microsoft, Joins Apiiro as Chief Product Officer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Moti, who built Microsoft Defender into a multi-billion dollar business, joins Apiiro to scale the growing business...

Folio Photonics Expands Engineering Leadership Team with the Appointment of Greg Kittilson as Vice President of Engineering (Business Wire) Announces Great Leap Forward with Newly Patented Systems and Methods for Increasing Data Rate and Storage Density in Multi-Layer Optical Discs

Gigamon Appoints Chaim Mazal Chief Security Officer (Business Wire) Gigamon, the leading deep observability company, today announced that Chaim Mazal has been named Chief Security Officer (CSO). Mr. Mazal, who recently

Redbot Security Promotes Keith Cox to Principal Security Engineer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Veteran ethical hacker Keith Cox has been promoted from Sr. Penetration Testing Engineer to Principal Security Engineer to help drive company growth and...

Janes Secures Sam Gordy as President of Janes US via Benchmark Executive Search (Cybersecurity Insiders) [ This article was originally published here ] RESTON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Benchmark Executive Search, an award-winning search firm, announced today the placement of Sam Gordy as President of Janes US. He will be responsible for Janes continued growth in the US market and will develop and execute a comprehensive strategy focused on accelerated organic and inorganic […]

Cyberhaven Appoints Chris Hodson as Chief Security Officer (PR Newswire) Cyberhaven, provider of the industry's first Data Detection and Response (DDR) platform, today announced the expansion of its leadership team...