SolarWinds MSP changes its name to N‑able, Signal’s CEO peels apart the cops’ favourite phone cracking tool; and Canada’s tech industry is desperate for talent.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, April 23 and I’m your host Alex Coop.
SolarWinds MSP, a SolarWinds spinoff announced last year, yesterday unveiled its new company name, N-able. “The name may sound familiar as N‑able extends the roots of who we are as a company,” the new company said in a statement on its website. Of course there’s no mention about the devastating supply chain attack which SolarWinds to this point hasn’t done much to quell fears that it won’t happen again. In February SolarWinds’ CEO even went as far as to blame an intern for the poor cybersecurity measures that were in place at the time of the compromise.
In a blog post published Wednesday, Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike claimed that Cellebrite’s software has terrible security that can be easily manipulated in a number of ways. Cellebrite is an Israeli digital intelligence firm that sells software that can unlock phones and extract data. Very popular among law enforcement. Well, among his wild claims made, Marlinspike says that due to security flaws, someone could basically re-write all of the data being collected by Cellebrite’s tools. Hypothetically, a properly configured file could be slipped into any app on a targeted device. This would allow for the alteration of all of the data that has been or will be collected by Cellebrite’s software. Cellebrite provided Gizmodo a statement after the story about Signal’s testing went viral. The company says it’s committed to protecting the integrity of its customers’ data and that it relies on strict licensing policies that “govern how customers are permitted to use our technology …”
And lastly, tech companies, especially the ones in Canada trying to take that next leap from startup to scaleup, are having a hard time finding talent. There are oo many open roles, not enough qualified workers, The Globe and Mail reports. The tech sector has bounced back with employment in professional, scientific and technical services rising 6 per cent over the pandemic. The tech sector has fared well because workers were well-positioned to shift to remote work unlike those in other industries. But with competition so fierce for talent, some tech companies struggling to find available, experienced workers are hiking up their pay offers. Security roles are desperately sought after, despite the unemployment rate for the field hovering around 0 per cent.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Plus, catch episode one of Hashtag Trending in French, hosted by our own Catherine Morin from Quebec at DirectionInformatique.com. Episode 2 drops this weekend. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening!
Correction:
A previous version of this script incorrectly stated that the N-Able rebrand is a rebrand of SolarWinds. However, N-Able is a spin-off of SolarWinds MSP, which is the company’s MSP business announced in August 2020. Channel Daily News apologizes for the error.