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In today's business world, cyber threats are a constant concern and companies must take action to protect themselves. Corporate leaders, particularly those in C-level positions, need to be knowledgeable about cybersecurity in order to effectively defend their company's operations. According to a recent report, the average number of attempted cyberattacks per company increased by 31% between 2020 and 2021. This highlights the importance of cybersecurity for businesses, with many companies including it as a regular topic in board meetings and CEOs recognizing the importance of strong cybersecurity plans for their organization's reputation and credibility. Cybersecurity is no longer seen as separate from basic business objectives, but rather a necessary component of keeping a company running smoothly. As a result, more executives are putting in place a comprehensive and effective cyber strategy. This not only protects the company from everyday risks, but also ensures its financial stability and reputation. Executives do not need to become cybersecurity experts, but should have a basic understanding of the following five areas: Understanding cybersecurity threats and lingo used in discussions. This includes being familiar with common cyber threats such as phishing, malware, and ransomware, as well as the terminology used to describe them. This knowledge will enable executives to engage in discussions with cybersecurity professionals and make informed decisions when a threat arises. Recognizing possible threats and risks within the company's ecosystem of vendors, suppliers, and customers. Executives should be able to assess the risk landscape with the help of cybersecurity experts and identify vulnerabilities that may arise from changes or additions to their technology stack. Evaluating and responding to low, medium, and high-risk cyber threats. This includes having a solid incident response plan in place that outlines how the company will identify, respond to, and mitigate the impact of harmful cyber incidents. Executives should be able to determine the appropriate level of response for different types of threats and coordinate the response effort. Proactively implementing a holistic cybersecurity culture throughout the organization. This includes creating campaigns to promote cybersecurity awareness, training employees on best practices, and implementing accountability measures. Executives should strive to create a culture where all employees take ownership of cybersecurity and understand the importance of keeping company information and assets secure. Properly budgeting for cybersecurity. Executives should have a clear understanding of the costs associated with implementing cybersecurity measures and the potential return on investment. This includes identifying the talent and technology budgets needed to support cybersecurity initiatives and filling any gaps in current resources. By having a good understanding of these areas, executives can effectively engage in discussions, make informed decisions, and lead their company's cybersecurity efforts. This not only protects the company from potential threats, but also demonstrates a commitment to security to stakeholders, which can ultimately drive growth and success. Additionally, it is important to stay informed about the latest trends and developments in cybersecurity and regularly review and update the company's cybersecurity strategy to ensure that it remains effective.

The education industry is constantly evolving, and modern technology plays a significant role in this transformation. Google Cloud AppSheet is one such technology that is revolutionizing the way educational institutions manage their operations and workflows. AppSheet is a no-code application development and automation platform that combines Google AI to automate business processes and create apps quickly and easily. This allows educators to become citizen developers and create custom applications tailored to their unique needs, whether it be for managing classroom activities or inventory in an entire building. One of the key features that sets AppSheet apart from other no-code platforms is its rich data collection and offline syncing capabilities. With tools such as GPS location tracking, barcode scanning, image capture, and character recognition, AppSheet streamlines many tedious processes and improves data quality. Tasks such as tracking school visitors, counting inventory, sending out emails, SMS, and push notifications, distributing assignments, and conveying instructions can all be configured and automated, saving valuable employee time. Leveraging Google's AI and ML capabilities further enhances the platform's efficiency, providing access to natural language processing and computer vision models. This allows for intelligent document processing and image annotation, leading to the creation of predictive models that learn from historical app data. The platform is fully integrated with Google Workspace, and users can also connect to third-party apps such as Office 365, Dropbox, and Salesforce.com. This allows for seamless integration with SQL databases, Apigee, REST APIs, and OData. Whether it's meeting minutes, classroom timetables, test results, seating arrangements, student progress reports, or purchase orders, simply upload the document onto the platform and AppSheet will create the perfect app. AppSheet's governance and control features provide administrators with the ability to set policies and customize the user experience based on roles. Customizable features, UX, security, branding, and usage reports ensure confidence in data being shared within the organization. This also allows for streamlined access to material and programs for classrooms of different levels and grades, as well as meeting rooms of all levels in an organization. With over 4.2 million applications created through AppSheet, it's clear that the platform is highly versatile and useful across multiple industries. As the workforce continues to evolve and digital transformation becomes more prevalent, AppSheet presents educational institutions with the opportunity to develop a talent pool of citizen developers who can drive innovation and increase agility in an ever-changing work environment.

Change management is a process that helps organizations and employees adjust to new technologies and processes. As businesses adopt more digital technologies, it becomes important to manage the transition to a more digitalized state. This process is known as Industry 4.0 and it encompasses major changes in how businesses organize production and create value. Managing this transition can be challenging. Factors such as lack of management support, employee resistance, poor communication, and unclear goals can lead to a failed implementation. Adopting a change management approach early can help alleviate these concerns and encourage the use of new technologies. The first step in change management is planning. Having a solid plan allows for a better understanding of the human, financial, and organizational implications of the change. Project leaders should provide a framework for all stakeholders and clearly outline the project's objectives, requirements, and technological advances needed to be successful. Another important aspect of change management is understanding the human side of the process. Many employees may experience anxiety as a result of the change and may misinterpret the project's goals. By adopting a more inclusive approach, it's important to identify sceptics and supporters within the planning phase and proactively discuss and address any issues. Effective communication is also crucial for successful change management. A clear communication plan should be developed to explain the project in its entirety, including its motives, how it will turn out, and its operational and strategic benefits. Project owners should rely on "ambassadors" or forward-thinking individuals to share this information with their colleagues. In conclusion, change management is a vital step in capitalizing on the potential of Industry 4.0. By planning ahead, understanding the human aspect, and effectively communicating the project's goals, organizations can successfully manage the transition to a more digitalized state.

As for the losers, Awanbiru Technology Bhd tops the list with a total loss of 41%.The stock was selected based on Asia Analytical belief that it had good earnings potential on its cloud venture as well as shielded downside risk on potential government compensation for the termination of Sistem Kawalan Imigresen Nasional (SKIN), a new border control system that was to replace the current Malaysian immigration system — both of which failed to materialise. In addition, the stock was purchased at a hefty valuation of six times price-to-book ratio. Source: The Edge

Google Cloud is a collection of Google's public services for cloud computing. The platform offers a variety of Google-hosted services for storage, computing and application development. Software developers, cloud administrators, and other enterprises’ IT professionals can access Google Cloud services via the public internet or a dedicated network connection. To utilise these services efficiently, the user must have comprehensive relevant skills and knowledge. Companies are now confronted with the task of hiring people who can manoeuvre and maximise the features provided by the cloud platform. Because these skills are not traditionally taught, Google has created certification programmes to validate individuals as qualified personnel in cloud platform services. As such, the Google Cloud Certification is an official Google Cloud Platform attestation that verifies your technical skills in relation to a specific Google Cloud platform job role. The individual must first pass a certification exam that measures their expertise in that field before being officially certified by Google. The path for Google Cloud certification consists of three certifications that encompass different skills and knowledge bases at various levels, namely at foundational, associate and professional level. In addition, Google also provides a fellowship programme which is a certification for Google partners and advanced-level professionals. There is no mandatory requirement to take the certification exams in order but must fulfil certain criteria or aspects like expertise, preparation, and experience depending on the level chosen. Diving deeper, this article will conveniently explore each of the certifications, their implications, skills included, job roles available and impact on one’s career as a whole. 1. Foundational Certification The foundational certification validates one's overall knowledge of basic cloud concepts and principles. Individuals must be familiar with Google Cloud's features, tools, services, products, case usage and advantages. There are also no specific elements or requirements needed in order to be qualified for this certification. Some of the courses involved are namely, Introduction to Digital Transformation with Google Cloud, Innovating with Data and Google Cloud, Infrastructure and Application Modernisation with Google Cloud and Understanding Google Cloud Security and Operation. If the individual is successful, he or she is presently eligible to work as a Cloud Digital Leader in an organisation. The Google Cloud digital certification has validity for three years from the date of issue. This foundational certificate is ideal for those seeking or currently working in technical roles who would benefit from a general understanding of the cloud platform and its role in the overall IT infrastructure. 2. Associate Certification This particular certification traverses more than the average understanding of cloud properties. It verifies that the user possesses the core abilities required to install, run, administer, and manage applications on the Google Cloud platform. Individuals looking to pursue an associate certification should ideally be equipped with six months of experience creating on Google Cloud at the very least. Some of the courses in this certification will involve topics like Architecting with Google Compute Engine, Automating Infrastructure on Google Cloud with Terraform, Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud and many more. Associate-certified employees are qualified to work as Associate Cloud Engineers, equipped with certification valid for three years from the date of issuance. 3. Professional certification The professional certification will require the individual to examine important technical work roles and expert knowledge in Google Cloud product creation, implementation, and management. The individual should have extensive expertise in building up cloud systems for businesses and prior experience implementing services and solutions per company needs. It is also advised that the candidate has at least three years of experience in the cloud sector, and at least one year of managing solutions using Google cloud before opting for this particular certification. With a Google Cloud certification of two years, this professional certification validates the candidate to be employed in any of the following roles – Cloud Architect, Cloud Database Engineer, Cloud Developer, Data Engineer, Cloud DevOps Engineer, Cloud Security Engineer, Cloud Network Engineer, Google Workspace Administrator or Machine Learning Engineer. These job titles are for the particular set of skills that is evaluated throughout the certification process.

Continues Investing In People, Partners And Products & Services (3Ps) To Stabilise Medium To Long Term Gains Cyberjaya, 24 November 2022 – AwanBiru Technology Berhad (Awantec or the Group), a leading Technology and Talent Digitalisation Enabler, today reported its first quarter (Q1) results for the financial year ended 30 September 2022 (FY2023) to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, recording continued rise in revenue. The Group Q1FY2023 revenue grew by 48% to RM18.1 million from RM12.2 million recorded in Q1FY2022. Higher revenues were contributed by both Software & Services and Talent segments as the business gained traction since its pivot to the cloud. The Software & Services segment recorded a profit before taxation of RM1.0 million as compared to a loss before tax of RM0.03 million in Q1 FY2022. The Talent segment also recorded a higher profit before taxation of RM1.0 million in the reporting quarter as compared to RM0.59 million in Q1 FY2022, mainly contributed by higher number of placements under the Selangor Kerjaya Program. The Group recorded a narrower loss before taxation of RM0.9 million in Q1 FY2023 as compared to a loss before taxation of RM1.4 million in Q1 FY2022. Awantec Investment and Acceleration Phase – Investing in People, Partners and Products & Services (3Ps) Awantec have reiterated that its pivot to the Cloud strategy has yielded positive results with significant wins in FY2022 and that it will leverage on its recent success and inroads with customers to build deal pipeline and focus on its conversion into orderbook. The Group have also made inroads into GLCs and the private sector, offering a range of products and services with its management new team who are expected to explore regional business opportunities with partners. “We are forging ahead with our investment and acceleration phase following our pivot to the Cloud in 2021. Our continued investments into the 3Ps - People, Partners and Products & Services as we grow our orderbook may cause quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in the earnings trajectory. We however believe that in the medium to long term, it will stabilise on the back of recurring income from renewals and continuing managed services revenue as is typical for cloud-based business.”, said Dato’ Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin, Chairman of Awantec. “With the global economy expected to slowdown in 2023, we are cautiously optimistic of the year ahead. Building from our momentum in FY2022, our Board is of the view that our Group is in a good position to meet our customer requirements by being their trusted partner for technology and talent services.”, added Dato’ Syed Naqiz. Awantec have been a syariah compliant stock under the technology sector and a constituent of the Bursa Malaysia FTSE4GOOD Index. Most recently, Awantec climbed to 38 spot out of 100 companies ranked in the Corporate Governance Disclosure in MSWG-ASEAN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AWARD 2021 and has also received the APAC PARTNER OF THE YEAR 2022 Award from Skillsoft.

As the adoption of cloud computing services has grown in popularity in recent years, the circumstances regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftereffects have only accelerated the entire process. In a statement by Gartner, by the year 2025, over 85% of organisations will implement a cloud-first principle, and tipping over 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms. Within the shifting of frameworks, organisations will transition to a product-oriented operating model in which the total value flow of the business and IT must be equally matched by its products. Undeniably, the accelerated pace at which enterprises are moving to the cloud is within reason and benefits, one of which is the sheer agility and accelerated innovation whereby rapid growth performance and faster time to market are inherently observed. Bundled together is the absolute quality of service reliability, ensuring constant availability at peak performance that is secure against cyber threats. Not to mention, the cost efficiency that comes from relieving the need to purchase and operate on-premises equipment leads to a direct increase in general productivity. Employee upskilling or reskilling is the most efficient option towards meeting an organisation’s demand for a cloud-based skillset in the face of a burgeoning skill gap and a scarcity of cloud expertise. While most may prefer to hire new employees, the process of recruitment and onboarding can be both time-consuming and costly. However, in order to generate a greater return on investing in the cloud, it's imperative that a holistic cloud training programme is developed to adapt towards a multitude of job roles and project requirements, as well as address rapidly changing technology and management concerns. This is exactly the reason why Google aims to equip more than 40 million people with Google Cloud skills, as announced by Google Cloud Learning Services Managing Director, Rochana Golani, ensuring that the skill level of people around the world is able to comprehend and execute these technologies at a global scale. Retraining, upskilling, and reskilling employees with Google Cloud Learning is the optimum way for enterprises looking to digitally transform their workspace. In March 2022, we partnered with the International Data Corporation (IDC) to investigate the effect of training on cloud adoption, whereby trained organisations are able to achieve business goals faster (56% improvement in customer experience scores), accelerate cloud adoption (10 times more likely to implement cloud in two years), and achieve greater ROI (over 90% influence on key business outcomes). With Google Cloud Learning, organisations are able to construct a team of cloud experts with a comprehensive and holistic catalogue of programmes and content, providing practical applications. On top of that, it allows for maintaining competitiveness that bridges the organisational skill gap across the board and also empowers ready employees with industry-leading digital credentials. Offering a diverse range of content that is created for both technical and non-technical roles, Google Cloud Learning is able to help the entire company from business leaders all the way to technical practitioners. We study skills and job profiles both from within our organisation and externally, to continuously evaluate and innovate our content offering. A specialised curriculum development team works collaboratively with the Google Cloud product and engineering teams to stay current on product roadmaps and technology. Curriculum developers also cooperate with field teams to make certain that quality standards are incorporated into technical and business learning offerings. A variety of options that address the different learning styles across your organisation are readily available, which includes on-demand training (Google Cloud Skills Boost, Coursera, and Pluralsight), hands-on learning, virtual and in-person training, custom training and gamified competitions.

With the increased reliance on interconnected cloud technologies, there is a rising demand for an equally tiered cybersecurity framework. At Rocheston, the belief in instilling unconventional thinking and establishing an intuitive understanding of reasoning in oneself is highly valued. As a result, the Rocheston Cybersecurity Certification Engineer (RCCE) exam and programmes are designed intricately to encourage innovation, create brilliance, and uphold industry standards. By its very nature, this allows Rocheston to continue striving for newer challenges and adapting to the current meta by cultivating a special breed of thinkers in present. But firstly, the value of a cybersecurity engineer in an organisation speaks volumes in itself, whereby they’ll most often be found serving as the team's foundation and go-to person for security procedures and protocols. Their roles include pinpointing vulnerabilities and threats in systems and software before the development and implementation of high-tech solutions, to innately defend against the dangers of malware, ransomware, hacking, insider threats and generally all types of cybercrime-related issues. This is precisely why such a vital role is hard to fulfil, with a multitude of companies rejecting candidates with only certifications on paper, no industry experience and amateurish security skills. Going through the RCCE however, will equip oneself with the necessary skills and job requirements, that not only typically commands an annual salary of $117,510, but also allow for an extensive range of choices in job roles such as Cyberforensic Investigator, Cybersecurity Analyst, Engineer, Architect, Software Developer, Administrator Penetration Tester, Vulnerability Assessor, Compliance Officer Cryptographer, Intrusion Detection Specialist, Computer Security Incident Responder, Cyberthreat Intelligence Analyst, Cybercrime Investigator, Network & Application Security Engineer and so much more. The RCCE programme prides itself on being the most advanced hacking course in the world, having its framework focally training based on methodologies that are mapped in accordance with the Remote Call Framework (RCF) structure while making use of 100% practical labs, and additionally delineated to the Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework) Job Roles. Traversing through the RCCE programmes will also include and explore modern web application frameworks like Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Rails, Ember, Express.JS, Backbone.JS, Vue.JS, Spring, React, Angular.JS, AWS, Python Django and Laravel. A quick overview of the RCCE Certification Roadmap requires candidates to possess either CompTIA Network+ or CCNA as prerequisites to join the RCCE programme, which then leads to Level 1 (Cybersecurity Engineer). After certifying the foundation, an advanced course of RCCE/RCPT Level 2 Penetration Testing commences, which then amicably leads to coursing through Level 3 (RCCI Cybercrime Investigator) and eventually ending up on an expert tier course of Level 4 (Cybersecurity Compliance Officer (CCO)). Diving deeper into the practices, RCCE exercises require the use of Rocheston Rosé, a simplistic cloud OS designed by Jason Springfield containing thousands of hacking tools, frameworks, applications, databases, exploits, scripts and more. Rocheston Rosé also possesses tons of additional Virtualbox images, which can be extracted to the host PC and imported into one’s external Virtualbox environments. Experiencing a beautiful desktop OS designed by Rocheston, it’s often practically used as attack victim boxes. Another vital component of the RCCE programme is the use of Rocheston CyberLabs, a fully packaged Linux OS which contains more than 50 individualised cybersecurity lab exercises. Labtainers, a Docker-based cyber lab framework, provide governed and reliable operational environments in which students complete labs wholly on their computers. Some of its main components include exploring over 200 vulnerable services from the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge, simple routing examples with two LANs and an internet connection via NAT, application of ARP spoofing for man-in-the-middle attacks, system log basic usage and configuration on a CentOS system and etc. On that note, Rocheston and the RCCE programme aim to be the recognised global leader in business accreditation standards by assisting businesses in succeeding in rapidly evolving technology markets. The training and certification programmes provided will teach professionals how to be exceptional while also building profitable, innovative businesses.

The ESG Edge Award is a significant milestone in our sustainability journey and it reconfirms our commitment to sustainability and our dedication to creating a positive social and environmental impact. We are proud and humbled to accept this award and will continue to strive for further excellence in sustainability. Read more at https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edges-inaugural-esg-awards-honours-44-winners

Introduction From January until March 2022, a competition for teachers all around Malaysia was held by Awantec & Google, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE). Known as “Guru Kreatif Google”, it was meant to encourage teachers to utilise the Google applications available via the DELIMa (Digital Educational Learning Initiative Malaysia) portal. The apps help facilitate the teachers during the online teaching and learning processes as well as piquing and urging students’ interest in learning virtually. DELIMA is a single online platform that provides learning management system services as well as a variety of learning resources that can be used by educators and students. The Problem Malaysia entered the endemic phase on 1st April 2022 after two years of going through different phases of Movement Control Orders (MCO) since March 2020. Schools were closed and teachers including students had to proceed with virtual learning or Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran di Rumah (PdPR) as a way of embracing the new normal. One of the methods of teaching involves the use of the DELIMa portal on top of using live streaming via Google Meet. PdPR was considered a newly introduced approach as many teachers and students were not familiar with using online platforms to teach and learn. This created a gap for both parties, especially the teachers, who found it challenging to ensure their students were not left behind and were still able to catch up with their studies despite being in lockdowns. Students, on the other hand, found it hard to stay focused during remote learning as they must face multiple classes a day while staring at a screen for a long time. The Solution To counter the problem faced by teachers who need to be skilled in using online teaching tools, especially GWS, in a short period while tackling the interests of students, the “Google Kreatif Google” competition was initiated by Awantec & Google as a way of helping both the educators and the students. Participating teachers were tasked with uploading their most creative videos on Youtube or Google Drive on how they have used Google Workspace tools available in the DELIMa portal to teach their students creatively and in a fun way. They also needed to include hashtags such as #gurukreatifgoogle, #beawesomewithgoogleworkspace and/or #creativewithgoogle for easy reference. The Result A total of 300 videos had been submitted for review and evaluation by Awantec and MoE whereby 3 winners were selected respectfully as being the best of the best. A survey was conducted by Awantec after the competition ended to get the participants' feedback and testimonies of their experience when using GWS during PDPR. Among the comments that we received were Google Workspace helped me create class groups easily, and the information for each class can be delivered quickly via email. In addition, video recording and Google Meet meetings during PDPR with students can also be carried out easily, and PDPR activities can be carried out in a fun way because I used various gaming apps to attract the attention of my students Chian Chai Hling, SMK Abdul Rahman Talib. GWS is proven to be very easy to use and it’s awesome for teachers, either in a physical environment or during PDPR. It is so convenient to use! Muhammad Hilmi bin Madzaili, Sekolah Kebangsaan Putra Using and applying GWS in my career has helped me become organized and make my tasks easier to manage. Nadia Richard, SMK Bandaraya Kota Kinabal

This second part is a continuation of last month’s article 12 Google Workspace (GWS) tips to save your time and be more productive that talks about how effective and efficient GWS is in allowing you to become more proactive at work. Let’s look at the final 12 tips and tricks so you can become a pro at using this amazing Google tool! 1) Convert text images to word document Save the hassle of typing word by word into the word document and instead just upload your text images to Google Drive app to convert it. If you have a JPEG with text or a screenshot of your notes in mobile phone, simply upload your text image to Google Drive then open it with “Google Docs”. Google Docs will automatically read your text, copy and paste it into a new document. You can go ahead and edit the document if needed and save it as pdf, text, or Microsoft word, depending on your preference. 2) Send auto-response email It can be overwhelming when you’re on a long holiday but keep getting these emails repeatedly asking you about work. Urgh! This can happen especially when people don’t know that you’re away for a few days. To solve this problem, simply set up an auto-reply through the “automated response” feature on Gmail. Go to the Gmail settings > General > Vacation Responder and set up your out-of-office response. So, the next time an unwanted email reach you during your vacation, they’ll know that you’re not available to respond immediately! 3) Get daily agenda reminders. Don’t miss another meeting or appointment with Google Calendar! Do you know that Google Calendar can send you daily reminders of your work meeting or appointment every morning? It’s so easy to set it up. Just go to Google Calendar settings > Click on your name > other notifications > daily agenda > select “Email”. Voila! Never miss anything ever again. 4) Join meetings on Google Meet via dial-in feature It’s time for that very important meeting to attend but suddenly your internet connection goes kaput! Oh no! It can be anyone’s worst nightmare, but this GWS tip will save you in no time. Every video conference via Google Meet comes with a shared link. But do you realise that there’s also a dial-in phone option to use just in case if you go offline. Details can be found on the Google Calendar invitation as well as Google Meet. Keep this option in mind the next time you have a crucial meeting to attend to as a backup plan. 5) Jamboard app for brainstorming purpose. For anyone who uses GWS, Jamboard is another app that can be extremely useful for discussing ideas and it’s available for all GWS users. Under the Google Apps menu, look for Jamboard to create a Jam and share it with your colleagues for them to include their ideas. You can also edit it from any device, and even present your jam in a Google Meet video call. Each board has virtual sticky notes, different coloured pens, photos, stickers and objects that can be used to make your presentation more fun and interesting! 6) Hide your view activity in Google Docs GWS is well known for its collaborative feature as it allows real-time collaboration, discussion and editing with peers. One of its popular features with Google Docs is the activity dashboard that lets users track viewers on documents shared. But if you don’t like people tracking your activity, simply hide our view history from anyone. How? Go to the activity dashboard in the document that is shared with you. Find the privacy settings and turn off your view history. You can also do this trick for the current document that you’re working on or for Google Sheets and Slides. 7) Snooze to read emails later When you are swamped with tonnes of emails to read and respond especially after you’re back from a long holiday, what you can do is snooze the emails that can wait until later. Simply click the clock icon at the top and “snooze” the emails that you want to read according to your set of time and date. You will then receive the emails again, as if it’s the first time, during the scheduled period. Just in case you need to refer back to the list of snoozed emails, simply head over to the Snooze section on the left-hand menu to access it. 8) Stop receiving annoying email threads. There could be times when you are CC-ed unnecessarily in an email about issues that have nothing to do with you. Worse, when the matter escalated and you keep on receiving unwanted replies. Is there anything you can do to exit quietly? Well, not really but what you can do is to mute the email threads. Go to the said email thread, find the vertical ellipsis icon and click on it. Choose the last one that says “Mute”. This action will hide the thread from your inbox and you will no longer receive new notifications about it. Of course, you can also unmute it later. 9) Organize your Gmail tabs to your liking. By default, your Gmail inbox comes with three main tabs at the top of the page known as Categories. The first tab (Primary) will include most of the important emails, “Promotion” contains all the marketing and advertising emails while the last tab, “Social” keeps your social media notifications in check. But if you don’t like this arrangement, you can always reorganize the tabs in the Settings menu. Under the inbox tab, you can remove the default setting and/or add Updates, Forums or other category to filter the additional messages. 10) Browse your past versions The document that you are going through right now might have gone through a few major changes and have different versions. Of course, the latest version is supposed to be better than the previous one but cross-checking is important to ensure consistency and transparency. So, to see the edited versions, go to File > Version history > See version history to know all the earlier versions of your document, who made the edits, what have been edited and when. You can also put a name to these different versions for easy future reference. 11) Change the owner of an event. What happens when you are supposed to host an online meeting but suddenly something comes up and you cannot continue? Worry not. Just simply change the “owner” of the event to your reliable colleague. In the Options menu, click Change owner and enter the new person; you can also send them an email notifying the change. 12) Smartly organise your contacts with labels. It easy to forget who you just met in at work as you may be working alongside different departments and meeting more than 5 new people each day. Work can be overwhelming, so does meeting these new people that you may or may not see again. To avoid losing track of who’s who and where did you know them from, use the Label system. Just like Gmail, Google Contacts allow you to create and assign labels in your individual contact entries so you can easily label people based on where you’ve met them, where do they work and how are you acquainted with them. Never forget a name again!

Data security and digital privacy are increasingly becoming popular topics among internet users as their awareness has increased the importance of keeping their personal data intact and safe. Having our data leaked to a third-party unwillingly can cause problems as we rely heavily on the usage of the internet and technology to perform our daily. Want to know how? Here are some guidelines for you to do simple changes that can bring a big difference. Secure your accounts Data breach and password leaks are quite common. It has happened to countless companies including Facebook, Target, Yahoo and the latest one, TikTok. So, if you have a TikTok account, you might want to read this through. Firstly, if you want to know which of your online account has been compromised, you can enter your email address at Have I been Pwned? to check. Secondly, recheck the strength and uniqueness of your passwords. Is it strong enough to protect your data from being compromised or is it easy for anyone to guess? You can now auto-generate and remember different, complex passwords for your account from the various tech providers such as Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari and more. These applications can also help you to monitor your accounts for security breaches, suggest changing weak passwords and sync passwords between your computer and phone. Thirdly, use a two-step authentication whenever possible. Most major social networking sites such as Facebook and Gmail, and also banks will provide this option for you where they usually require you to enter the password and a certain generated number that can only be accessed by you. Protect your web-browsing The data collected about you reveal more about yourself than you expect – phone number, geographical location, email address, educational background, workplace and many more can be easily obtained by tracking your conversation and search history. What can you do to prevent this? Add on a browser extension like uBlock Origin to block ads and the data they collect. It also helps to prevent malware viruses from running in your browser. You can also disable interest-based ads from Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter. If you are using public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop, airport or hotel, install HTTPS Everywhere extension. By having this installed, it will automatically direct you to a secured version of a site which makes it difficult for an attacker to digitally eavesdrop on what you’re doing. Lastly, you may want to use a virtual private network (VPN) because it adds another layer of security to your browsing when HTTPS is not available. It can also provide some privacy from your internet service provider and help minimize tracking based on your IP address. Use reliable antivirus Having malicious software installed in your computer can give you headaches, from annoying pop-ups to scanning for personal info and holding you ransom. With a reliable antivirus, you can easily prevent this problem and protect your data as well as your device from being attacked by viruses. There are plenty of choices available, just scout and search for the one that fits your budget, is secured and is able to fight off multiple threats! Stay updated all the time! Update your software and devices frequently to ensure that your security level is top-notch. Phone, computer operating systems, web browsers, popular apps and smart-home devices will prompt you about the latest updates with new features and security improvements. If you are the type who likes to leave your browser open all the time, remember to reboot it now and again to get those updates. Your phone also has automatic-update options Think before you install Before you press OK or YES, ensure that the app you’re downloading is not from an unsecured website with potential privacy and security compromised. There are numerous mobile apps that track your location anywhere you go and harvest your data with consent, including children’s apps. Do not download any app that you are unsure off and stick to downloading programmes or browser extensions directly from the original maker or official app stores. It is also helpful if you can spend some time removing all the apps that you no longer use and audit the privacy permissions of the remaining apps that you still have. Lock down your phone! Losing your phone can be your worst nightmare as it is probably the closest device to your heart and private info. If it went missing, you need to make sure that nobody can hack into it until you are reunited with it again. To do this, use two main defences. Firstly, set up a strong passcode alongside your biometric fingerprint or face login. Secondly, set up your phone’s remote-tracking feature. If you lose your phone, you’ll be able to see where it is, and you can remotely delete everything on the phone if you can’t recover it. Enable encryption on your laptop Losing your laptop is equally another nightmare. Not only because it’s more expensive than the phone but also because it contains everything about you in it from your work to your personal life. To prevent this, simply enable encryption on your laptop. When you encrypt the storage drive on your laptop, your password and a security key protect your data. Without your password or the key, the data becomes irrelevant. Although encryption might sound complicated, it is actually simple and free to enable with built-in software. Be suspicious! Do not simply believe everything that you see and do not overshare your private info online. Make your accounts private and keep your main email address and phone number a secret. Do not publish them on any social media, including your Facebook page. To be safe, for any online shopping purpose or online activities, use a burner email that is not linked to any important personal account like your bank. Also, avoid using your real name and phone number when signing up for a service that you might not go to use for long. Don’t link together services, like Facebook, Spotify, Twitter or Instagram, unless you gain a useful feature. These precautions might seem a lot but if they can help you to sleep well at night knowing that your data is well protected, then why not?