Barry Kavanagh - Megabytes & Me

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Barry Kavanagh

Apple Intelligence: A Privacy-Centric Future for GenAI

Artificial intelligence

Apple Intelligence: A Privacy-Centric Future for GenAI

The dust has barely settled on WWDC 2024, but one announcement continues to dominate tech discussions: Apple Intelligence. This personal intelligence system promises to integrate the power of generative AI (GenAI) into our iPhones, iPads, and Macs, fundamentally changing how we interact with these devices. But with such a paradigm

Top 10 Best Practices for AI Security, Compliance & Trustworthiness

Top 10 Best Practices for AI Security, Compliance & Trustworthiness

Thinking of using AI but security has you on edge? You're not alone. AI security is a crucial concern for me personally and the wider security industry, and for good reason. But breathe easy! The benefits of AI cannot be ignored and it is here to stay. Security

Deploying a SIEM For My Home Devices

Deploying a SIEM For My Home Devices

I'm a hands on learner. Despite all my knowledge on Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems and recommending the use of SIEMS, I'd never set up and configured my own until today. Setting up a SIEM is crucial for monitoring and safeguarding any network, so

The Horizon IT Scandal: A BISO's Perspective

Cyber Security Tips Featured

The Horizon IT Scandal: A BISO's Perspective

Introduction: In the late 1990s, the United Kingdom's Post Office implemented the Horizon IT system, a revolutionary technology designed to streamline operations and enhance efficiency across its vast network of sub-post offices. However, what began as an ambitious attempt to modernize postal services eventually turned into one of

Google's Dark Web Monitoring Feature: Protecting Your Online Identity

Google's Dark Web Monitoring Feature: Protecting Your Online Identity

Introduction I recently received a reward of a 6 months free Google One subscription (Basic Plan) for my local guide & Google review contributions. The subscription comes with a number of features such as 100TB storage, enhanced photo editing features, a VPN and a few others. One of the others

5 Reasons Why Everyone Should Be Using a Password Manager

Cyber Security Tips

5 Reasons Why Everyone Should Be Using a Password Manager

What's a password manager? A password manager is a software tool that helps you securely store and manage your online passwords. It generates strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts and stores them in an encrypted form. You can then access all your passwords using a single

Using Python to Anonymise a Dataset

Cyber Security Tips

Using Python to Anonymise a Dataset

I am by no stretch a programmer. I'd love to be able to write thousands of lines of code but for now, I'll continue to dabble with learning how to write basic scripts. I've edited some scripts in various roles to tweak them for

Data Anonymisation Techniques

Cyber Security Tips

Data Anonymisation Techniques

Thinking back to when I first began working on projects where I was solely responsible for data security & customer privacy, I experienced so much personal growth as I learned how to build relationships with development teams and project managers and improve my security consultation skills by adding requirements that

How to Secure Your Files in The Cloud

Cyber Security Tips

How to Secure Your Files in The Cloud

Let's get one thing straight, for all intents and purposes "the cloud" is in fact, someone elses computer. There are however, additional benefits (depending on the provider) such as backups and redundancy, scalability, security and in some cases lower cost per GB of storage. For the

HSE Omicron SMS Spoofing - Investigation

Threat Analysis

HSE Omicron SMS Spoofing - Investigation

This morning, my Dad mentioned receiving a text from the HSE (Irish Health Service) about being a close contact of a confirmed Omicron case. Our first thoughts were that this seemed relatively familiar as we are still living with the virus. To be fair to Dad, I have him well

Why I started a blog

Why I started a blog

Since I started my career in tech, I've always felt there was an absence of an outlet to share what I've learned and document the challenges I face and my steps in overcoming them. Sometimes you just have something you think is interesting or useful and