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Gaming platform PlayDough Technologies secures $2m funding round as play-to-earn games take-off

PlayDough Technologies

PlayDough Technologies, the blockchain gaming platform, has today announced a $2m funding round led by proprietary trading and venture capital firm Westridge Markets. The investment comes off the back of an exceptional period of growth that has seen the startup build a community with members spread out in over 30 countries. PlayDough’s mission is to build the conduit that democratizes access and enables anyone to participate in the play-to-earn gaming economy. Traditional gaming business models have evolved from pay-to-play with revenue coming from players purchasing games to free-to-play with in-game purchases generating revenue. Blockchain technology has taken this to the next level creating a play-to-earn revenue model. Gaming companies now essentially create a metaverse but all the in-game items like characters and accessories are represented by NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) on a blockchain. The users mint, purchase and sell these items with the game creator generating revenue through a small commission. These NFTs are then used to play the game and earn rewards. The rewards are in-game crypto tokens which can be moved to exchanges and sold for BTC, ETH or USD. The tokens derive their value from their usage in the gameplay. The NFTs required to play these games can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. This leaves the vast majority of players, particularly from developing countries, unable to access these play-to-earn economies. This is where a gaming community like PlayDough steps in. It is simultaneously an investment firm creating a portfolio of gaming NFTs and a remote gig economy network allowing users to use its collection to generate yield for themselves and PlayDough. Mehul Khati, Co-Founder of PlayDough Technologies commented: “PlayDough has been a journey of blitz scaling since inception. It has only been a few months and we already have active community members in over 30 countries. Gaming seems to be achieving the borderless ideals of crypto at full speed. We have started with the most advanced play-to-earn game, Axie Infinity. While building a community around PlayDough has been satisfying, the ability to look at play-to-earn as a yield generation strategy has also been a motivator for the trader in me. We have built valuation models, breeding strategies and training programs for our community to be able to generate the highest yield possible. While Axie being the most advanced game in the play-to-earn space remains the focus for PlayDough, it has already started building inventory in emerging games from Sorare to Gods Unchained. Star Atlas on Solana and Moonray on Stacks are showing early signs of a cross chain universe that PlayDough is planning to build on.” PlayDough was co-founded by Mehul Khati earlier this year along with the team at Westridge Markets. Mehul, an engineering graduate from Imperial College London, spent a decade trading commodity derivatives while experimenting with crypto as a hobbyist. He finally got involved with crypto full time five years ago including the last year when he established the de-fi trading desk at Celsius Network. Being an early adopter of protocols through staking and de-fi made him explore the frontiers of innovation in crypto. As the NFT space gained momentum this year he began collecting everything from art and land in metaverses to gaming assets. His financial training naturally pushed him in the direction of yield generating assets and when play-to-earn arrived he knew it was his calling. On leading the investment round, Shamyl Malik, Managing Director at Westridge Markets commented: “Connecting gaming, collectibles, metaverses and de-fi, we think that PlayDough is building at the intersection of four of the strongest trends in blockchain space. With such a tailwind for the start-up and a founder we have known to be curious, persistent and innovative over many years of association with him, we are super excited about our investment and the future of PlayDough. We will continue to support the start-up through our network and ideas.” About PlayDough Technologies PlayDough Technologies is an NFT gaming startup focused on building a global platform for play-to-earn games. PlayDough builds out an inventory of gaming assets and lets the community members use them to generate yield for themselves and the platform. The company has been growing exponentially over the last few months and has just raised USD 2M to accelerate this growth.To explore PlayDough Technologies, please visit: www.playdough.xyz or follow on Twitter and join us on Discord. About Westridge Markets Westridge Markets is a London based proprietary trading firm with an in-house ventureinvestment arm. Westridge is led by Shamyl Malik who founded the firm in 2019 along with Omer Suleman and Adam Carlile. It runs proprietary trading and liquidity provision, staking, validating and mining operations. Westridge is backing a number of ventures in the crypto space with special interest in blockchain infrastructure, investment management tools and NFT gaming. Contact Details PlayDough Technologies Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://playdough.xyz/

October 11, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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OPPO Officially Launches the Global Version of ColorOS 12

OPPO

SHENZHEN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 11 October 2021 - OPPO today officially announced the all-new ColorOS 12 operating system for its global users. Aiming to provide its users a seamless experience that’s closer to stock Android 12, ColorOS 12 introduces an all-new inclusive UI, smoother performance, and rich features that help boost your everyday productivity as well as help achieve better work-life balance. With this launch, OPPO officially rolls out ColorOS 12 public beta to its global users, becoming one of the first OEMs to run on Android 12. Coming firstly on Find X3 Pro in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, OPPO plans on expanding to more models covering more countries and regions in the coming months. Inclusivity Now a Central Theme Having its presence across 68 countries, touching the lives of 440 million users around the world, Inclusivity has been a central theme in the creation of ColorOS 12. Building on top of OPPO’s Infinite Design concept, which is lightweight, clean and richly and very customizable, the new OS provides a more inclusive experience and comes packed with softer icons, animations and information framework that are friendly to different languages and cultures, and an adaptable framework with different phone formats. Smoother, Seamless Experience Powering Greater Productivity Giving users a smooth, seamless experience has been at the core of OPPO R&D and Innovation, and the new ColorOS 12 emphasizes on both –comfort and endurance. Thanks to the long-term code decoupling efforts, ColorOS 12 has made some achievements in addressing lags and stutters after prolonged usage, especially in anti-fragmentation and intelligent resource allocation, leading to a low 2.75% system aging rate in 3 years, an average of 30% lower memory occupation and 20% lower battery consumption. Catering to your visual intuitiveness, the Quantum Animation Engine adopts more than 300 improved animations to achieve the animated effects that are lifelike. By imitating physical habits of resistance, inertia and rebound, the feature makes the overall experience smoother and more aligned to the cognition and habits of the human brain so that the experience is more realistic, and intuitive. Practical features such as PC Connect, 3-Finger Translate powered by Google Lens, FlexDrop and Phone Manager allow ColorOS 12 users stay productive through multiple scenarios. Prioritized Privacy: Cutting the gimmicks and focusing on the basics OPPO has been listening to its user feedback and prioritizing privacy on ColorOS. The ColorOS 12 not only comes packed with all the improved security and privacy features from Android 12, including Privacy Dashboards, Approximate Location Sharing and Microphone and Camera Indicators, which empowers users to be the masters of their own privacy with clear, visualized menus and buttons; but also keeping the well-received features developed within the OPPO team, such as Private System, Private Safe, App Lock and others. Being aware that privacy to users is all about keeping transparency, OPPO has been improving the data compliance through storage and process. With servers deployed in multiple locations across the world, OPPO guarantees that user data stay in the nearby servers, which is saved in a non-plain text format and is transmitted using a proprietary protocol. Holding privacy certifications from authoritative organizations such as ePrivacy and ISO27001, the company deploys third-party supervisor in the data security filed to make sure everyday process compliance. An OS that’s open to the Android developers Sharing the common value of a healthy mutual exchange with our Android partners and contributing to building a culture of openness and technological exchange to enhance both platforms, while ColorOS has incorporated many stock Android features, similarly, ColorOS has inspired the customizable trend in Android 12, like the Wallpaper-based Theming system in Material You, which you would be able to find a similar self-developed feature in previous ColorOS editions. Another fine example of this exchange is the App Cloner from ColorOS that now features in Android 12. OPPO’s ColorOS aims to become a more Android developer friendly OS. In addition to the free camera SDKs covering OPPO’s most advantageous camera capabilities – including Ultra Steady Video Shooting, HDR, Super Wide-Angle, etc., OPPO has further opened its HyperBoost, Color Vision Enhancement to benefit Android app developers and enhance the Android ecosystem. ColorOS 12 Rollout Plan OPPO will first roll out ColorOS 12 public beta today in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia on the Find X3 Pro 5G. Rollouts will then continue step-by-step in other countries and on additional devices through the rest of 2021 and 2022. The company aims to bring ColorOS 12 to over 110 models with 150 million users. OPPO’s Exclusive Upgrade Policy For the very first time, OPPO is also announcing a major update policy. Specifically, for the OPPO devices releasing from 2019 and onwards the company will guarantee three major Android updates for its flagship Find X Series devices, and two Android updates for the Reno/F/K and some of the A Series and a single Android update for the low memory A Series models. Together with four years of regular security patch updates for the Find X Series, and three years for the Reno/ F / K/ A Series. About OPPO OPPO is a leading global smart device brand. Since the launch of its first smartphone - "Smiley Face" - in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO provides its users with ColorOS and internet services like HeyTap and OPPO+. OPPO operates in more than 40 countries and regions, with 6 Research Institutes and 4 R&D Centers worldwide, as well as an International Design Center in London. About ColorOS ColorOS is a highly customized, efficient, intelligent, and richly designed Android-based mobile OS from OPPO. With over 440 million global users, ColorOS supports 67 languages, including English, Hindi, Thai, and Indonesian. Contact Details OPPO Ricca Huang riccahuang@oppo.com OPPO Lucas Yan yansu@oppo.com

October 11, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Osmo’s Halloween Sale Turns Learning Into A Fun Treat!

Osmo

Palo Alto-- Osmo announces a Halloween sale that turns learning into a fun treat for kids ages 3 to 10+. From 10/10 through 10/16, save 25% off select kits, games and bundles at PlayOsmo.com, Amazon, Target, BestBuy & other retailers. Kits and games on sale through PlayOsmo.com and multiple retailers include: Little Genius Starter Kit (base included) Genius Starter Kit (base included) Coding Starter Kit (base included) Creative Starter Kit (base included) Pizza Co. (base required) Detective Agency (base required) Super Studio Disney Mickey Mouse & Friends (base required) Super Studio Disney Princess (base required) Super Studio Disney Frozen 2 (base required) Math Wizard and the Secrets of the Dragons (base required) Math Wizard and the Magical Workshop (base required) Kits and games on sale through Amazon include: Little Genius Starter Kit for Fire Tablet (base included) Little Genius Starter Kit + Early Math Adventure for iPad + Case for iPad (base included) Math Wizard and the Secrets of the Dragons (iPad base included) Math Wizard and the Secrets of the Dragons (Fire base included) Math Wizard and the Magical Workshop (iPad base included) Math Wizard and the Magical Workshop (Fire base included) Math Wizard and the Amazing Airships (iPad base included) Math Wizard and the Amazing Airships (Fire base included) Math Wizard and the Enchanted World Games (iPad base included) Math Wizard and the Enchanted World Games (Fire base included) Super Studio Disney Mickey Mouse & Friends for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Super Studio Disney Princess for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Super Studio Disney Frozen 2 for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Pizza Co. for iPad (base included) Detective Agency for Fire Tablet (base included) Monster for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Genius Tangram for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Genius Words for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Genius Numbers for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Little Genius Sticks & Rings for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) Little Genius Costume Pieces for iPad & Fire Tablet (base required) A full list of deals, including Amazon exclusives, can be viewed at Osmo’s Amazon store. Bundles on sales exclusively at PlayOsmo include: Math Wizard Bundle Pretend Play Bundle (Digital) Literacy Bundle Super Studio Artist Bundle A full list of deals at PlayOsmo.com can be viewed here. A full list of Osmo deals at Target can be viewed here. About Osmo Osmo is an award-winning STEAM brand whose products are used in over 50,000 classrooms and 2.5 million homes. It is building a universe of hands-on play experiences that nourish the minds of children by unleashing the power of imagination. The company brings physical tools into the digital world through augmented reality and its proprietary reflective artificial intelligence. Osmo is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and is part of BYJU’S, a global leader in online learning. Learn more at PlayOsmo.com. For information about its educational division, Osmo for Schools, visit schools.playosmo.com. Contact Details Carolyn Kamii PR Carolyn Kamii +1 310-251-0550 carolynkpr@gmail.com Company Website http://www.playosmo.com

October 10, 2021 06:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

VTS Selected as a 2021 Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAS) Winner — The Most Prestigious Award In Proptech

VTS

VTS —the commercial real estate industry’s (CRE) leading leasing, marketing, asset management, and tenant experience platform — is pleased to announce that they are a grand prize winner for the Eighth Annual Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAS) in the Mature Growth category, presented by CREtech (www.cretech.com), the world’s leading community of professionals devoted to technological innovation in the real estate sector. “We are honored to be recognized as a RETAS Grand Prize Winner," stated Nick Romito, Chief Executive Officer of VTS. “It is a true testament to both the value of property technology in CRE and the impact of VTS' contributions on the ever-growing industry of innovation and possibility. We look forward to what’s to come for VTS as we continue to navigate a world post COVID-19 and beyond.” Sponsored by Colliers, the #RETAS are the leading international awards honoring excellence in CRE tech. The awards recognize the most cutting-edge companies who have played an integral role in advancing tech in the industry throughout the year. Backed by the leading voices and thought leaders in the CRE tech industry, the awards were open to startups or technology companies servicing the industry. VTS was carefully selected as a winner by the #RETAS elite panel of judges, including the leading VC’s, Angel Investors, and Corporate Investors and Thought Leaders in the commercial real estate tech industry. Since its inception, VTS’ mission has been to be CRE’s modern operating system. It is now the industry standard used by 45,000+ CRE professionals for centralized operations, powerful digital marketing, and intelligent investing with real-time market data, providing solutions for every sector of the industry. Prior to VTS, CRE didn’t have a centralized platform for data and was fueled by disorganized spreadsheets and back-of-the-napkin deals. Now, the VTS platform captures the largest first-party data source in the industry, which delivers real-time insights that fuel faster, more informed decision making and connections throughout the deal and asset lifecycle. Over the course of 2021, the technology company made significant strides. In January 2021, VTS continued regularly distributing its key monthly VTS Office Demand Index (VODI). Following successful launches in New York City and Boston, in February 2021, VTS announced the launch of VTS Marketplace—free online office listings site—in Washington, D.C., purpose-built for tenant rep brokers. In February 2021, VTS also released its second annual 2021 VTS Global Office Landlord Report, which showcased new research on the strategies landlords are using to navigate COVID-19 and beyond. In March 2021, VTS announced its acquisition of Rise Buildings—the property operations and tenant experience technology company used by top landlords including Blackstone, Hines, and CIM Group—to continue its journey of modernizing the entire asset class experience for landlords and tenants. In July 2021, VTS announced that the now rebranded VTS Rise has become the most adopted tenant experience technology. As of July 1, 2021, +300 million square feet of 161 cities and over 500 buildings worldwide are managed on VTS Rise. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, VTS has hired +150 new employees, which emphasizes the impact of its software to enable the industry to not only survive, but thrive amid the pandemic. For more information about the Real Estate Tech Awards, click here. About VTS VTS is commercial real estate’s leading leasing, marketing, asset management, and tenant experience platform where the industry comes to make deals happen and real-time data comes to life. The VTS Platform captures the largest first-party data source in the industry, which delivers real-time insights that fuel faster, more informed decision making and connections throughout the deal and asset lifecycle. VTS Data, the industry’s only forward-looking market dataset, and VTS Market and Marketplace, the industry’s first integrated online marketing solution, give landlords, brokers, and tenants unparalleled visibility into real-time market information and the direct connectivity to execute deals with greater speed and intelligence at every point in the planning, marketing, leasing, and asset management cycle. VTS Rise is the industry’s most comprehensive tenant experience solution, offering occupiers, building operators, and visitors an immersive, tech-enabled experience. More than 60% of Class A office space in the US and 12B square feet of office, retail, and industrial real estate globally is managed on the VTS platform. VTS’ user base includes over 45,000 CRE professionals including respected industry leaders like Blackstone, Brookfield Properties, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, Boston Properties, Oxford Properties, JLL, and CBRE. To learn more about VTS, and to see our open roles, visit www.vts.com. About CREtech CREtech is Reimagining Real Estate. We are the largest international community of professionals devoted to technological innovation in the real estate sector. Our mission is to help the industry embrace, adopt and future-proof their businesses. Our intelligence, streaming, event and consulting platforms inspire the next generation of ideas, processes and people to champion the world's largest asset class. Learn more: CREtech+, CREtech Consulting and CREtech Climate. # # # Contact Details Elise Szwajkowski +1 212-402-3495 eszwajkowski@marinopr.com Company Website https://www.vts.com/

October 08, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Yoodli, A Startup Backed by Madrona Venture Group and the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), Applies AI to Life's Biggest Stress: Public Speaking

Yoodli

Yoodli, a startup leveraging AI to help people develop the necessary soft skills to present and communicate confidently, opened early access to their beta product at www.yoodli.ai. The founding team of Varun Puri, Esha Joshi, and Dr. Ehsan Hoque, alumni from GoogleX, Apple and the MIT Media Lab, brings a passion to a challenge that most people experience every day. The Company is also announcing it has already raised $1M in pre-seed funding from the Allen Institute for AI and Madrona Venture Group. “Many of us have struggled with public speaking and have been on the receiving end of poorly delivered presentations,” said Varun Puri, co-founder of Yoodli. “During my time in Silicon Valley, I met countless colleagues, often fellow immigrants, who didn’t receive the recognition they deserved because they struggled to communicate effectively. Our platform will be an incredible leveler enabling people to practice and get real time feedback based on science as well as from friends and coaches.” According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the fear of public speaking affects 73% of people. However, we all need to speak in group settings — remember the awkward wedding toasts, dull classroom presentations, and never-ending team meetings? Numerous studies have suggested that oral communication is the number one skill that college students find useful post-graduation and yet is not taught in a direct way while in school. “As a female engineer in a male dominated industry, I felt like I had to try even harder for people to take me seriously,” said Esha Joshi, co-founder and CTO of Yoodli. “The nerves and doubts before a presentation can be crushing, and the feeling of successfully expressing yourself in front of an audience is a huge confidence booster. Our platform takes you from the nerves to the confident persona you need to achieve your goals.” Puri previously ran special projects for the President of Alphabet and then led Africa operations for a GoogleX initiative that is expanding internet connectivity using invisible lasers. Joshi brings her expertise as an Apple engineering lead as well as her experience speaking at large gatherings such as the Grace Hopper Conference to the mission of Yoodli. Dr. Hoque, the co-lead of the Rochester Human Computing Interaction group and MIT 35 Innovators Under 35 awardee, adds decades of research experience building AI interfaces to upskill the workforce. His work has helped people with autism practice communication skills, doctors prepare for end-of-life conversations with patients, and Parkinson’s patients detect their condition directly from their computer screens. “We see a tremendous opportunity to use AI as a way to improve human social and cognitive skills,” said Matt Mcllwain, Managing Director of Madrona. “We like to back exciting teams from Day One and this team has the passion, technical and industry experience that inspires us to come to work every day. And give presentations!” Yoodli is hiring for applied AI engineers, fullstack developers and a Head of Growth. Reach out at info@yoodli.ai if you are interested and sign up at www.yoodli.ai to join the product waitlist. About Madrona Venture Group Madrona ( www.madrona.com ) is a venture capital firm based in Seattle, WA. With more than 25 years of investing in early stage technology companies, the firm has worked with founders from Day One to help build their company for the long run. Madrona invests predominantly in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, and in 2018 raised the first fund dedicated to initial investments in acceleration stage (Series B and C stages) companies. Madrona manages over $2 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon, Smartsheet, Isilon, Redfin, and Snowflake. About the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) AI2 was founded in 2014 with the singular focus of conducting high-impact research and engineering in the field of artificial intelligence, all for the common good. AI2 is the creation of Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, and is led by Dr. Oren Etzioni, a leading researcher in the field of AI. AI2 employs more than 100 top-notch researchers and engineers from across the globe. AI2 prides itself on the diversity and collaboration of our team and takes a results-oriented approach to complex challenges in AI. Learn more at allenai.org. Contact Details Yoodli Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://www.yoodli.ai/

October 07, 2021 09:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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ThreatModeler Announces Commitment to Global Cybersecurity Advocacy Efforts as a 2021 Cybersecurity Awareness Month Champion

National Cyber Security Alliance

Automated Threat Modeling Leader Becomes Joins Worldwide Initiative to Reinforce the Importance of Proper Cybersecurity Protection Measures for Individuals and Organizations in an Increasingly Connected World ThreatModeler today announced its commitment to Cybersecurity Awareness Month, held annually in October, by signing up as a 2021 Champion and joining a growing global effort to promote the awareness of online safety and privacy. The Cybersecurity Awareness Month Champions Program is a collaborative effort among businesses, government agencies, colleges and universities, associations, nonprofit organizations and individuals committed to the Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme of ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.’ “At ThreatModeler, we empower organizations to securely develop their most crucial applications and infrastructure.” said Archie Agarwal, Founder and CEO of ThreatModeler. “In line with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ThreatModeler is proud to continue our work in championing industry best practices and ensuring organizations have the knowledge and the tools to stay well ahead of major vulnerabilities moving forward.” More than ever before, technology plays a part in almost everything we do. Connected devices have been woven into society as an integral part of how people communicate and access services essential to their wellbeing. Despite these great advances in technology and the conveniences this provides, recent events have shown us how quickly our lives and businesses can be disrupted when cyber criminals and adversaries use technology to do harm. Cybersecurity Awareness Month aims to shed light on these security vulnerabilities, while offering actionable guidance surrounding behaviors anyone can take to protect themselves and their organizations. Everyone has a responsibility to do their part in securing our interconnected world. This year, the Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s main weekly focus areas will revolve around: Understanding and implementing basic cyber hygiene, including the importance of strong passphrases, using multi-factor authentication, performing software updates and backing up data. Recognizing and reporting phishing attempts whether it’s through email, text messages, or chat boxes. Empowering individuals to not only practice safe online behavior, but consider joining the mission of securing our online world by considering a career in cybersecurity! Making cybersecurity a priority in business by making products and processes “secure by design” and considering cybersecurity when purchasing new internet-connected devices. If everyone does their part – implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable audiences or training employees – our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for everyone. Now in its 18th year, Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues to build momentum and impact with the ultimate goal of providing everyone with the information they need to stay safer and more secure online. ThreatModeler is proud to support this far-reaching online safety awareness and education initiative which is co-led by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. For more information about Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021 and how to participate in a wide variety of activities, visit staysafeonline.org/cybersecurity-awareness-month/. You can also follow and use the official hashtag #BeCyberSmart on social media throughout the month. About ThreatModeler ThreatModeler is an automated platform that provides a sustainable, self-service threat modeling practice for applications and infrastructure that evolves as your infrastructure grows. ThreatModeler encourages collaboration through its simple process flow diagram-based functionality that’s easy to use in the creation of threat models that identify, prioritize and mitigate threats, while communicating them broadly. ThreatModeler integrates with JIRA, Jenkins, and Azure Boards and Pipelines, with bidirectional web services API also unifying stakeholders in collaboration. Teams are empowered to code fearlessly and deliver new products with security built in as early as the design phase, which is based on global security and compliance standards. About Cybersecurity Awareness Month Cybersecurity Awareness Month is designed to engage and educate public- and private-sector partners through events and initiatives with the goal of raising awareness about cybersecurity to increase the resiliency of the nation in the event of a cyber incident. Since the Presidential proclamation establishing Cybersecurity Awareness Month in 2004, the initiative has been formally recognized by Congress, federal, state and local governments and leaders from industry and academia. This united effort is necessary to maintain a cyberspace that is safer and more resilient and remains a source of tremendous opportunity and growth for years to come. For more information, visit staysafeonline.org/cybersecurity-awareness-month/ About National Cyber Security Alliance The National Cyber Security Alliance is a nonprofit alliance on a mission to create a more secure connected world. We enable powerful, public-private partnerships in our mission to educate and inspire individuals to protect themselves, their families and their organizations for the collective good. Our primary partners are the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and our Board of Directors, which includes representatives from ADP; AIG; Bank of America; Cofense; Discover; Eli Lilly and Company; ESET North America; Facebook; KnowBe4; La-Z-Boy; Lenovo; Marriott International; Mastercard; Microsoft; Mimecast; NortonLifeLock; Paubox; Proofpoint; Raytheon Intelligence & Space; Terranova Security; US Bank; VISA; Wells Fargo. The National Cyber Security Alliance’s core efforts include Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October); Data Privacy Day (Jan. 28); Identity Management Day; and CyberSecure My Business™. For more information on the National Cyber Security Alliance, please visit https://staysafeonline.org. Contact Details Mike Stolyar threatmodeler@luminapr.com Company Website https://www.threatmodeler.com

October 07, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Altais To Acquire Los Angeles-Based Family Care Specialists

Altais

Altais Clinical Services (ACS), a division of the healthcare services company Altais, has signed an agreement to acquire Family Care Specialists Medical Corporation (FCS). FCS was founded in 1988 and provides all-age family healthcare to communities in the eastern and northern Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is comprised of a medical group with more than 120 staff, an independent physician association with more than 340 primary care physicians and specialists, and a nationally recognized family-medicine residency program. After completion of the deal, FCS management and brand will remain in place. Altais is a healthcare services company pioneering integrated, scalable technology solutions and business models that are designed to enhance the patient experience, improve health outcomes, reduce cost, and drive professional gratification among physicians. ACS invests directly in physician practices, clinics, and related business models. In 2020, Brown & Toland Physicians, a network of 2,700+ independent physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined the ACS family of companies. ACS also opened two independent primary care clinics serving essential civic employees and educators in the Monterey-Salinas market. FCS was formed by six Latinx physicians who still lead the group. They are all native Angelenos from the East Los Angeles community. Their aims for FCS were to provide high-quality and affordable healthcare and cultivate future generations of physicians for their community. “We founded Family Care Specialists with the goals of giving back to the community, in both healthcare services and medical education,” said Dr. Hector Flores, co-founder and medical director of FCS. “Our residency program continues to be an incubator for independent physicians who are committed to care for families in underserved communities. We believe the new relationship with Altais will provide FCS access to greater resources and technology. Driven by the power of our common cause, we’ll enhance healthcare for the community at large.” "Altais’ mission is to ignite an exceptional healthcare system that cultivates the health and well-being of physicians, patients, and the clinical community,” said Altais CEO Dr. Jeff Bailet. “And one of our primary goals in the pursuit of that mission is to support physician practices in delivering high-quality patient care and better health outcomes at lower costs. Family Care Specialists has done an outstanding job providing comprehensive healthcare to underserved communities in the Los Angeles area and developing future generations of family-medicine physicians through its residency program. Our organizations’ aligned missions make us a perfect fit for bolstering value-based community healthcare to the residents of Los Angeles.” As part of ACS, FCS will continue to provide coordinated care to ensure its physicians spend time doing what they do best – caring for patients. This includes integrating Altais’ sophisticated clinical tools and a technology management platform to enhance clinical and service quality for physicians and their patients. * * * About Altais Altais is a healthcare services company that helps physicians and the clinical community maximize the health and well-being of their patients in an affordable and sustainable way. Altais has two divisions. Altais Clinical Services offers a range of affiliation and employment models for physicians, and high-quality, affordable care for patients. Altais Health offers a broad platform of clinical support tools and technology, along with high-touch support. Ultimately, Altais seeks to enhance the vibrancy of physician practice and strengthen the heart of medicine – physicians connecting with patients and providing personalized, high-quality care. For more information about Altais, please visit www.altais.com. About Family Care Specialists The Family Care Specialists (FCS) Medical Corporation, aka FCS Medical Group, and the FCS IPA collectively serve approximately 30,000 beneficiaries comprised of Medi-Cal, Medicare, Commercial and Covered California coverage and 5% who are uninsured. The FCS Medical Group is dedicated to improving the health status of its patients, their families and the entire community. FCS utilizes culturally and linguistically competent services and deployment of performance standards that reduce or eliminate health disparities. The FCS medical group is also the founding partner of the Adventist Health White Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program. The residency program is nationally recognized for its academic success, placement of more than 70% of graduates in medically underserved areas, and for contributing to diversity in the health professions. More than 65% of its graduates come from groups known to be under-represented in medicine. For more information about Family Care Specialists, please visit www.fcsmg.com. ### Note: In this transaction, Synergy Advisors, LLC, served as exclusive financial advisor to Family Care Specialists Medical Corporation and its principal physicians, and Kaufman Hall served as exclusive financial advisor to Altais and Altais Clinical Services. Editors, please note: Photos and interviews are available by contacting Robin Carr at (415) 971-3991 or Altais@landispr.com. Contact Details Landis Communications Inc. Robin Carr +1 415-971-3991 Altais@landispr.com Company Website https://altais.com/

October 07, 2021 05:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Industrial Defender and Fetch Automation Partner to Deliver Operational Technology Cybersecurity and Compliance Solutions for Australia

Industrial Defender

Industrial Defender, an operational technology (OT) security pioneer, today announced a new partnership with Fetch Automation, a leading distributor of software solutions for the Australian marketplace, to provide a comprehensive OT cybersecurity and compliance solution to critical infrastructure companies in Australia. Fetch Automation will offer Industrial Defender’s industry-leading platform as part of their software portfolio to provide the highest level of cyber resilience possible for Australian organizations and support these companies in achieving compliance with new Australian cybersecurity regulations such as the Australian Energy Sector Cyber Security Framework (AESCSF). “Fetch Automation’s specialized market knowledge, combined with our powerful OT security and compliance platform will greatly improve the cybersecurity posture of companies operating industrial control systems in Australia. We’re enthusiastic about this partnership and look forward to serving the Australian market together,” said Jim Crowley, CEO of Industrial Defender. “Fetch Automation is immensely proud and excited to be named Industrial Defender's Preferred Distributor in Australia and New Zealand. With recent cybersecurity regulations and incentives set by the Australian government, Industrial Defender's mature cybersecurity products and OT focus will help strengthen and protect Australia's critical infrastructure and systems of national significance. Additionally, their compliance and reporting will be a huge asset for enhancing national cyber defense for threats that continue to expand and evolve every day,” said Mark Davies, Managing Director of Fetch Automation. To learn more about this partnership, reach out to Fetch Automation at www.fetchautomation.com.au or Industrial Defender at www.industrialdefender.com. About Industrial Defender Since 2006, Industrial Defender has been solving the challenge of safely collecting, monitoring, and managing OT asset data at scale, while providing cross-functional teams with a unified view of security. Their specialized solution is tailored to complex industrial control system environments by engineers with decades of hands-on OT experience. Easy integrations into the broader security and enterprise ecosystem empower IT teams with the same visibility, access, and situational awareness that they’re accustomed to on corporate networks. Learn more at www.industrialdefender.com. About Fetch Automation For years, Fetch Automation has been dedicated to providing solutions supported to securely monitor, manage, and connect diverse automation devices and software applications. Fetch Automation was appointed the Preferred Australian Distributor for the Kepware range of software products in 2013, and more recently, in 2020, Fetch Automation entered into an alliance with Direct Automation Pty Ltd, to better serve clients within niche Industrial Automation industries. Fetch continues to empower growth with real data throughout Australia and Oceania. For more information, visit www.fetchautomation.com.au Contact Details Erin Anderson +1 772-207-1867 eanderson@industrialdefender.com Company Website https://www.industrialdefender.com

October 06, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Mobile Driver’s License Standard Approved and Published

GET Group North America

The eagerly anticipated ISO/IEC 18013-5 International standard for Mobile Driver’s License (mDL) and Mobile IDs (mID) was unanimously approved for publication on August 18, 2021 and is now available at https://www.iso.org/standard/69084.html. Publication clears the way for global ID and Driver’s License Issuers to confidently deploy mDL solutions, and for Verifiers around the world to implement or adopt mDL readers. Businesses, Federal and State Agencies, and other public entities verify government-issued ID documents to quickly approve transactions every day. mDL gives the holder control of their ID data on their mobile device, while allowing acceptance via a tap or scan. This global mDL standard was the result of over six years of effort through an open collaboration of Issuers, Technology Providers, Regional Authorities (such as AAMVA, EReg, AustRoads, and the African Tripartite), and businesses that accept identity documents to approve transactions. Quarterly meetings were held on every continent during these years to ensure inclusivity and transitioned to fully virtual for 2020 and 2021. ISO/IEC 18013-5 for Mobile IDs and Mobile Driver’s Licenses overcomes the insecurity of showing a card on a phone screen and offers a host of benefits for Cardholders and the Verifiers who accept ID cards and Driver’s Licenses: A comprehensive global standard for sharing identity document information, matured during several test events held on nearly every continent during the last two years. Multiple Ways to Interact. A secure device-to-device protocol for sharing identity information that supports multiple transmission technologies, so that mDL Holders can tap or allow a scan to share their information and Verifiers can accept mDLs quickly according to their customer flows. Increased privacy for mDL users than physical cards: Share Only Relevant Data. Support for data minimization (e.g., to share only the fact that one is older than 21 rather than one’s full date of birth) built into the standard. Consent to Share. Controls that allow the mDL holder to release only some of the data elements requested by a relying party and only after explicit consent. Phone Stays in Your Control. The phone never leaves your hand, unlike ID cards. Know when Your Data is Stored. Explicit notification to an mDL holder if a Verifier intends to retain their information. Verifiers can avoid the liability of retaining data. Resistant to Tracking. There is no unique identifier to see where you’ve used your mDL. Difficult to forge. Stored and shared documents are cryptographically protected against counterfeit, adding resistance to the creation of fake IDs. Verifiers can easily check authenticity. Works when devices do not have connection. When either the mDL device or the Verifier device does NOT have a network connection, data can be shared between devices (offline). Provides privacy best practices for Issuing Authorities and Verifiers in the accompanying Privacy Annex with requirements for maximizing mDL Holder privacy. Chrissy Nizer, Chair of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Board of Directors said, “This standard will provide the necessary components to support mDL security and interoperability across the globe while ensuring the privacy and safety of the mDL holder.” “TSA considers ISO standards for personal identification documents to be a cornerstone for greater security and privacy,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “The new standard for mobile driver’s licenses represents a significant step forward and will eventually help ensure a more touchless and efficient airport screening experience for all travelers.” “ Austroads would like to commend the International Standards working group for ISO 18013/5 Mobile Driver Licence. This standard was developed through strong partnership with global industry leaders in identity as well as global issuing authorities of credentials. This standard will create the foundation for not just digital driver’s licences to be trusted and accepted across state and national borders but enables the underlying identity to be used securely by citizens of participating jurisdictions to seamlessly access products and service across business, industry and government entities.” Servi Beckers, Chairman of the Association of European Vehicle and Driver Registration authorities (EReg) said, “this standard is a good example of industry and public administration cooperating to enhance our citizens lives. It places the driving licences in our modern times where we are already used to use our mobile phones for almost anything. The great advantages I see from a citizen’s perspective are: better privacy protection, up to date driver capabilities (and thus room for tailored solutions), easier travelling (worldwide standard), and room for innovative ideas in digital services where driving licences are used.” About GET Group North America GET Group North America provides the Mobile Driver’s License for the State of Utah and is a leading contributor to ISO/IEC 18013-5 Personal identification — ISO-compliant driving license — Part 5: Mobile driving license (mDL) application. GET Mobile ID has implemented all interaction modes available in this International mDL Standard and meets all privacy requirements in Annex E: Privacy and security. GET Mobile Verify is an application for iOS and Android that reads and verifies all compliant mDLs and mIDs. Contact Details Jordan Bouclin +1 401-490-9700 jordan.bouclin@svmpr.com Company Website https://getgroupna.com/

October 06, 2021 10:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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