Data Engineers Are Key to AI Success

Global research shows that data engineers are playing a pivotal role as AI becomes woven into more parts of an organization’s operations. Most senior executives agree that data engineers aren’t just about data management anymore, but rather, they are integral to the success of the entire enterprise.

Based on research by MIT Technology Review:

   • 72% of technology leaders say data engineers are integral to the business.

   • Two-thirds of respondents say their data engineers are influential in decisions about investment in data tools.

   • More than half of those surveyed say they expect to deploy agentic AI within the next year.

Data engineers are the key to your AI strategy

Data engineers have worked behind the scenes for years but are now capturing the attention of their executives as organizations look to deploy AI within their organizations.



Industry Snapshots

The research examines how seven key industries see how integral data engineers are to the success of their business.



AI Is Changing the Data Engineering Game

A large majority (81%) of executives say the job description and day-to-day activities for data engineers has changed radically due to AI.



Data Engineers Are the Key Enablers of AI





Download your copy of Redefining Data Engineering in the Age of Ai here.

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Are you tired of Windows 11’s limitations, missing features, or unnecessary annoyances? In this video, I’ll show you how Winaero Tweaker, a 100% free and lightweight utility, can transform your Windows 11 experience with powerful customization options that Microsoft doesn’t give you.

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The best tweaks to speed up Windows 11

How to restore classic Windows features and remove unwanted ones

Privacy improvements and hidden settings you should turn on

Customization tips to make Windows 11 look and feel the way you want

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Secure your smartphone now, CISA warns. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Updated November 28 with CISA recommendations regarding the use of VPNs on smartphones, additional security agency advice from the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre for iPhone and Android users, as well as the already published public service advisory from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Hot on the heels of reports of Sturnus spyware being used to effectively bypass encryption and read private messages sent by Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp to your smartphone, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an urgent alert that “multiple cyber threat actors” are “actively leveraging commercial spyware to target users of mobile messaging applications.” Now CISA has released further urgent guidance that it says individuals at risk of being targeted should “immediately review and apply.” Here’s the step-by-step instructions to secure your smartphone, with guides for both iPhone and Android, from spyware attack according to America’s Cyber Defense Agency.

Cyber Attacks Target iPhone And Android Smartphone Users

Cyber attacks come in a myriad of shapes and sizes. From the newly reported attacks against London councils, to those against users of Amazon, Netflix and PayPal, to the highly-targeted and constantly evolving spyware threats facing smartphone users. It is the latter that is of concern to CISA, and should be to you as well, especially if you fall into the high-risk category of individual. That is, dear reader, a broad remit: journalists, political activists, government employees, the military, and, well, the list goes on. Better to assume you could be a target, even if only in terms of collateral damage to get to a bigger fish, and secure your smartphones as best you can.

The CISA Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance document, classified as traffic light protocol clear, meaning I am able to share the information contained within, has just been updated and, as well as including recommendations for securing end-to-end encrypted communications, has step-by-step guides to enhance the security and privacy of both iPhone and Android smartphones.

iPhone recommendations:

• Enable Lockdown Mode to limit apps, websites and features to effectively reduce the attack surface.

• Disable the send as text message option that would otherwise allow SMS use if end-to-end encrypted iMessage were not available.

• Use Apple iCloud Private Relay for enhanced security and privacy by protecting Domain Name System queries.

• Review and restrict app permissions, revoking those that are not essential, especially when it comes to location, camera and microphone.

Android recommendations:

• Use smartphone devices from those manufacturers with a commitment to long-term security updates and that support hardware-level security features.

• Only use RCS messaging if end-to-end encryption is enabled.

• Configure the Android Private DNS option to use a high-privacy resolver such as Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1, Google’s 8.8.8.8 Resolver, and Quad9’s 9.9.9.9.

• Ensure ‘always use secure connections’ is enabled in the Android Chrome browser.

• Ensure ‘enhanced protection for safe browsing’ is enabled in the Android Chrome browser.

• Ensure ‘Google Play Protect’ is enabled to detect and prevent malicious app downloads.

• Review and restrict app permissions, revoking them in the same way as for the iPhone advice.

National Cyber Security Centre Advice For iPhone And Android Smartphone Users

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters, better known as GCHQ, has a mission-based strategy to “make the UK the safest place to live and work online.” So, it is hardly surprising to learn that it has also published recommendations for smartphone users on how to keep them, and the data stored within them, secure.

Number one, the NCSC advisory stated, is to ensure that you are using a secure lock screen password or PIN, not “a simple one that can be easily guessed or gleaned from your social media profiles.” That is very solid advice, and you can read more about lock screen PINs to avoid here.

Next, we have enabling the built-in find me or tracking function, a feature of your smartphone, so that lost or stolen devices can be tracked and, most importantly, locked and data deleted if necessary.

Keep your smartphone updated with the latest security patches, it’s free, mostly automated, and can save you from being vulnerable to hack attacks.

Ditto, but for your apps.

Finally, and most controversially in my never humble opinion, is the “don't connect to unknown Wi-Fi hotspots” advice. While it is true that someone could have setup a malicious hotspot in a coffee shop or at the airport, the reality is that this is extremely unlikely and, given the near-ubiquity of http encryption during communications, the risk is massively reduced when it comes to the majority of snoopers. Yes, if you are a high-value individual, then you could be targeted, but someone just sweeping an entire coffee shop on the off chance of finding a profitable enough mark is slim. Indeed, most cybersecurity professionals of my acquaintance will happily tell you they connect to such networks without fear. If you are concerned, using your mobile 4G or 5G network is recommended if available, like you’d be using a free hotspot if it weren’t.

America’s Cyber Defense Agency Warns iPhone And Android Users: Do Not Use A VPN

CISA’s newly updated Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance went further than just the aforementioned guidance for iPhone and Android users to tighten up their security strategy when it comes to the settings of their smartphones; it also included a strict do-not-use policy, and one that might surprise many readers.

“Do not use a personal virtual private network.” Yes, you read that right. America’s Cyber Defense Agency, an independent operational component agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is telling smartphone users they should not use a VPN. The reason is both simple and compelling, from the perspective of such a security agency tasked with protecting a nation-state’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks: “Personal VPNs simply shift residual risks from the internet service provider (ISP) to the VPN provider, often increasing the attack surface.” Obviously, for enterprises and other organizations, there is a caveat: using a corporate VPN client to access data is an acceptable use case. There is something within this advice that applies to consumers, though, and it’s a warning that may sound familiar to some of my readers. “Many free and commercial VPN providers have questionable security and privacy policies,” CISA said.

This echoes the recent and highly timely critical VPN threat warning from Google, in the wake of the Online Safety Act in the U.K., and state-based legislation in the U.S., that effectively make accessing online pornography much harder. Rather than focus on the questionable policy angle as CISA has done, Google’s vice president of trust and safety, Laurie Richardson, took aim fair and square at the “malicious applications disguised as legitimate VPN services across a wide range of platforms to compromise user security and privacy.”

The threat actors behind such apps, Richardson continued, not only impersonate trusted consumer VPN brands, but also use social engineering, phishing, in other words, to target vulnerable users looking for information on geopolitical events or by exploiting sexually suggestive content as bait.

“These applications serve as a vehicle to deliver dangerous malware payloads including info-stealers, remote access trojans and banking trojans,” Richardson said, “that exfiltrate sensitive data such as browsing history, private messages, financial credentials and cryptocurrency wallet information.”

The mitigation advice, other than don’t use a VPN, is to only download your apps from legitimate, verified, official sources. Google said that you should check for apps displaying the VPN badge in Google Play, for example. Certainly do not sideload VPN apps, or be tempted to just hit accept when that ‘free’ VPN app asks for a host of permissions to access everything from your camera and microphone to your contacts and private messages. iPhone and Android users certainly nee, at least, to be alert to the risk.

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Your Windows drive is probably storing way more than you realize. It’s a common problem. You install an application, use it a few times, then forget it's even there. You download files for a project, finish, and never clean up. Games pile up in your Steam library. Old backups sit around just in case. Before you know it, you've got hundreds of gigabytes of stuff taking up valuable space.

Most people know their storage is filling up, but they have no idea where it's actually going. That's where most of us get stuck. We know we need to clean something up, but manually digging through folder after folder takes forever. I spent way too long doing exactly that before I found WizTree, a free disk analyzer that changed how I handle storage problems. WizTree scans your entire drive in seconds and shows you exactly what's consuming your space.

How I use WizTree to clean up junk in minutes

Analyzing and deleting files with just a few clicks



While Windows includes tools like Storage Sense to clear junk files from your Recycle Bin, temporary files, and the Downloads folder, these features are far from enough to solve real storage problems. Storage Sense does a decent job and is definitely one of those Windows features every user should enable, but it still leaves a lot of clutter behind. If you want a more effective way to manage and understand your storage, you need something more powerful.

This is where WizTree becomes invaluable. When I need to clear up my Windows drive, I open WizTree and select the storage drive I want to clean, then hit Scan. Within seconds, the entire drive is analyzed and displayed. The app gives me multiple ways to view my storage. The Tree View shows me a visual hierarchy so I can see folder sizes at a glance. The File View lets me dig into individual items when I want to know exactly what's taking up space. I can use filters to search for specific file types or folders, which is incredibly useful when you're hunting for old downloads or data files that pile up over time.

From there, the cleanup process is straightforward. I look at what's consuming the most space and decide what to delete. For instance, I saw that my Docker container data was using around 70GB of storage. I did not want to delete all the data because I was still running a few services, so I clicked on File View, filtered through my Docker storage, and deleted the services I was no longer using. I kept going through the same process by checking the areas that were taking the biggest chunks of storage and deleting them inside the app. When I suspect duplicate files, I simply tick the Duplicate Only checkbox in File View to show me all the duplicates to delete. This single session saved me around 40GB of storage.

What's great about WizTree is that it has a portable version. I always have it on my flash drive as one of my tools in my PC repair kit. So, whenever I need to help a friend or family member with their PCs, I have a reliable tool for analyzing and cleaning storage.

But what about WinDirStat?

Why I still prefer using WizTree



Both WizTree and WinDirStat are disk space analyzers that show you exactly how much storage each folder and file takes up on your computer. They both give you visual breakdowns of your storage with color-coded maps and detailed file lists. They're both completely free for personal use, and neither one requires installation if you don't want it. They solve the same problem in similar ways. But despite all that, I still prefer using WizTree over WinDirStat.

WizTree is one of the best alternatives to the original WinDirStat tool. I use this app more often because it's much faster than WinDirstat. WizTree is built to work directly with modern file systems like NTFS, reading the Master File Table efficiently to get file sizes without scanning every single file individually. WinDirStat takes a more traditional approach, enumerating through directories the way older tools do. When I tested both on my 1TB drive, WizTree completed the scan within seven seconds. WinDirStat took around half a minute. This gap widens on larger drives. So, while WinDirStat deserves credit for its longevity, WizTree is simply faster and more efficient to use in general.

Making space cleanup simple

Cleaning up your Windows drive shouldn't require technical knowledge or expensive software. WizTree proves that the best solution is often the simplest one. Download it, scan your drive, and delete what you don't need. The portable nature means you can keep it wherever you go. Whether you're fixing your own computer or helping someone else, WizTree takes the guesswork out of finding where your storage actually went. If your drive is running low or your computer feels sluggish, grab WizTree and see what you discover. You might be surprised at how much space you'll reclaim.



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Whenever I set up a new Android phone, I change one setting before I start using it normally. I update the Private DNS provider hostname, so the phone uses an encrypted server instead of the one assigned by the network. This keeps my lookups private on shared Wi-Fi and helps avoid the unreliable or slow resolvers you sometimes find on public networks. Setting this up early also limits what the network can see and makes it harder to track which domains I access.

What Private DNS actually does

Keeps your DNS requests encrypted and private

Before your phone can reach most sites or services, it has to identify the actual network address behind the name you tap or type. This request is sent through DNS and often travels in plain text. People along the network path, such as your Wi-Fi provider or mobile operator, can see the domains you visit because those requests are not protected. Private DNS encrypts these requests before they leave your phone and prevents intermediaries from reading or altering them.

Android protects these lookups through a protocol called DNS-over-TLS, which encrypts them before any content begins to load. It doesn’t shield your whole connection like a VPN, but it secures what happens first. Since most apps depend on these lookups to connect online, choosing a stable private DNS provider helps prevent connection problems caused by unreliable servers.

A fast, reliable encrypted DNS provider can help web pages and online services load without unnecessary delays. Using encrypted DNS on Android also keeps your lookups private on shared networks, even when many people are connected to the same hotspot. Your requests go to the provider you choose, although a few apps may still use their own DNS settings.

Private DNS lets you select which server resolves your lookups once you change your DNS settings. You can point them to a provider you trust and send most of your requests through it. This keeps your phone’s address resolution consistent on both mobile data and Wi-Fi and helps you avoid the slow or unstable servers used by some networks.

How to set up Private DNS on your Android phone

Steps to enter a secure hostname

You’ll find the Private DNS option in your phone’s connection settings. On most Android devices, go to Settings -> Network and internet -> Private DNS. Here, you’ll see options such as Off, Automatic, and Private DNS provider hostname. Pick the hostname option to open a text field. On Samsung phones, the path is a little different: navigate to Settings, then Connections, then More connection settings, and tap Private DNS to reach the same field.

This field accepts only a hostname, so type one.one.one.one instead of an IP address like 1.1.1.1. Android verifies the hostname during the encrypted connection process, so it requires the text version. Cloudflare uses one.one.one.one for its encrypted service, and the older hostname 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com still points to the same service. For a general-purpose resolver that behaves much like a typical default server but adds encryption, use dns.google for Google’s encrypted DNS.

Another choice is AdGuard DNS at dns.adguard.com, which blocks many known trackers, analytics domains, and unwanted sites before they load. After you enter the hostname, save your settings and return to the home screen. Your phone will then use that provider for almost all lookups. If everything works as expected, you can leave this setting alone unless you want to change providers later.

Where Private DNS falls short

Private DNS has some limitations. It encrypts only the lookup, not the actual content you view or send. Your Wi-Fi provider or mobile operator can’t see the domains you request, but they can still see the IP addresses you connect to, since this information is outside DNS. If your chosen provider experiences outages, you may need to switch back to Automatic or choose another hostname to regain access. A few apps also use their own method instead of the system resolver, so they will not benefit from this setting.

You may also run into networks that don’t work well with encrypted DNS. Some public Wi-Fi setups that require a sign-in page, such as those in hotels or airports, redirect your DNS traffic to load that page, so many websites will fail to open while Private DNS is active. If the Wi-Fi shows as connected but nothing loads, switch Private DNS to Automatic, complete the sign-in page, then return to your usual hostname once the connection is active.

The same issue can appear on enterprise or institutional networks that block encrypted DNS entirely. These networks force traffic through their own resolvers, so Private DNS will not function until you switch back to the default or Automatic option.

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