Business News

Mon Mar 15

One taxi driver’s big plans to flip the multimillion-dollar rideshare industry on its head in 2021

Written by Tess Sanders Lazarus

Keith Logan and Delsie Cook are the Perth based entrepreneurs behind the much-anticipated launch of MooVr – Australia’s answer to affordable, fair ridesharing.

“After several years as a taxi driver, as well as someone who has performed his due diligence in ridesharing, I realised a major flaw in the ridesharing industry. Large multinationals rideshare operators were, and still are, financially exploiting their drivers as well as the entire country by shipping profits offshore,” Logan said.

“We knew that there must be a better and fairer way to provide the same service as these overseas conglomerates, and not have the drivers exploited in the way they are now. After many brainstorming sessions we knew this was something we needed to do ourselves – and so the idea for our own ridesharing app was born, MooVr.”

Logan and Cook both offer extensive industry knowledge to the world of transportation and ridesharing. They bring considerable experience and as a result are uniquely able to offer something new and revolutionary to the industry. Logan and Cook gleefully refer to themselves as ‘SME’s’ – Subject Matter Experts – in the field.

“MooVr is a proudly Australian owned, operated and designed innovative mobile ridesharing app. Based on the feedback we received from rideshare drivers and battlers from all over the country, MooVr is uniquely able to offer an Australian rideshare experience with advanced app options not available on existing overseas rideshare apps,” Cook explained.

“We collaborated closely with industry professionals so that we were able to create a better experience for both the driver and the riders - passengers. The largest motivator behind MooVr was for the exploitation of rideshare drivers to be stopped. Through MooVr we intend to change the industry by keeping our commission rates very low to enable drivers to earn above a minimum wage.”

“MooVr is formulated to offer some of the lowest fares in the industry whilst also paying the best rates to our drivers, simply because we believe that everyone is better off with a fare that is fair,” Logan added.

“While many rideshare companies view the opportunity as a part time job, we’re are supporting and encouraging MooVr drivers the opportunity for a full time lucrative occupation.”

According to Logan and Cook becoming a MooVr driver is not a given right, even if you have industry experience and paperwork. As a brand, MooVr has a set of standards that all drivers must uphold. If not, drivers who fall below a certain level of conduct rating are advised that improvements are required to help them be their best. MooVr is passionate about supporting its drivers’ professional and personal development.

MooVr is launching in Perth, Western Australia, in March 2021, with plans to roll out across the east coast in the future. The platform has undergone over two years of extensive testing, research and development to ensure it meets the needs of drivers and riders - passengers.

“MooVr offers competitive rates with overseas rideshare companies, whilst ensuring riders’ money remains in Australia. Our platform is for Australians, by Australians. All of our money stays in the country contributing to the economy, with tax and increased income, that has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Logan emphasised.

“We are in this for the long haul. We want to help Australians get where they need to go in a safe, pleasant and affordable manner.”

According to Logan and Cook, MooVr also values empowering women to feel safe when they’re travelling. MooVr has introduced a ‘Female Connect’ feature that allows women to select when they want to deal only with other women.

“Our Female Connect feature will encourage more women into the workforce, as well as facilitating safer, more enjoyable journeys for female passengers,” Cook outlined.

“Riders and drivers can simply nominate in the app whether they would like to activate the Female Connect functionality. It can be turned on or off with ease.”

MooVr is currently undertaking a fundraising round to support its national launch and continued diversification. To date, a significant amount of money and resources has been invested in the development of the app which is expected to enjoy early adoption and expansive use as it is rolled out across the country.

Logan anticipates MooVr will become Australia’s ride share app of choice. “Many other countries have introduced their own ride share app that meets the unique needs and requirements of their nation. We expect MooVr will become Australia’s go to ride share solution for drivers and riders alike,” he said.

https://www.moovr.me

Mon Mar 15

March Patch Tuesday Commentary

Written by Chris Goettl, Senior Director of Product Management, Security at Ivanti

There was an interesting start to March, with four Exchange Server exploits and an out of band update. There is an additional Zero Day vulnerability being exploited in Internet Explorer and three publicly disclosed vulnerabilities to discuss this month. A total of 83 unique CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) have been resolved in Microsoft’s March Patch Tuesday update. Microsoft products affected this month include Windows OS, Office, Internet Explorer, Edge, Exchange Server, and Sharepoint, as well as many development tools and updates for Azure, Azure DevOps, and Azure Sphere

Exchange Zero Day Update:

Microsoft has provided a set of links to many relevant articles on the Exchange vulnerabilities, steps to identify if your environment has been compromised, mitigation options meant to protect environments short-term at the sacrifice of some functionality, and steps to take if you believe you have found indications of compromise. They also expanded the release with additional version\CU coverage.

It is rare for Microsoft to update out of support versions of a product. This is an indication of the severity and reach of the attacks targeting the Exchange Server on-prem products. Revision note:

Reason for Revision: Microsoft is releasing security updates for CVE-2021-27065, CVE-2021-26855, CVE-2021-26857, and CVE-2021-26858 for several Cumulative Updates that are out of support, including Exchange Server 2019 CU 6, CU 5, and CU 4 and Exchange Server 2016 CU 16, CU 15, and CU14.

Please see the following for more information on the Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities:

Exploited and Publicly Disclosed Vulnerabilities:

Internet Explorer and Edge (HTML-based) browsers are being targeted by attacks in the wild. This vulnerability has also been publicly disclosed, which would allow other threats. CVE-2021-26411 is a memory corruption vulnerability that could allow an attacker to target users with specially crafted content. An attacker could utilise specially crafted websites or websites that accept user-provided content or advertisements to host content designed to exploit this vulnerability.

A publicly disclosed vulnerability (CVE-2021-27077) exists in Windows Win32k that could allow an attacker to elevate privileges on the affected system. The vulnerability is rated as Important and carries a base score of 7.8, but the exposure of being publicly disclosed raises the potential risk.

A .Net Core update from February has been re-released to provide links to release notes. The vulnerability from February had been publicly disclosed and, if exploited, could allow Remote Code Execution (CVE-2021-26701). The vulnerability has been rated as Critical and affects Microsoft .Net 5.0, .Net Core 3.1 and 2.1 as well as Visual Studio 2019 and 2017 versions.

March Update Priorities:

Exchange Server on-prem is the top priority
Windows OS, Internet Explorer, Edge: The browser Zero Day and other critical and publicly disclosed vulnerabilities require priority attention.
SharePoint Server: While not disclosed or exploited, CVE-2021-27076 is a Critical CVE and Microsoft has flagged it as Exploitation More Likely on their Exploitability Assessment.