Alpha Legal's Jack, Elaine & Dan spotted amongst the "bush people"!!

We just spotted Jack, Elaine & Dan in the official video from the Modern Law Awards 2022.

The "bush people" were fun - but scary!!

We were proud that Alpha Legal was able to sponsor the event.  We're looking forward to next year's awards already.  See you there!

Warning for letting agencies - take "AML" seriously, you are being targeted

The Guild of Property Professionals has warned letting agents that they are being targeted by crime gangs laundering dirty money and hence they need to check that their AML processes are sound.

Almost a third of property professionals believe their AML procedures are not adequate

Alpha Legal's ID processes are fully compliant with all AML regulations and enable letting agents, other property professionals and legal businesses to safely request ID from clients and then verify those documents via our ID partners, TrustID.

Read more here: https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/agencies-targeted-by-crime-syndicates-claims-trade-body

Our new "Alfi" app is in beta - would you like to help us test it?

We're looking for Alpha Legal subscribers who would like to be beta testers for our new "Alfi" companion app for Alpha Legal.  Would you like to be involved?

Our new "Alfi" app is nearly ready

The app will enable you to keep in touch with your clients and promote your brand and services to them.  Your clients will be able to

• track their assets
• read, accept and sign documents you have shared with them
• complete fact-finds and other forms and questionnaires.

There is also a secure "vault" for clients to store their vital digital assets - including viewing copies of Wills and other documents you have created and stored for them.

Interested?  Do get in touch! We'd love to hear from you.

Another Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy is live: Core - The Asbestos Specialist

Welcome Core to the Alpha Tracker asbestos software family!

We visited the Core asbestos professionals yesterday to deliver their system training and really enjoyed meeting them.  Core specialises in delivering a whole range of asbestos services:

• asbestos surveys
• asbestos management plans
• site remediation services
• asbestos testing services
• air monitoring, and 
• asbestos training.

Core welcomes contact from new clients - their contact details are here: https://www.coresurveys.co.uk/contact-us/

Our trainer Kim's photos from her day with Core Surveys

Can we help your asbestos consultancy improve efficiency with the world's leading asbestos software platform, Alpha Tracker?  Get in touch! (UK or Aus/NZ)

Start Software sponsors the Mavis Nye Foundation Cycle Club

We're delighted to announce that Start Software, the developers of the market-leading Alpha Tracker asbestos software, are now proud sponsors of the Mavis Nye Foundation Cycle Club.

Quite frankly, we love Mavis Nye! Mavis is an amazing, energetic and committed campaigner in the world of asbestos-related diseases.

The MNFCC is a new initiative helping Mavis Nye & her Foundation

If you would like to donate to the cause, click here! https://localgiving.org/fundraising/MNFCC/

Useful tip! Did you know that your camera can *read* info to type into Tracker Mobile?

Great tip from Mark at Alpha Tracker user WSP!  This will help our asbestos air monitoring clients in particular.

Mark uses his iPhone camera to read cowl numbers direct into Tracker Mobile.  This tip works on Android phones, too (using the Google "Gboard" keyboard).

Here you can see this tip in action:

Take a photo of the cowl to save typing and avoid mistakes

If you've got a tip to share, let us know (Aus/NZ or UK) and thanks again Mark!

Why do we ask for a video as part of our ID checks in Alpha Legal? Meet the latest tool in the cybercriminals armoury - AI-generated faces

This story is incredible - but real.

AI-generated human faces are now appearing across the Internet.  They were first spotted on LinkedIn, the business social networking platform, where companies were found to be generating fake employee profiles with realistic-looking photos.  The photos, when analysed by researchers from Stanford University, proved to be fake.

These AI-generated faces are incredibly realistic as you can see from this selection:

Could you spot that these faces were not of real people?

Creating fake profiles on LinkedIn might be unethical (and against LinkedIn rules), but it isn't a cybercrime.  So what has this got to do with Alpha Legal?

Now that this technology is available, cybercriminals are starting to find ways to exploit it.  Criminals create fake personas and they need photos to be part of the invented identity.  Re-using real photos of people, living or dead, can cause problems but now they have a source of photo-realistic fake faces.

This is one of the reasons that we ask for a short video clip as part of our Alpha Legal ID checks.  By asking the user to move in front of the camera we ensure that the person is real and alive - a vital check as part of the process to verify identity as part of AML or KYC ID checks. 

Source: Stanford Internet Observatory https://www.npr.org/2022/03/27/1088140809/fake-linkedin-profiles

Credit: Connie Hanzhang Jin/NPR