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With the digital-first reality of the modern day, teams are now more scattered than ever before. The wider adoption of remote working, worldwide distributed teams, and complex interconnected workflows has created an urgent need for the secure exchange of credentials such as passwords and secrets. Secrets are sensitive digital credentials, such as passwords, API keys, and encryption keys, used to authenticate and secure machine-to-machine access to IT systems and data, for example for automated DevOps workflows.

Legacy solutions for sharing credentials, such as spreadsheets, consumer-grade password managers, or even messaging apps, are no longer sustainable. These antiquated practices expose organizations to severe security risks, inefficiencies, and compliance problems. Inefficient credential collaboration can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and business downtime. As regulatory requirements continue to intensify, organizations must prioritize secure, scalable, and transparent credential management solutions that serve the demands of the contemporary workplace.

Key Collaboration Challenges in Modern Teams

Modern workplaces rely on a mix of employees, contractors, and external partners who all require different levels of access to company credentials. Managing these access rights securely without inhibiting business effectiveness is a complex challenge. Organizations must adopt a fine-grained approach to credential sharing to prevent unauthorized access while facilitating productivity.

Many businesses operate with separate systems for different kinds of credentials. IT teams might use one solution for SSH keys, API tokens, and database credentials, while business teams manage logins for CRM, financial or human resources systems, and marketing tools elsewhere. This fragmented approach with siloed solutions creates security gaps, inefficiencies, and compliance headaches. A unified credential management solution has the potential to eliminate these issues.

Without proper credential collaboration measures in place, organizations face numerous security threats, including:

Unauthorized access: Weak or shared passwords can be exploited by cybercriminals.

Credential leaks: Storing credentials in plaintext files or unsecured locations increases exposure.

Lack of auditability: Without visibility into who accessed which credentials and when, tracking security incidents becomes difficult.

Poorly structured credential collaboration slows teams down. Employees waste time searching for credentials, requesting access, asking a colleague how to best share it, or resetting forgotten passwords. Small groups may manage credentials manually, but as an organization grows, so do the complexities of access management. Without software-based automation and governance, businesses risk operational bottlenecks, security risks, and non-compliance with industry regulations.

Organizations have different security and compliance demands, which influence their choice between cloud-based (SaaS) and on-premises credential management solutions. While SaaS solutions take away the burden of software maintenance, on-premises deployments provide full control over data residency, security policies, and compliance with regulatory frameworks.

With increasing regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2, organizations must have transparency and control over credential access. A credential collaboration solution must support audit trails, access logs, and role-based access (RBAC).

Practical use Cases for Secure Credential Sharing

The below scenarios reflect the importance of sophisticated credential collaboration software.

For example, upon the departure of an employee, revoking shared credentials is a top priority. Individual accounts (e.g., Google or Microsoft) can be easily revoked, but shared credentials pose a greater challenge. If not properly managed, a former employee may retain access to critical systems, increasing the risk of data breaches. A departing employee might still have access to shared credentials, thus posing a potential security threat. Organizations need systematic policies to manage credential revocation efficiently.

A secure credential sharing system should offer:

Password expiration capabilities: Administrators can revoke access immediately or set expiration dates in advance.

Selective password rotation: Instead of resetting all shared credentials, organizations can identify and rotate only those used by the former employee.

Compliance benefits: Automated alerts and enforced expiration policies ensure governance and regulatory compliance.

Imagine another situation: when a coworker is out on vacation, teams may face challenges accessing critical accounts protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA is a security method that requires a second verification step in addition to a password, which is usually provided by a time-based one-time password (TOTP) generator. This typically means that when logging into an account, such as email, cloud storage, or business software, the user must give a second form of verification.

Reliable credential collaboration

One of the most familiar examples of MFA is entering a verification code received via SMS. Consider logging into an online company system, and after entering the correct password, the system requests a code sent to the mobile number registered for MFA. If the phone is with the vacationing colleague, they would have to be contacted in order to relay the code, causing delays and inefficiencies. Moreover, sharing the code through unsecured channels like email or messaging apps could expose it to interception, increasing security risks.

Thus, a reliable credential collaboration system should have:

MFA credential delegation: Secure ways of sharing temporary or emergency MFA access so that if a team member is unavailable, authorized colleagues can safely retrieve the required MFA codes.

Audit logs and access monitoring: Ensuring all TOTP sharing actions and access attempts are tracked for security and compliance.

Essential Requirements for a Credential Collaboration Solution

Besides the specific credential collaboration features outlined above, the following general considerations should be taken into account when selecting a software solution for your organization.

A highly modern security architecture provides maximum protection against threats. The most robust approach today is private-public key cryptography, which ensures secure authentication, encryption, and data integrity.

Organizations must use role-based permissions (RBAC) and the principle of least privilege (PoLP) so that workers only have access to the credentials they need. This minimizes risk and enhances security posture.

A secure credential management system must encrypt credentials in transit and at rest, thereby introducing a so-called zero Knowledge architecture. This ensures that even if data gets intercepted or compromised, it remains inaccessible to unauthorized parties.

Teams need the ability to share credentials securely without compromising usability. A credential collaboration tool should make sharing simple while enforcing access controls to constrain risk.

Logging and reporting

Comprehensive and detailed logging and reporting features provide organizations with visibility into credential usage. This assists with security monitoring, breaches investigation, and regulatory compliance.

Credential collaboration needs to seamlessly fit into existing DevOps pipelines, cloud environments, and enterprise IT infrastructures. Integrations with tools such as CI/CD systems, cloud platforms, LDAP, Single Sign-On (SSO) and identity providers streamline operations and enhance security.

A credential management solution needs to support small teams as well as scaling to meet the needs of large enterprises. Automated provisioning, centralized access control, and robust governance capabilities ensure long-term sustainability.

Organizations should have the freedom to choose between cloud-based and on-premises solutions based on their security and compliance requirements.

Unlike proprietary solutions, open source credential management tools provide full transparency into how credentials are stored and managed. Independent audits ensure that security vulnerabilities are identified and addressed promptly.

Organizations that must conform to strict privacy laws should have authority over where their credential data is stored. Hosting in GDPR-regulated regions ensures compliance and increased legal safeguards.

Frustration with Legacy Tools Leads to Risky Workarounds

Software users expect intuitive, user-friendly applications. When faced with legacy, cumbersome credential management software, such as business password managers and Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions, they often become disappointed. These systems are usually too inflexible, complex, and difficult to onboard. Thus, they suffer from low user adoption.

When usability suffers, members of the team may resort to insecure workarounds, such as keeping credentials in spreadsheets or sending them over unsecured channels, which undermine security efforts. To prevent this, organizations must transition to modern, agile credential management solutions that:

• Combine security with ease of use to ensure adoption.
• Automate credential provisioning and deprovisioning to reduce friction.
• Offer easy to understand security workflows that can be trusted by users.

If organizations fail to modernize their credential management strategy, they are not only at risk of security breaches, but also poor utilization rates, which drives users back to insecure workarounds. It’s imperative to balance the need for strong security against easy usability in order to keep teams on board with secure credential collaboration.

How to Select the Right Credential Collaboration Tool

In short: Selecting the right credential collaboration tool requires careful evaluation of your organization's unique needs and security profile.

Team size and security requirements: Identify the size of your operation and the sensitivity of the credentials.

Integration requirements: Does the tool allow for integration with existing workflows and platforms?

Compliance necessities: Verify compatibility with industry regulations.

Usability vs. security: Balance ease of use with stringent security controls.

Cost-effectiveness: Evaluate pricing against feature sets and long-term needs.

For organizations handling sensitive data, self-hosting in jurisdictions with strong privacy laws offers greater security, regulatory compliance, and control over data residency.

We showcase the best identity management software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

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AI art generation has been evolving at a wild pace, and Google just threw another big contender into the mix through its Gemini Flash 2.0. You can play with the new image creation tool in Google's AI Studio.

Gemini Flash is, as the name suggests, very fast, notably faster than DALL-E 3 and other image creators. That speed might mean lower quality images, but that's not the case here, especially because all of the changes and upgrades to the model's image production ability. Still, if you want really good results, you must know how to talk to the AI. After plenty of trial and error, I've put together five tips for getting the absolute best art out of Gemini Flash 2.0. Some of these may seem similar to advice about other AI art creators, because they are, but that doesn't make them less useful in this context.

Tell a story

(Image credit: Created with Google Gemini)

The most interesting new feature for Gemini Flash's image creation is that it isn’t just good for one-off illustrations, it can actually help you create a visual story by generating a series of related images with consistent style, settings, and moods.

To get started, you just have to ask it to tell you a story and how often you want an illustration to go with the action. The result will include those images accompanying the text.

For my project, I asked the AI to "Generate a story of a heroic baby dragon who protected a fairy queen from an evil wizard in a 3d cartoon animation style. For each scene, generate an image." I saw the above start to appear. And, if there's an issue, you can rewrite any of the bits of the story and the model will regenerate the image accordingly.

Be super specific

(Image credit: Created with Google Gemini)

If you tell Gemini to make “a dog in a park,” you might get a blurry golden retriever sitting somewhere vaguely green. But if you say, “A fluffy golden retriever sitting on a wooden bench in Central Park during autumn, with red and orange leaves scattered on the ground”—you get exactly what you’re picturing.

AI models thrive on detail. The more you provide, the better your image will be. So for the image above, instead of just asking for a futuristic looking city, I requested "A retro-futuristic cityscape at sunset, with neon signs glowing in pink and blue, flying cars in the sky, and people walking in retro-future style outfits." Seven seconds later, the result came in.

Get conversational

(Image credit: Google Gemini Flash 2.0)

One of my favorite things about the new Gemini Flash is that you can get conversational with it without losing much of the speed. That means you don’t have to get everything right in one go. After generating an image, you can literally chat with the AI to make edits. Want to change the colors? Add a character? Make the lighting moodier? Just ask.

In the image set above, I started by asking for "A cozy reading nook with a fireplace, bookshelves filled with novels, and a big comfy armchair." I then refined it by asking it to "Make it nighttime with soft, warm lighting," then followed up by asking it to "Add a sleeping cat on the armchair," and finished by requesting the AI "Give the room a vintage, Victorian aesthetic." The final result on the left looks almost exactly like what I imagined, and makes Gemini feel like an art assistant, one capable of adjusting to what I want without starting over from scratch every time.

Gemini Flash matches ChatGPT

(Image credit: Created with Google Gemini)

Google has boasted that Gemini is full of real-world knowledge, which means you can get historical accuracy, realistic cultural details, and true-to-life imagery if you ask for it. Of course, that requires being specific. For example, if you prompt it for “a Viking warrior,” you might get something that looks more like a Game of Thrones character. But if you say, “A historically accurate Viking warrior from the 9th century, wearing detailed chainmail armor, a round wooden shield, and a traditional Norse helmet”—you’ll get something much more precise.

As a test I asked the AI to make "An ancient Mayan city at sunrise, with towering stone pyramids, lush jungle surroundings, and people dressed in traditional Mayan garments." It's not perfect, but it looks a lot more like the real thing than previous versions, which would sometimes come back with almost an Egyptian pyramid.

Write fast

(Image credit: Created with Google Gemini)

Most AI image models have long struggled with rendering text, turning words into illegible scribbles. Even the better models today that can do so take a bit to do it and getting it right can take a few tries. But, Gemini Flash is shockingly good at integrating text into images quickly and legibly. Being very specific can help though.

That's how I generated the image above by asking the AI to "Make a vintage-style travel poster that says 'Visit London’ in bold, retro typography, featuring a stylized illustration of the city."

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High-end gaming and workstation laptop specialist Eurocom has just released a refresh of its flagship mobile supercomputer, the Raptor X18.

It is one of the fastest laptops ever built and will probably earn a well-deserved spot in our best mobile workstation buying guide.

Its base configuration runs on a Core Ultra 9 275HX, the fastest laptop processor from Intel and the top of the range model will set you back more than $15,000.

For that outlay, you get a mobile Nvidia Geforce RTX5090 GPU with 24GB GDDR7, 256GB of DDR5 RAM - the only one I know that can take that much memory - as well as four WD_Black 8TB PCIe Gen4 SSD configured in RAID-0.

As for previous mobile supercomputers, Eurocom has entrusted an ODM - most probably Clevo - with the design and manufacturing of what is, as of now, the most powerful laptop in the world.

The result is a practical, if underwhelming, finish with its true origins betrayed by the presence of an RGB Keyboard with individual key illumination, N-Key Rollover & anti-ghosting.

A mobile supercomputer can also be one of the best gaming laptops.

The 18-inch screen that completes its setup can be specced up to a UHD+ resolution (that's 3240 x 2400 pixels with a 16:10 aspect ratio).

Its 200Hz refresh rate shows that it can also be a decent gaming panel.

Where this laptop will be sorely lacking is battery life; even with a 99Whr battery, I don't expect users to be able to utilize this laptop, under load, for more than 60 minutes; consider the battery as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) instead.

That’s down to the presence of a power-hungry GPU and CPU (that demand up to 175W and 55W respectively) as well as four memory modules, a large screen and four SSDs.

You may also find its weight (7.9 lbs/3.6kg) and its dimensions (400 x 320 x 33mm) to be slightly overwhelming but then again it is more of a desktop replacement rather than a true laptop.

Raptor X18 vs 16-inch MacBook Pro

(Image credit: Future)

In comparison, the most powerful Apple laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, one of the best laptops ever built, has a maximum selling price of $7,199 when configured with 128GB of RAM and 8TB SSD.

The 1TB SSD version retails for a mere $4,999 or a third of the price of the X18.

The 275HX is the most powerful laptop CPU available right now reaching, on popular benchmark software Passmar, a CPU Mark of just over 61,000.

The 16-core M4 Max, Apple’s most powerful laptop CPU, delivers about 43,700 points, a 40% speed delta.

When compared to desktop counterparts, the 275HX comes ahead of the EPYC 74F3, a 3-year old server CPU from AMD that has the same number of cores but a TDP 4x higher.

Raptor X18 vs Workstation PC

A stock picture of the Dell Precision mid-tower workstation (Image credit: Dell)

There are other Core 9 Ultra 275HX laptops scheduled for release in the coming weeks but Eurocom’s laptop is the only one with four SODIMM slots.

I configured a popular workstation PC, the Precision 5860 to match the Raptor X18.

With a slower Intel Xeon W7-2495X CPU, a less capable Nvidia RTX 4500 Ada Generation professional GPU and four 4TB SSDs, Dell’s alter-ego came out with a shocking $15,700 price tag, without a 4K monitor.

The only saving grace for the desktop workstation is the 3-year basic onsite service with remote diagnosis Dell provides.

I love the fact that the X18 has not one but two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, the first time I’ve seen this combination in a laptop, that’s in addition to Wi-Fi 7.

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