Simpler IT makes for better business
Complex IT systems arise for many reasons, adding new systems to old ones, expansion through mergers or takeovers, or simply demand for more sophisticated solutions.
But a new study by IDC, sponsored by business software specialist Oracle, concludes that IT complexity leads to lower profits and curbs an organization’s ability to innovate and grow.
Threats to the internet in 2025 -- start worrying now
We looked yesterday at the ten most serious security breaches of recent years, but the threat landscape is constantly changing. So what will happen in the future and which threats should we be most concerned about?
A new report by PewResearch, as part of its series marking 25 years of the internet, looks at how things might be in 2025. More than 1,400 experts in various fields were canvassed for their views on future threats.
The top 10 data breaches and how they happened
Security breaches happen all the time but it's the biggest ones that hit the headlines and send ripples through the IT community. Security consultancy TSC Advantage has looked at the top ten breaches from the last five years and what effect they've had.
Top of the list is the Adobe hack of 2013, made possible by weak password requirements and affecting 152 million customers. In second place comes the recent eBay hack involving stolen employee credentials and affecting 145 million users.
CosmicDuke malware mashup steals login data to take over networks
Security company F-Secure has uncovered a new malware attack that blends together elements of two earlier threats in an attempt to compromise enterprise networks.
CosmicDuke includes elements from the MiniDuke advanced persistent threat (APT) Trojan combined with the info-stealing Cosmu family. MiniDuke first appeared last year and was used in attacks against NATO and some European government agencies.
Post-Snowden era will make physical location of data irrelevant
A new report from research specialist Gartner says that the physical location of data is becoming increasingly irrelevant and that by 2020 a combination of legal, political and logical location will be more important.
Gartner research vice president Carsten Casper says that the number of data residency and data sovereignty discussions has soared in the past 12 months, and that this has stalled technology innovation in many organizations. Originally triggered by the dominance of US providers on the Internet and the Patriot Act, the perceived conflict has since been fueled by revelations of surveillance by the NSA made public by Edward Snowden.
Big data makes research more difficult say data scientists
Given the amount of hype surrounding it you could be forgiven for thinking that big data is the answer to most business and scientific problems.
But a new survey by database specialists Paradigm4 reveals that almost three-quarters of data scientists believe that big data has made their research harder. The reason for this is not, as you might expect, the volume of data but the variety.
Mobile Identity Connect provides secure single sign-on for enterprises
One of the biggest concerns that businesses have about the increasing use of mobiles and BYOD is how to keep their data secure. Traditional security tools were built to cope with desktop devices rather than the on/off existence of mobile connections.
Mobile platform specialist Kinvey aims to help mobile developers to seamlessly secure mobile, tablet, and responsive Web apps with its newly-launched Mobile Identity Connect product.
The future of IT spending is bright(ish)
Worldwide IT spending is on track to reach $3.7 trillion, an increase of 2.1 percent in 2014, according to new figures released by research specialists Gartner. However, this is down on earlier projections which put this year's growth at 3.2 percent.
The slower growth outlook is down due to a reduction in growth expectations for devices, data center systems and to some extent IT services. The value of the devices market -- which includes PCs, mobile phones, tablets and printers -- is predicted to grow by 1.2 percent over last year. This is partly due to lower prices. As tablet adoption reaches 50 percent in US households, Gartner forecasts sales of high-end tablets dropping as new buyers are attracted by lower priced units.
DataStax delivers faster in-memory database analytics for enterprises
Database specialist DataStax is using the 2014 Spark Summit to announce the release of its latest product. DataStax Enterprise 4.5 includes some major updates aimed at improving ease of use and security.
Built from the ground up, upgrades in DSE 4.5 include lightning fast in-memory analytics with Spark -- thanks to a recently announced partnership with Databricks. In addition automated diagnostic and performance tuning drives operational simplicity and enhanced visual management. For the first time companies can now easily merge Cassandra data with Hadoop and avoid the complexities of data management thanks to partnerships with Hadoop vendors Cloudera and Hortonworks.
Comparing the top three cloud storage providers
Last year around seven percent of all data was stored in the cloud, but by 2016 it's estimated that 36 percent of data will be in cloud storage, generating a potential revenue of over $4 billion. Of current storage users, 38 percent say they already use the cloud with 34 percent planning to do so.
Salesforce and Google Drive linking specialist Cirrus Files has been looking at the three main public cloud providers, Dropbox, Box and Google Drive to see how their services compare in this fast-growing sector.
Ignorance of digital dangers puts consumers at risk
Technology users are putting themselves at risk by ignoring how their personal information is being stored and the potential security risks that go hand in hand with digital devices.
This is the conclusion of a round table panel of security experts put together by hosting company UKFast. According to the panel the buzz of social media and the ever-evolving digital scene has created an ignorant culture of technology consumers.
Pulse helps businesses identify and manage social media trends
Social media is increasingly important to companies, not just as a marketing tool but also to help spot trends and allow firms to react in real time.
Consumer intelligence specialist newBrandAnalytics has released a new cloud-based offering called Pulse which allows companies to monitor trending topics and conversations that impact their brand and product perception.
Web-based analytics delivers intelligence on DDoS attacks
In recent days we've seen DDoS attacks hit some major names like Feedly and even force the CodeSpaces hosting service out of business.
In a bid to combat the threat presented by DDoS attacks, security specialist Corero Network Security has announced a powerful web-based analytics portal.
27 percent of websites aren't configured for smartphone searches
A new report from SEO and content marketing specialist BrightEdge reveals that although almost 60 percent of American adults own smartphones and 40 percent own tablets, more than a quarter of websites aren’t mobile friendly.
This leads to a massive loss of potential traffic and if marketers rectify this misconfiguration, the report discovered they stand to boost smartphone traffic by 200 percent.
ID stealing cloned banking app found on Play Store
A cloned banking app which steals user login credentials has been discovered on the Play Store this week. Mobile security company Lookout discovered the app and informed Google which immediately removed it.
The malware, called BankMirage, targets the customers of an Israeli bank called Mizrahi Bank -- the fourth largest in the country. The authors of the app placed a wrapper around the bank's legitimate app and redistributed it on the Google Play store, pretending to be the financial institution.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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