The challenges facing the growing cloud market
Every business is aware that cloud computing has become a globally dominating market. Some estimates have the cloud worth $75 billion, perhaps even more. It is expected to continue growing well beyond that. Still, the growing cloud market faces several challenges in staying competitive.
With exponential growth comes a plethora of challenges. Cloud computing organizations must be able to keep up, as companies, governments, and even business-minded individuals from all over the world represent current and potential customers. Cloud consumers are relying heavily on infrastructure services. According to Gartner, the forecast in 2016 for IaaS alone represented over $22 billion in cash flow. The growing demands and customers’ expectations are in a tight juggling act with the forces that promise to challenge cloud service providers.
Russian hacker collective targets over 85 leading US companies
A group of hackers speaking Russian and using Russian servers are out hunting for American companies' user credentials, an exclusive story published on The Epoch Times claims.
This group, allegedly not tied to any government and basically operating on its own, is targeting "at least" 85 companies, including Amazon, American Airlines, AT&T, Best Buy, Wells Fargo, DropBox, Dunking Donuts, Ebay, GoDaddy, Uber, Match.com, McDonald’s, Office Depot, PayPal, Pizza Hut, Steam, and Apple Pay.
Hackers compromise nearly 16,000 WordPress websites
According to security researcher Daniel Cid, at least 15,769 WordPress websites have been compromised this year by cyber-attackers who were able to evade Google's Safe Browsing checks.
WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world, used by consumers and businesses to create and publish blogs. To conduct the research needed for the second 2016 Sucuri report on compromised web properties, 21,821 sites were studied with the majority of them using WordPress to manage and publish their content. The report also found that 3099 Joomla! sites were hacked during that time as well.
Apple acquires machine learning startup TupleJump
Apple is on a mission to buy virtually every machine learning start-up it stumbles upon. The latest "victim" in its shopping spree is an Indian-US company called TupleJump. The news was first broken by TechCrunch, and even though Apple is yet to confirm the acquisition there are signals out there to back such an event.
First things first. Apple did give a statement, and a pretty vague one that is arguably open for interpretation. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans".
Most employees don't want to share passwords
For many people, both business owners and employees, remote working is the future of business. It’s at the very heart of business transformation, together with cloud computing, automation and artificial intelligence. However, a new poll by OneLogin seems to suggest that certain workers aren’t really fond of the idea of remote working.
Half of full-time workers believe employees below mid-manager level shouldn’t be allowed remote access to the corporate network. This remote access refers to both work-owned devices (47 percent) and private devices (54 percent).
BT to offer customers Microsoft Azure services
British telecommunications company BT has announced a new offering, expanding the cloud choice for its customers. BT Computer for Microsoft Azure allows BT’s customers to order Microsoft Azure together with BT’s cloud.
With the new offering, according to BT, customers will be able to create hybrid cloud infrastructure with a single service wrap, on a single bill.
Knowing your unknowns
On a daily basis, the news is filled with stories about things that "should never have happened". Last weekend’s headline, "Improvised Explosive Device Explodes in New York City’s Chelsea Neighborhood", is one tragic example. No one could have anticipated the attack, but through the use of cameras placed throughout the area, law enforcement was able to identify a suspect and track his movements within hours.
In the real world, no one can know every single threat that could exist in the future, or when it might happen. You can make educated guesses with the right intelligence and data, but you can’t predict with certainty. This is why New York, London, and other metropolitan areas have installed surveillance cameras. They’ve done this so that if a situation does unfold, they can quickly triage and provide authorities with immediate and accurate information to inform response and investigation.
Office workers want the latest technology, or else they'll quit
Business owners, pay attention. If you don't step up your technology game, your employees might leave you. This is according to a new global report from Dell and Intel, entitled Future Workforce.
Based on a poll of 4,000 full-time employees all over the world, it tried to understand how modern technologies are shaping the office world.
9 best practices for accepting payments via mobile device and mPOS
Is your business accepting payments on mobile devices, or considering it? If so, you are in good company. Large retailers, such as Nordstrom’s, have seen increased sales after integrating an mPOS (mobile point of sale) solution. Major restaurant chains, including McDonald’s and Olive Garden, are using it, too. In fact, a report by 451 Research projected that by 2019, the global mPOS installed base will reach 54 million units, which is quadruple the number from 2015.
According to a Juniper Research report, by 2021, more than one in three POS systems will be mobile. It’s no wonder mPOS solutions are catching on. They are not only convenient, but also provide tangible benefits to both merchants and customers. Shortened transaction time, elimination of lines, scalability capability, and less reliance on cash all increase sales and heighten customer satisfaction. But any data transfer comes with risk. To ensure a safe and secure mPOS experience, follow these best practices:
Leaked credentials affect the largest 1,000 organizations worldwide
Data breaches have become the norm in recent years with 2014 earning the nickname the "year of the data breach" and 2015 being known as the "year of the breach". So far in 2016, even more data breaches have been made public, including LinkedIn, MySpace and Dropbox and we will likely see more before the year comes to a close.
For companies, being the victim of a breach is unnerving enough, but there also implications to their reputation, brand and finances. However, breaches also have an indirect impact on organizations and some end up facing the "collateral damage" of such an attack for some time after the initial breach.
Healthcare, Telecommunications, Retail and Transportation: How do they stack up on security awareness?
Breaches and attacks have run rampant through most major industries, and organizations are beginning to realize the importance of employee and stakeholder security awareness. Healthcare and retail have been in the brightest spotlights with the rise in ransomware and credit card data breaches in the last couple of years, but they are not the only ones facing this challenge. Wombat Security's Beyond the Phish report found that telecommunications and transportation industries also struggle with a wide range of security issues.
Ultimately, an organization can improve its defenses by elevating the level of security best practices across its employees and addressing the biggest offending categories of awareness.
Five strategies for creating a culture of information security
Data protection has historically been viewed as a function owned by a few individuals, or the domain of the IT department. However, it is vital that all employees share the responsibility of preventing and mitigating information security breaches.
When an organization creates a corporate culture dedicated to data protection, it provides more disciplined operations, increased customer and stakeholder trust, and minimized risk.
Education will shift away from classrooms in the future
Classrooms could be a thing of the past by 2025, according to new research by Polycom. Its Education in 2025 -- Technology Innovation survey takes a closer look at education and technology and has some interesting takeaways. While almost two thirds (64 percent) of respondents believe students engage with content primarily in the classroom, just a quarter (25 percent) believe that will still be the case in ten years' time.
More than half (53 percent) of education professionals believe real-time video collaboration and mobile devices will be the number one way students will engage with content in 2025. At the moment, however, things should be much, much better than they are.
Microsoft raises dividend, launches $40 billion share buyback program
Microsoft has authorized a share buyback program that will see the company reacquiring $40 billion of its own shares, just over nine percent of the company.
This is the fourth $40 billion buyback program launched by the company, which said that it will complete the first round by the end of this year. Microsoft's most recent buyback was first announced in 2013 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.
Homes are getting smarter, but not more secure
Smart homes aren’t something that’s going to happen in "the near future" -- smart homes are happening today. They’re no longer reserved for the early adopters or geeks, too. In some places, they’ve reached the "tipping point" -- they’re basically mainstream now.
This is according to a new and fairly extensive research by the non-profit prpl Foundation. In its study, The prpl Foundation Smart Home Security Report, it surveyed 1,200 people in the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, and concluded that people should be more careful with their home routers.
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