Ubiquitous in the workplace, mobile devices vastly increase employee productivity, connectivity and their ability to collaborate. Employees can easily access corporate networks and sensitive enterprise data with a mere swipe -- whether they are bringing their own device (BYOD) or via a corporate-issued device. At the same time, mobile devices present significant privacy and security challenges for organizations.

Employees commonly install personal apps on devices they also use for work. Often, employees don’t think twice about whether an app they’re using could potentially expose their corporate network to risk. In fact, an alarming percentage of mobile apps used within the enterprise are able to access sensitive device functions, or otherwise exhibit behavior that may pose security risks to the organization and violate its BYOD policies. Without understanding what these apps do, organizations are playing Russian roulette with their security.

Continue reading →

I've been at CloudSec 2016 in London, listening to various security professionals from the likes of Trend Micro and Microsoft talk about the challenges businesses face in securing their data in the cloud.

As you could probably have guessed, talks have centered around the ever-expanding threat landscape, the continued industrialization of cybercrime through various underground marketplaces around the world and general cyber security trends.

Continue reading →

UK carrier EE has launched a new layer of extra capacity for its 4G network to help high-end smartphones use their full potential, which will make smartphones "faster on EE than any other UK network".

EE has also said that it will make Cat 9 devices faster. Cat 9, or Category 9 4G, is capable of supporting 450Mbps download speeds, and devices such as HTC M10 or the Samsung Galaxy S7 are capable of achieving these speeds.

Continue reading →

Portugal, Barbados, Thailand. Where do your retirement dreams take place? And how would you feel if you could get halfway to that sun-kissed lifestyle while still working? With modern technology that dream lifestyle could be closer than you think.

If you live and/or work in London or any other large UK city, commuter gloom is a way of life. Crammed carriages are the norm and ticket prices are universally grudged -- and only ever seem to increase regardless of the service offered. Take a Brighton to London railway season ticket; depending on whether you’re happy to be restricted to Thameslink services or not, you’ll pay around £4-5K per year. That’s a lot of money -- just to get to the office.

Continue reading →

It is often the illusive H Factor -- the human element -- that ends up being the weakest link that makes cyber-attacks and data breaches possible, sometimes even more so than hackers exploiting zero-day system vulnerabilities or employing new malware.

According to the 2016 Verizon DBIR, human errors are a major factor in most data breaches. This human touch is especially true with the growing mobility of employees and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that are becoming more widespread. Therefore, while technological cybersecurity solutions take center stage in many businesses' cybersecurity plans, addressing the human element is as important as the technological one.

Continue reading →

Cloud computing seems to be a feature of successful businesses, but still a lot of workloads remain on premises, a new study by IBM suggests. More than 1,000 C-suite executives from 18 industries were interviewed, face-to-face, to come to this conclusion.

In 78 percent of cases, cloud initiatives are either "coordinated" or "fully integrated", which is a significant jump, compared to 34 percent we had in 2012. More successful the company is the higher the percentage too. On the other hand, 45 percent of workloads remain, and are expected to remain, on premises.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is now the overall leader in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market, beating Salesforce by a tiny margin. However, not everything is as straightforward as it seems.

According to Synergy Research Group, Microsoft, even though late to the party as usual, now holds 15 percent of the SaaS market, while Salesforce, the leader so far, has 14 percent share.

Continue reading →

Two years ago, Huawei, one of the world’s largest mobile phone vendors, caused a surprise by unveiling a new brand called Honor which the parent company described as being a brand run by millennials for millennials.

Honor unveiled its latest flagship handset, the Honor 8, which is roughly equivalent to the Huawei P9 launched in April this year.

Continue reading →

More than four out of ten (41 percent) of all enterprise workloads all over the world are either on a private or public cloud. By the time we reach 2018, the number will have risen to 60 percent, according to a new report by 451 Research. The cloud-first approach is already common, the report says.

More than a third (38 per ent) of all enterprises polled for the report say they already have such a policy. Europe is leading the way, with 42 percent of organizations having such a policy. On-premise private clouds as well as software-as-a-service models are most common among enterprises, each accounting for 14 percent of all apps, 451 Research says.

Continue reading →

IT professionals are most likely, out of all working people, not to use their entire annual leave, according to a new Robert Walters Career Lifestyle Survey. This is mostly because they are under pressure to deliver new projects on tight deadlines, and to keep their projects safe from cyber-attacks.

Almost half (44 percent) of IT pros polled during research said they had not used their entire annual leave, compared to the average of 36 percent.

Continue reading →

Given the rising frequency of increasingly malicious and innovative cyber-attacks organizations have to be prepared and proactive. It is no longer a question of if but when your organization will have to deal with a cyber-attack. The cost of a cybersecurity breach is significant -- in terms of money, business disruption and reputation. Depending on the magnitude of the attack, a cyber incident can potentially put you out of business.

According to UK government research, two-thirds of UK big businesses have been hit by a cyber-attack in the past year. UK telecoms group TalkTalk suffered a high profile attack in October 2015 when hackers stole personal data from customers. According to TalkTalk, the cyber-attack it suffered wiped £15 million off trading revenue as well as forcing it to book exceptional costs of £40m - £45m, and losing it up to 101,000 customers.

Continue reading →

Apparently, 1.8 million of UK’s businesses have been victims of a cyber-attack, and that costs the country’s economy more than £147 billion, in the last year alone. This is according to a new report by Gareth Bacon, GLA Conservative London Assembly, entitled Safe & Secure: Protecting London’s data.

Pretty much all businesses affected by these security breaches -- 99 percent of them -- are small businesses, counting 249 employees, or less. With that in mind, the report proposes a Mayoral Standard for data security, helping London consumers and businesses protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

Continue reading →

Dell and EMC will finalize their merge on September 7, following China's regulatory approval, the two companies announced earlier this week. The new company, named Dell Technologies, will start working as soon as the merge is complete. China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) approved the merger, after EMC shareholders did the same on July 19.

"This is an historic moment for both Dell and EMC. Combined, we will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data centre, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security", says Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies.

Continue reading →

It's not that there are less data breaches lately -- it's that they're not being disclosed. That's basically what Huntsman Security is saying, after it requested data about error and breaches in security through the Freedom of Information Act. Between April 2015, and March 2016, a total of 2,048 incidents were reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This represents a jump of 88 percent, as the year before, there were a total of 1,089 reported incidents.

Continue reading →

Remember how Dropbox asked all those that haven't changed their passwords since 2012 to do so now? Remember how they said they did it for no particular reason, just as a precaution? Turns out, it was much more than that.

As a matter of fact, back in 2012, more than 68 million accounts were hacked.

Continue reading →