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A new study of 165 IT and security professionals at medium-sized companies across the US reveals that 53 percent believe their organization was breached one or more times in 2017.

The report from security-as-a-service company Cygilant shows a lack of confidence in respondents' ability to protect customer data, with only 16.6 percent very confident that they can successfully protect customer data.

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Most users seem to think Windows is locked down after installation, where it makes it almost impossible for anyone to gain access to your computer. It’s only after you install malicious software are security concerns raised, but these are typically intercepted by third-party security software.

Problem is Windows ships with a middle ground configuration where it is forced to compromise between security and compliance. As an example, the geolocation service is switched on by default so applications can determine where you are located. For the security conscious, users might not want to allow applications to know where they are.

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Growing complexity is a major issue in securing and managing corporate wide area networks according to a new survey.

The study by software-based networking and security specialist Versa Networks shows 68 percent of respondents think deploying and managing network security devices at branch locations is the most challenging aspect of WAN management, followed by increasing costs (53 percent) and information security risks at branch locations (49 percent).

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Digital transformation means businesses need to be able to handle rapid change across a variety of environments.

IT operations specialist OpsRamp is launching a new Unified Service Intelligence tool that offers a simpler way to monitor and manage operational environments in a hybrid world.

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With Linux being at the core of Chrome OS, it perhaps seems surprising that there's no easy way to run Linux distros or applications on Chromebooks. Yes, there's a Crouton script that can help you to achieve this, but it's far from ideal as it massively lowers system security. All this could be about to change, however.

A newly merged commit in Chromium Gerrit has been spotted which talks about a "new device policy to allow Linux VMs on Chrome OS." This would be a major change for Chromebook users, and we could see it as soon as version 66 of Chrome OS.

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Back in the day, external storage capacity was quite minuscule compared to what is on the market now. Believe it or not, there was once a time where a 1.44 MB floppy was seen as huge. Zip disks eventually brought 100MB, while optical media delivered even more. USB flash drives and memory cards started out low on capacity, but these days, they offer hundreds of gigabytes in tiny form factors. Modern flash media doesn't just offer a ton of capacity, but super speed too.

Today, SanDisk -- a Western Digital company -- announces the 400GB Extreme UHS-I microSDXC card. What really makes this card special, however, is not its capacity, but its speed. The company claims it is the world's fastest UHS-I card. How fast is it? It offers 160MB/s read speed. Write performance is less impressive at "just" 90MB/s.

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Sadly, YouTube has a problem with cancerous content and fake news these days, but it is still a great platform for family-friendly creators too. Ultimately, Google’s video platform remains a staple on the web despite recent controversies. Thankfully, the company is working hard to fight against this deluge of negative content.

One of the best aspects of YouTube is the live streaming functionality. This allows content creators to better interact with fans by providing a live environment -- not just pre-recorded and edited videos. Today, Google announces that it is making live streaming even better, with things like IFTTT (If This, Then That) support for Super Chats and the ability to add location tags to streams.

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Public Cloud is a massive business for tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the clear leader, with 62 percent share, followed by Microsoft Azure, on 20 percent, and Google on just 12 percent.

However, Google has scored an important win over Microsoft, replacing its rival as the cloud infrastructure service Apple relies on for its own iCloud services.

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The head of the EU's financial services has said that the union is ready to regulate cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin if a global effort is not made to tackle their risks.

Valdis Dombrovskis said that worldwide measures were needed if European regulation was to be avoided. There has long been concern not just about the wildly fluctuating value of cryptocurrencies, but also the potential for them to be used in crime.

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Software updates offer a quick and easy way to bolt new features and options onto apps and operating systems -- or at least in theory. If you like the idea of streaming HD Netflix content on your OnePlus 5 or 5T, you'll probably be pleased to hear that there's an update available that brings this very feature to your phone.

This is clearly great news. What's not so great, however, is the extraordinary fact that in order to get this feature you will need to physically send off your phone so OnePlus can perform the update for you.

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File sharing and sync platform FileCloud is launching a new edition aimed at IT administration, management and compliance across enterprise-level systems with over 1000 users.

FileCloud Enterprise Edition is cloud agnostic, so it allows businesses to keep their data on any infrastructure of their choice including public, private and hybrid clouds while giving them full control.

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Buy a lightweight entry-level laptop for the road and it’s likely to ship with a small drive. A 128GB SSD is often the norm and you’ll soon find yourself battling the system for storage space.

Using the cloud is one option, keeping files away from your computer and downloading on demand. Realistically though, how much space would these use and you’ll require a solid internet connection just to be able to access the data. Not always ideal away from the office.

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There are lots of announcements coming out of MWC 2018 at the moment, all vying for attention and competing to take money from eager customers. To stand out from the crowd a little, Sony has just revealed its new Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact smartphones, both of which feature HDR Full HD+ 18:9 displays.

The Sony Xperia XZ2 is the first smartphone to offer 4K HDR recording, and it also boasts a full HD 960FPS super slow-motion mode. There's a revamped, curvier design for both phones, which Sony is calling Ambient Flow, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 is on hand to keep things scratch-free.

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It’s time to wrap up all these 2018 predictions, so here are my final three in which Apple finds a new groove, IBM prepares for a leadership change, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg gives up a dream.

Apple has long needed a new franchise. It’s been almost eight years since the iPad (Apple’s last new business) was introduced. Thanks to Donald Trump’s tax plan, Cupertino can probably stretch its stock market winning streak for another 2-3 years with cash repatriation, share buy-backs, dividend increases and cost reductions, but the company really needs another new $20+ billion business and it will take every one of those years to get a new one up to scale.

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The days when smartphone announcements were exciting are long gone. While there used to be new features about which to get excited, the market has transitioned to an evolutionary one. Once a year, we are treated to better processors, cameras, and other specifications. I hate to say this, but it is much like the PC market and its ho-hum yearly reveals. A new Intel Core generation? Yawn! When you upgrade your smartphone these days, you really aren't getting a new experience.

While that all sounds depressing, it is arguably a good thing. Look, smartphones are great, and maybe now consumers can be satisfied with what they already have rather than constantly looking to upgrade. As an example, today, Samsung announces its latest and greatest Android flagships -- the Galaxy S9 and S9+. They look great, but that is probably because aesthetically, they are almost identical to their predecessors. In fact, no one with an S8 or S8+ should even bother considering an upgrade.

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