IT Security and Training reduce Cyber Attacks

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Increase in cyber attacks cost firms nearly $50K per year 

Cyber attacks for reasons political, financial or fun have spread exponentially over the last year. Increased spending on security and training is doing much to stem the flow of information into the wrong hands. A Symantec survey of 1, 425 IT managers across 32 countries revealed that the $35 billion currently spent on IT consulting security services is expected to rise to over $49 billion in the next three years, with many companies opting for security through cloud computing packages. With data breaches effecting even the biggest corporations (the recent hacking of Zappo comes to mind), everyone is taking security more seriously. The survey found that cyber attacks in 2011 cost companies an average of $470,000 in lost revenue, downtime and loss of brand confidence.

Cyber attacks include spam, viruses, fraud, data theft, vandalism and denial of service. A poll by Juniper Network had 77% of respondents saying cyber attacks are more frequent and severe than they have been in the past, while 90% of respondents claimed to have suffered a data breach in the last year.

The rapid increase of attacks comes as employees bring their own devices into the workplace. 29% of breaches in security occurred on tablets and Smartphones and 34% on employee laptop computers. As employees increasingly introduce personal devices into the workplace, security has to be installed and protocols established to secure sensitive data.

Companies who turn to IT consulting specialists and invest in security and training for employees suffer a far lower rate of security breaches. The survey revealed that top-tier companies who used IT consulting firms to bolster security and staff training benefitted from two and half times fewer attacks than companies who did not invest in security.

Downtime is by far the most frustrating consequence of compromised security. Here the advantage of investing in an IT consulting firm to provide security is self-evident. The companies which had not made adequate investments in security suffered 2 765 hours of downtime a year in comparison to the relatively few 588 hours that secure companies endured.

Not utilizing IT consulting specialists or investing in security and training means damage and downtime that is sure to cost more than the initial security investment would have. It makes financial sense to invest in protecting customers and data from cyber attacks. As more employees bring their own devices to the workplace, it is imperative to establish security across the board and protocols aimed at securing data on all devices.

Microsoft develops Office Suite for iPad

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If you can’t beat them, join them; Microsoft gets a piece of the Apple pie

Microsoft is developing a version of its Office 8 interface for Apple’s iPad. Originally slated for exclusive use on Microsoft’s own Windows 8 tablets (due for release later this year), Microsoft has bowed to Apple’s dominance of the tablet market, wishing instead to get in on Apple’s 80% share of the tablet pie.

Office Suite programs we all know and love such as Word, Power Point and Excel will be available for iPad for as little as $10 each. Although fairly ground-breaking, this won’t be the first time Microsoft has developed for Apple’s App Store which already stocks such stalwarts as MSN Onit, MSN Onpoint and the Bing App.

When Microsoft executive Stephen Elop claimed that Microsoft had no intention of bringing its Office Suite to the iPad in 2010, he could scarcely have guessed the extent to which the iPad would take a commanding lead in the market. Had Microsoft’s tablet been available for release sooner, they might have stood more of a chance against the iPad.

Perhaps it was the focus on the Courier, Microsoft’s version of a tablet that was unceremoniously dropped in early 2010, that slowed Microsoft’s tablet development. Whatever the reason, the slated 2012 release of their Windows 8 tablet is ‘too little too late’ experts say. JP Gownder of Forrester claims that; “On tablets, Windows 8 is going to be very late to the party. Product strategists often look to be “fast followers” in their product markets… For tablets, though, Windows really isn’t a fast follower.”

There are many tablets on the market to rival Microsoft’s new addition including the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and the Blackberry PlayBook. Since these tablets have been around for a while, they will be already into their third generation by the time Microsoft launches its Windows 8 tablet.

One can well understand Microsoft’s reticence to throw its towel in with the iPad platform; combining the more familiar MS Office with the dominance that iPad has of the tablet industry will make it less likely that users will buy the new Microsoft Windows 8 tablet when it makes its debut later this year.

With over $15 billion in 2011 earnings, the new iPad platform will help to grow Microsoft’s market share and test the tepid waters of the tablet market.

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RIM’s Digital Wallet Pilot Project: Who Benefits?

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RIM recently announced the launch of a pilot program that will test run a digital wallet operated by the Spanish Telecommunications agency, Telefonica, on the BlackBerry.

The project, which will involve 350 Telefonica employees at the company’s headquarters in Spain, will see employees using their BlackBerrys to pay for groceries and gas, as well as in place of their regular security cards at company headquarters.

What is a Digital Wallet?

This is the idea of a digital wallet: it replaces and replicates your physical wallet—it has all of your debit and credit cards, lets you check account balances and can even act as a key or security card.

Who Benefits?

The announcement of this pilot project, which comes six months after Google announced its own digital wallet, is definitely a positive move for the BlackBerry, which Telefonica says it chose for its security. Nevertheless, the digital wallet isn’t necessarily going to be a big cash maker for RIM.

After all, this isn’t the “BlackBerry Wallet,” this is the Telefonica Wallet, and there will be applications like the AT&T Wallet and even a Google Wallet, but there won’t be a BlackBerry Wallet. (Conceivably, however, there may be an Apple Wallet, but that is a whole other story.)

Basically, the carriers are the ones standing to profit here. Nevertheless, this is smart move for RIM. “What I think the RIM people are saying to their carrier partners is ‘When you want to offer your wallet we will support you,” explains Mark Beccue, senior mobile commerce analyst for ABI Research.

The Cutting Edge

RIM is also sending an important message to current and potential BlackBerry users with this pilot project: mainly, that RIM is dedicated to cutting-edge smartphone technology.

The release of the digital wallet application for the BlackBerry, and any subsequent releases of similar applications on other smartphones, will signify yet another way in which these devices become all the more indispensable to their users; why carry a wallet, a key and a phone when you can have it all in one small mobile package?

 

Hotmail Gets a Makeover Part 2

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In the second part of our blog about the improved Hotmail, we’ll continue by discussing one more handy new feature available.

One such feature now available in the revamped email server is ‘instant actions,’ a tiny little change that might actually save you a lot of time in the long run. Instant Actions provides you with customizable icons that show up when you hover over each email, allowing you to do things like move or delete a message with one quick click.

Why The New Hotmail is So Exciting:

It is fascinating to watch Microsoft not only catch up and make its own versions of handy Gmail features for Hotmail, but also come up with things Google has yet to think of. Microsoft is trying to bust Hotmail out of its funk and make it a worthy, modern, relevant email server once again, an effort they deserve at least a pat on the back for.

When the changes role out in a few weeks, dust off your Hotmail account and take a peek inside—you might just like what you find.

Hotmail Gets a Makeover

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Hotmail?! Ugh.  A virtual storage space equivalent to your garbage can: spam, spam and more spam. That’s what you’re thinking, right? Who, besides your grandmother, uses that old, orange, ugly monster of an email server anymore?

But maybe, just maybe, you should consider revisiting your good old Hotmail account soon, because it is finally changing. Within weeks Hotmail will be rolling out a set of shiny new features. The changes are long overdue but it seems Microsoft has finally decided it will attempt to give Gmail a run for its money.

What’s New in Hotmail:

One significant improvement of the new system is the inclusion of categories, much like in Gmail.

Hotmail users can now label messages or senders into a particular group, either automatically based on content or sender, or manually. Users can also ‘flag’ messages, which automatically moves them to the top of your inbox and marks them with a little flag, much like Gmail’s ‘star’ system. Hotmail will also now automatically recognize newsletters and put them into a separate folder.

What’s Different from Gmail:

One totally unique and very welcome feature of the new Hotmail is the ‘scheduled cleanup.’ Scheduled Cleanups allow you to move or trash messages from specific senders after a set time period. You want all those irritating Facebook notification emails to be automatically trashed every three days? No problem. You want your banking statements to magically appear in their own folder at the end of every week? Done. It might not sound very exciting but the scheduled cleanup is actually a refreshing and much needed tool that allows you to easily keep your inbox neat and tidy.

 

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