Big data breaches have been making headlines more and more frequently. It was announced last week that the computer systems at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management had been breached. This is the second computer break-in in the past year for the agency. An estimated four million current and former federal employee records may have been compromised.
It’s a moment every business owner dreads. A message appears on your organization’s computer screen alerting you that your files have been encrypted and the only way to access them is by paying a ransom. Security threats to computers and mobile phones have grown more sophisticated around the globe in the past few years.
Around 2008, the IT industry started to experience a massive shift in traditional computing. The International Data Corporation (IDC) began referring to this change as the “3rd platform.” The 3rd platform is built on the four technology pillars for innovation and growth: Cloud, mobile, big data, and social technologies.
Imagine you are on your personal or work computer, and you receive a seemingly innocuous email from a trusted source, such as your bank, your tax office, or even a friend. The source asks you to download a file to update important account information. But, when you click on it, your most important files become encrypted and you are threatened you will lose them unless you pay a sizable sum to get them back!
New technology trends pose new security threats to businesses. CompTIA reports that 64% of companies report a “drastic or moderate” change to their security approach. In their survey, more than half of businesses recognize opportunities within their organization for security improvement.
According to a report by CompTia, 28% of businesses view security as a significantly higher priority today compared to two years ago, and an even greater percentage of businesses expect the importance of security to rise in the next two years. The study also revealed that while many companies assumed a satisfactory level of security, they did not fully comprehend their exposure to potential security threats.
In the early days of Cloud computing, the common perception was that the cloud automatically opens systems to new, catastrophic risks. When weighing the pros and cons of moving to the Cloud, business owners assumed they were sacrificing security for the business agility that comes with using Cloud systems.
There are many things on our minds as we enter the New Year. For those of you running a business, a question on the forefront of your mind should be: What can we expect from the world of technology in the coming year? Because technology changes so fast these days, it’s important to be ahead of the game and be ready to adapt to changing times. Here is what to expect from the biggest technology trends in 2015:
According to new IDC data, vendors shipped 327.6 million smartphones in the third quarter, an increase of 25.2%, when compared to the same quarter last year. This means that global smartphone shipments have topped 300 million shipments for the second quarter in a row. Although there have been rumors of a slowing market, the data clearly states otherwise.
A new report from the Ponemon Institute, an organization that publishes the annual “Global Report on the Cost of Cyber Crime,” recently announced that the cost of a data breach has jumped 23% from last year. Here’s what your small to medium sized business needs to know about being prepared in case of a data breach.