IT Industry Trends

The Symantec IT Industry Trends blog is your source for news, views and information on the world of Strategic IT Trends.

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  Updated: Guido Sanchidrian 08 Aug 2012

  We Know We Have The Big Data – We Just Need To Find It And Make Sense Of It

  "Big Data" is one of the new buzzwords in IT. So it was just a question of time when "Big Data" hits the Information Security arena. Last week I saw a press release from Information Security Forum (ISF) - a very well established non-profit association of leading organisations from around the world. Their latest report shows how "Big Data analytics can improve information security and increase cyber resilience". For sure "Big Data" analytics have become a standard practice in many aspects of business. Data warehousing, Business Intelligence, visualisation and a variety of sophisticated analyses are commonplace. In their press release ISF say that "...the insights they [sophisticated analyses] can provide are not yet being widely realised in information security". Really? My initial thought whilst reading the press release was:...
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  Updated: Guido Sanchidrian 26 Jul 2012

  Why Spam And Malicious Code Is Still Successful

  Today I found a small article in my daily RSS feeds titled "Miracle Battery-Saver App Harvests Email Addresses for Spamming". The article is a brief analysis of a malicious application that tricks the user by pretending to do something great for saving his/her mobile phone battery life. It immediately raised a foundational question in my mind: Why do people still trust those type of miracle offers, even clicking on "allow" to the application's permission request to read the user's contacts data (in order to acquire the personal data) and the second permission asks to access the Internet (in order to upload the personal data)? Theoretically, Spam and its associated malicious code should be extinct already, because every computer user should be aware more or less that this bad stuff exist, and should be suspicious...
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  Updated: Guido Sanchidrian 16 Mar 2012

  Security Awareness Inspired – Part 2

  In my last Blog article I wrote about the challenges of mobility and I outlined how to stay secure online whilst traveling. In general, information access is becoming mobile and device-agnostic. This results into new risk implications. First, everything is revolving around people and information. Devices like desktops, laptops, tablets or smartphones are irrelevant. The most popular devices today won't likely have the same popularity three years from now. Also the applications don't matter that much, because it is not important if organisations use on-premise mail server today and tomorrow they use a cloud-based email service. It is just about getting the information from one place to another. What matters is the people and the intellectual property, the formula to the new chemical compound for example, or credit card details. It is about the data, and the information. ...
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  Updated: Guido Sanchidrian 25 Dec 2011

  Security Awareness Inspired – Part 1

  As a frequent traveller, going online has become universal for me. I expect Internet access wherever I am for whatever I need. However, when I am on the road, accessing the Internet can be challenging. Connections may be not only slower but also at greater risk, especially when connecting to public networks or using a public computer in the hotel. The key to using the Internet securely while travelling is to understand these additional risks, use caution, and be prepared. PLANNING AHEAD One of the most effective ways you can protect yourself when travelling is to first take simple, preventive steps before you leave. If you are using a corporate image notebook, most of the following tasks are likely maintained by your IT desktop management, but nevertheless worth to check frequently by your own, in particular if this is your own device that is not managed by IT. Ensure your laptop and smartphone operating systems and applications have the latest version...