PrintIT Reseller - issue 64

01732 759725 4 BULLETIN Email is the weakest link 94% of participants in a Barracuda Network survey said that email is still the most vulnerable part of organisations’ security postures. The study which polled 280 decision-makers also found that 75% of respondents had been hit with brand impersonation emails, the largest threat organisations face as identified in the survey, with ransomware coming in second at 47%. Targeted departments are changing with the threatscape, 32% of survey respondents identify customer support departments as their most targeted sector. Other key findings include the fact that some organisations lack training, 7% of respondents stated that they have never received training on email security or weren’t sure if they had or not, while just over half (56%) stated that some employees do not adhere to security protocols. www.barracuda.com Cyber-attacks have a lasting impact on how firms are run Researchers at Warwick Business School found that media reports of a cyber-attack led to a stock market shock as investors sold their shares, but this only lasted a few days. However, security breaches did have a lasting impact on the way firms were run, as they typically paid lower dividends and invested less in research and development up to five years after the attack. Yet chief executives were no more likely to be sacked following a data leak. On the contrary, they were more likely to receive an increase in total and incentive pay several years after a security breach. Average CEO pay at firms that were not targeted by hackers fell by more than $2million a year over the same five-year period. Cyber security: a hidden threat Research conducted by the Federation of Small Business identified that 65% of UK small businesses do not have plans in place to deal with potential supply chain disruption including cybercrime. Joe Collinwood, CEO at CySure says that small and medium sized enterprises are under pressure to protect themselves against cyber-attacks to mitigate the risk of being excluded from supply chains. “SMEs are typically falling to understand the wider risks and to implement basic cyber hygiene measures. This complacency compromises their own IT environment and that of suppliers and partners within their supply chain,” he warned. https://cysure.net/ Data visualisation drive growth High-growth companies using business intelligence technology are growing three-and-a- half times faster than UK companies outside the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 . In its report Tech Impact ’19 , IQBlade’s analysis of the UK’s fastest growing companies (based on the Sunday Times Fast Track 100) and the technologies behind their growth, found that in 2018, average sales of those using business intelligence and data visualisation platforms from the likes of Tableau, Progress Software and QlikView was £39 million, compared to £24 million for non-users. www.iqblade.com Fintech is the new normal More than half of banking and financial services customers around the world use fintech products and services, according to a new global poll. 55% of respondents to a survey carried out by financial advisory firm deVere Group, affirmed that they regularly use financial technology to access and manage their money. Around two- thirds of those polled used fintech apps to send remittances and money transfers and 46% use financial technology vehicles to track investments and/or accounts. www.devere-group.com RPA fastest growing segment Robotic process automation (RPA) software revenue grew 63.1% in 2018 to $846 million, making it the fastest growing segment of the global enterprise software market, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner expects RPA software revenue to reach $1.3 billion in 2019. “The RPA market has grown since our last forecast, driven by digital business demands as organisations look for ‘straight-through’ processing,” said Fabrizio Biscotti, Research Vice President at Gartner. “Competition is intense, with nine of the top 10 vendors changing market share position in 2018.” www.gartner.com Employees say that AI could improve their job The Workforce Institute at Kronos carried out a global survey of 3,000 employees titled Building the Workplace of the Future , which explored the state of the global workplace and assessed employees’ feelings towards the role of AI in the workplace. 92% of UK employees say that AI could improve their job, with over a third believing that it could enable them to focus on more important tasks and not waste their time on basic tasks (38%). Nearly two-thirds stated that their employer has not shared plans about introducing AI, there is a very high number of employees with little to no visibility of AI usage in their workplace, leaving them potentially feeling they could be replaced by better alternatives. www.kronos.co.uk Malicious intent outweighs technology as biggest threat to personal data Against the backdrop of a complex and growing cyber threat landscape, organisations are waking up to the fact that one of the biggest chinks in their armour against a data security breach is humans. 65% of respondents to a social media poll conducted by Apricorn, believe that humans pose the biggest threat to their personal data. Over half (52%) of respondents said that people with malicious intent present the biggest danger. This compares to just 35% who cite technology as a threat to personal data. www.apricorn.com