Technology Reseller v09

technolog y reseller.co.uk BULLETIN : TRENDS 7 IoT adoption and security practices misaligned By the end of 2018, only one in six organisations will not be using Internet of Things (IoT) technology for business purposes, Trustwave claims in a new report. According to its IoT Cybersecurity Readiness Report , 64% of organisations have already deployed some level of IoT technology. Another 20% plan to do so within the next 12 months. Despite growing adoption of IoT, only 28% of respondents consider their IoT security strategy to be ‘very important’ compared to other cybersecurity priorities within their organisation. More than half (55%) believe they will experience an IoT security problem in the next two years. Lawrence Munro, vice president SpiderLabs at Trustwave, advises businesses to make IoT security a priority. He said: “Manufacturers of IoT are sidestepping security fundamentals as they rush to bring products to market. We are seeing lack of familiarity with secure coding concepts resulting in vulnerabilities, some of them a decade old, incorporated into final designs. Because updating IoT devices by nature is more challenging, many remain vulnerable even after patches are issued, and often patches are not even developed. Organisations need to properly document and test each internet-connected device on their network or face introducing potentially thousands of new attack vectors easily exploitable by cybercriminals.” www.trustwave.com Retailers pay high price for failed deliveries Lost deliveries are costing small to medium-sized e-commerce retailers as much as £183,000 a year warns PCA Predict in a new report. Its survey of 300 retailers in the UK, US and Germany shows that in the UK 5.6% of orders fail to arrive at their destination, with each failed delivery costing the retailer an average of £14.35. One in five failed deliveries is due to inaccurate address details. Two thirds (65%) of retailers describe failed or late deliveries as a significant cost to their business, with 54% refunding the delivery charges to the customer, 54% paying additional costs for redelivery and 38% offering the customer a discount as an apology. Trends to watch in 2018 CompTIA is predicting 5% growth in the global tech sector over the next 12 months, driven by the ongoing digital transformation of businesses and the emergence of new disruptive software and services. In its IT Industry Outlook 2018 report, CompTIA highlights 12 trends that will shape the industry in 2018. These are: 1. The Democratisation of Technology Leads to Breakthrough Models 2. Cloud Enters New Phase of Maturity 3. Internet of Things Expands Technology Footprints 4. Artificial Intelligence Adds a New Layer to the Solution Stack 5. Businesses Adjust to the New Normal of Security 6. Growing Up: Tech May No Longer be Given the Benefit of the Doubt 7. The Insights Economy Comes Into Focus 8. Businesses Race to Upgrade Digital Expertise in the Boardroom 9. ‘New Collar’ Jobs Mindset Gains Momentum, but Challenges Persist 10. Online Marketplace: Friend or Foe of the Channel 11. Subscription Pricing Gets Harder to Figure Out 12. Primed and Ready for the As-a-Service World https://www.comptia.org/resources/it- industry-trends-analysis. IoT spending to reach $772 billion in 2018 Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecast to increase by 14.6% this year to $772.5 billion, up from $674 billion in 2017. The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semi-annual Internet of Things Spending Guide forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.4% from 2017 to 2021, when the market is expected to be worth $1.1 trillion. This year, IoT hardware will be the largest technology category, with $239 billion spent on modules and sensors, infrastructure and security. The second largest category is services, followed by software and connectivity. Industries that are expected to spend the most on IoT solutions in 2018 are manufacturing ($189 billion), transportation ($85 billion) and utilities ($73 billion). www.idc.com Consumers warm to biometrics as they lose patience with passwords Consumers are looking more favourably on biometric authentication, as security breaches and the multiplication of online accounts highlight the inadequacies of passwords, claims IBM in its new report, The IBM Security: Future of Identity Study . In a survey of 4,000 adults in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific, 67% of all respondents said they were comfortable using biometric authentication today, with 87% expecting to be comfortable with these technologies in the future. At 75%, acceptance is highest amongst Millennials aged between 20 and 36. Perhaps not coincidentally, this age group tends to pay less attention to password hygiene, with fewer than half using complex passwords that include special characters, numbers and letters and 41% admitting to using the same password multiple times. Today, the average internet user in America has more than 150 online accounts that require a password. This number is expected to rise to more than 300 in the future. Although almost half (44%) of respondents ranked fingerprint biometrics as one of the most secure methods of authentication, well ahead of passwords (27%) and PINs (12%), consumers still have concerns about how biometric data is collected and used (55%) and the risk of others using fake biometric data to access their accounts (50%). IBM’s research shows that security, rather than convenience, is the number one priority when logging into applications, especially banking, investing, and budgeting apps, for which 70% selected security as the top priority. The exceptions to this rule are social media apps, where convenience was the number one factor (cited by 36%), followed by security (34%) and privacy (30%). ibm.biz/FutureOfIdentity n A separate study by email provider GMX paints a somewhat different picture, with 57% of British adults preferring passwords to authentication by fingerprint, eye, face and voice recognition. Less than one third (29%) of the 1,000 people surveyed consider biometric log-in a useful addition, and then only if used in combination with manual methods like passwords and PIN entry. www.gmx.co.uk CHERRY’s new MC 4900 wired mouse has a built-in fingerprint reader for easy logon and secure authentication REPORT InternetofThings CybersecurityReadiness Lawrence Munro