NewsNews
Industry Going Mobile – But Don’t Forget Data Security
Monday, 20 February 2012 16:33
How Mobile Technology is Changing the Face of the Hospitality Industry
For anyone wondering if consumers are embracing mobile technology in relation to the hospitality industry, one just needs to look at the following stats:
- 29 percent, and rising, of U.S. mobile subscribers over the age of 18 have booked hotel stays on their smartphones, according to comScore Inc.’s September 2011 Custom Mobile Retail Advisor Survey.
- During the 2011 holiday season, more than 67 percent of consumers planned to make a purchase using a mobile device, according to PayPal.
- And the number of users is growing as mobile payments are expected to grow 40 percent, reaching $670 billion in transactions and 2.5 billion users globally by 2015, according to Juniper Research.
Read more on this story at HFTP Connect.
New cyber security bill is bipartisan, but has its critics
Friday, 17 February 2012 15:13
U.S. companies operating critical infrastructure will be forced to better defend their networks against cyber attacks, and to collect and share data crossing their network with federal authorities, if the bipartisan Cybersecurity Act of 2012 introduced this week becomes law.
The proposed bill is designed to streamline data security processes and improve the ability for companies to share information about data threats within their industries. But public interest organizations want to ensure the legislation limits the amount of personal data to which the government will gain access.
Read the full story at SC Magazine UK.
Twitter turns on HTTPS by default to protect Wi-Fi users
Friday, 17 February 2012 15:11
Twitter has joined a short-list of major web brands that have turned on the secure browsing capability, HTTPS, by default.
The company -- which made opt-in HTTPS available to users for the first time last March -- said that effective immediately, the encrypted protocol to prevent the unauthorized hijacking of private sessions and data will be turned on by default for all users.
"This setting makes your Twitter experience more secure by protecting your information, and it's especially helpful if you use Twitter over an unsecured internet connection like a public Wi-Fi network," a Monday blog post said.
Read more on this story at SC Magazine UK.
Viewpoint: The internet is broken - we need to start over
Wednesday, 15 February 2012 16:48
Last year, the level and ferocity of cyber-attacks on the internet reached such a horrendous level that some are now thinking the unthinkable: to let the internet wither on the vine and start up a new more robust one instead.
On being asked if we should start again, many - maybe most - immediately argue that the internet is such an integral part of our social and economic fabric that even considering a change in its fundamental structure is inconceivable and rather frivolous.
I was one of those. However, recently the evidence suggests that our efforts to secure the internet are becoming less and less effective, and so the idea of a radical alternative suddenly starts to look less laughable.
Read the full report on BBC News.Regional cybercrime hubs launched across England
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 14:52
Three police cybercrime teams have been launched as part of a £6m regional effort to combat growing threats.
Yorkshire and the Humber, the Northwest and East Midlands will each get its own dedicated unit.
They will work alongside the Metropolitan Police Centre e-crime Unit which deals with national online security.
The funding is part of £30m targeted at bolstering e-crime prevention nationally over the next four years.
Read more on this story on BBC News.