According to a new IT spending forecast report published by IDC Government Insights, the big 5 Western European economies will represent more than 75% of the $53 billion spent on hardware, software, and IT services by governments in the region. Over 50% of that spending will take place at the local government level. Image : http://www.standard.co.uk/ “Spending reviews have made an impact on U.K., Dutch, and Irish government IT spending. They are now affecting the Spanish government IT rationalization and consolidation strategy and are expected to push further cuts in Italy. Those…

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A Russian company contacted Kaspersky Lab asking to investigate an incident when more than $130,000 was nearly stolen from its corporate account. The company representatives suspected malware was behind this incident. That suspicion was confirmed in the very first days of investigation. The bank which serviced the company targeted by the financial cybercriminals blocked the attempted $130,000 transaction. However, the cybercriminals did successfully make an $8,000 payment since that amount was too small to raise any alarms at the bank and did not require additional confirmation from the client organization’s…

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A Kaspersky Lab survey of global IT security professionals has found that as the rate of stolen mobile devices has increased, the average time for IT departments to respond to this security threat has also grown. Image via tnt24 The cause of this delay is employees becoming slower to notify their employers of missing devices, with only half of employees reporting theft quickly. Across businesses that experienced mobile device theft, 19% said the device theft resulted in the loss of business data, meaning businesses have approximately a one-in-five chance of losing…

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According to a Kaspersky Lab survey of IT professionals worldwide, virtualization security concerns are receiving more attention from businesses. However, some lingering doubts around the need for specialized virtualization security software still remain. The survey results also show that businesses have arrived at the intersection of performance and security for their IT systems and that balancing these two requirements continues to be a challenge. Using traditional security to protect virtual endpoints appears to be a major cause of performance problems across the IT industry. The survey results, which can be…

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Sophisticated mathematical algorithms are transforming the way consumers choose and use vacations – by allowing travel promoters to tap into the social pulse and subtler consumer preferences, and serve up increasingly personalized recommendations. The travel industry is currently alight with technology activity – particularly in the area of mobile apps, and even more so where these intersect with consumers’ shown preferences and social commentary. It reflects a shift in the way people choose and report back on holidays, which has largely moved online and gone mobile. In research conducted in…

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The cloud cuts both ways; while the ability to spin up compute power on demand has empowered even small businesses to compete on a global scale, this same flexibility has led to a significant amount of “cloud sprawl.” According to Tech Radar, 61 percent of companies surveyed said cloud sprawl — both from employees using unauthorized services and not fully utilizing approved resources — is responsible for business-wide inefficiencies. Bottom line? You need an effective cloud management system to maximize returns. Here are some key ingredients. A Solid Foundation Research…

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