Opinion

The landscape of network security and criminal behavior continues to evolve at an astonishing rate, and for the average company this is going to mean at least a handful of risks that must be addressed immediately. For those that have taken all of the traditional steps for protecting their network and their company's information, it may be surprising to hear that they still have vulnerable points in their system. Within most companies, the number one threat is not going to be a dedicated attack against a firewall or a backdoor hack into one's software, it is going to be the authorized users themselves.

With news of security breaches happening at major corporations all over the world, it’s easy for business leaders to start focusing all of their attention on outside threats. Hackers seem to be everywhere these days, so a strategy that heightens network security against cyber attacks is usually a good idea. If your business has adopted bring your own device (BYOD) policies, however, all that preparation for avoiding outside risks may be misdirected.

At the beginning of 2014, a lot of people predicted it would be the year wearable technology really broke through. The promises of Google Glass and rumors of Apple Watch exited us, and we could already see the success of things like fitness bands. However, as the year is coming to a close, we now realize we were a little presumptuous. In fact, we can’t even be sure 2015 will be the year for wearables. There’s a lot of promises and hype surrounding wearable devices, but a closer look at their current popularity leaves their future up for debate.

It’s amazing the influence technology has. All these new gadgets have made our lives easier in so many ways, but they have also dramatically changed the cultures that embrace them. For example, digital theft is becoming a more common threat than physical theft.

We’ve heard examples of large corporations having their customer information hacked, or even celebrities having their personal photos stolen. And while we think criminals would only go after the big guys, small businesses aren’t in the clear. Without massive IT budgets and industry professionals, their networks are often left unprotected and become easy targets for intruders.

You better get used to paying with your phone. It’s already a popular method of making purchases in places like Japan and even some countries in Africa, but in the United States it hasn’t caught on quite as quickly. While so-called tap-to-pay methods have been around for a number of years already, Apple’s recent announcement of their own mobile payment service, called Apple Pay, has sent a new wave of excitement through the technology community.

For the first time in 15 years, my family doesn't have a website to call their own. In January 2000, I registered the domain Bryansplace.com. This was the first website I ever built outside of work and it became a sandbox for me to express my interests as well as a way to seek personal growth. From handwritten HTML pages, a detour with Frontpage, and eventually to a number of CMSs, the software and content at Bryansplace evolved as my life evolved.

Over the years, I've made it an unwritten policy not to sensationalize bug fixes and security vulnerabilities in content management systems. While there may be great interest in such stories, I believe such stories have a tendency to cause more harm than good. When sensationalized, such articles tend to cause customers to address security concerns with emotion instead of logic which is never a good thing. So, when the security vulnerability known as "Drupageddon" broke and Drupal developer Bevan Rudge posted "Your Drupal website has a backdoor", I knew this story was going to eventually reach mainstream media.

One of the biggest trends from just the past few years can easily be summed up through the letters BYOD. Bring Your Own Device policies have been all the rage among companies looking to increase employee productivity while also saving on costs, and it’s a trend that doesn’t appear to be slowing down. According to Gartner, about half of companies will have some sort of BYOD program in place by the year 2017. But all is not sunshine and rainbows for the relatively popular BYOD movement.

Learning Light, the UK-based independent e-learning industry market analyst, has produced its own thorough analysis of learning management systems (LMSs) identifying its top performers.

Predicting future changes in the world of technology can be a tricky endeavour. New products and innovations are revealed so rapidly that even experts may be caught unprepared. Even so, that doesn't mean looking into the future is without merit as it helps businesses and industries plan ahead. One of the most important aspects of any organization’s operations is the use of storage, particularly as more of the world becomes driven by data. Current ways of tackling storage challenges are already proving inadequate, necessitating new technologies and strategies for companies both large and small.