6 things in cybersecurity we didn’t know last year

The past 12 months in cybersecurity have been a rough ride. In cybersecurity, everything is broken — it’s just a matter of finding it — and this year felt like everything broke at once, especially toward the end of the year. But for better or worse, we end the year knowing more than we did before.

Here we look back at the year that’s been, and what we learned along the way.

1. Ransomware costs businesses because of downtime, not ransom payments

The scourge of file-encrypting malware continues. Ransomware this year alone forced entire towns offline, blocked paychecks and caused fuel shortages, as entire company networks were held for ransom in exchange for millions of dollars in cryptocurrency payments. The U.S. Treasury estimates that ransomware operators are likely to make more from ransom payments in 2021 than they did during the past decade. But research shows that the businesses face the most losses through lost productivity and the often-arduous task of cleaning up after a ransomware attack — including incident response and legal support.

Four Phases To Building The Right Mobile Apps

The increased dependence on mobile apps during the pandemic is now transforming into a permanent change in consumer behavior. Individuals run their lives on a network of interconnected apps, with a projected revenue generation of $935 billion by 2023.

Keeping up with the shift, many businesses are launching new apps as fast as their teams can work. They jump onto the app bandwagon with the assumption that it’s just about identifying the kind of app they need and briefing the app development team to get it done. However, there are certain aspects of the process that are easily overlooked, leaving businesses with apps that don’t bring in the expected results.

Here’s a look at four phases to building apps that should work for your business.

1. Conceptualization: Ensure Your Mobile App Adds Value

In the rush to launch an app, companies often don’t spend enough time evaluating exactly what app their customers need or what would serve their business goals. Consequently, the app doesn’t gain much traction, becoming a sunk cost.

When Should Your Company Develop Its Own Software?

 

Summary.   Leveraging homegrown software to bring innovation to your market or to create more efficient operations can be a strong growth driver. But the buy-it vs. build-it decision is a critical one. If buying the software you need just isn’t possible, building it may make sense. But  there’s no denying that’s a difficult path, and only worth it if the upside is big. Before you build, make sure you understand the real costs to succeed over the long term, and only embark on those code-writing efforts you’re sure your business is capable of. The author discusses two midsize companies that successfully “rolled their own code” and presents three competencies required to do so.

The Future Of Work: How Slack Is Reinventing Hybrid Collaboration With Machine Learning

That virtual meeting that could have been an email? It should have been a Slack Huddle or a clip.

Slack, an already integral part of the modern workforce, is redefining the norm of remote and hybrid work yet again with its new collaboration tools - huddles and clips. With the help of AWS machine learning (ML), the company has reinvented collaboration across time zones in an increasingly isolating hybrid workplace. In just a few short months, Slack has leveraged ML to innovate, improve products, and speed time to market on the cloud.