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"Accidental" security incidents by company insiders happen more frequently and have the potential for greater negative impact than "malicious" insider acts, according to a whitepaper from research house IDC. It also found a misalignment of security concerns by the majority of executives, who prioritised protecting against the latter rather than the former.

It was noted that no single technology will be able to protect against the actions of insiders, which is in itself a large group that includes consultants, outsourcing partners, contractors and business partners alongside employees and executives. IDC argues that "a comprehensive risk management framework is the only way to effectively manage operational risk, secure competitive advantage, reduce vulnerabilities, manage misconfigurations, reduce the growing number of regulatory compliance violations, and control high-profile incidents of information leaks".

Having polled 400 companies across France, Germany, the UK and the US, IDC said that 52% characterised incidents arising from insider threats as primarily accidental, compared with 19% who believed that incidents were primarily deliberate; 26% believed there were an equal combination. But whether accidental or deliberate, the costs remain the same: the disclosure of sensitive information can result in regulatory actions, failed audits, litigation, public ridicule and competitive disadvantage. Sensitive information at risk includes customer and employee information, design plans, source code and other intellectual property.

The survey found that during the previous twelve months, organisations experienced an average of 14.4 incidents of unintentional data loss through employee negligence, with contractors and temporary staff representing the greatest risk. It was noted that due to the recession, many businesses are increasing the use of temporary or contract staff, creating a burden for IT staff who need to manage access rights, monitor activities, and de-provision non-active accounts, while still protecting sensitive information and complying with privacy regulations.

The most common types of incidents included unintentional data loss through employee negligence; malware/spyware attacks from within the enterprise; excessive privilege/access control rights; and deliberate information security policy violations. Data loss through negligence was most common in the financial, public and healthcare sector, while malware/spyware incidents were most prevalent in the telecoms industry.

Some 43% of organisations have a specific budget allocated for internal security risks, with almost 40% planning to increase their spend during the coming year.

The IDC survey was sponsored by business security company RSA.

Improved communication leads to improved risk
Separately, enterprise data security company Proofpoint noted that US companies are "increasingly concerned about a growing number of data leaks caused by employee misuse of email, blogs, social networks, multimedia channels and even text messages".

Perhaps at the most extreme level, it was found that 33% of the 220 surveyed businesses employed someone whose "primary or exclusive" job is to monitor the content of outbound email, compared with 15% in 2008. Some 34% of respondents said that their businesses have been impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information, up from 23% in 2008.

Email poses the number one threat, with 43% of companies having investigated an email-based leak of confidential or proprietary information in the last twelve months. 18% had investigated an issue including a blog or message board violation (with 9% having fired an employee for such an act). There was also an increase in threats from multimedia sharing sites such as YouTube, social networking sites including Facebook and LinkedIn, and mobile channels including SMS and Twitter.

Website TelecomTV noted that for European businesses, where different legislation applies to employees than in the US, a "clear and unequivocal" email and internet usage policy is essential, to avoid claims of unfair dismissal.

Proofpoint's report can be downloaded here.

Microsoft's mobile enterprise activities have been in the spotlight during the last few weeks, with the company inking an alliance with Nokia to address this market, and reports that the company is planning to support mobile browser access to its web-based Office applications. But the news raises some important questions with regard to how enterprise users interact with their devices, and what smartphones are used for in the real-world.

Starting with the mobile browser access to web applications rumours first, online publication Ars Technica reported that Microsoft had confirmed this is planned, but the software giant had stated "we are still in early phases of development and will share additional details around specific browsers and functionality at a later date". Microsoft has already said that it is looking to add cloud versions of Office titles to its portfolio, alongside native software versions.

Moving on to the Nokia partnership, Microsoft and the number-one global handset vendor are to develop a native version of the Office Mobile software for smartphones powered by the Symbian OS platform, with Office Mobile previously being the preserve of smartphones based on Microsoft's own Windows Mobile platform. While this will give enterprises choice of a wider range of smartphones with Office Mobile support, a range of third party office software has been available for Symbian OS for some time which does a very similar job.

The big question is whether enterprise users actually want Office functionality on smartphones. While these devices provide users with excellent communications capabilities in an attractive and portable form factor, they also have a number of shortcomings: the input method is limited, whether via touch screen or keypad; the display size is small, limiting the amount of usable information displayed on the screen; and computing power is constrained by issues including processor speed, battery power and available memory. This limits their usability for document editing and viewing.

It is worth noting that the generally accepted leader in the enterprise mobility market, Research In Motion, the company behind BlackBerry, has maintained its core focus on messaging, whether email or enterprise-class IM, and personal information management (contact and calendar synchronisation), rather than document editing.

For mobile users who require access to document editing features in a portable form factor, a netbook device seems to offer a much better compromise; although they are significantly bigger, this enables them to include usable keyboards and larger screens, making them more suitable for document manipulation. Smartphones seem best suited to communications roles, centred around their positioning as phones rather than computers.

Industry observer Michael Mace, who has previously held executive positions at Palm and Apple, noted "putting Microsoft Office on a smartphone is like putting wings on a giraffe -- it may get you some attention, but it's not very practical".

Perhaps the more interesting detail of the Microsoft and Nokia partnership is the fact that the partners will also include work on "business communications, collaboration and device management software", opening the potential for a range of Microsoft's enterprise products to be extended to users of Nokia devices. This offers the potential to improve enterprise collaboration, through access to internet and extranet portals built on SharePoint Server, and improve communication through Office Communicator Mobile. With device management also on the agenda, there is a real opportunity for enterprises to seamlessly create a best-of-breed solution using Microsoft's enterprise computing products, devices powered by Windows Mobile, and Nokia's Symbian OS smartphones.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology published an article discussing "energy-aware internet routing", which it argues could save data-intensive businesses millions of dollars every year in electricity costs. But as with most IT developments, the potential gains are not as easy to come by as headline statistics would suggest, with a number of issues that will limit the benefits available.

Working with distributed computing company Akami, the research suggests that business could reduce their data center power consumption by as much as 40% by re-routing tasks to locations where electricity prices are lowest on a particular day. By shifting the most computing-intensive processes to low-cost facilities, quality of service is maintained while utility costs are cut, creating something of a win-win for enterprises.

MIT noted that data center power consumption is likely to increase in the coming years, as more and more information and applications are moved into the cloud. For businesses with a heavy reliance on technology, the increased flexibility offered by distributed computing and web applications will be accompanied by higher utility bills, which is an issue that may not have so-far been considered.

Researchers analysed 39 months of electricity price data for 29 US markets, which found costs fluctuating due to seasonal changes in supply, fuel price increases, and changes in consumer demand. This led to "a surprising amount of volatility, even among geographically close locations" - no one place was always the cheapest, with large fluctuations exhibited on a short time-scale.

The MIT team devised a routing scheme designed to take advantage of daily and hourly fluctuations in electricity, also taking into account the costs incurred routing data to other sites when compared with the potential energy savings. Information collected from nine Akami servers across 24 days of activity provided a way to test the routing scheme using real-world data, which delivered results deemed "pretty surprising".

With an increased focus on corporate' green credentials, it is worth noting that the MIT proposal cuts energy costs, but not consumption. Savings could also be achieved by increasing data center efficiency through the use of technologies such as virtualisation, reducing total power use instead of reducing the price of the power consumed. Website TreeHugger suggested a variant of the MIT model could be developed to take into account green credentials alongside costs.

Other issues also have to be taken into consideration to accurately measure the benefits. The concept relies on servers using substantially less power when idle than when working at full capacity, which is not necessarily the case and is difficult to monitor across multiple sites, while it is also essential to have access to up-to-date pricing information. In addition, capacity needs to be available at the data centre with the lowest-priced electricity, and there is still the issue of large amounts of data either needing to be replicated or moved between sites to reap the benefits.

Analyst firm Pierre Audoin Consultants published a bleak forecast for the UK software and IT services market, stating that the market will decline faster than expected during 2009 as "the economic downturn forces organisations to rein-in investment on new business applications and project services engagements".

The financial health of the IT sector has been centre stage during the recession, not only because of its significance in its own right, but also as a barometer of attitudes toward spending across vertical markets. And so far a mix of positive and negative findings have been revealed, indicating uncertainty more than anything else.

According to PAC, during 2009 UK software and IT services spend will decrease by 1.3%, compared with the 1% decline it had forecast earlier during the year. It still believes the sector will return to growth in 2010, although at a slower pace than originally expected.

It was noted that clients are continuing to negotiate aggressively with both new and incumbent suppliers, while also exploring the benefits of offshore sourcing. While many organisations have frozen or cut their discretionary IT budgets, there has been an increase in outsourcing spend, as businesses aim to reduce their IT operating costs and focus on core, strategic activities.

The biggest UK spender for software and IT services is the public sector, which makes up nearly 25% of the market, and which is set to increase its spend by 4.3% during 2009. This expenditure will be driven by attempts to create cost efficiencies as well as investments in specific new programmes, including border control and defence initiatives. Previously, it had been noted that the government is warming to the potential of offshore outsourcing due to the potential cost savings, despite the political sensitivity associated with sending IT work (and jobs) overseas.

Industry sectors that are cutting spending most severely include retail, services and manufacturing.

Retail IT cuts bottoming out
Separately, Fujitsu commissioned research into IT spend in the retail sector, which found that while 43% of respondents had seen IT budgets shrink as part of cost control measures, the majority do not expect to see further cuts -- this despite the fact that 95% expect the recession to last for another two years.

It was noted that 20% of respondents have seen their IT budgets increase, as management teams look to invest in businesses during the downturn "to emerge fitter, leaner and stronger". While 95% of retailers related their organisations as efficient, only half have specific productivity targets in place.

I should preface this post by saying I have a home-grown bias when it comes to Iowa.  Hailing from the neighbor to the north, Minnesota, there is an inherent rivalry that can cloud even the best news reports coming from the home of Johnny Carson, John Wayne and of course Fred Grandy (you can't write about Iowa and miss pointing out that "Gopher" from the Love Boat is one of their most famous citizens).  The fact that they get to essentially select who I get to vote for every four years does get to me a bit (though the Howard Dean debacle was some nice comeupins, Heyaaaww!! ) That being said, I think the latest news from Iowa really is groundbreaking.  

Green IT analysis company Verdantix published a report into the business case for carbon management software, arguing that CFOs will be "compelled" to invest in carbon management software due to a combination of new compliance regimes, the financial risk of carbon liabilities, and the need for better management control over carbon data.

While previous green IT efforts have often been something of an ad-hoc activity, with multinational corporations often lacking a centralised reporting process, changing regulatory and accountability demands mean that a more structured approach is necessary. David Metcalfe, Director of Verdantix, argues that "CFOs need to get into the driving seat to assure the board that the management of carbon assets and liabilities is fully under control".

Earlier in 2009, the Confederation of British Industry warned that when proposed carbon reduction legislation comes into force, many companies "are in for a real shock". It urged businesses to think about how they intend to monitor energy use and improve efficiency in order to comply with legislation -- indicating that the time may be right for businesses to explore carbon management software.

Verdantix said that the main requirements of CFOs include the ability to assure the board that carbon liabilities are under control; the ability to integrate carbon costs into financial planning and budgeting; and the delivery of reduced compliance and audit costs. It was noted that "many board members would be horrified at the low quality and poor verification of carbon emissions data that is released into the public domain", and that CFOs need to be sure that "change costs do not break the bank" when mandatory reporting rules kick-in.

"Today CFOs focus on cash management and cost reduction. But they can't dodge the carbon management bullet forever", Metcalfe said.

Carbon management software platforms need to be able to scale globally, in order to support different compliance regimes being implemented in different markets, and can also be used in the creation of a formal carbon management organisation. They also provide accurate carbon management data, increasing corporate confidence in auditability.

According to Verdantix, its case study analysis of a $5bn revenue chemicals firm suggests a 145% return on investment over a three-year period, and a payback period of less than twelve months. Obviously these figures will vary dramatically by sector and company size, which define how carbon-heavy a business is in the first place.

Some interesting numbers from ABI Research, which has turned its focus to the enterprise fixed mobile convergence (FMC) market. It forecasts that the number of FMC voice connections is set to grow from 6.3 million in 2009 to 27 million by 2014, representing a healthy compound annual growth rate of 27%. The numbers include mobile connections routed through the fixed network via in-building picocells and femtocells, and enterprise voice-over-WiFi deployments.

Forecasting numbers for nascent markets is always a tricky business; the accuracy of long-term predictions improves with the amount and quality of the baseline data available, and certainly for picocells and femtocells the technology has not been commercialised long enough to generate much in the way of meaningful results. Not to say that ABI's forecasts are wide of the mark, but it will certainly be interesting to see how they are modified as the technology becomes more commonly deployed.

Enterprise voice-over-WiFi is perhaps on more solid ground. Indeed it is the maturity of WiFi that has seen it become a standard feature in smartphones, meaning that a key enabling technology has found its way into the hands of enterprise customers somewhat by stealth. According to the analysts, the "attach rate" for WiFi in smartphones will grow from 45% in 2009 to 90% in 2014, paving the way for wider deployment of voice-over-WiFi by corporates (lack of WiFI handsets was previously deemed a barrier to adoption).

Enterprise Briefing recently discussed FMC, and noted that voice-over-WiFi presents its own challenges for businesses. The primary issue is that in order to support voice traffic, a WiFi network has to be deployed which is capable of providing the necessary quality-of-service, which is an altogether more complex proposition than a data-only network - and also requires significant capital expenditure. In addition, this infrastructure only benefits users when on-campus, not when travelling or visiting customer sites, which is when voice costs are likely to be at their highest.

In recent weeks, there has been something of a flurry of activity in the mobile machine-to-machine (m2m) space, in order to meet anticipated growth in the market for remote monitoring applications among corporates. This technology provides a number of benefits for companies, enabling them to gather information from remote and distributed sites without the need to deploy field services staff, both cutting costs and improving efficiency.

But as with any technology, the tough economic conditions are impacting m2m. Integrated Solutions magazine published a report discussing this, which can be summed up as short term pain, long term gain.

Authored by analyst firm ABI Research, it was said that respondents to a late 2008 survey were "cautiously optimistic" for this market. Reasons for this optimism include the fact that m2m applications are not directly subject to negative trends in consumer spending; the money-saving potential for corporate end-adopters; the fact that m2m can enable new revenue streams for enterprises; and the fact that in some markets, m2m applications such as smart metering are subject to regulatory mandates.

But the tough economic conditions are taking their toll, with a mixed picture with regard to how long the malaise will last. The most optimistic forecast that these will abate by the third quarter of 2009, while the most negative is that the market will remain tough until the fourth quarter of 2010.

The manner in which negative sentiment will affect the m2m market is broadly the same as for the technology sector as a whole. Access to credit is being interrupted, R&D budgets are being cut, customers are cautious about making new investments, and currency effects will force contracts written in US dollars but paid by non-dollar businesses to be renegotiated.

While m2m is seen as primarily a business-to-business play, there are several consumer applications, and these are likely to suffer as a result of weakened confidence. Home security is one area that is likely to be impacted, as are certain telematics applications.

Interesting as they may be, ABI's findings do have some limitations. Of 38 individuals asked to respond, only 17 did, making a limited survey even more constrained. And the respondents primarily came from the m2m supplier ecosystem, rather than from businesses, which would slant the outcomes -- although the findings do reflect a degree of realism from this market, rather than blind optimism.