Today’s topics include reaction from analysts after Verizon falls victim to a data cloud breach; a mobile market report noting folks who want the newest Apple iPhones may have to shell out big bucks; Workday entering the platform-as-a-service market; and Microsoft’s Skype for Business taking a road trip in BMW 5 Series cars.
Security researchers have once again found data that had been improperly secured in the cloud, and unless organizations begin properly securing such data, it’s going to keep happening, they warn. These “breaches” are the result of either organizations or their partners leaving data in the cloud in an openly accessible manner.
The latest such breach victim is telecom giant Verizon, which inadvertently exposed information about 6 million customers that was publicly posted on a cloud server by its partner NICE Systems. The Verizon data leak was discovered by researchers working with UpGuard’s CyberRisk Team and was publicly disclosed on July 12.
According to UpGuard, it first disclosed to Verizon that the cloud data was exposed on June 13, with Verizon finally securing the data on June 22.
As Apple prepares its latest iPhone models, a report recently surfaced that the company might start their pricing at $1,200, which is substantially higher than current iPhone 7 prices.
Prices of some of the upcoming iPhone models—which could be called iPhone 8, but more likely will be labeled with extensions of the iPhone 7 naming hierarchy—could even hit $1,399, Apple watcher and developer John Gruber wrote in a July 7 post on his Daring Fireball blog. The expected higher prices, he wrote, will help differentiate the newest iPhones from existing models.
The original iPhone 7 prices start at $649 for a 32GB base iPhone 7 and go as high as $969 for a 256GB iPhone 7 Plus.
It’s taken awhile, but Workday is finally offering its business-applications platform to third-party developers as a cloud service. The Dublin, Calif.-based human resources and financial services software maker revealed July 11 that it is making most of its core technology available on a subscription basis for those customers who see value in building their own Workday-connected software.
Workday CEO and co-founder Aneel Bhusri described the plan in blog post July 11, saying that customers have been asking for it for a while. By opening up the Workday Cloud Platform and entering the platform-as-a-service market, Workday will enable customers to use its platform services to build custom extensions and applications in a hosted environment.
Microsoft’s connected car strategy took a new turn last week when the Redmond, Wash., tech titan announced it has teamed with German automaker BMW to integrate its Skype for Business enterprise communications platform into the infotainment systems found in BMW 5 series vehicles. With the move, the companies are making it possible for BMW-owning executives to never miss another conference call or Skype meeting due to traffic jams.
It was during the BMW Innovation Days event in Chicago July 13 that Microsoft and BMW announced that some Skype for Business functionality is being added to iDrive, BMW’s infotainment technology, in an effort to improve collaboration and get drivers to stow their smartphones while they’re behind the wheel.