Today’s topics include a study by IBM and Ponemon Institute that finds the average cost of data breaches continues to rise, IBM’s enhanced support for Apple’s Swift programming language, AMD’s latest graphics cards that are based on its new Polaris architecture and the U.S. government’s tests of biometric analysis technology at Atlanta International Airport.
Year after year, the Ponemon Cost of Data Breach Study finds that breach costs have gone up and the 2016 report is no exception. The average cost of a data breach is now $4 million, up from the $3.8 million in the 2015 report, according to this year’s study, which was sponsored by IBM.
The average cost per lost or stolen record was $158, up from $154 in the 2015 report and $145 in the 2014 study. The average cost of a stolen or lost record varies by industry, with lost or stolen health care records worth $355 per record in 2016.
Looking at the root causes of data breaches, the study found that 48 percent of data breaches were the result of malicious attacks to an organization. The report also found that the average time to identify a breach now stands at 201 days.
Apple’s Swift programming language continues to gain popularity among developers. Now IBM, as a key Apple partner, is throwing additional support behind the programming technology.
This week at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, IBM announced new developer tools and support for Swift. The company also provided updates on growing momentum of Swift adoption at IBM and in its developer community.
IBM has been creating mobile applications for its MobileFirst for iOS platform using Swift, but the company also is making strides in extending Swift for server-side development.
At the Computex 2016 show last month, Advanced Micro Devices previewed the Radeon RX 480 GPU, a high-end chip that officials said will deliver premium virtual reality experiences for gamers at a relatively low price, starting at $200 for a 4GB version. This week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, AMD President and CEO Lisa Su showed off the entire line of the upcoming Radeon RX family, which also includes the RX 470 for more power-efficient gaming and PC performance, and the low-end RX 460 for e-sports gaming.
With the new lineup, AMD is bringing high-end GPU capabilities to a broader market, officials said.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) department announced June 13 that it had begun testing new technology designed to capture biometric information on travelers leaving the United States from the national airports. It’s a long-awaited development, but one that’s arriving as the FBI is working to eliminate consumer privacy protections on its biometric database.
The CBP began initial testing June 13 at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will run until Sept. 30 on a single flight per day from the United States to Japan. Travelers aged 15 through 78 will be required to participate. When travelers present their boarding passes, their “digital photos” will be taken, the CBP said in a statement, in a process designed to take under 3 seconds.