It’s been a long time since mobile phones were just phones. With more processing power than some desktops and laptops, today’s smartphones have become the computing platform of choice for many users. According to one survey, more than 90 percent of corporate employees use a smartphone for work every day.

Network reliability has never been more important. Organizations across all industry sectors are increasingly dependent on their networks to extend connectivity to highly distributed remote workers, cloud services, edge devices and IoT infrastructure. Meeting those demands often requires upgrading legacy hardware-centric networks to more cloud- and software-driven environments to accommodate growing volumes of users, devices and traffic.

While discussing military strategy more than 200 years ago, George Washington offered some advice that modern-day cybersecurity professionals are now taking to heart. “Offensive operations,” he wrote in 1799, “are oftentimes the surest means of defense.

Compromised endpoint devices such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones and printers have become primary access points for cybercriminals attempting to infiltrate networks. More than two-thirds of IT security professionals say their organizations have experienced one or more endpoint attacks that successfully compromised their data and infrastructure, according to research from the Ponemon Institute.

Threat actors, including state-supported groups and cybercrime organizations, are actively ramping up attacks that leverage a recently discovered zero-day flaw in a Microsoft Windows support tool. The flaw, known as Follina, allows attackers to remotely take control of targeted computer systems through the use of altered Office documents.

Remember the early days of ransomware attacks? The approach seems almost comical today. Send an email to as many people as possible about needing help transferring millions of dollars to an American bank from a far-off land. Tell users that they’ll get a nice cut of the loot if they click a malicious link.

A new version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, PCI DSS 4.0, was released on March 31, 2022, the first major update to the standard since 2018. As the news release states, the update “brings major changes to the payments ecosystem” and “places an increased focus on targeted risk analysis, organizational maturity and governance.

A microchip engineer was recently accused of stealing trade secrets using a clever technique. He allegedly sent data to his personal computer by hiding schematics in image files named for Pokémon characters.

A former Tesla employee is accused of taking a less technical approach, downloading trade secrets to his personal computer and submitting a different laptop for inspection to hide his activity.

Despite months of dire warnings about the threat potential, researchers say the vast majority of vulnerabilities in the widely used Apache Log4j logging utility for Java software remain unpatched and actively exploited. New research suggests that more than 90,000 Internet-facing Java applications and nearly 70,000 servers remain exposed to the flaw that enables attackers to remotely execute code on compromised systems.

The smartphone is a remarkable device — a telephone, computer, web browser, camera, fitness tracker, personal assistant, navigation system and media player all wrapped up in a pocket-sized package. It’s no wonder that surveys regularly find that people would rather go without cars, televisions or even food than give up their smartphones.