Type of Article: MacTech Blog

A recent survey conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) finds that a whopping 84% of U.S. consumers expressed concern regarding the security of their personally identifiable information (PII) and 70% told IDC (www.idc.com) that their concern is greater today than just a few years ago.

The newly published special study, which measures consumer privacy sentiment across four vertical industries (Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail, and Government), also includes the following key findings:

Today’s typical business intelligence (BI) user increasingly prioritizes mobile, fast, and customizable platform options, and platform providers are feeling the pressure to evolve quickly to meet the demand from customers.

New data from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that the consumer IoT (Internet of Things) installed base will reach over 15 billion units by 2021, an increase of 120% over 2016.

As evidenced at the CES show earlier this month, embedded connectivity is increasingly being used as a product differentiator. Juniper cautioned that the vast scale of this connectivity will, unless action is taken, lead to an unmanageable cybersecurity risk created by botnets in excess of one million units.

The global market for smart wearables is projected to cross US$30 billion by 2020, according to a new report from Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

Initially, the adoption of these devices was confined to developed countries because of the high cost. However, with the decline in cost, vendors have shifted their focus to developing countries to increase their revenue and market base, according to the research group.

American consumers and businesses were overwhelmed by an estimated 29.3 billion robocalls in 2016, based on the YouMail Robocall Index (www.robocallindex.com), the nation’s first guide that compiles the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code.  

This news marks the first time that any source has tracked the nation’s collective robocall problem over an entire calendar year. In 2016: