Tag Archives: MWC

We Want to Embrace the IoT But Can We Trust It?

We are in the midst of a rapid technology evolution. We’re only four months into 2016 and already we’ve seen two major industry shows dominated by the Internet of Things (IoT).

In January, at CES, the connected home stole the spotlight – highlights included a Family Hub fridge, a Wi-Fi water leak detector and an AR-equipped robot vacuum.

The trend continued at MWC where a smart air conditioner, 4G-enabled security camera, and smart shoes were on display. If these two major events are any indication, the horizon shows a hyper-connected future.  But what are the trust issues at hand?

AVG collaborated with the organization, MEF, on its global survey to take a look at consumers’ concerns around the future of IoT. According to the MEF survey findings, people are enthusiastic about a connected future – when asked about their concerns around IoT, only 1 in 10 said there would be no tangible benefits.  Yet, as the network of IoT devices grows, so too do consumers’ concerns about what this increased connectivity and data sharing means for security.

As a security company, it is our responsibility to recognize and unpack such concerns so we can use that insight to address fears and vanquish threats down the road.

The MEF study, which surveyed over 5,000 mobile users in eight markets, examined consumer perceptions about the future of a connected world. The findings are significant, and indicate tremendous worry about a world of inter-connectivity:

  • 60% said they worry about a world of connected things.
  • Privacy (62%) and security (54%) are seen as the biggest threats worldwide.
  • One third of respondents in all 8 countries don’t want to share personal information but know they must if they want to use an app (up to 41% from 33% in 2015).
  • Home security raises the most concern among connected devices and applications.

MEF’s research shows a consistent decline in consumer trust, which continues to dip as the war on privacy wages on, leaving consumers to decide what data tradeoffs are worthwhile.

If we, as an industry, don’t address these trust issues, consumers may disengage since they will no longer be willing to sacrifice their privacy for greater connectivity. Considering that 62% of consumers already name privacy as their top concern when it comes to the IoT, that tipping point is likely to arrive sooner than we expect.

In order to respond to consumer concerns and stop the erosion of trust, the industry has to act. And when we do, it is vital that we don’t let our desire to get products to this burgeoning market quickly trump the need for responsible and secure design. Security cannot become an afterthought as we innovate toward connectivity.

If we care about our consumers and about the potential and longevity of IoT, we need to make ‘security by design’ a fundamental approach, regardless of device.

Help protect your family with AVG’s new VPN from Privax

As a father of three, I understand the difficulty of raising children in an increasingly online world. This first-hand experience made it even more pleasing to stand in the offices of AVG’s newest acquisition, a privacy and protection technology company called Privax, and to welcome all their employees officially to AVG.

Privax is behind a fantastic service called HMA! Pro which is a virtual private network (VPN) product that allows consumers to connect their mobile and desktop devices to the Internet securely and privately. It’s a great tool to ensure that personal data remains just that – personal data. VPNs give people more control over what information about themselves they are comfortable sharing and what they would prefer to keep to themselves when communicating, purchasing or searching online.

AVG understands that you are concerned about your privacy and this acquisition is part of our continued commitment to offering the best protection and privacy products available. It’s our goal to give you peace of mind when you go online on your mobile as well as your desktop devices. You’ve told us that you value choice when managing your own privacy settings, and for those with families, this is even more important as you look to protect your children online.

Research we carried out earlier this year with the Mobile Ecosystem Forum showed that 49% of people surveyed in 10 countries said trust prevented them from downloading or buying online, or using some or all apps from their mobile device. We also found that 72% were not happy sharing personal data with apps – compared with 65% last year.

Therefore, at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, our CEO, Gary Kovacs, made a public commitment to provide smart tools to help our customers reassert their privacy. This acquisition takes us one step further towards fulfilling this promise.

Video

Gary Kovacs Keynote at MWC 2015

 

Customers can already use our existing privacy services including AVG PrivacyFix and the Do Not Track feature of our secure search. Privax’s HMA! Pro will give you another option by helping you enjoy your favorite online activities in a safe and private environment that you can tailor to your personal sharing preferences and without compromising your privacy.

Avast at Mobile World Congress 2015

Part of the Avast team was reunited again at the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, to show our new apps:  Avast Battery Saver, Avast GrimeFighter and Avast SecureMe, and also other popular apps like Avast Mobile Security and Avast SecureLine.

Jude McColgan, president of Mobile, and Filip Chitry, malware analyst, came from our office in Prague with Petra, Jindra, Zdeněk, Jakub, Petr, Juraj and Farid. Daniel Cheng, Head of Worldwide Mobile Sales and Marketing, came from our offices in Hong Kong and Sung Lyong, came from South Korea. I didn’t travel as I’m working at the host city, the beautiful city of Barcelona. Have you ever been in Barcelona? You should try the famous tapas, walk around Las Ramblas and visit La Sagrada Familia. Feel free to ask us for some recommendations on Twitter! :)

The Avast team arrived the weekend before the Mobile World Congress in order to build up our beautiful and colorful booth, located at the Hall 5, booth 5K29. After one day of exhausting work, the booth was ready to receive all the visitors and the journalists. The booth was really cool, right? ;)

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Everything started on monday. Tens of thousands of people came to the Mobile World Congress, located in Hospitalet de Llobregat (“What are you talking about? The MWC is in Barcelona!” Well, not really, the MWC is located in the second largest city of Catalonia, Hospitalet, next to Barcelona) where besides learning some security tips from the Avast team and learning about our new apps, the visitors were able to see what’s new on the mobile industry, like new smartphones, new wearables, new tablets, etc…

The following days were really successful. A lot of people came to our booth to meet the team and, of course, our new apps.

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Not only visitors, a lot of journalists from all around the world and from different media, from TV channels to tech blogs, came to our booth. Nobody wanted to miss our new apps and our impressive hacking experiment! Everyone was impressed after knowing how, with Avast Battery Saver, you can save up to 7 hours of battery and, of course, after watching our live hacking experiment, where everyone was able to see how important a good security solution is while using a public Wi-Fi.

The whole team was really satisfied with the results achieved at the Mobile World Congress. The feedback received from the visitors was really positive and of course it will help us to improve our top rated security solutions.

Do you want to know what Filip Chitrý, malware analyst at Avast, and Jindra Pistkova, mobile marketing specialist, said about the Mobile World Congress? Watch the following video:

And last but not least, here you have a picture of the team :)

Avast Team

See you next year at Mobile World Congress 2016!

Why IoT should stand for “Illusion of Trust”

Our always on, always connected world has fundamentally changed how businesses operate. Communicating with customers and employees will never be the same again.

Cloud solutions bring many benefits by making things easier for businesses, and it’s happening whether we like it or not.

But many businesses trust the cloud blindly without proper consideration for the challenges and deeper issues at hand.

The added convenience of cloud applications also comes with a potential downside, such as potential security threats and surrender of control.

Many people are familiar with the acronym “IoT”, and we understand it to mean the Internet of Things. This is a catch-all term for our world of cloud based information and smart connected devices.

I believe there’s another meaning for these three letters – “Illusion of Trust”.

I call it the Illusion of Trust because business owners don’t realise that cloud security is an issue.

The reality is that, through their T’s and C’s, cloud providers are limiting their responsibility for the data they create and manage. This means that interruptions to service or changes of policy can leave businesses in trouble. As we hand the control, we need to consider the trust – just as we do we with employees.

No so long ago, Facebook experienced a software flaw due to a seemingly simple error that cascaded into a much larger problem causing an major outage that lasted five hours.

I personally know a number of businesses impacted by this outage.  It was unplanned, unscheduled and hugely inconvenient for the many thousands that rely on Facebook as a business tool.

Businesses around the globe trust Facebook to deliver – all the time. The same goes for other cloud-based services that millions of businesses rely on.

The following line is from the terms and conditions of a well-known cloud storage provider:

“We may add or remove functionalities or features, and we may suspend or stop a Service altogether”.

These T’s and C’s are not unusual. There are thousands of providers out there and many do not take any responsibility for losing data, for changing or suspending service, or for any outages that may occur.

Traditionally, if your employees suddenly decided to take five unscheduled hours off you’d be able to take action, wouldn’t you?  This is within your control.

But when you adopt cloud solutions, you forgo that control in return for added convenience and cost efficiencies.

Businesses are still too eager to hand over their vital services and data to cloud providers. They are placing blind trust in a system that is not entirely reliable. Instead, I believe that cloud providers should have to win the trust of businesses before they take control over important business elements.

After all, who we trust with our data and our livelihood is now one of the most important business decisions we can make as businesspeople.

I hope, over the next few years, that we witness an evolution in cloud services that focuses on transparency, flexibility and reliability.

Trust is something that should be earned and not granted unconditionally at the onset.

Come meet Avast at Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress 2014

Avast will participate in the 2015 Mobile World Congress

The Avast Mobile Security Team will be introducing its latest suite of apps and solutions at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, March 2 – 5.

The team, including Jude McColgan, President of Mobile, and Daniel Chang, Head of Worldwide Mobile Sales and Marketing, will be participating in this must-attend conference for mobile industry leaders, visionaries, and innovators.

The Avast team are leaders in securing the mobile ecosystem as it expands into the retail, banking, and health services industries. Along with interesting discussions about the latest security threats and vulnerabilities for Android and iOS devices and how users can protect themselves from those threats, our team will show users how they can free their phone from unnecessary files to gain valuable storage space on their mobile devices.

New threats and trends

Mr. McColgan and Mr. Chang will introduce a solution that addresses Wi-Fi security issues. Most people know that connecting to Wi-Fi networks on-the-go at cafes, airports, or hotels can make them vulnerable to hackers. Without the protection of a virtual private network (VPN), hackers can gain access to people’s emails, browsing history, and personal data. Now, routers are increasingly becoming targets for hackers, harboring new risks for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Avast will be revealing new research data, then introducing a solution for this threat at Mobile World Congress.

Storage on your smartphone and tablet can be a challenge especially when social media, video, music streaming, and news reader apps pile up data that eats up valuable storage space. Avast will showcase a new solution that addresses this problem.

If you are attending Mobile World Congress, please stop by and visit the Avast team at stand 5K29 in Hall 5.

For the rest of us not lucky enough to travel to Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress, visit the Avast blog and Facebook page where we will keep you updated on all the announcements and happenings. Take a look at some of the fun from last year’s event.

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