This side of delusional demagogues in dyed white dhotis, the single biggest developmental challenge facing a faltering India is undoubtedly the acquisition of land for industrial development. Repeated interventions by the Supreme Court in acquisition disputes suggest as much. Now that the Calcutta High Court has decided that the Singur Land Rehabilitation & Development Act, 2011 is unconstitutional, another round of litigation in the apex court seems inevitable. It seems that in India circa 2012, acquiring land from farmers is as hard as giving it back! Let's not assume that everyone knows all the facts. Tata Motors needed to set up a factory for their Nano project. Tata Motors accepted West Bengal's invitation so the state government acquired land for the factory in 2006. There were protests culminating in a test before the court. The Calcutta High court said on January 18th, 2008 that the acquisition procedure was valid and legal in all respects. By that time, it didn't matter what the court said. Mamata Banerjee and the leftist state government had collided in the countryside with gangsters running amuck everywhere. By August 2008, the Tatas had had enough. They abandoned the project, moved the Nano to Gujarat and lived just a little happier ever after. Meanwhile, Didi extracted mileage enough to ride her all the way to the Chief Minister's chair on May 20th 2011. The Singur land became a tiger by the tail: she now had to deliver on her electoral promise to give that 'prime farmland become 95 per cent factory' back to the farmers. What were her choices? She didn't have the several thousand Crores that the Tatas would doubtless ask. She had to snatch the land without paying for it so she passed this law. Since the mandatory presidential assent wasn't likely to come in the foreseeable future, she decided to dispense with it and set to implementing the law. Tata Motors went to the High Court.The question before the High Court was one of constitutional due process, not the law on land acquisition. Since land is a concurrent subject under our constitution – meaning both parliament and state legislatures are competent to make laws on it - the potential conflict of law is handled through a presidential consent mechanism. Were the central and state laws "repugnant", the court was asked? Clearly, the purpose of both the Singur law and the general land acquisition law was to take land away for their owners, for money in one case and for free in another. The payment question was repugnancy enough and so the law was void.Clearly, this new judgment has done much to promote justice for victimized industrialists in India but it is a justice based on constitutional principles developed to deal with our federalism. None of this has anything to do with India's struggle to acquire land from poor farmers for developmental purposes. The moral to the story is in its perfect illustration of the inextricable connection between land acquisition and power politics. Who snatches whose land at what price is ultimately a question of who has the political power to establish laws to do so, legalizing the robbery in the process. Who has the ability to resist that legal ‘due process' and be rewarded with the chief minister's chair is equally a matter of political power. Finally, who has the power to then snatch the land right back and give it to the original owner, or not, is the final test of counter veiling political power. The diabolical diatribes of Didi are ultimately about colliding politics and political class conflicts. It is in this colliding class politics that the lessons of Singur are to be learnt, not in the development of Indian jurisprudence. It is equally in understanding these conflicts that we are able to understand Didi's terrifying tantrums. Let me illustrate.Didi is far too astute not to know that the Singur law would require presidential assent. If she did not ask for it, it is because she calculated she would not get it, certainly not in the time frame she had set herself in her electoral promises. She calculated that law's delays would give her time enough to stage her grandstand public ceremonies with jubilant farmers, leaving the Tatas to fight only for compensation. Compensation didn't bother her because a successor government would find the money to pay it, when and if and how much. The court did not oblige her with delays. So what are her choices now?She could take this case up to the Supreme Court. It will linger on for a bit by which time her Chief Ministerial birth could possibly be gone and the appeal would have become academic. Alternatively she could pitch for presidential assent. To do that, she needed a plaint president. Accepting the Congress' candidate as her candidate was simply not on. He wasn't going to be HER candidate and besides, she perceived the putative president in waiting as a Bengali rival, not a potential ally in her war with industrial India. Once Abdul Kalam declined the role she was thrusting on him, the game was pretty much lost. No coalition compulsion can now be extracted to help the Singur law. Given the grief she has given the incoming president,he would need to be more sage than man to let her have both his consent and the credit for something that he, not she, has the power to give to the farmers. Its checkmate.In the result, the Singur law may well be a corpse best used to promote an understanding of the politics of law making in India. The country of course is no closer to establishing a just and fair land acquisition law worthy of a mature liberal democracy and our problems with it remain the same. Net, net, colliding political power resolves itself, the developmental challenge doesn't.(The author is managing partner of the Gurgaon-based corporate law firm N South and author of the pioneering business book Winning Legal Wars. He can be contacted at rcd@nsouthlaw.com)
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The last few months have tested the belief of die-hard optimists. Almost nothing seems to be going right for India's economic environment. But in the bleak landscape I think there is still much good that is happening. The big one of course is that the Reserve Bank of India has finally made the cost of credit cheaper. This could well be the beginning of the turnaround. Has the negative sentiment bottomed out? A bit early to say but for the first time in many months one can say that businesses feel a bit perked up. The government is following up the rate cut with diktats to PSU banks to pass on benefits to borrowers. This may take a while, but the mood may just be turning. On the corporate front the business seems to be better than the mood. Investors in some sectors continue to be bullish on Indian growth. International food chain Subway is ready to increase its store from 260 to 1000 in five years. Other global majors remain cautious about the fickle laws of India but continue to invest in India. Domestic giants haven't halted their plans. Mahindra Group announced its high investment research and development centre in Chennai. Bharti Airtel rolled out 4G services despite the policy mess in telecom. Essel Group has added fizz in the M&A space with its stake buys in infra firm IVRCL. The latest CMIE data on project completion is also cause for cheer. Many pending projects were completed in the previous fiscal. This amounts to a value of Rs 4 lakh crore. Some of them had been cleared as far back as 2005. If the pace of completion continues then 2012-13 see sustained stimulus for core sector. Even without fresh investment proposals, the pipeline is worth Rs 8 lakh crore for the New Year. All of these signs that many doughty Indian companies to plod ahead despite severe headwinds.The FDI figures for the 2011-12 till February are highest in previous two years. From about $25 billion in 2009-10, FDI fell to $19.42 bn. The great development is that 2011-12 FDI inflows till February is $28 billion. If FDI in aviation and retail are allowed soon, this year could see flows from this sector too. The biggest success though is on the bilateral and external front. India Pakistan trade ties are moving at a scorching pace. The governments are now talking about allowing cross-border investment within the year. I had argued that joint venture investment would cement the trade cites between India and Pakistan. And I have been pleasantly surprised by the speed of developments. India and Africa continue to do greater business with each other. And increasing portion of the $5 billion line of credit offered by India last year is getting utilised. The number of proposals involving Indian and African companies is growing. Myanmar is the other market that can excite overseas investment. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai summed up India's strides on civil nuclear cooperation. He said that India has tied up agreements with ten countries. These are France, US, Russia, Canada, Argentina, UK, Namibia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan & Republic of Korea. Each of the agreements, especially with countries like Namibia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan open new growth opportunities for Indian companies. The growth momentum hasn't returned, the mood seems to be improving. I am hoping that the silver lining will get brighter and soon shine through the clouds. (Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com)
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Looking at the world in 2012, we see that it remains full of opportunities, even compared with only 10 or 20 years ago. Yet we are still in shock at the 2008 crisis – a financial crisis, but even more, a systemic crisis and a crisis of confidence. Global collaboration — increasingly an oxymoron — is sadly wanting in key areas of trade, finance, poverty, disease, food, water, climate and geopolitics. The world appears like a volcano, ready to erupt at a moment's notice.The Financial Times began 2012 with a series entitled "Capitalism in crisis." In an editorial, it wrote: "the resurgent capitalism that emerged in the 1980s, under the leadership of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher … has proved not just unstable, but, in important respects, unjust."Capitalism and the global market economy will survive only with radical reforms. Reforms are essential not only in institutions and policies, but also in culture and mindsets – the ways we conceive the planet as it is and the planet we want.The pitfalls of complacency — the imperatives of sober realism. It is untrue that the crisis was not foreseen. Of course it was not in its exact details. But note just one sentence from Joseph Stiglitz's 2002 publication, ‘Globalization and its Discontents': "Today, the system of capitalism is at a crossroads just as it was during the Great Depression." In the years that preceded the crisis there was a pervasive sense of complacency both in government and business circles. This has proved very costly.Elites need to change. Barring a number of exceptional individuals, the planet generally has been badly served by its elites. What is striking is the sheer degree of incompetence. In addition, they appear insensitive. The many demonstrations, à la Occupy Wall Street, are not motivated by resentment against wealth per se, but how the wealth is obtained. We need new or reformed elites with greater competence, more responsibility, more sensitivity, more consciousness and much more humility.Finance must be on tap and the real economy on top. Recently it has been the reverse – finance has been on top and the real economy on tap. Unless finance is brought to heel, the crisis of capitalism will continue and probably lead to its demise. This is an imperative also for addressing the real cancer that is destroying societies worldwide: injustice.The imperative of a concerted and successful fight against injustice. The widespread sense of injustice reflects very high and generally growing levels of inequality – not only of income, but of opportunity, in education, health and environment. Attacking social injustice must be the responsibility of all, and especially of the elites. Mindsets and culture need radical change.Restoring respect to public service and a sense of community. At his inauguration in January 1961, President John Kennedy famously stated: "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." There was an underlying assumption of the dignity and obligation of public service. Two decades later, at his inaugural ceremony, Ronald Reagan equally famously stated: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Since then and up to the global crisis there has been a tendency to venerate the market and denigrate government.There has to be much more emphasis on public service and community. It's people who have advantages who bring these advantages to the disadvantaged who are the models we look for and who build the planet we want.Bring back the humanities. Another cause of the crisis of capitalism is the marginalisation of the humanities in favour of more "practical" subjects, notably business studies, accounting, marketing, etc. The new/reformed elite must have a sound and profound intellectual base. To understand the human condition and fashion the planet we want, there should be far more study of history, geography, literature, art, music, philosophy, anthropology, religion, etc.Generating the feast not the clash of civilisations. The world is not adjusting well to the challenges of creating a global village.Western elites are for the most part very badly prepared for the global transformations. Very few have more than superficial experience outside Western Europe and North America; hardly any speak Chinese or other Asian languages; and an infinitesimal few have studied in non-Western universities. This is another key aspect in which we need new or reformed elites; ones who know the planet well, not just one corner of it!In creating the global village the importance of the humanities is crucial. There needs to be not only a basic knowledge of the sources of a society's culture and civilisation, but also a "feel" for its current dynamics and aspirations. This can be achieved through contemporary literature. The insights gained provide also the potential for that quintessential requirement for building the planet we want: empathy.(Jean-Pierre Lehmann is Professor of International Political Economy at IMD, Founding Director of The Evian Group @ IMD and Senior Fellow at the Fung Global Institute in Hong Kong.)
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For the second year running, Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore lead in overall innovation performance while India remains a distant 64th, even behind its 2011 position of 62nd. This was the find of the Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII): Stronger Innovation Linkages for Global Growth, published by INSEAD eLab, a research centre at the leading international business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.The report ranks 141 countries/economies on the basis of their innovation capabilities and results. Alcatel-Lucent, Booz & Company, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), as well as an Advisory Board of eleven international experts helped with the report.The study shows that the dynamics of innovation continue to be affected by the emergence of new successful innovators, as seen by the range of countries across continents in the top twenty GII ranking, as well as the good performances of emerging countries such as Latvia, Malaysia, China, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Jordan, Ukraine, India, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia, Namibia, Viet Nam, Swaziland, Paraguay, Ghana, Senegal; and low-income countries Kenya and Zimbabwe. While the list of overall GII top 10 performers changed little from last year — Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore are followed in the top ten by Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, and the United States of America.India's poor ranking comes in contravention of a recent survey by KPMG which showed 13 per cent of the respondents thought India is capable of disruptive breakthroughs and being the next epicenter of innovation against 30 per cent of the respondents vouching for China and the US.In fact, in a January 2012 survey, India was ranked the sixth most "innovative" country in the world in multinational conglomerate GE's Annual Global Innovation Barometer, driven by financial support from public authorities and long-term support from investors.Canada is the only country leaving the top 10 this year, mirroring weakening positions on all main GII innovation input and output pillars. The report shows that the USA continues to be an innovation leader but also cites relative shortfalls in areas such as education, human resources and innovation outputs as causing a drop in its innovation ranking.The study says there is a need for BRIC countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, and China) to invest further in their innovation capabilities to live up to their expected potential. China's performance on the key knowledge and technology outputs pillar is outpaced only by Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, and Finland. However, the report notes that both China and India have weaknesses in their innovation infrastructure and environment. The report also notes that Brazil has suffered the largest drop among the BRICs. The report being one of the key indicators of innovation at the country level shows which countries are best in transforming given innovation inputs into innovation outputs. Countries which are strong in producing innovation outputs despite a weaker innovation environment and innovation inputs are poised to rank high in this "efficiency" index. In the Global Innovation Efficiency Index, China and India lead the top 10 league of countries. This shows that in spite facing challenges in the input side and being ranked 64 overall, India is well poised to adapt innovation in a big way, given the input side measures are reviewed and improved considerably. Comparing the overall GII scores to countries GDP per capita, the report identifies three groups of countries. Innovation Leaders are high-income countries such as Switzerland, the Nordic countries, Singapore, UK, Netherlands, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, USA, Luxembourg, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Malta, Israel, Estonia, Belgium, Republic of Korea, France, Japan, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Hungary, which have succeeded in creating innovation ecosystems where investments in human capital thrive in fertile and stable innovation infrastructures favorable to knowledge, technology and creative outputs.Innovation Learners – middle-income countries – includes Latvia, Malaysia, China, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Jordan, Ukraine, India, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia, Namibia, Viet Nam, Swaziland, Paraguay, Ghana, and Senegal. Among low-income countries, Kenya, and Zimbabwe stand out. Innovation Underperformers are countries with weaknesses in their innovation systems. They include a mix of high-income as well as middle-income countries as shown in the chart below. Commenting on innovation in emerging economies like India, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said, "Every country can aspire to be an innovation-driven economy. The more resource-constrained an economy is, the more prone to innovation it actually can be. Importantly, innovation is about acts which improve everyday lives and a journey towards faster-sustainable-inclusive-growth."
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For some, Magic is fun. For others, it is a way of life. When the organisers at Goafest 2012 said, "Let's talk magic", we at Businessworld decided to get Indian advertising executives to walk the talk through this blog. If you want to be a guest blogger for Goafest 2012, write to us at Goafestmagic@gmail.com To read the blog, click on http://magicofideas.blogspot.in/
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Role of Solution Integrator while integrating Video Conferencing with Unified Communication In the last four to five years, Unified Communication (UC) is gaining a lot of mindshare as a methodology for effective corporate communication. UC is essentially a convergence of different communication solutions and variety of collaboration tools. Today, with majority of businesses across the globe engaging in or actively planning the implementation of UC, it is becoming a key factor in enabling real-time connectivity thereby enhancing employee productivity, increasing collaboration and reducing IT operational costs.As a powerful productivity tool, UC has already incorporated presence, instant messaging, telephony, data sharing and voice communications. Integrating video conferencing into the UC environment then becomes the next logical step in the UC implementation. Needless to say that video is a powerful mode of communication. Visual communication helps in building trust and understanding amongst employees and also with suppliers, partners, and customers. It also adds depth to the interactions as it provides the ability to communicate via body language and hence helps participants establish a closer, more personal relationship beyond just voice or text. In certain situations only instant messaging may be sufficient, but when a more comprehensive dialog is needed video conferencing is the preferred communications medium. Similar to the way the deployments of voice based communication used to happen a decade ago, video conferencing deployments have been standalone with a separate set of equipment and infrastructure. Such standalone deployment is often complex to use and manage as it requires separate scheduling and learning of new interface. Integrating video conferencing with UC is therefore a key factor in developing a well-conceived communication strategy that would remove the silos in visual communication by unifying video with other UC based communication mechanisms in the enterprise such as voice, instant messaging, presence, and audio conferencing. In other words, video conferencing combined with UC would allow users to achieve true integrated and unified communication with a face-to-face experience.Although such integration may sound a simplistic task on paper, behind the scenes, to make such integration workable and the interactions easy for users can become a highly complex and challenging task. In terms of integrating with UC, the simplest choice is to use the UC vendor's video solution which will naturally be tightly integrated with the UC environment. Many UC vendors like Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel amongst others have an in-built basic video solution. Such basic video solutions lack sophisticated video conferencing facilities like higher quality video output, multipoint capabilities, ability to work both inside and outside the enterprise network boundary and provide integration with tele-presence systems. Most of these facilities are provided by many video conferencing vendors like Avistar, LifeSize, Polycom, RadVision, Cisco/Tandberg etc. Today, most of the enterprises are demanding the best of both worlds; sophisticated video conferencing functionality integrated with user friendly UC interface.This is where the Solution Integrator (SI) plays a key role. The IT team in most of the enterprises who would want to integrate UC with video conferencing may not have the time to work their way up a substantial learning curve, nor will they have the proper channel available to the vendors to solve unexpected problems. Video conferencing also has high visibility within the enterprise so getting it right the first time is extremely critical. Hence the role of a strong professional SI team becomes very critical for smooth integration. SI team would take the ownership of the integration project to deliver it on time while getting it right the first time thereby providing the enterprise users with an excellent initial experience of integrated video conferencing into the UC environment.There are lots of choices involved in deciding how to deploy video conferencing within the enterprise and the SI team must start with obtaining a clear understanding of the requirements and the preferences of the firm. It essentially means understanding the purpose of the integration, the video conferencing usage patterns of the employees, and the company's overall security concerns. With these parameters, SI can objectively conduct a cost benefit analysis of different video conferencing solutions to be integrated with the existing UC solution.I strongly feel that any SI which is handling the integration project needs to specially focus on three integration areas which are detailed below before finalizing on a particular video conferencing vendor:• Integration of Signaling with the UC solution• Integration of Account Management with the user / call directory of UC solution• Integration of Scheduling with the UC solutionIn this scenario, signaling means the call setup signaling that establishes a connection between different parties or endpoints. The UC solution running on the user's desktop shows the user's buddies and their availability. When the user clicks a contact and asks for a video connection, the video conferencing client communicates with the UC solution which signals the destination client to establish the call. Therefore the SI must ensure that the video conferencing clients (either desktop or room-based) must have the facility to integrate with the UC solution with the help of SIP signaling protocol and can register itself as a video endpoint with the UC solution.The second integration parameter to consider is that of account management which means obtaining the user credentials, understanding his / her profile, preferences and permissions, and presenting to him/her a familiar interface. On the desktop or in a room-based video system, the SI needs to establish a tight link between the video conferencing solution with the corporate user directory to obtain appropriate permissions before being allowed to communicate. SI must ensure that the interface and user experience of using video conferencing solution in a desktop environment matches exactly with the room based environment.Scheduling of the meetings is also a key integration area where the SI needs to give special attention. Scheduling essentially means being able to create meetings in future, reserve resources and notify participants. Once the meeting is scheduled, the notifications must be sent to all the participants and also to the room making the room system aware of its schedule. These three areas of integration if carefully handled can enable the SI to successfully integrate the video conferencing solution into UC environment.To sum up, in this entire process of integration SI's role is of paramount importance. Not only that the SI can effectively implement the solution in the given time but additionally it can also provide an excellent user experience of the system. Overall, the role of the SI is that of a trusted technology partner of the enterprise in developing an effective and well thought out communication strategy and implementation roadmap through the use of appropriate technologies.(The author is Vice-President - Video Conferencing & Multimedia Sales, AGC Networks Ltd)
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Gunnebo India, a subsidiary of Gunnebo AB Group, Sweden, one of the leading suppliers of integrated security solutions has recently acquired licenses from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for its Minimax brand of Fire Extinguishers. This license will help strengthen the company's market position as the leaders in fire protection in India, by offering a complete range of fire safety products.Gunnebo is the first company in India to receive this license, post the new standards for fire extinguishers, IS: 15683, starting this year. The standards are performance-based and similar to those being followed in most developed countries. They cover the entire range of portable fire extinguishers, making it convenient for both manufacturers and consumers. The fire extinguishers with these new standards are manufactured at Gunnebo's plant at Halol in Gujarat. The production has commenced in full swing and the products are now available in the marketplace as well."At Gunnebo we are committed to create a safer world. Our range of fire-extinguishers has already passed the stringent tests, as per the new BIS standards. With these licenses under new standards our channel partners and consultants will get an extra boost to take our products to the market," says Sandeep Deshpande, MD & CEO of Gunnebo India. Deshpande strongly believes as the number of corporate parks, complexes, shopping malls are increasing in the country, the landscape of the towns and cities are becoming more congested and therefore prone to accidental fire hazards. With the implementation of the new standards, quality products would be available, thus equipping the user to fight fire effectively.Gunnebo is an international security group operating in 30 countries across the globe with a further presence in 100 markets through agents and distributors.
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Small town India is gaining prominence on the cyber threat map. The latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report shows an 81 per cent increase in malicious attacks and 93 per cent rise in mobile vulnerabilities. It is the emerging Indian cities that are increasingly facing the risk of cyber attacks, accounting for 25 per cent of the bot-infections.Coupled with the prevalence of small and medium businesses which are targets of 50 per cent of the attacks and industrial clusters (housing supplier-companies that allow attackers entry into larger organisations and critical infrastructure providers, this year's report show that cyber attacks are going everywhere. More significant, moving beyond spam, cyber criminals are turning to social networks to launch their attacks.2011 was also the first year that mobile malware presented a tangible threat to businesses and consumers targeting data collection, the sending of content and user tracking.Shantanu Ghosh, vice president and managing director, India Product Operations, Symantec says as denizens of smaller and emerging cities are venturing into the virtual world, they are creating a new lucrative pool of targets for cyber criminals. "Lack of awareness and low adoption of security measures makes these cities susceptible to cyber threats and warrants greater vigilance in protecting information assets," says Ghosh.These are the findings of the surveySmaller, emerging cities face the risk of cyber attacks: Smaller cities like Bhubaneshwar, Surat, Cochin, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam and Indore have a high proportion of SMBs and industry clusters. Symantec says these locations are being inducted as part of a network of compromised computers. Additionally, some cities repeatedly appear in the list for origin of phishing in India - Ahmedabad, Nashik and Coimbatore also figure in the list of bot-infections. Targeted attacks on organizations of all sizes: The number of daily targeted attacks have increased from 77 per day to 82 per day by the end of 2011. Targeted attacks use social engineering and customized malware to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. These advanced attacks have traditionally focused on public sector and government; however, in 2011, targeted attacks diversified.Also, these attacks are no longer confined to large organizations. More than 50 per cent of such attacks target organizations with fewer than 2,500 employees, and almost 18 per cent target companies with fewer than 250 employees. These organizations may be targeted because they are in the supply chain or partner ecosystem of a larger company and because they are less well-defended. Furthermore, 58 per cent of attacks target non-execs, employees in roles such as human resources, public relations, and sales. Individuals in these jobs may not have direct access to information, but they can serve as a direct link into the company. They are also easy for attackers to identify online and are used to getting proactive inquiries and attachments from unknown sources.Malicious attacks continue to grow rapidly: Symantec blocked more than 5.5 billion malicious attacks in 2011, an increase of 81 per cent over the previous year. In addition, the number of unique malware variants increased to 403 million and the number of Web attacks blocked per day increased by 36 per cent.At the same time, spam levels fell considerably and new vulnerabilities discovered decreased by 20 per cent. Attackers have embraced easy to use attack toolkits to efficiently leverage existing vulnerabilities. Moving beyond spam, cyber criminals are then turning to social networks to launch their attacks. The very nature of these networks makes users incorrectly assume they are not at risk and attackers are using these sites to target new victims. Rise of data breaches, lost devices concern for the future: Approximately 1.1 million identities were stolen per data breach on average in 2011, a dramatic increase over the amount seen in any other year. Hacking incidents posed the greatest threat, exposing 187 million identities in 2011—the greatest number for any type of breach last year. However, the most frequent cause of data breaches that could facilitate identity theft was theft or loss of a computer or other medium on which data is stored or transmitted, such as a smartphone, USB key or a backup device. These theft-or loss-related breaches exposed 18.5 million identities. As tablets and smartphones continue to outsell PCs, more sensitive information will be available on mobile devices, Workers are bringing their smartphones and tablets into the corporate environment faster than many organizations are able to secure and manage them. This may lead to an increase in data breaches as lost mobile devices present risks to information if not properly protected.Mobile threats expose businesses and consumers: Mobile vulnerabilities increased by 93 per cent in 2011. At the same time, there was a rise in threats targeting the Android operating system. With the number of vulnerabilities in the mobile space rising and malware authors not only reinventing existing malware for mobile devices, but creating mobile-specific malware geared to the unique mobile opportunities, 2011 was the first year that mobile malware presented a tangible threat to businesses and consumers. These threats are designed for activities including data collection, the sending of content, and user tracking.
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