Industrial IoT, Apple, Cybersecurity, AI, and more: Research round-up

Let's start with our special report on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IIoT is already big business: according to tech analyst IDC, manufacturers will spend $197 billion on it this year, transport companies $71 billion, and utilities $61 billion.

For more see: Everything you need to know about the Industrial Internet of Things

Yet a survey by tech analyst Gartner found that security is one of the most significant areas of technical concern for organisations deploying IoT systems, largely because they don't have full control of the software and hardware being used. Unsurprisingly, spending on IoT security is increasing at a significant pace.

For more see: Everything you need to know about the Industrial Internet of Things

Apple announced details of its continued move towards services last month. It's a long way from 2000, when Apple's total revenue was $7.98 billion, of which Mac revenues were about $6.5 billion. Today, just the last quarter of 2018 brought in revenues of $62.9 billion. This, of course, is no surprise to anyone. Over the last 18 years, the iPhone has taken Apple from a small, also-ran computer vendor to the leviathan we know today.

For more see: Apple TV+ paid service: The company's latest big bet

Now, Apple is making a big move into video streaming because the company can't afford to fall behind. The good news for the firm is its services business has been growing. Based on Apple data, Statista reported Apple's revenue for the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, licensing, and other services blew past $37 billion in 2018.

For more see: Apple TV+ paid service: The company's latest big bet

When it comes to cybersecurity concerns, global malware volume is up for the third straight year, with security company SonicWall recording 10.52 billion malware attacks in 2018 via a network of one million sensors the company has deployed in its customers networks.

For more see: Malware warning: Ransomware up, phishing down - and here's how crooks are changing their tricks

Roughly 90 percent of all the hacked content management systems Sucuri investigated and helped fix in 2018 were WordPress sites. Sucuri experts blame most of the hacks on vulnerabilities in plugins and themes, misconfiguration issues, and a lack of maintenance by webmasters, who often forget to update their CMS, themes, and plugins.

For more see: WordPress accounted for 90 percent of all hacked CMS sites in 2018

And when the hacks happened, Sucuri said that hackers usually deployed backdoors, with the company finding one on 68 percent of all the compromised sites it investigated. Sucuri experts said that hackers also used around 56 percent of the hacked sites to host malware for other operations, and deployed SEO spam pages on 51 percent of the hacked sites -- a number that has risen in the past year, from 44 percent in 2017.

For more see: WordPress accounted for 90 percent of all hacked CMS sites in 2018

Salesforce's new State of Service report found that more than half of service organisations -- including 69 percent of teams with excellent customer satisfaction -- are actively searching for ways to bring AI into their operations. But those use cases remains largely elusive to service decision makers, only 39 percent of whom have a fully defined AI strategy.

For more see: Customer service is poised for an AI revolution

The study found that high-performing organisations are significantly more likely than under-performers to have embraced AI. Still, AI is new to customer service toolkits overall, with fewer than a quarter of organisations using it today. Yet AI is on the cusp of having a much bigger presence, with 143 percent growth anticipated less than two years from now.

For more see: Customer service is poised for an AI revolution

Digital transformation remains a big spending priority, but efforts remain scattershot and returns have been difficult to track, according to a Telstra survey. Half of US firms have an incremental approach to digital transformation and business units drive initiatives. Thirty-six percent of respondents say digital transformation is a whole-company strategy.

For more see: Digital transformation: Scattershot efforts mean big challenges with murky returns

The UK has finally made it onto Europe's table of top countries in fibre broadband to the home (FTTH) and to the building (FTTB). Admittedly, the UK is still at the bottom of this European table, which requires a penetration of just one percent to qualify. This compares with Latvia, which topped the table for the third year in a row with 50.3 percent, though it's only 11th worldwide. 

For more see: UK finally makes it onto Europe's list of the top countries in fibre broadband