Micro
Burst
Between the lines
By John Klossner
dynamiC duo
devices running ios and
android accounted for
82%
of all smartphones sold in
the first quarter of 2012.
SOURCE: IDC
seCurity
Utah CTO Steps
Down Following
Data Breach
moBile deviCes
Enterprise Android Use ‘Severely Limited’
adoption of Android tablets and smartphones in enterprises has been “severely limited” by the complexities of managing the wide
variety of devices and versions of the operating
system, according to research firm Gartner.
A Gartner evaluation of 20 mobile device
management (MDM) vendors said Google had
“weaker management support” for Android
than Apple or Research In Motion had for
their respective platforms.
In a survey conducted in April, Gartner
found that almost 60% of enterprises plan
to standardize on Apple’s iOS in the next 12
months. In comparison, 20% of enterprises
said they plan to use BlackBerry devices and
9% said they had chosen Android.
A big reason why it’s so hard to manage
Android devices, Gartner said, is that Google
hasn’t opened many APIs to allow MDM vendors
to connect their software to the operating
system. Google offers 16 APIs for Android 4.0,
whereas RIM makes more than 500 APIs
available for the latest BlackBerry version.
The executive director of Utah’s
Department of Technology Services
has resigned over a data breach
that exposed the Social Security
numbers and other personal data of
about 280,000 Medicaid recipients.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced the resignation of Stephen
Fletcher on May 15.
In a statement, Herbert described
various initiatives that are designed
to mitigate the risk of similar
breaches in the future. The plan
includes an independent audit of all
IT security systems, the appointment
of a health-data security ombudsman — Sheila Walsh-McDonald — and
a continuing investigation by law enforcement into the recent breach.
“The people of Utah rightly be-
lieve that their government will pro-
tect them, their families and their
personal data,” Herbert said. “We
failed to honor that commitment.”
Hackers, believed to be operating
out of Eastern Europe, broke into a
state Medicaid server by exploiting
a default password on the user au-
thentication layer of the system.
The roles of two other state IT employees in the breach are also under
investigation, according to the Salt
Lake Tribune. And a contractor has
been fired for providing unencrypt-ed software, the newspaper said.
– JAIkUMAr VIJAyAn
