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'Security is not a primary concern'

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Barcelona, 04 Mar 2015

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Mobile World Congress 2015: Securing the magnitude of devices end-users have on hand is not a primary concern as the world moves to the Internet of things (IOT) era.

Andreas Constantinou, CEO of Vision Mobile, says a lot of platform vendors are trying to address the looming IOT era, but lack a focus on security. Instead, vendors are focusing on identity, which is required to log into new apps.

Constantinou, addressing delegates at the congress in Barcelona, noted the computing user base previously increased by orders of magnitude every decade, but is now increasing by an order of magnitude every five years.

By 2020, there will be tens of billions of devices, up from the billions at hand now, said Constantinou. This makes it difficult to secure so many disparate gadgets.

Constantinou added market-creating innovation is driving new uses of devices and new apps, which will take root in the consumer space before moving into enterprises. He believes IOT is being driven by smartphones, but other verticals will follow.

Gary Kovacs, AVG CEO, said trust in devices and apps should be an "indelible human right". Just as users were getting used to smartphones, they blinked and there is now a platform shift to IOT, he commented.

Now users are sharing information that is more personal and closer to who they are. Kovacs added this information covers aspects such as how fast people drive, where they are, and even their heartrate; data that is often shared unknowingly.

Kovacs said the Internet, which is 22 years old, currently has three billion users, a figure that will double in the next five years. These users account for 60% of the online data through posting online.

Yet, users lack knowledge about their rights when it comes to data. Kovacs said the data available online creates a mosaic about people's lives and provides personal detail of themselves and families.

As a result of the lack of knowledge around online sharing, and complex terms and conditions from app makers - which often collect information such as browsing and chat history and location - AVG has committed to a trust revolution, said Kovacs.

This trust revolution includes streamlining policies so they are viewable as one-page documents on a mobile device, making managing devices simpler through its AVG Zen product, and educating Internet users, he explained.

Kovacs also announced the second version of AVG Zen will be free for the first billion users.

* Nicola Mawson is hosted in Barcelona courtesy of Samsung.

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