Retail IT News for VARs – July 23, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In the news AT&T has announced that it experienced a data breach and has notified its mobile users. Meanwhile, an international hacker indicted breaking into POS systems was arrested and Carphone Warehouse is using tablets in its new mobile BI initiative, and Google saw a 24 percent increase in Q2 this year.
AT&T Confirms Data Breach for Mobile Users
Government Security News reported that AT&T has confirmed that attackers have compromised the personal information of some mobile account holders. In a letter mailed to customers, AT&T stated revealed that three employees of one of its service providers were able to gain unauthorized access to personal information including Social Security numbers and call records. The service provider unlocks cell phones for its customers upon their request. The breach affected an undisclosed number of users.
Secret Service Arrests Alleged International Hacker
The U.S. Secret Service has arrested Roman Valerevich Seleznev in France, according to Government Security News . The Russian national has been indicted in the Western District of Washington for hacking into point of sale systems at retailers throughout the United States between October 2009 and February 2011. The indictment alleges that Seleznev hacked into POS systems across the U.S. and operated servers and international carding forum websites to facilitate the theft and sale of stolen credit card data.
Carphone Warehouse deploys 4,500 Android tablets for mobile BI initiative
This article from Computer World examines how one mobile phone retailer has deployed tablets in a new mobile BI initiative. Carphone Warehouse has rolled out 4,500 Sony Experia tablets to sales staff, providing access to performance data and freeing them from desktop terminals to engage with customers on the shop floor. The devices were deployed in September last year, and they are being used by staff at its 800 store across the UK and Northern Ireland, with the 6,500 employees sharing devices to access applications such as Microstrategy's mobile business intelligence tools.
Google Sees Overall Growth Accelerate in Q2, Yet Still Has Opportunity to Expand PLAs
Yahoo Finance reports that after a sluggish beginning to the calendar year, U.S. paid search spending growth accelerated during the second quarter. Google saw a 24 percent increase in ad spend from Q2 of last year, as Product Listing Ads (PLAs) continue to produce huge growth, while Bing Ads search spending grew 19 percent from last year across Bing, Yahoo, and search partners.