IBM X-Force: 1 billion records of personally identifiable information leaked in 2014

IBM’s X-Force Research and Development team just released its IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Quarterly, which found at least 1 billion records of personally identifiable information (PII) were leaked in 2014. The 2015 report, which highlights findings from the last quarter of 2014, cataloged more than 9,200 new security vulnerabilities affecting over 2,600 unique vendors, which represents a 9.8% increase over 2013 and is the highest single year total in the 18-year history of X-Force reporting.   

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U2's iTunes giveaway 'Songs of Innocence' breaks records, revives back catalog

As part of the announcement bonanaza that was last week's Apple Event which gave us two iPhone 6's, Apple Pay and the Apple Watch, Apple also gave every iTunes subscriber instant access to U2's new album 'Songs of Innocence,'. This free download broke some records to the tune of 2 million downloads which grants the album 'double-platinum' status, a big deal in term of distribution. A nice halo effect of this freebie is that it reanimated U2's back-catalog and so people have been rediscovering their classic songs as well. 

How significant is this halo effect, Re/Code has noted that 'In addition to the strong download performance for Songs of Innocence, some 17 of the group's 27 previous albums have made their way into the iTunes top 100 chart. That's something that would never happen in real world record sales and charts, but hey, good for Bono and the lads. Have you downloaded U2's latest album or did it automagically appear on your iTunes library? What do you think of the new album? Let us know below.

Apple's App Store rakes in $10 billion sales in 2013

Apple today announced that customers spent over $10 billion on the App Store in 2013, including over $1 billion in December alone. App Store customers downloaded almost three billion apps in December making it the most successful month in App Store history. Apple’s incredible developers have now earned $15 billion on the App Store.

“We’d like to thank our customers for making 2013 the best year ever for the App Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014.”

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