Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: it

  • Romania: Technology companies quadrupled their businesses and teams

    Romania: Technology companies quadrupled their businesses and teams

    The top 50 largest technology companies in Romania, which realise software and digital solutions for group companies or for third parties, have increased in the last ten years by approximately four times the turnover and local teams, reaching a cumulative turnover of 3 billion euros and over 50,000 employees in 2019, according to a Cushman & Wakefield Echinox analysis.

    Most of these companies, such as Amazon, IBM, HP, Microsoft or Oracle, are also in the top of the largest technology companies globally, which reconfirms Romania’s position in the top of the most dynamic IT hubs in the world.

    With 5.5% contribution to Romania’s GDP overall formation in 2019, the technology sector has become an important pillar of the national economy, but also of the real estate market, given that companies in this industry have been the most active office occupier in the last decade, both in Bucharest and in other university centers in Romania, such as Cluj, Timişoara or Iaşi, generating, on average, about 40% of demand.

    The latest data of the National Institute of Statistics indicated in 2018 a number of 140,000 employees in the IT industry in Romania, most of them working in Bucharest (46%), Cluj (12%), Timişoara (9% ) and Iaşi (6%).

    In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the digitization processes have been accelerated both among companies and public administrations, Romania is in a position to become an important provider of technological solutions that will contribute to the information systems efficiency.

    The average net salaries of Romanian employees working in the data technology sector were about 7.800 lei (1.600 EUR) in May 2020, being the highest in the Romanian economy, but among the lowest in the IT industry worldwide, the local market remaining extremely competitive in terms of wage costs.

    The stock of modern offices in Bucharest and regional cities (Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Iaşi and Braşov) amounts to approximately 4 million square meters, housing about 350,000 employees in various fields, such as IT, telecom, financial services (banks – insurance), professional services (lawyers – consultants), media, etc.

  • Passwords on the rise despite evidence they are unable to protect

    Passwords on the rise despite evidence they are unable to protect

    • Almost a third (29%) of organisations across Europe and the Middle East see usernames and passwords as one of most effective access management tools, despite inherent weaknesses;
    • More than half (57%) of companies believe that unprotected infrastructure such as new IoT devices present the biggest targets for cyber-attacks, ahead of cloud apps (55%) and web portals (43%);
    • Over two-thirds (67%) of IT leaders feeling under pressure to balance convenience and security;

    According to the 2020 Thales Access Management Index – Europe and Middle East Edition, nearly a third (29%) of organisations in Europe and the Middle East still see usernames and passwords as one of the most effective means to protect access to their IT infrastructure, two years after the inventor of the complex static password admitted they don’t work.

    In fact, 67% of respondents indicate that their organisations plan to expand its use of usernames and passwords in the future. This continued reliance on outdated security comes despite IT leaders revealing it is increasingly easier (48%) to sell the need for security to their boards compared to last year (29%).

    Surveying 400 IT decision-makers across Europe and the Middle East, Thales’s new research found that the majority (57%) of IT professionals revealed that unprotected infrastructure is one of the biggest targets for cyber-attacks.

    Therefore any organization utilising it, as a result of business pressure driving them to adopt digital transformation technologies, are likely to be putting themselves at a higher level of risk.

    IT departments are battling to provide employees with both security and convenience

    With the Covid-19 global pandemic causing many companies to work from home, IT departments are battling to provide employees with both security and convenience.

    In fact, over two-thirds (67%) of European IT leaders say their security teams feel under pressure to provide convenient access to applications and cloud services for users, but still maintain security – an indication they’re struggling to balance their digital transformation and security priorities.

    To this end, 96% believe that strong authentication and access management solutions can facilitate secure cloud adoption. Over three-quarters (76%) also revealed employee authentication needs to be able to support secure access to a broad range of services including virtual private networks and cloud applications.