1 S&P 500, Nasdaq at record levels (Straits
Times) The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records on Friday following
a bounce in oil prices and a solid US jobs report for April. The broad-based
S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to end the week at 2,399.29 and the Nasdaq
Composite Index climbed 0.4 per cent to 6,100.76. Both were records.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent
to close at 21,005.09. After a slow March, when hiring likely was held down by
a winter storm, the US economic engine added an estimated 211,000 net new
positions in April while the jobless rate fell a tenth to 4.4 per cent, the
lowest since May 2007, the Labour Department reported.
Analysts said the report further strengthens
prospects the Federal Reserve will stick to a planned course of two more
interest rate hikes in 2017.
2 Global cyber security spend to hit $1 trillion
(Muzaffar Rizvi in Khaleej Times) The global cybersecurity market is expected
to hit the $1 trillion mark in the next three to five years due to increasing
cybercrime activities in the corporate world, say experts and industry
specialists.
Growing cyberattacks have become a matter of concern
for corporates as it caused widespread disruption and losses in productivity
and growth. Experts urge extra caution to avert cyberattacks in the wake of an
increasing number of gadgets that might reach the 20 billion mark by 2020 from
an estimated 7 billion today.
The annual cost of cybersecurity, which currently
stands at $600 billion, is a matter of concern for businesses across the globe.
Approximately 868,000 new malwares each day take an average of only 82 seconds
to claim their first victim. Cybercriminals mostly attack large companies since
they are lucrative victims given the multiple attack vectors.
Nick Lazaridis, HP president for Europe, Middle East
and Africa, said cybercrime is growing and everything is "scary" in
today's connected world. "We live in a hyper-connected world where $445
billion [in 2015] is lost to cybercrimes annually. Over 160 large data breaches
happened in 2016. Lazaridis said.
3 Super yachts face cyber crime threat (Rupert Neate
in The Guardian) The seaborne cybercrime threat is real: one billionaire had
more than £100,000 stolen when criminals hacked his bank account. Others have
been blackmailed with compromising photos, and some have already been forced to
pay a ransom to unlock their vessel’s navigation systems.
The cybercrime session was one of the most popular
at the Superyacht Investor London conference, where the industry was
celebrating the best annual sales since the 2008 financial crisis.
Over lunch, superyacht builders and financiers
discussed the best ways to win over new customers in growing but underexploited
markets such as China and the Middle East. James Bond-style accessories were
showcased, such as exploration submarines and snow rooms designed to mimic
winter conditions in case it gets too hot up on deck. Some clients have also
demanded dealing rooms with Bloomberg terminals, or operating theatres, so that
ultra-rich owners could receive immediate treatment in case of injury or
illness onboard.
Oliver Blanchet, head of yacht financing for the
French bank BNP Paribas, said his bank had calculated that there were more than
100,000 people in the world who could afford a superyacht, but only 5-7% of
them had bought one – so there was plenty to play for.
By comparison, the private jet industry, he said,
has had much more success selling jets as a business tool: at least 20% of
people who had the money had purchased one. He said the industry needed to do
more to promote yachts as a way for the rich to save time. “Time is a new
currency,” he said. “A yacht is an amazing tool for saving time and a platform
for new experiences.”
Hacking might not even be necessary if the yacht
crew post photos on social media. Once the location of the ship is known,
long-lens photographers can be dispatched to try and take compromising photos
of the rich and their often well-known guests. To combat the threat, many
superyacht owners have banned their crew from using Facebook or Instagram.
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