Critical Flaws Found in SAP Business Software

Security experts said they have uncovered 21 vulnerabilities in the widely used SAP HANA computing platform that hackers could use to steal information from businesses or shut down the system.About 87% of Forbes Global 2000 companies use SAP, according to the German software provider’s website. O...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 10, 2015

Business-Backed Cyber Bill Passes Senate

The U.S. Senate has passed a major cybersecurity bill backed by business groups after rejecting amendments that sought to enhance its privacy protections.The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) shields companies from liability for sharing cyber-threat data with the federal government. Th...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 29, 2015

Explore the Trendline➔

The CFO Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence’s impact on the office of the CFO continues to evolve, and finance chiefs must be aware of the opportunities it will create for growth. 

By CFO.com staff

Death by Digital: Good-Bye to Finance as You Know It

Digital technology is killing your finance organization as you know it. But there is no reason to mourn the loss.Accenture analysis shows that by 2020, cross-functional integrated teams will deliver 80% of traditional finance services. Finance-staff productivity will increase by two to three time...

By David Axson • Oct. 27, 2015

Analyzing Big Data: A Finance Chief’s Guide

When it comes to acquiring resources like talent and technology, CFOs usually have three thoughts: this is a “must have no matter the cost,” a “would like to have, but cost matters,” or an “only have if there is money left over.” Data analytics and Big Data projects are quickly moving up from the...

By Paul M. Perry • Oct. 6, 2015

Experian Reveals Hack of T-Mobile Customer Data

Experian has disclosed that a data breach stretching over two years compromised the personal information of about 15 million T-Mobile subscribers who had applied for credit.The credit bureau said hackers had stolen data including names, addresses, and dates of birth, as well as encrypted social s...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 2, 2015

Investment Adviser Fined Over Server Breach

A St. Louis-based investment adviser has been charged with failing to adequately protect its web server, exposing it to a cyber attack that compromised the personal data of thousands of clients.The July 2013 breach has not resulted in any financial harm to a client of R.T. Jones Capital Equities ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 23, 2015

U.N. Highlights Continuing Digital Divide

The digital divide is proving “stubbornly persistent,” with Internet access reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but only one in 10 people in the 48 poorest countries being connected, the United Nations Broadband Commission says in a new report.According to “The State of Broadband...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 22, 2015

Office 2016 for Windows to Be Released Sept. 22

Confirming rumors about its productivity suite, Microsoft has officially announced that Office 2016 for Windows will be released Sept. 22.According to The Wall Street Journal, the new Office “leverages some of the major developments in social and collaborative work, with better multi-authoring an...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 14, 2015

Enterprise App Software Market to Grow 7.5%

Organizations are increasingly investing in enterprise application software, with most of the spending going toward cloud-based programs, according to a new report by Gartner.The Stamford, Conn. research firm forecast worldwide spending on enterprise application software will grow 7.5% to $149.9 ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Aug. 28, 2015

The CFO’s Role in Business Transformation

Your company has committed to a major “transformation.” What does this mean, and where do you, as the CFO, come in? While I’m no expert on business transformation, I certainly confronted those questions when my company committed to transforming itself from a product-centric company to a services-...

By Gary Crowe • Aug. 11, 2015

GE to Launch ‘Internet of Things’ Service

General Electric is placing a large bet on the “Internet of Things,” announcing Wednesday that it plans to launch a cloud-based service for industrial customers.The Predix Cloud service, which GE billed as “the world’s first and only cloud solution designed specifically for industrial data and an...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Aug. 5, 2015

Dozens Arrested in Crackdown on Hacking Forum

U.S. law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that they had shut down the computer hacking forum Darkode, describing it as a “hornets’ nest” of cybercriminals.As part of a multi-agency investigation of Darkode, which has operated as a marketplace to purchase and trade hacking tools since at ...

By Matthew Heller • July 15, 2015

The Biggest Cyber Threat Is Inside Your Company

It seems as if cybersecurity is in the news constantly these days. Everyone talks about the threats from state actors looking for political or commercial advantage, organized criminal groups looking for theft or extortion opportunities and monetizable information, even random individuals with an ...

By John Parkinson • June 10, 2015

SEC Suggests, But Doesn’t Require, Full Disclosure of All Cybersecurity Risks

While the Securities and Exchange Commission is not mandating that publicly traded companies disclose all cybersecurity threats, it’s recommending that they lean toward the side of full disclosure, according to a Monday article in the Wall Street Journal.Companies now have to report cybersecurity...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 8, 2015

EU Favoring Broad Scope for Cyber Attack Rules

The European Union is considering tougher and broader rules on cyber attack disclosures that could apply to “Internet enablers” such as Google and Facebook.Bloomberg reported Friday that any company covered by the proposed rules would be required to notify government agencies in the 28-nation blo...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 5, 2015

Data Breach Costs Climb to Average of $3.8M

The total average cost of a data breach for companies around the world has increased to $3.8 million, up from $3.5 million a year ago, reflecting in part a higher frequency of malicious or criminal cyber attacks, according to a new report.The Ponemon Institute’s annual Cost of a Data Breach study...

By Matthew Heller • June 1, 2015

IRS Discloses Cyber Attack on Online Service

Amid increasing concern over the security of Internal Revenue Service computer systems, the agency has disclosed that hackers accessed the personal tax data of more than 100,000 taxpayers in an effort to claim fraudulent refunds.The IRS said it had determined late last week that “unusual activity...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 27, 2015

New Flaw Discovered in Website Encryption

The discovery of an encryption flaw that puts web surfers’ data at risk could boost the opposition to law enforcement efforts to weaken data encryption protections.The BBC reports that the flaw, dubbed LogJam, was discovered by researchers at Microsoft and a number of U.S. and French universities...

By Matthew Heller • May 20, 2015

Phaseout of Internet Explorer Stirs No Grief

Internet Explorer hasn’t exactly been getting glowing eulogies since Microsoft announced that it will be replaced with a new default browser.Microsoft’s browser of the future is code-named Project Spartan and will make its debut with the upcoming Windows 10 operating system. IE will be included i...

By Matthew Heller • April 7, 2015

Counting on IT to Deliver Top Investment Returns

This is the sixth in a series of six articles about the volatile financial misfortunes and turnaround of trucking company YRC worldwide. See parts one, two, three, four and five.Jason Ringgenberg arrived at YRC Worldwide in April of 2014, after the company’s latest debt restructuring and union la...

By David McCann • Feb. 10, 2015

Facebook Says User Research Will Be Vetted

In the wake of harsh criticism Facebook faced after a study revealed last June how the social network titan had manipulated posts in its feeds, the company says future research on its 1.3 billion users would be “subjected to greater internal scrutiny from top managers, especially if they focused ...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 3, 2014

Mid-day Links for August 19th, 2014

Sign up for a free subscription to the CFO Newsletter! – http://bit.ly/1w59vR4 Newly discovered faulty accounting does nothing to inspire confidence in Alibaba’s impending IPO – http://bit.ly/1pWmhvl SEC to set new rules that give regulators more power to take “disciplinary action” and “create a ...

By Donna Makar • Aug. 19, 2014

Companies Embrace Mobile Collaboration

With the creation of cloud-based platforms, file sharing is becoming ubiquitous, and for companies, embracing mobile collaboration is crucial for survival.Courtesy of Flickr user FutUndBeidl. CC-BY Indeed, at many companies, these mobile platforms give employees the freedom to contribute to their...

By Alissa Ponchione • Oct. 8, 2013

Caveat Emptor for BlackBerry Customers, Experts Say

Companies using BlackBerry’s mobile-device-management (MDM) platform should be cautious about the company’s future. Although the service is rated highly for its security features, its customers could take a significant financial hit if BlackBerry were to fail, as some observers think could happen...

By Alissa Ponchione • Sept. 26, 2013

Special Report: Benchmarking Tech Spending

 A number of crucial factors will drive CFOs to higher and higher levels of tech spending in the next couple of years, according to experts quoted in this CFO Special Report on information-technology expenditures.  The prime suspects, says one analyst, are social media; mobile devices like smartp...

By David Katz • Aug. 26, 2013