Latest news with #Internet-of-Things
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Most building management systems exposed to cyber vulnerabilities, experts warn
This story was originally published on Facilities Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Facilities Dive newsletter. Three out of four companies have building management systems vulnerable to hacking or cyberattack, according to a new research paper by Claroty, a cyber-physical systems protection company. More than half of affected organizations had systems insecurely connected to the internet with known exploited vulnerabilities that were linked to ransomware, it said. The report studied over 467,000 building management systems across 500 organizations. Within those organizations, 2% of devices essential to business operations were operating at the highest level of risk exposure, according to the report. The high exposure level of these devices provides malicious cyber actors with easily accessible entry points that 'leave the door open to costly and potentially dangerous disruptions,' Claroty said Wednesday in a release. This combination of risk factors is concerning due to the widespread reliance on these systems to operate HVAC, lighting, energy, security and other systems in commercial real estate, retail, hospitality and data center facilities, the company said. Many building management systems are old and were not built with internet connectivity in mind. As a result, some may no longer be supported by their respective vendors, meaning vulnerabilities remain unpatched, Claroty says. While these systems were previously operated independently by facilities management staff, they are now more commonly connected and integrated using advanced building management and building automation systems, according to the report. But the benefits of connecting operational technologies and Internet-of-Things devices to the internet come with 'very clear cybersecurity tradeoffs if not properly managed,' Claroty says. Third-party access provides another set of risks, with many vendors bringing in their own remote access technologies that may not be enterprise-grade or support security features like multifactor authentication, Claroty says. For facilities managers working to meet occupier demand for high-tech amenities, integrating vendor technologies can present trouble, according to Tom Karounos, global head of building technology at Tishman Speyer. 'You start adding these things, you add complexity from other vendors coming in and plugging things into your network, [and] you always run the risk' of a cyber attack, Karounos said during a panel at the Realcomm IBcon conference earlier this month. Organizations undertaking digital upgrades have an opportunity when bringing BMS online to measure the business impact and safeguard the operational criticality of those devices, Claroty says. They can accomplish this by adopting a security framework that provides decision-makers and asset owners with a true assessment of security, as well as a remediation plan that can assist risk management teams and is understandable by executives, the company says. 'With BMS controlling so much of modern-day CPS infrastructure, it's critical to move from a reactive approach to a proactive strategy,' Claroty says. 'Unless organizations use a comprehensive asset management solution to discover every device within a network, vulnerabilities and risks to critical assets can lurk unseen.' The cyber-physical security firm advises a five-step action plan for this framework, including scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation and mobilization. By following these steps, operators can gain full visibility into assets and their exposure, assess the potential impact on business continuity and provide security and operations teams with information that can enable practical, non-disruptive risk reduction, per the report. Vetting vendors is especially important, according to Karounos, who says his company has a rigorous evaluation process. 'We do that on a yearly basis,' he said.'We take the vetting process very seriously, and we partner with our procurement team to keep us honest, so there's no ambiguity there.' Recommended Reading Understanding cyber risk in smart building tech
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
AstraZeneca sets up ₹166 cr Global Hub to boost AI driven healthcare
Global bio-pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has established its state-of-the-art Global Hub in Bengaluru investing Rs 166 crore to focus on development of AI-powered healthcare solutions, a top official said on Thursday. This marks the second major investment by AstraZeneca in July 2024 after it announced expansion of its Global Innovation and Technology Centre in Chennai with an outlay of Rs 250 crore. The new facility in Bengaluru is designed to accommodate nearly 1,300 employees including 400 new jobs. It will support the company's capabilities in AI-powered innovation across Research and Development, global business services, Information Technology and digital health operations, among others. The Global Hub in Bengaluru is dedicated to Research and Development, Global Business Services, Information Technology while the Global Innovation and Technology Centre in Chennai serves as a strategic hub for IT, Global Business Services. Following the expansion of the facility, the combined workforce of AstraZeneca India Pvt Ltd would reach close to 4,000 employees, strengthening company's capability to deliver life-changing medicines to patients worldwide. Commenting on the development, company Vice President Global Business Services, Jackie Crockford said, "Our Global Hub in Bengaluru is a strategic investment that will play a vital role in advancing AstraZeneca's bold ambition to deliver 20 new medicines by 2030 by strengthening automated, scalable, data-driven and patient centric solutions." "This step reflects our commitment to tapping into the world-class talent and ecosystem available in Karnataka to power the next generation of scientific innovation." he said in a company statement here. The new facility would serve as a dynamic hub in advanced clinical research supporting AstraZeneca's global therapeutic areas, development of AI-powered healthcare solutions, centralised data analytics to enhance clinical trial efficiency among others. AstraZeneca Global Patient Safety BioPharma, Vice-President Magnus Nord said, "This hub enhances our Research and Development capabilities by connecting us with India's exceptional scientific and technological expertise." The expansion would accelerate the development of innovative medicines and deliver across Research and Development, ultimately benefitting patients around the world", Nord said. The Global Hub reflects AstraZeneca's dedication to environmental sustainability and the facility is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. It is currently powered by 75 per cent green energy. It has waste-water recycling, Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled systems for optimised energy management among others.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Powerfleet Expands AI Video Safety Deployment With EverDriven
PowerFleet Inc. (NASDAQ:AIOT) is one of the best small cap tech stocks with biggest upside potential. On June 16, Powerfleet announced an expanded partnership with EverDriven Technologies. EverDriven is increasing its deployment of Powerfleet's advanced AI video safety solution to enhance student transportation across 34 states. EverDriven currently has a network of 9,000+ drivers completing more than 2 million trips annually. Due to strong interest from its school district partners, EverDriven will scale its relationship with Powerfleet to ~4,000 subscribers. The CEO of Powerfleet, Steve Towe, highlighted that this growing partnership signifies increasing demand for Powerfleet Unity's AI-powered safety solutions in North America, which is a top priority market for the company. A close-up of a hand reaching out to touch a virtual animation, demonstrating the power of the company's IoT technology. The CEO of EverDriven, Mitch Bowling, stated that implementing AI video technology represents an advancement in the company's safety protocols. Powerfleet Unity's AI video technology uses ML and computer vision to detect critical events, assess driving behavior, and facilitate real-time interventions. PowerFleet Inc. (NASDAQ:AIOT) provides Internet-of-Things solutions in the US, Israel, and internationally. EverDriven is a prominent provider of alternative student transportation across the US. While we acknowledge the potential of AIOT as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
American Tower Stock Rises 18.7% YTD: Is it Too Late to Buy?
Shares of American Tower AMT have rallied 18.7% so far this year, closing at $217.70 on Thursday on the NYSE. The stock has outperformed the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry and the S&P 500 composite as well as its close industry peer, SBA Communications Corporation SBAC. American Tower is well-poised to gain from its strategic portfolio repositioning of selling non-core assets in developing markets. This will aid in solely focusing on the developed markets platform, yielding better returns through operational efficiency. Moreover, its growing portfolio of data centers to capitalize on the rising Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom will diversify its revenue stream, yielding stability. Additionally, despite facing headwinds from churn arising out of the Sprint-T-Mobile TMUS merger, this tower REIT came up with better-than-expected first-quarter 2025 results late in April, showcasing revenue growth across its property and service operations segment. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research AMT stock outperformance relative to its industry, the S&P 500 composite and peer like SBAC, highlights increased investor confidence about the future performance of the company. Let's find out if it will keep on riding this upswing and out do its industry, the S&P 500 composite and peer like SBAC. The advent of next-generation technologies, including edge computing functionality, autonomous vehicle networks and the Internet-of-Things (IoT), has propelled the wireless connectivity usage. The wireless service providers and carriers have been deploying additional equipment to cater to the rising demand amid the growing 5G deployment. These factors position AMT in a sweet spot with its vast portfolio of around 149,000 communication sites worldwide, aiding revenue growth. The company reported solid year-over-year organic tenant billings growth of 4.7%, with total tenant billings rising 5.2%. With growth in cloud computing, Internet of Things and Big Data, data centers are becoming inevitable. In order to capitalize on this growing trend, AMT intends to invest more than $600 million to expand its data center footprint in 2025. Data centers added $244 million to property revenues in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting an 8.4% year-over-year increase. American Tower is restructuring its portfolio with the divestment of non-core assets in high-risk developing markets so that it can effectively operate in low-risk developed markets, augmenting margin and return expansion. In 2025, more than 75% of its $1.5 billion discretionary spending will be directed toward developed markets, including the United States, Canada and Europe. Apart from having a robust operating platform, American Tower maintains solid liquidity, ensuring it can comfortably meet its debt obligations. As of March 31, 2025, the company had $11.7 billion in total liquidity. It has achieved its net leverage target of 5X EBITDA in the first quarter of 2025, with floating-rate debt at just 4%. Solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticements for REIT shareholders, and AMT demonstrated resumption of a mid-single-digit dividend growth rate at 4.6% in 2025 after focusing on deleveraging in prior years. In the last five years, AMT has increased its dividend 15 times, and the annualized dividend growth rate for this period is 9.07%. Moreover, it has a lower dividend payout compared with its industry. Such disbursements highlight its operational strength and commitment to rewarding shareholders handsomely. The estimate revision trends echo positive sentiments. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for both 2025 and 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share has marginally climbed over the past two months. AMT Estimate Revision Trend Image Source: Zacks Investment Research . However, American Tower has a few laggards. The company's leasing revenues have been negatively impacted by the merger between TMUS and Sprint. This Sprint-TMUS merger will lead to a continued elevated churn rate in its U.S. & Canada property segment through 2025, as per management. Moreover, management continues to expect organic tenant billings growth to be below 4% for the next two quarters due to Sprint churn before increasing to more than 5.5% in Q4 2025. Additionally, the continuation of elevated interest rates for a prolonged period is expected to affect REITs, including AMT. High borrowing costs may challenge development and acquisition financing, while the appeal of fixed-income investments could rise, making dividend-paying stocks like AMT less attractive by comparison. However, American Tower stock is trading at a forward 12-month price-to-FFO of 20.85X, ahead of the REIT industry average of 15.73X and slightly above its one-year median of 20.58X. American Tower stock is also currently trading at a premium compared to its industry peers like SBA Communications Corporation. Forward 12 Month Price-to-FFO (P/FFO) Ratio Image Source: Zacks Investment Research With wireless carriers increasing capital expenditure due to rising wireless penetration, accelerated 5G network deployment efforts and spectrum auctions, demand for communication sites is likely to stay strong, and American Tower will reap the benefit with enhanced leasing and revenue highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities has also been performing well, and the increasing demand for AI and cloud computing is expected to boost data centers' revenues. Moreover, solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticements for investors. Therefore, the resumption of dividend hikes also augurs well. However, though the current estimate revision trends hint at bullish momentum, given the stock's expensive valuation, it would be prudent for investors to refrain from buying the stock. For existing shareholders, retaining AMT shares may be a wise choice, given its focus on high-quality assets and data centers. American Tower currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.40 on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell). Of the 24 brokers covering AMT, 18 rate it a 'Strong Buy', two call it a 'Buy,' and eight rate it a 'Hold'. At present, American Tower carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Tower Corporation (AMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Broadcast Pro
24-04-2025
- Business
- Broadcast Pro
Viasat demonstrates D2H satellite communication technology
Viasat has performed the first successful direct-to-handset (D2H) communication test using direct-to-device (D2D) technology in L-band in Brazil. The demonstration showcased two smartphones connecting directly via satellite using 3GPP NTN standards without the involvement of other terrestrial infrastructure. This signifies the start of a new age of connectivity in the country where only about 18% of the geographic area is covered by cellular networks, according to Anatel data published in September 2024. The event, held in the nations capital, was attended by officials from Anatel (Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency), and representatives from the government, telecommunications sector, and partners. The demonstration focused on two primary scenarios in which D2D technology was utilised: direct-to-handset communication and data transmission for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices in the agricultural and transportation sectors, with plans for expansion into additional markets. Leandro Gaunszer, General Manager, Viasat Brazil, said: 'This demonstration is a significant achievement for connectivity in Brazil. It shows that reliable primary satellite communications over smartphones and IoT applications are far more available, opening the door for a future where technology will help build the bridge to the unconnected and make it available to a wider range of individuals and companies, regardless of where they are located. Our extensive L-band coverage and alignment of satellite technologies with 3GPP standards provide a strong foundation for introducing this groundbreaking solution to the country. This will contribute to the development of a more inclusive, interconnected, and effective community and network for both consumers and businesses.'
