Category: 3. Business

Gilles Brassard and Charles Bennett have been awarded the A. M. Turing Award “for their essential role in establishing the foundations of quantum information science and transforming secure communication and computing”. The two will share the US$1-million prize, the Association for Computing Machinery in New York City announced on 18 March.

The two winners have seemingly unrelated research backgrounds: Brassard is a computer scientist at the University of Montreal in Canada, and Bennett is a physicist at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights in New York.

This is the first time that the Turing Award, often described as the most prestigious prize in computer science, has recognized work related to quantum physics. Bennett and Brassard — partly through joint work — began to investigate the power of phenomena that could go beyond what’s possible with non-quantum, or ‘classical’, methods of information technology as far back as the 1970s. “People thought it was just a little crazy,” says Bennett. “It didn’t occur to people that quantum effects could be used to do things that couldn’t be done classically.”

Brassard says the accolade made him “extremely happy”. “Had I been asked to choose one recognition at any point in my career, it would have been the Turing Award,” he says.

Bennett and Brassard “played a very big part in establishing the foundations of quantum information”, says Stephanie Wehner, a quantum-communications researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. “Quantum information is more than a vehicle for classical information. We can do things with it that don’t have a classical analogue.”

Quantum hacking looms — but ultra-secure encryption is ready to deploy

Bennett and Brassard’s work not only initiated a whole field of technological development, but it also fed back into researchers’ understanding of the Universe, says Jonathan Oppenheim, a theoretical physicist at University College London. Bennett and others have used quantum information as a tool for investigating some of the most nagging problems about black holes, for example. “This whole revolution of quantum information theory is really bringing insights into the physical world,” Oppenheim says.

Quantum encryption

The two winners’ work took inspiration from the late 1960s work of the late physicist Stephen Wiesner. Wiesner had pioneered the idea that the quantum ‘weirdness’ of particles such as photons — which had been seen as a potential nuisance for applications — could be put to good use.

In 1984, Bennett and Brassard developed the first concept of a quantum encryption key¹ — one that the sender of a message could share with the receiver in a stream of photons. They showed that any device trying to intercept that stream would destroy the information stored in the photons, thereby revealing that the transmission had been intercepted. Later that decade, Bennett led a team at IBM that first demonstrated technique experimentally.

Another breakthrough came in 1993. Starting from one of Bennett’s ideas, a team comprising Bennett, Brassard and four other researchers developed the concept of quantum teleportation². It relies on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, in which two particles share a quantum state even when moved far apart from each other. In teleportation, two entangled particles — one owned by a sender and the other by a receiver — can be used as a conduit to transport quantum information from the sender to the receiver.

• UK SMEs face a combined estimated loss of up to £100k annually due to un-budgeted security fixes and malware recovery

• One in five small businesses would be forced to close their doors within three months in the event of a cyber breach

• Despite the risks, 58% connect to free public Wi-Fi with 15% accessing sensitive work documents whilst connected

• Samsung has launched the Galaxy S26 Ultra Enterprise Edition as the answer to shaky cyber security in the workplace. The AI-powered phone for business is engineered to serve as a fortress for SME’s data

New research has revealed one in five SMEs would have to close their doors within three months if they experienced a data breach, estimating that a cyber security attack would cost them up to £100k in lost revenue and fines.

A poll of 1,000 SME business owners has highlighted issues around data security in the UK workplace, with 21% of businesses describing their current approach to security as reactive rather than proactive.

The research also reveals how modern working habits may increase exposure to sensitive data, with nearly a third (32%) of SME employees working from coffee shops and almost a quarter (24%) working from public transport at least once a week.

In these environments, 36% say they’ve been able to clearly read sensitive emails or messages on someone else’s screen, while a quarter admit they have peeked at a stranger’s device.

The research comes as Samsung launches the Galaxy S26 Ultra Enterprise Edition, engineered with security and privacy at its core. The device features the world’s first built-in Privacy Display^[1] on mobile to narrow the viewing angle and shield your data from prying eyes, alongside government-grade Samsung Knox security to safeguard businesses against threats.

To help businesses turn the tide, former cyber security expert and 2026 Traitors winner, Stephen Libby, has appeared in a new video that brings to life the invisible threats lurking in and outside of the office.

Stephen comments: “Cyber security breaches are a massive issue for any business, and this traitorous behaviour can especially effect SMEs. A single incident can disrupt operations or even force business to close. With so much work now happening on phones, it’s crucial that businesses make sure they’re using devices with strong built-in security and privacy protections to keep sensitive information safe.”

Business owners say they’re aware of threats like phishing and scam messages (88%), malware (84%), unauthorised apps (53%), rooting/firmware tampering (32%) and snooping (29%). Yet one in five admit they wouldn’t know if their device had been compromised, and 58% say they download apps or software to work devices without checking security permissions first.

Annika Bizon, Mobile Experience VP of Product and Marketing, Samsung UK & Ireland comments: “Small and medium businesses are the backbone of our economy, yet they are increasingly targeted by cyber criminals because they often lack enterprise-grade protection.

“Technology should help level the playing field. By building advanced security directly into the Galaxy S26 Ultra Enterprise Edition, from Samsung Knox security and our Privacy Display technology, we’re helping businesses with the tools to stay proactive and protect sensitive data wherever work happens.”

Despite over half (55%) of SMEs being more aware of cyber security following recent high-profile breaches, a staggering 69% revealed that they have no allocated funds or insurance to cover an incident, further emphasising the need for tighter security practices in the workplace.

Top reasons for cyber security breaches affecting SMEs in the last 12 months:

1. Phishing scams
2. Not having enough protection in place
3. Lack of staff training
4. Third party or supplier issues
5. Remote or home working vulnerabilities

Although many blame breaches on phishing and staff awareness, 67% of SMEs haven’t introduced new cyber security measures in the past year. Worse still, 45% provide no training at all, so employees miss the warning signs of phishing and early malware, leaving businesses exposed.

While 43% say they feel watched or uncomfortable handling sensitive documents in public, a third (31%) still never use a physical privacy screen to protect their data. Mobile devices are also central to modern working habits, with three quarters (74%) using their mobile for work, yet almost half (49%) say cyber security isn’t a top priority when choosing a device.

Meanwhile, 58% connect to free public Wi‑Fi, with 15% admitting they access sensitive work documents while connected.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra Enterprise Edition comes as the answer to shaky cyber security in the workplace. The AI-powered phone with Personal Data Engine^[2] is designed to serve as a fortress, encrypting data and saving it onto your device with KEEP and Knox Vault, making it harder for anyone else to gain access to your personal data.

[1] Requires manual activation in settings to function. Privacy Display feature is not AI-powered.

[2] Personal Data Engine is exclusive to Samsung native apps and is not applicable to third-party applications. Personal Data Engine recognises 20 languages and certain accents/dialects. The Personal Data Intelligence menu must be switched on. Analysed data will be deleted once the Intelligence menu is turned off.

Expansion of Data Security Posture Management and real-time Data Access Governance, powered by Satori, helps security teams reduce AI and cloud data risks

TINTON FALLS, N.J., March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT), a leader in unified resilience at enterprise scale, today announced an expansion of its data and AI security capabilities within Commvault Cloud, enabled via its recent acquisition of Satori. The advancements extend data discovery, classification, and risk assessment into structured data environments and introduce real-time access governance for structured databases, including vector databases used in AI applications. These innovations expand Commvault’s existing data security posture management (DSPM) functionality for unstructured data, while data access governance adds real-time control of structured data access.

These advancements also unify visibility by identifying sensitive data, surfacing exposure and policy violations, and consolidating risk insights to help organizations prioritize remediation based on impact. This yields improved resilience, prioritized risk remediation, support for compliance, and reduced data exposure to strengthen resilience across both production and backup data.

In the face of evolving threats, sensitive or regulated data continues to be a key target for cyberattacks. In fact, 90% of organizations have exposed sensitive data that can be surfaced by AI,¹ while a separate study uncovered that 46% of all breaches involve customer personally identifiable information (PII) and 40% involve employee PII.² Without comprehensive discovery, classification, and access controls, that sensitive data can be stolen by bad actors, increase the risk of security breaches and non-compliance with privacy regulations, and complicate recovery efforts.

The Commvault Cloud platform delivers broad data discovery, classification, and policy enforcement across structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The new advancements include:

• AI-enabled classification capabilities: Automatically identify and classify sensitive data across the enterprise, highlighting environments with high concentrations of sensitive data, excessive access, or data that has been retained longer than intended.
• Data access governance: Monitor and control how structured data is accessed and used, helping to reduce the risk of data leakage, including via AI models or generative AI outputs.
• Enhanced resilience via Commvault Cloud: Unifying data visibility and access controls directly into cyber resilience and cyber recovery workflows enables organizations to reduce data risk before an incident and recover more effectively afterward.

“As organizations expand into cloud and AI-driven environments, sensitive data is increasingly distributed across structured and unstructured systems,” said Yoav Cohen, Vice President of Product Management at Commvault and Co-founder of Satori. “Without clear visibility and real-time access controls, that data can become overexposed and difficult to manage. By extending discovery and governance into structured data environments, we are helping organizations reduce unnecessary exposure and strengthen resilience across both live and backup data.”

“As enterprises race to scale AI, data governance is emerging as a critical gap. Legacy data security tools weren’t built for environments where AI models can inadvertently expose sensitive information buried in vector databases and cloud data warehouses,” said Jennifer Glenn, Research Director, Data and Information Security, IDC. “Unifying the convergence of data security posture management and cyber resilience equips CISOs and CIOs with the tools they need to manage AI-driven risk across their expanding AI footprint.”

Availability
Data access governance capabilities focused on real-time control of structured data access are available today via single sign-on from Commvault Cloud. It is also commercially available as an add-on to any Commvault Cloud package.

Structured data discovery and classification capabilities within Commvault Cloud are targeted for general availability (GA) in late summer 2026. These capabilities extend Commvault’s DSPM functionality for unstructured data, which is available today as part of the Commvault Cloud Platinum package or as add-ons to other tiers. Pricing details for the structured data capabilities will be announced closer to GA.

Join Commvault at RSAC 2026
Commvault’s latest data and AI security offerings take center stage at this year’s RSAC Conference (Booth #S-0634) from March 23-26 in San Francisco. Show attendees can grab a ringside seat for the ResOps Rumble where resilience and operations join forces to deliver unified cyber recovery, identity resilience, and data security. Register today for ransomware recovery demos and sessions, expert insights on data security, identity resilience and clean recovery, and the ultimate prize – unified resilience for your organization.

About Commvault
Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) is a leader in unified resilience at enterprise scale. In a constantly evolving threat landscape, Commvault keeps customers ready by unifying data security, identity resilience, and cyber recovery, on one cloud-native, AI-enabled platform. Customers trust Commvault to conduct the fastest, most complete recoveries – not just their data, but their entire business. Purpose-built for the agentic enterprise, Commvault also enables organizations to safely embrace AI while protecting against AI-driven threats.

¹ Varonis. (2025). State of data security report 2025: Quantifying AI’s impact on data risk. https://info.varonis.com/en/state-of-data-security-report-2025
² Michalowski, M. (2026, January 7). 60+ key data breach statistics for 2026. Spacelift. https://spacelift.io/blog/data-breach-statistics

SOURCE COMMVAULT

Key Takeaways

• Cyber risk is widely acknowledged, but alignment is lacking. While 94% of organizations view cybersecurity as a primary business risk, 72% report frequent misalignment between cybersecurity efforts and broader business priorities
• Budget decisions are increasingly centralized, despite a knowledge gap. Nearly half of businesses (48%) say the CEO now makes the final decision on cyber budgets, however 43% reported limited cyber literacy amongst executives
• Investment in cloud and third-party security is set to rise by 59%, yet there are no planned increases, and in some cases declines, in funding for the most frequent and fastest-growing areas of risk: people and identity

New York, NY – Kroll, the leading independent provider of global financial and risk advisory solutions, today released global cyber resilience research findings revealing a critical gap between organizations’ perception of their cyber preparedness and their actual capability to defend against, and recover from, sophisticated attacks. This gap is being driven by misalignment between the C-suite and cyber decision-makers. This disconnect is costly, as organizations face a yearly average of $2.2 million in recovery costs and downtime from cyber incidents.

The Misalignment Problem: Strategy vs. Execution

Investment in cybersecurity is rising across the board as the majority (80%) of organizations have increased budgets in 2026. However, the bulk of the investment is not set to prioritize the technology that will protect against the most common attack vectors which target people, credentials and internal processes.

• 59% of organizations are increasing spending on cloud and third-party security. Yet identity-based tactics like phishing (39%) and business email compromise (28%) are experienced most by businesses.
• Crucial proactive security measures appear to be dropping in the order of priority with organizations cutting, or not investing further budget, in red and purple teaming (55%), identity access management (IAM) controls and zero-trust architecture (52%).
• Nearly half (48%) of businesses say the CEO now makes the final decision on cyber budgets. However, limited cyber literacy among executives (43%) is reported as a barrier for aligning business strategy with cyber priorities.

Overestimation of Resilience

While most organizations believe they are prepared for cyber threats, their actions tell a different story:

• While 99% of organizations have an incident response plan, only 3% only update them after a cyber incident. Plans become static documents, not living tools refined by experience.
• Only 10% of organizations have achieved “very high” cyber maturity. However, those with higher maturity experience 50% less financial impact per dollar of revenue when cyber incidents occur.
• 36% of organizations acknowledge gaps in how threats are prioritized, with differing risk tolerance (51%) cited as the leading cause.
• 72% of organizations believe they can respond to an incident within 1-24 hours. Independent research from CrowdStrike shows that attackers establish a foothold in just 29 minutes. By the time most organizations mobilize a response, attackers have already moved laterally through the network.

Tiernan Connolly, Managing Director of Cyber and Data Resilience, Security Advisory at Kroll, says, “Board-level executives are often shocked by how one vulnerability or compromised system can cascade into a company-wide business interruption. They may understand the risk intellectually, but it rarely resonates operationally until they experience the impact firsthand. Until an actual incident forces that awareness, cyber budget line items tend to be treated as checking a box rather than being a strategic priority to protect, restore and maximize business value. Understanding business interruption as a core consequence, and directly linking it back to proactive controls, is how CISOs and security teams avoid reaching that costly breaking point.”

Dave Burg, Global Group Head of Cyber and Data Resilience at Kroll, says, “In today’s increasingly turbulent threat landscape, organizations face compounding cyber pressures, from more sophisticated threat actors to widening supply chain vulnerabilities. That pressure is amplified by geopolitical activity, such as the situation in the Middle East. Strategic decisions and execution realities can shift without warning. In an environment defined by uncertainty, businesses need to adapt quickly and confidently, even as the risk picture evolves in real time.”

“Cyber resilience and security aren’t simply technology challenges, they are fundamental to overall business resilience. Too often, cyber leaders are pulled between the drive to innovate and a hard truth: basic cyber hygiene failures remain the most common point of entry.”

“Our strategic partner CrowdStrike reports an average breakout time of just 29 minutes for attackers to move from initial access to broader infiltration. Yet many companies are pouring investment into advanced tools and threat intelligence while underinvesting in identity management, effective threat prioritization, and incident response readiness – gaps that can significantly increase exposure. Organizations that strengthen their cyber foundations will be better positioned to align strategy with execution, focus investments where they matter most and deliver stronger, more consistent defense.” 

You can access the full report on the Kroll website.

About the Research
Kroll commissioned independent research firm Sapio Research to conduct a comprehensive study into cybersecurity resilience and risk alignment in enterprise organizations. The research surveyed 1,000 cybersecurity decision-makers at companies with annual revenues from $50 million to more than $5 billion across 10 countries: the United Kingdom and Ireland (150), Germany (50), Switzerland (50), the United States (450), Japan (125), Singapore (50), Australia (25), the United Arab Emirates (50) and Saudi Arabia (50). The survey was conducted in November and December 2025.

About Kroll
As the leading independent provider of financial and risk advisory solutions, Kroll leverages our unique insights, data and technology to help clients stay ahead of complex valuation demands. Kroll’s team of more than 6,500 professionals worldwide continues the firm’s nearly 100-year history of trusted expertise spanning risk, governance, transactions and valuation. Our advanced solutions and intelligence provide clients the foresight they need to create an enduring competitive advantage. At Kroll, our values define who we are and how we partner with clients and communities. Learn more at kroll.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Emma Thompson
[email protected] 
+44 20 70295384
+44 7540 302090

Lori Feinsilver
[email protected]
+1 212 450 8155

[email protected]

18 March 2026 — KPMG today announced that Gary Wingrove has been elected as the next Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG International. Gary was nominated by the KPMG Global Board and elected by our Global Council. He will begin his four‑year term on 1 October 2026.

Gary currently serves as Global Chief Operating Officer and is a member of the Global Management Team. In this role, he has helped shape and execute KPMG’s global strategy (known as KPMG’s Collective Strategy), leading major advances in operational integration, regional clustering, global investment alignment, alliance expansion, and the ongoing growth of the KPMG Delivery Network (KDN). He has also overseen the firm’s digital transformation and the adoption of AI‑enabled solutions across the global organisation.

Before becoming global COO, Gary served as CEO of KPMG Australia from 2013 to 2021, nearly doubling the firm’s revenue, profitability and headcount while reshaping its culture. His global experience underpins the strategic clarity, operational discipline and values‑led leadership he brings to the role.

Gary will succeed Bill Thomas, who has served as Global Chairman and CEO since 2017.

Bill Thomas has led KPMG through a period of significant transformation and global growth, positioning the organisation as the fastest‑growing of the Big Four networks for the past two years. Under his leadership, global revenues have increased by 55% since 2017 (on a constant‑currency basis), and the firm has grown to more than 276,000 people worldwide. Bill created and embedded the Collective Strategy, aligning member firms behind shared priorities, refreshed governance and a unified global ambition. He has also overseen the firm’s multi‑billion dollar global investment program and deepened our alliances with partners including Microsoft, Google Cloud, SAP, Oracle and ServiceNow, enabling KPMG to deliver market leading, AI‑enabled solutions at scale.

The proposed technical standards may result in ‘faster deployment, lower costs, and better investment certainty’ as well as greater energy grid security, AEMC has said.

Industry and community stakeholders are invited to offer feedback on the proposed technical standards until 7 May, before the standards are finalised.

AEMC said the standards would help prevent consumers losing “billions in lost electricity supply or emergency network upgrades” due to fault-related failures impacting energy systems, while enabling investment, instead of blocking it.

The draft rule would raise the current threshold for large inverter-based loads from 5 megawatts (MW) to 30MW and embed this definition directly in the national electricity rules, which AEMO said will ensure that technical requirements will only apply to large scale projects that are most likely to affect power system security.

Nick Li, an energy specialist at Pinsent Masons, said: “The scale and speed of data-centre growth in Australia is now significant enough for AEMO to model data centres at their separate demand category within the NEM and call them ‘active grid participants’, with any sudden disconnection potentially triggering cascading failures and blackouts.”

“The publication of the new standards is intended to ensure that data centre development is smooth and does not impact electricity supply in the future by focusing on projects that have the potential to impact Australia’s energy security,” he said.

“The AEMC has stated that by matching the standards proposed or used in the US state of Texas, Ireland, and Finland, data centre operators can use the same equipment and feasibility studies as elsewhere. Standardising the approach would mean faster deployment, lower costs, and better investment certainty.”

Data centres will be required to meet new performance criteria, ensuring they can withstand disturbances to the power grid without going offline, and provide better data on how they respond to grid disturbances under the new rules.

Data centres currently make up about 2% of energy consumption in Australia, according to AEMO’s estimates. This is expected to grow sharply due to artificial intelligence’s heavy energy requirements.

VALHALLA, N.Y., March 18, 2026 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Optical Devices Division, today announced the development of three new 4K broadcast zoom lenses: FUJINON UA16x4BERD (“UA16x4”), FUJINON UA30x7.3BERD (“UA30x7.3”), and UA94x8.7BESM (“UA94x8.7”). Each of these newly developed lenses covers a wide range of focal lengths in a single unit, providing strong support for immersive storytelling in a variety of broadcast production environments such as sports broadcasts, concerts, live events, and studio production.

UA16x4 and UA30x7.3

The newly developed UA16x4 and UA30x7.3 portable broadcast zoom lenses achieve both an extended wide-angle range and high zoom ratio, fitting a focal length range that surpasses previous models into a compact and lightweight body.

UA30x7.3 delivers a best-in-class 30x zoom range^[1] covering 7.3mm-219mm, and UA16x4 delivers a class-leading^[1] wide-angle range of 4mm-64mm while also achieving best-in-class^[1] 16x zoom range. By optimizing all elements – from optical and mechanical design to production and control technology – these two lenses achieve optimal zoom magnification and wide-angle focal length while reducing size and weight.

In sports broadcasts, UA16x4 and UA30x7.3 support a wide range of framing options, from wide views capturing the entire stadium, to powerful zoom-ins and close-ups for post-game interviews, enabling flexible image creation. Additionally, the flexibility of these lenses enables creative freedom for camera operators in various filming environments.

“In professional production environments such as sports broadcasts, concerts, live broadcasts, and studio production, it is essential to reliably capture moments that are key to the competition or performance,” said Stosh Durbacz, vice president, Sales, Optical Devices Division, FUJIFILM North America Corporation. “We’ve designed these lenses specifically to meet the needs of these high-stake situations, combining zoom performance that covers a wide range of focal lengths from wide-angle to telephoto in a single lens with compact and lightweight designs that allow for agile operation.”

UA94x8.7

UA94x8.7 is a versatile box zoom lens for 2/3-inch sensor broadcast cameras, covering the wide-angle to super-telephoto focal range from 8.7mm to 818mm, providing operational flexibility. It is ideal for a wide variety of applications including sports broadcasts, concerts, and other large-scale live events. UA94x8.7 enables diverse visual creativity, from immersive wide-angle shots that capture the atmosphere to close-up footage that brings subjects vividly into focus.

“As professional video production styles diversify, broadcast equipment is increasingly being utilized across a wider range of settings, resulting in more demand for box lenses that offer high production quality and versatility, yet are still cost effective,” said Durbacz. “UA94×8.7 sits in a sweet spot between our UA70x and UA107x box zooms. It delivers a proprietary image stabilization system offering superior operability during zooming and focusing, reducing the burden on camera operators, and contributing to smooth operation in live production – at a price point we think will better align with their needs.”

Availability

UA94x8.7 is due to be released in fall of 2026, and both UA30x7.3 and UA16x4 are due to be released in spring of 2027. Fujifilm will showcase all three lenses at the 2026 NAB Show, the world’s largest international broadcast equipment trade shows, to be held in Las Vegas from April 19 to 22, 2026.

For more information about FUJINON broadcast and cinema lenses, visit https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/business/cine-and-broadcast. 

###