Ovum expects the social messaging segment, backed by heavyweights such as Facebook, to pose an increasing threat to traditional mobile operator revenues and force an evolution of communications services. [ + ]

Security researchers have found a massive vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic library, one that apparently makes it trivial for attackers to steal information normally protected by encryption common used to protect web, email and other internet communications. [ + ]

HP will pay more than AU$115 million in fines and its Russian subsidiary will plead guilty to bribing government officials, following an investigation involving US law enforcement. [ + ]

Australian business leaders recognise the benefits of flexible working - including mobile and activity-based working - but feel their business processes are holding them back, a survey suggests. [ + ]

Coca-Cola Amatil has selected IBM's Sydney data centre to serve as the cloud hub for its entire South Pacific operations. [ + ]

Cybercriminals are waiting longer to pull off larger scale data breaches that can expose tens of millions of records, with eight such attacks recorded in 2013, a Symantec threat report states. [ + ]

NBN Co will add a further 9000 spots to the Interim Satellite Service (ISS) while expanding bandwidth available to customers on the service, Comms Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced last week. [ + ]

The Department of Defence has awarded Optus a $19.5m contract extension covering the continued supply of satellite capacity and support services. [ + ]

Can tech CEOs hold political opinions that run counter to their organisation's mission statement? The case of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich suggests that the answer could be 'no'. [ + ]

The Department of Defence has awarded Optus a $19.5m contract extension covering the continued supply of satellite capacity and support services. [ + ]

ICT analyst firms Ovum and Informa are merging under the Ovum brand, to create a research house that will employ 180 analysts across six continents. [ + ]

Applications delivery networking vendor F5 Networks has opened an ANZ customer support centre in Auckland, its fifth such facility in Asia-Pacific. [ + ]

UNIT4 has won a deal to provide research management software to Monash University, to help the university manage its $300 million global research practice. [ + ]

Microsoft has made new leadership appointments to its Cloud and Enterprise, Microsoft Devices and Xbox groups. [ + ]

Microsoft's recently revealed Office for iPad will appeal to some users, but will leave those looking for innovative tablet-related features disappointed, according to one analyst firm. [ + ]