The number of users of transactional mobile banking services will shoot from 185 million in 2011 to more than 550 million in 2016, according to a new report from Juniper Research. This surge will come from a confluence of two factors: a growing user acceptance of push mobile marketing and a sharp rise in smartphone adoption. [ + ]

Telstra Business has sent warnings to its customers and issued a list of security tips following an increase in cases of hackers gaining unauthorised access to business phone systems. [ + ]

Gen-i will build and deploy the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s cloud-based identity and access management service, as part of a five-year contract announced by the company today. [ + ]

Optus today announced results of the first trial of its 700 MHz 4G network, which attained a peak download speed of 70 megabits in the field. [ + ]

Avaya has entered into an agreement to acquire Radvision, a provider of videoconferencing and telepresence technologies over IP and wireless networks. The transaction is worth approximately US$230 million. [ + ]

The Australian government’s schemes to move to a low-carbon economy ignore the potential role of ICT in reducing carbon emissions, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) warned today. [ + ]

Users of Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari are vulnerable to a new attack that lets remote attackers steal sensitive information held on private Microsoft SharePoint sites, as well as mine data from other public websites such as LinkedIn. [ + ]

Organisations must employ apps custom built for tablet computers if they are to derive value from such devices, according to a new report from analyst firm Ovum. [ + ]

A global study on mobility risks, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by content security provider Websense, has revealed that corporate mobile devices and employee-owned devices (bring-your-own-devices) are circumventing enterprise security and mobile device usage policies in Australia. [ + ]

Mobile download speeds have risen 10% in the last year, while mobile upload speeds have dropped 30%, according to a new report from analyst firm IDC. [ + ]

SingTel (aka Singapore Telecommunications), owner of Australia’s second largest telco, Optus, today announced a revamp of its organisational structure. [ + ]

Microsoft last night launched a preview build of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Known as the ‘Consumer Preview’, the build is essentially a beta version of the OS and is available for download from Microsoft’s website. [ + ]

Complaints from small businesses about their telecommunications services increased 52% in the last financial year, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) revealed today. [ + ]

Telstra today launched a 4G tablet and a prepaid 4G LTE broadband modem. Until now, access to the 4G network was limited to post-paid mobile and post-paid dongle plans. [ + ]

The McAfee Threats Report Q4 2011 has found malware sample results that surpass its 75 million 2011 prediction, an almost doubling of malicious sites, an increase in mobile (particularly Android) malware, rootkits and botnets (Cutwail and Grum), and a decrease in global spam. [ + ]