IBM denies 110,000 layoff reports; BMW patches hackable cars; Australia launches cyberattacks

IBM has rejected media reports that it is about to cut more than 110,000 jobs.

A little over a week ago, Forbes.com posted an article suggesting about 26% of IBM staff would soon be laid off.

“One in four IBMers reading this column will probably start looking for a new job next week. Those employees will all be gone by the end of February,” the Forbes article, from contributor Robert X Cringely, said.

At the end of 2013, IBM and its wholly owned subsidiaries had 431,212 employees. Using that number as a basis, Cringely’s figure of 26% would mean around 112,000 employees would lose their jobs.

Cringely quoted IBM as saying: “IBM does not comment on rumors or speculation. However, we’ll make an exception when the speculation is stupid. That’s the case here, where an industry gadfly is trying to make noise about how IBM is about to lay off 26% of its workforce. That’s over 100,000 people, which is totally ludicrous.”

In a blog post titled ‘Unfounded Rumor’, IBM also said: “IBM has already announced the company has taken a $600 million charge for workforce rebalancing. This equates to several thousand people, a mere fraction of what’s been reported.”

Last week the Forbes writer commented on IBM’s denial, saying: “I think IBM is dissembling, fixating on the term 110,000 layoffs, which by the way I never used. Whatever the word, what counts is how many fewer people will be paid by IBM on March 1 compared to today.”

Cringely went on to quote an anonymous IBM staffer who said that while IBM may be only laying off several thousand employees officially, other staff “are being pushed out by being given poor performance ratings. This includes people on their ‘bridge to retirement’ program that took that option, thinking it kept them ‘safe’ from resource actions (layoffs/firings)”.

We may soon find out the true number of layoffs. A US tech union is claiming IBM employees have been sent “urgent requests for one-on-one meetings with their managers” - meetings that The Australian suggests may be about termination. The paper is reporting that IBM Australia workers are also being notified about such meetings.

BMW addresses hackable cars

In Internet-of-Things news, German automotive manufacturer BMW claims it has fixed a security flaw that could have allowed hackers to unlock the doors of up to 2.2 million Rolls-Royce, Mini and BMW vehicles, Reuters reported.

The flaw was discovered by officials at the German automobile club ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club).

BMW reportedly said that the flaw did not impede the driving, steering or braking of the cars affected.

The company also said that “no cases have come to light yet in which data has been called up actively by unauthorised persons from outside or an attempt of this kind is made in the first place”.

The flaw-affected cars are equipped with BMW’s ConnectedDrive software using onboard SIM cards, according to Reuters. ConnectedDrive allows drivers to use a SIM card to activate door locking mechanisms, air conditioning and use other services.

BMW said it has taken action to prevent breaches of the system.

“The online capability of BMW Group ConnectedDrive allowed the gap to be closed quickly and safely in all vehicles. There was no need for vehicles to go to the workshop,” a statement from BMW read.

“The update is carried out automatically as soon as the vehicle connects up to the BMW Group server or the driver calls up the service configuration manually,” it said.

Australia launches its own cyberattacks

Amid increasingly frequent reports of world governments launching cyberattacks, it has emerged that Australia has been undertaking its own international hacking operations.

According to the AFR, sources have indicated that the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) - an Australian government intelligence agency - has launched cyberattacks on terrorists in the Middle East.

Individuals within the ASD develop their own malware and borrow payloads from America’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ, according to the AFR.