Data Personalization and Consumer Trust
“Personalization” is a key concept among data-driven business strategies these days. Often touted as a benefit to consumers, you can find companies seeking to give personalized experiences in more industries than one. According to recent studies, however, consumers around the world may be adopting a stance of, “thanks, but no thanks,” on this position. In… Read More
GDPR Enforcement Continues
This past Monday was Data Privacy Day. To mark the occasion, you could find countless articles offering tips and strategies for minimizing the vulnerability of one’s personal data. I don’t want to focus too much on the fine details, since everyone else has done so (including us in the past), but the same steps as… Read More
GDPR and Data Security Basics
It appears that Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law is still fighting pushback, or simply ignorance, from companies handling vast troves of user data. Twitter made news recently for a flaw that exposed a number of private tweets made on Android devices to public view. More importantly, however, in October the company appeared… Read More
What the government shutdown could mean for the security of your personal information
It looks like 2019 is already presenting unique issues for cybersecurity stewards and experts alike. The Daily Orange states that many customers remain unaware that their credit or debit card information gets stored in a company database when they use them at payment terminals. While this is undoubtedly true, I would add that consumers in… Read More
Consumer Trust in Cybersecurity in the New Year
I’m sure that if Blackberry had conducted this survey in the 90s—if they had asked people their level of trust in purchasing ‘smart’ cars, TVs, security cameras or drones—respondents would’ve taken one look at a VHS copy of The Terminator and given a flat nope. Today, the reaction seems to be just that, if perhaps… Read More
It’s the season of giving (away your data)
Some more news this week: Facebook keeps faceplanting, and now Twitter also joins in the fun. In the latter case, the avian-logo’d social media platform has announced that an error in their support forms potentially exposed country codes of users’ phone numbers to anyone interested. This might not seem like a major incident compared to… Read More
Learning From Data Breaches
WIRED has a new analysis on the current state of data breaches, the long, chaotic path that brought us to this point, and where we might be headed. It’s a comprehensive read, the core message of which is that organizations have indeed made strides over the past few decades to take cybersecurity more seriously, there… Read More
Marriott Breach Transcends Cybersecurity
It’s no surprise that the Marriott data breach, announced the other day, has once again elicited sharp criticism and concerns that incidents of this magnitude have potential ripple effects far beyond the tech industry. It should also be no surprise that I view this sentiment to be 100% true. The nature and scope of the… Read More
LinkedIn’s overeager networking lands them in trouble
During Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony on the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, it came out that a personality app quiz on Facebook had accessed information not only on those who took it, but their friends as well. This private database on some 50 million users was then shared with Cambridge Analytica. Unfortunately, it appears that LinkedIn… Read More
More is More: Cybersecurity Trends to Watch
As we wind down to the end of the year, it’s always important to take stock of where the current state of cybersecurity stands, and anticipate the paths it will take in the year to come. Looking at just such an article from Health Data Management, I’d say what we can expect is, perhaps unsurprisingly,… Read More