How Do You Prioritize Security?
It’s no secret by now that cybersecurity often falls on a lower rung of priorities for companies. Developers of an application, for example, are most interested in facilitating the best, most convenient experience for customers as possible. Security can, in comparison, fall by the wayside. But in failing to sufficiently keep their data safe, can… Read More
Taking Customer Privacy Seriously
One interesting little statistic I noticed comes from Zack Whittaker. In the wake of a data breach, he discovered that there’s one common response companies will usually trot out for their customers or users. “We take your privacy and security seriously,” or some variation of the phrase. Out of 285 data breach notifications examined, he… Read More
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