Potential legislation for corporate data negligence?
Congress is sure going for the throat on this one. Though it is unlikely to pass, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proposed legislation that would allow for jail time for executives in cases of corporate fraud and negligence. This Corporate Executive Accountability Act (CEAA) seeks to circumvent what its proponents perceive as a traditional lack of… Read More
Big Data, Collected and Shared
The recent announcement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—about accidentally revealing banking and other personal information on over 2 million people—is yet another example of insecure data sharing, and how different groups might respond differently to the risks of big data. Many survivors of the various major hurricanes and the California wildfires over the… Read More
Educating Students on Cybersecurity
Recently checking my old high school’s website, curious how much the curriculum had changed, I was impressed by the differences I found. Among other new additions, there were even several tech/computer courses that my class definitely was not offered. Of course, this is a much more recent trend, and other schools have followed suit. What… Read More
Encryption as Part of the Defense Strategy
I always take slight issue with data security articles that say in the title that encryption won’t protect against breaches. To me it’s a little misleading. It carries the implication that encryption is almost unnecessary, when that’s not what the article actually goes on to say. Quite the opposite. Rather, what they invariably mean is… Read More
Cybercrime targeting your kids and your DNA
Part of this blog’s purpose is to keep people up to date with the latest threats from cyber criminals. Naturally, when we find mention of a trend neglected by the research community, I feel obligated to give it what small signal boost I can. In this case, it’s in the field of biotech, and new… Read More
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