My data prophecy? More regulation is on the way January 29, 2020 In 2018, a new elephant entered the room. A giant EU elephant called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR and data privacy became, slightly bizarrely, a subject that was talked about in offices and in pubs. Even my proverbial aunty knew what it was. In corporate land, there was a frenzy of preparation ahead [...]
You could be sitting on a data goldmine, so keep your data safe January 27, 2020 How much data do you think you produce each day? Take a moment to think about it. The figure you came up with is likely wildly underestimated. The reality is that we collectively produce quintillions of gigabytes of data every day. Cut yourself some slack — coming up with an accurate number is no easy [...]
What lessons have we learned from a decade in cyber security? January 22, 2020 A colleague recently asked me what I thought had changed in cyber security over the last 10 years. We agreed that it had certainly been a time of momentous change. In 2012, there was the Shamoon attacks in the Gulf region. In one stroke, 35,000 computers were wiped and disabled within a matter of hours. [...]
Gambling companies used schools data on 28m children January 19, 2020 UK betting companies have gained access to a database containing information on roughly 28m children in a huge breach of sensitive government data. The firms have used the trove of data, which contains names, ages and addresses of children aged 14 and above in schools and colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to boost [...]
The scary movie cliches your business might be committing November 20, 2019 The choices that characters make in scary movies can often seem baffling. Why do they never turn the lights on when entering the house at night alone? How come they always run upstairs and never outside when being chased? These may be fictional scenarios we’ve seen on the screen many times, but real-world businesses are [...]
Dirty data deals on the dark web are a risk to business November 7, 2019 Five years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who had even heard of the dark web. Now this realm of mystery is the topic of books and films – not to mention daily headlines alongside news on the latest cyber breach. It’s got a reputation as the “go to” place for buying anything illegal, [...]
Digital battlegrounds: The war between big tech and regulators September 17, 2019 We now live in the age of the internet of things, where voice-sniffing devices abound, and consumers have the convenience of tailored search suggestions. Perhaps it is Amazon’s Alexa – revealed earlier this year to be forever listening to its users’ conversations – that provides the emblem of the age. However, while such devices can [...]
Seeing, but not believing: The threat from Deepfake videos September 12, 2019 Both traditional and social media lit up earlier this year following the launch of a ground-breaking campaign for charity Malaria No More which was fronted by David Beckham. In this 55-second video ad, the football star makes a passionate appeal for support. He makes it, however, in nine different languages. No, David Beckham has not [...]
Service unavailable: Don’t let an outage break trust in your business September 11, 2019 Across the tech industry, there is a crisis of trust that is centred around how companies handle data – from network provider Cloudfare’s outage in July that saw a vast number of websites around the globe go down, to the big four tech firms facing antitrust hearings in the US. Recent research by Veeam highlights that [...]
British Airways to fight data breach fine as parent company profits stay flat August 2, 2019 British Airways will “vigorously defend itself” against its £183m fine by authorities for a data breach in which more than 400,000 customers’ information was stolen. The airline this morning said it would use all means at its disposal to avoid the record-breaking penalty. Read more: British Airways owner set for record £183m fine after 2018 [...]