Data and Security

The arrival of martech was heralded as the next stage of marketing. These platforms enabled marketers to gather endless reams of data so they could reconfigure their approach and boost their conversions. The theory was that the better businesses got to know their customers, the more appealing they could make their offers. What actually happened […]

The good news is that data breaches appear to be declining in 2018, according to the Risk Based Security Q1 2018 Data Breach QuickView Report. The first three months of 2018 witnessed 686 breaches compared to 1,442 breaches in the same quarter in 2017. The bad news is that numerous breach strategies still work, including malware, phishing, […]

If you scour the internet for your personal data, stop. It’s already out there in the hands of companies, and no number of removal requests will change that. What you should be worried about is whether executives at these companies are asking themselves the right question: What constitutes ethical use of consumer data? What if you […]

More enterprises are investing in mobile applications on platforms preferably iOS. The 2016 enterprise mobile apps report brought out by Adobe reinforces the growing need for enterprises to invest in mobile apps. With Apple constituting a major share of the world smartphone market, iOS tend to be the most preferred platform in enterprise app development. […]

Although FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated, “I strongly support a free and open internet,” the FCC officially repealed net neutrality on June 11th. The original net neutrality laws protected the internet by referring to it as a common carrier. That meant it fairly provided a service like utilities to everyone. However, repealing net neutrality laws […]

There’s no getting around it: the way marketers and retailers harness the power of big data can be a little on the creepy side. An innocent Google search on a specific subject can often result in you seeing nothing but targeted ads on that subject for the rest of the week wherever you turn.  Yet […]

GDPR is coming and many organizations are changing their ways – you must have noticed getting emailed from your favorite websites about their new policies. One of the most sensitive data pipes in every big organization is the CRM (Customer Relationship Management), which contains all of the private information of both the company and their […]

In 2013, hackers managed to access the AP twitter account and posted a fake tweet implying that there was an explosion in White House and the then President Obama had been injured. Following the Tweet, the stock market went into panic mode with the Dow plunging over 150 points and the S&P 500 shedding $135.6 […]

The big data trend continues, and more and more companies are hopping on the bandwagon. While many organizations assume they need big data’s wisdom, often the “small” operational data they already have will do just fine. Operational data is internal data, such as the data that gives Uber its ability to dispatch cars. Big data, […]

Every time you’ve installed a piece of commercial software, you’ve invariably been presented with what must have appeared to be legal gibberish- a seeming difficult to read, needlessly long, solid block of text that was almost impossible to understand. Most people never bother to read the information presented- quickly scrolling to the bottom of the […]

For a business in digital transition, data architecture is a big decision. Selecting the right model is one of the first and most important choices of any such initiative. But given the breadth of options and confusing terminology, choosing a solution that meets the company’s needs without blowing its budget is no easy task. Two […]

For all of the “isms” supposedly being felled by enlightened Americans, the U.S. economy remains stunningly unfair. Take racism. On one hand, interracial marriages have grown fivefold in the 50 years since Loving v. Virginia, which legalized the practice. On the other, the average median household wealth of African-Americans declined by 75 percent between 1983 […]

The smart city began as a science fiction dream, but it’s very quickly becoming a reality. Municipal infrastructure, integrated with smart technology, will transform the aesthetics, utility, and sustainability of urban landscapes from here on out. To see a smart city in action, just look to Washington, D.C., which has embraced a top-down approach to […]

Companies may be well aware they’re sitting on a gold mine of data, but most of them have no idea how to exploit its value. Case in point: According to research by Forrester, up to 73 percent of corporate data goes unanalyzed. Information is collected, then neglected. That’s as unproductive as living with Superman and […]

In February 2017, the Transformations Autism Treatment Center learned that one of its former behavioral analysts had breached its security. According to his indictment, Jeffrey Luke illegally accessed a TACT Google Drive account and stole protected health information from more than 300 current and former patients. TACT’s cyber breach is especially concerning because Luke had […]

In 2006 Google’s acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion, and Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012.   Many dismissed these purchases as indulgences of cash-rich tech behemoths, and federal regulators took no action.  But, these acquisitions were far from frivolous.  They shut out potential competitors, strengthening Google’s market dominance in search and Facebook’s in social media. And, now […]

Data has never been more critical to marketing success. Companies are striving to employ the latest analytics to drive improvement in all areas of operations. The good news is that the majority of consumers are willing to provide data, given the right conditions. In fact, a 2018 survey by Acxiom found that 58 percent of […]

The debate about companies’ use of location data has gained a lot of traction this year. However, that shouldn’t make you shy about using it. In the right hands, used the right way, location data is an invaluable tool in any market. Your competition knows this, and the debate isn’t slowing them down, either. According […]

The majority of cyberattacks aren’t large-scale, coordinated efforts to break through tough defenses and acquire valuable data; instead, they’re simple and opportunistic. A “hacker” might stumble upon someone’s password because they left it written on a sticky note, or they might take advantage of an account that was left logged in on a public computer. […]

A recent study reports that US broadband households own more than 10 connected devices. What will happen when they start talking and working together?  Will your home become aware? Finding out how all these connected devices will work together is still an unknown — and a top priority. The industry is focused on improving and […]

A handful of technologies have dominated industry and media conversations as of late. You’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the hype around things like AI/ML, IoT, AR/VR – and more recently – blockchain. Blockchain garnered mass attention during the meteoric rise (and subsequent fall) of the cryptocurrency markets in late […]

With the recent trends towards automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence as it appears that just the application of AI can not transform the enterprise computing as now, it has the power to change project management as well. A well-known core concept with AI systems is that their predictions are only as amazing as their […]

The question has been asked, “Is data the next front in the Trade Wars? Will our data threaten Global Commerce? What will become of data in this simmering conflict?” These, indeed, are vital questions — for all of us in the world. What are the ramifications of the tit-for-tat tariff strategy? Every week a new […]

Imagine this love story of Mia’s 78-year-old father. He fell in love with a woman on a dating website. The woman was wonderful and tender. Glenda started pouring her heart to this dear old man without meeting him in person. The couple had many beautiful moments, and Mia’s father could feel Glenda’s goodness during the […]

With your business facing so many competing interests from the cost of securing new finance, your competitors, and a fast-changing market, you might think that cybersecurity is something that can wait. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to tell you that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s take a look at the basic things […]

It’s easy to put all hackers in one box. In reality, there are a few types of hackers — some good, some bad. And, yes, some ugly in terms of what they do. While you are used to hearing about those hackers that steal your personal and payment data, there are ethical hackers out there […]

 Blockchain is seemingly forever on the cusp of mainstream adoption, but not for long. For those who have a broader perspective on the technology’s current capabilities and history, the idea that blockchain is anywhere close to reaching critical mass is laughable. Despite retail investor interest in cryptocurrencies, the things that blockchain technology can do are […]

What is the best way to backup WhatsApp chat? If you have the same question in mind, then you are at the right place. While WhatsApp is used by over a billion people worldwide, most of them struggle with ways to backup their data. Surprisingly, people don’t know that there are numerous ways to do […]

It’s no surprise that companies implementing dynamic IoT solutions are doing so by harnessing the power of cloud computing. However, it may surprise you how cloud computing is benefitting these IoT initiatives. When referring to the cloud, many talk about its scalability, cost-effectiveness, and low maintenance, yet the cloud has so much more to offer […]

In the last decade, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are among the rare developments in technology that is poised to become so disruptive that they’ve become synonymous with innovation and the future. Startups have begun aiming to bring an amalgamation of these technologies onboard and have raised a whopping $437 million to date(source). But what […]

Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas arrived at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in late January with praise for his country’s digital identity program. Estonia has one of the world’s foremost digital identity programs, which allows its citizens to use their identities to vote, buy medication, sign documents, and more. Our digital identity isn’t […]

Most people are familiar with IPTV services that are the recent replacement to the tradition cable TV. This latest technological trend, IPTV delivers users with fast streaming service of their favorite video content. Internet Protocol Television operates through your internet service which means you can directly stream any show without having to download it first. […]

Browsers are like gods of the internet; it feels incredible when we skeptically think how just a few codes let us virtually access the world on our fingertips. Statically Google’s Chrome is the market share leader with 62.5% followed by Apple’s Safari at 13.8%. Over the last few years, many browsers have tried to dethrone […]

Everything in our world is connected to a network. That’s not news to consumers or observers of the emergence of IoT, however today’s ubiquitous connectivity now also applies to all things industrial. Everything from the operational systems that run power plants and factories to elements of public infrastructure like traffic lights and rail switching — […]

An Information Technology (IT) department is charged with the responsibility of developing and managing a company’s technology assets. The Information Technology (IT) department includes so many differentiations that it can be mind-boggling. This blog will help you sort out what you know about IT — and what you don’t know about IT. It will also […]

2018 showed us an accelerated growth in cyber threat activities. Data breaches, attacks using malicious software and insider threats were among the most familiar forms of attack. Many well-known organizations suffered from these cybersecurity disasters and compromised data of millions of users. Exactis, a marketing and data aggregation firm suffered the largest data leak of […]

Hurricane Harvey was a Category four storm that hit Texas on August 25, 2017. It caused billions in lost data damage to the residents of Texas. The total loss suffered was more than any other natural disaster in U.S. history except Hurricane Katrina. How Data Recovery Impacts Businesses Besides such disasters, software and hardware failure […]

The year 2017 suffered the greatest ransomware attack in the history of the internet. The WannaCry ransomware detected in hospitals of the UK. It then exploded across the globe and affected more than 200,000 computers across 150 countries. This attack targeted the computers running with the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanded a […]

Globalized markets provide opportunities for thinking outside the box on labor questions — or even outside borders in the form of nearshoring. The past few decades have seen a boom in outsourcing to far away places. It’s been a useful strategy for some companies looking to increase profits by reducing payroll expenses. Other companies want […]