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, […]

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. […]

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 […]

Although FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated, “I strongly support a free and open internet,” the FCC officially repealed net neutrality on June 11th.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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

At media companies, 2018 might be remembered as the year that someone finally got data sharing right. To be sure, there were some missteps. Facebook’s series of data scandals cost the social network around a quarter of its value. But Twitter, Google, Reddit, Snapchat, and even Facebook each tweaked their privacy policies to better balance […]

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. […]

While it was once just considered a methodology in software development, an Agile approach is something that can benefit organizations in all industries. Many organizations have been slowly moving towards a more agile approach for years. However, many businesses have had to embrace this rapid approach much faster than they planned to due to COVID-19 […]

The intersection of AI and cybersecurity is a subject of growing concern in the industry, particularly on how AI can be used to mitigate attacks and neutralize threats. Many stakeholders are coming to terms with the fact that AI can be a force of evil too. According to BCG, over 90% of cybersecurity professionals in […]

Today’s large fund administrators service hundreds to thousands of fund managers and institutional investors. Automation is driving down margins across the investing industry. Price competition has become fierce. There is a great deal of talk about technology being an edge. And executives are turning to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks. The goal is to reduce […]

2020 wasn’t a comfortable year for business. Companies worldwide switched to remote working and had to adapt to the new (online) environment. With this transition came an increase in cybercrime issues and data breaches. In the first half of 2020, data breaches exposed 36 billion records. And 58% of them involved the personal data of […]

How much of your daily activities are currently being tracked? Even if you’re the paranoid type, suspecting every device and app you use of tracking your movements and online activities, you might still be underestimating how much of your data is being gathered and analyzed. Every app on every device is probably tracking at least […]

As the remote work wave advances, companies have had to grapple with new cybersecurity challenges, one of which is authentication. Employees’ reliance on traditional means of authentication like passwords and shared secrets has been a burden to companies due to how easy they are to hack and intercept. Here is how remote work is driving […]

Technological advancements don’t stop for anything, including Covid-19. During 2020, innovators kept testing and iterating, pushing technology farther ahead despite the pandemic. Though your business may have scaled back on spending a ton on tech last year, you’ll need an upgrade soon. What’s the risk of sticking to what works? Quite honestly, most things we […]

Accessing solutions and services over the Internet is not new. However, the speed at which new cloud computing tools and technologies are emerging is rapidly accelerating. Most businesses turn to the cloud to save money and improve efficiency. Cloud migrations offer businesses the opportunity to simplify functional business processes and their IT architecture. Rather than […]

Technology has been advancing at a dizzying speed in the last decade. Here is how to design a foolproof IoT cybersecurity strategy. One area that has been growing fast is the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT simply means a network of connected hardware devices that can communicate via an internet connection. The IoT network simplifies […]

IT leaders have been some mighty unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. When social distancing required millions of Americans to work remotely — IT managers were the ones who made it all possible. The IT Managers kept the economy afloat and created a sense of normalcy amid unprecedented circumstances. We need to thank them — […]

Just like every other emerging technology, there is a lot of hype surrounding blockchain technology but does all that hype really justified or is it just a tech bubble that is about to burst very soon? Let’s look at some numbers. According to Blockchain statistics, the Blockchain market is expected to reach a $20 billion […]

Technical skills are overrated, particularly in data science. Many data scientists quickly realize that much of their job challenges aren’t due to what they can or cannot do. Rather, the mentality with which they approach tasks matters a lot. For instance, a data scientist who has mastered communication will present their insights better than their […]

Have you ever lost 30 minutes of creative works on your computer? Or has it suddenly occurred to you that you have a great piece of data that will augment a business proposal, only to discover that the data is missing? Oh – how frustrating! Data loss occurs for various reasons 78 percent – Hardware […]

Digitalization is visible across most, if not all, spheres of our professional and personal lives. While it offers a number of undeniable advantages, it brings along the need for security, especially cybersecurity. Consider the following: An increasing number of devices are interconnected, communicating via the Internet Digitalization brings convenience but also collects data, with the […]

California recently passed Proposition 24, a landmark data privacy referendum that expands privacy protections in the world’s fifth-largest economy. Starting in 2023, the nation’s most comprehensive privacy regulations will protect nearly 40 million people and govern $3.2 trillion in economic output. Prop 24 will ripple across America, which still lacks a national privacy law. Most […]

Personal data is the raw material that fuels a significant proportion of business operations. A few examples include credit card scoring based on collated personal data from various sources, calculation of premiums based on past driving habits, or the use of online tracking to build complete profiles of individuals and then targeting them with personalized […]

Online space continues to thrive as the leading channel for conducting business and communications. In this fast-paced information age, new websites are popping up faster than ever. Here is the ultimate guide to website security for small businesses. Is a Website Less Expensive to Run than a Brick and Mortar? Most websites belong to small […]

The dangers of using passwords as a means of authentication cannot be overemphasized. According to reports by IT Governance, poor password behavior is the number one cause of data breaches. Despite this, passwords are still very common in the average person’s personal and work life. Here are passwords and their ability to bring down even […]

There is an invisible real-time data war taking place in the e-commerce world. Made up of numerous battles fought by soldiers, it is waged by major players competing for dominance in the highly competitive e-commerce environment. The purpose is clear: to post the lowest price and make the sale. While people don’t realize that this […]

When talking about IoT securities — smart homes are the hot new trend that is completely changing the house security situation’s face. It is a revolution in people’s life. The internet of things has made life much simpler and hassle-free. The world is now in a gold rush of the internet of things. Tech tycoons […]