Reported data breaches up more than 56 percent
According to the latest Data Breach Report from Risk Based Security the number of reported data breaches was up 56.4 percent in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period last year.
The increase in reporting could be a result of new legislation like GDPR that obliges businesses to be more open about security issues. The number of exposed records was also up by 28.9 percent. Already in 2019, there have been three breaches exposing 100 million or more records.
Privacy: HMRC forced to delete 5 million unauthorized voice recordings of UK taxpayers
The UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has been forced to deleted voice recording of five million taxpayers. The recordings were made without consent, which the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said constituted a "significant" breach of data and privacy rules.
Before being allowed to access HMRC services, callers were required to repeat the phrase "My voice is my password". This recording was fed into the authority's biometric voice ID database, and violated GDPR rules.
IT's role continues to evolve -- here's what to expect at your startup
Now that technology is at the core of all business activities, IT finds itself evolving from having a supporting role to having a more central and crucial one. Even for startups, it's important to effectively define IT's place in the organization given the new realities created by the changing landscapes of technology and commerce.
Consider how dramatically this role has changed. Just over a decade ago, IT leaders were concerned with improving connectivity within the workplace and bringing their organizations online. More recently, they’ve had to worry about things like mobile tunneling, GDPR compliance and optimizing real-time business intelligence dashboards.
More than half of companies have sensitive files open to all employees
The latest data risk report from security company Varonis reveals that 53 percent of companies have at least 1,000 sensitive files open to all employees, putting them at risk of data breaches.
Keeping old sensitive data that risks fines under HIPAA, GDPR and the upcoming CCPA is a problem too. The report finds over half of data is stale and 87 percent of companies have over 1,000 stale sensitive files, with 71 percent having over 5,000 stale sensitive files.
Over half of data-driven initiatives are failing
More than half of data-driven initiatives are failing in business, with 27 percent of failures due to a skills shortage according to new research from analytic database company Exasol.
In the public sector, financial services and energy and utilities companies the failure rate rises to more than 60 percent. And in retail and financial services 40 percent blame skills shortages for failures.
European financial services industry struggling with lack of data skills
Nearly 40 percent of financial services businesses are failing to implement data initiatives due to a lack of skills, with almost a third saying that their GDPR initiatives are failing, according to a new study.
The report produced by Vanson Bourne for analytics database company Exasol is based on responses from 500 IT and business decision makers, from enterprises in Germany and the UK.
Mark Zuckerberg's calls for internet regulation are just an attempt to shift the blame from Facebook
Over the weekend, Mark Zuckerberg set out what he described as "four ideas to regulate the internet". Were these ideas put forth by someone else, it might be possible to refer to this as an impassioned plea -- but this is Zuckerberg we're talking about.
He suggests GDPR-style privacy regulation in the US. He wants more control of hate speech. He believes more needs to be done about political advertising, particularly around the time of elections. And he likes the idea of data portability. These are reasonable ideas and -- importantly -- there is nothing to stop Facebook from implementing them now. To lead the way. There is no need to call for, or wait for, legislation.
RSA 2019 recap: What we learned
Every year, the RSA Conference grows in size, reflecting the ever-increasing prominence of the central topic it covers, cybersecurity. The cybersecurity extravaganza brings together thought leaders and companies from all around the globe for five days of keynote speeches and breakout sessions that provide seemingly endless opportunities to learn something new. As one of the largest security events in the United States, it helps attendees connect with cybersecurity luminaries, potential clients, and industry movers-and-shakers (perhaps over a happy hour drink or two).
Don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend or couldn’t digest all of the information presented -- with so many in-conference events, it’s practically impossible. The following are two top trends you can learn from RSA 2019:
Gearbest security flaw leaks millions of order and user details
A badly configured server at Gearbest, the Chinese purveyor of technology and other stuff online, has leaked millions of user profiles and order details.
White hat hacker Noam Rotem discovered an Elasticsearch server that was -- indeed still is at the time of writing -- leaking millions of records each week. These include customer data, orders, and payment records. The server wasn't protected with a password, potentially allowing anyone to search its data.
Stricter payment requirements in Europe could drive fraud elsewhere
From September this year the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) comes into force across the EU. This will require payment service providers to offer strong customer authentication (SCA) and third-party access to bank accounts or risk losing their their payment provider license.
But a new report today from fraud prevention company iovation suggests that stricter requirements for fraud prevention in Europe will drive fraud to other regions such as the US.
Creative destruction: Using data skills to rethink business cultures
Data should underlie every business decision. Yet too often some very human cultural artifacts really lead the business down certain routes where it moves away from modelling decisions on the best data. It’s only human. Yet to be a better human guiding the corporate machine we need to transcend the way "we’ve always done it".
In the data age gut, tradition, and inertia shouldn’t be why strategic decisions are made. And yet, hand on heart, we all continue to do it, because that’s part of being human. Well, it’s time to be more than human, time to get creative. Time to smash the way "we’ve always done it." Time to apply some creative destruction to break down the worst parts of making decisions within organizations, and start using the data, technology, and creativity that lies around us, untapped.
Americans more likely to stop dealing with a brand after a breach but Brits hold a grudge for longer
New research into consumer trust and spending habits by contact center payment security company PCI Pal shows 62 percent of Americans report that they will stop spending with a brand for several months following a hack or breach, versus 44 percent of Brits.
But when the British do react they do so for the long term, 41 percent of British consumers never return to a brand after a hack compared to only 21 percent of Americans.
Opera Touch 1.5.0 adds cookie dialog blocker to mark 24 improvements since launch
Opera Software has unveiled no fewer than 24 improvements since launching its mobile browser for Android and iOS. The latest build, Opera Touch 1.5.0 delivers a much-needed setting for automatically handling website cookie dialogs.
Other improvements since launch have included expanding the My Flow feature to connect mobile and desktop iterations of Opera, support for Private Browsing mode and a dark theme
Formjacking is the new cash generator for cybercriminals
The latest Symantec Annual Threat Report reveals that cybercriminals are continuing to follow the money, but as ransomware and cryptojacking show falling returns they are turning to other techniques.
One of these is formjacking -- essentially virtual ATM skimming -- where cybercriminals inject malicious code into retailers' websites to steal shoppers' payment card details.
How contact centers have become a prime target for hackers [Q&A]
With growing security threats and compliance being taken seriously, companies are more aware than ever of the need to protect their data.
This means hackers must work harder to try to steal information and contact centers are in the front line. We spoke to Ben Rafferty, chief innovation officer at security and compliance specialist Semafone to find out how contact centers are under threat and what can be done to protect them.
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