Regardless of industry, no company can escape the widespread reach and impact of data. Whether a company is collecting account information from customers or aggregating platform usage data, handling large amounts of data has become the norm. While this creates boundless new opportunities for businesses in analytics and real-time decisioning, it also introduces new risks that organizations need to consider and prevent where possible.
The year 2020 has served up some unprecedented challenges for the human race in every aspect, with wireless connectivity more important than ever. Particularly as millions continue to work and learn remotely, our connected world of devices, vehicles, homes and cities is expanding exponentially. According to a report from GSMA and ABI Research, the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide had already reached 8.1 billion by 2017 at an annual growth rate of 5.4 percent. It’s now predicted that by 2025 the number will increase to 9.8 billion, with 3G and 4G representing 51 percent of total subscriptions and 91 percent of the total traffic generated, while 5G subscriptions are expected to exceed 849 million.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $37 million in funding for research and development in artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to handle data and operations at DOE scientific user facilities.
Contact tracing for COVID-19 is critical to returning our nation to some semblance of normalcy, but we are far from a consensus on what effective, secure, cost-feasible and scalable contact tracing looks like. There are several documented, meaningful automated contact tracing efforts across the globe - not to mention more than 150 apps and initiatives in various stages of development. Getting contact tracing off the ground in the US is fraught with obstacles that are formidable, but not insurmountable. Among the thorniest is data privacy: if we can’t convince citizens that it’s safe and non-invasive to share information about who they’ve been in touch with, contact tracing will fail.
DefenTec began as a managed services provider (MSP) before transitioning into a managed security services provider (MSSP). Now, in addition to optimizing their clients’ data environments through managed services, IT support and consulting, and cloud computing, DefenTec also fortifies them through a full range of managed security services, including secure Wi-Fidesign, network audits, and of course, password management. How does DefenTec use KeeperMSP to further guard their clients from cyberattacks?
Google has admitted that its Home speakers recorded users at all times, even when they hadn't said "wake words" such as "OK Google," due to a security error earlier this year.
COVID-19 has completely changed our world from six months ago, as we continue to battle the grave health implications, face extended stay at home orders, and grapple with the insurmountable ramifications on our economy. The pandemic has also forever changed the cyber threat landscape, with our workforce becoming more dispersed, and potentially more vulnerable, than ever as organizations switch out of the confines of their offices and move entire data streams to their laptops and home offices. On top of this, Salesforce has announced it is ending its Data Recovery service on July 31st, which is putting all of the data protection responsibilities, and the dire consequences that comes along with it, on the backs of the customer.
The EDPB’s FAQs resolve some open questions, such as whether there will be a grace period for companies relying on Privacy Shield, but raise other questions, such as what “supplementary measures” companies need to put in place to use Standard Contractual Clauses and Binding Corporate Rules.
In the wake of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Schrems II judgment, on July 23, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted a Frequently Asked Questions document to “provide initial clarification and give preliminary guidance to stakeholders on the use of legal instruments for the transfer of personal data to third countries, including the U.S.” The EDPB stated that the document will be updated, and further guidance provided, as it continues to examine and consider the judgment. The six-page FAQs provides the following guidance.
With a myriad of employees and contractors given ubiquitous access to business data, one thing is clear; identity has become the new security perimeter. Ensuring ERP data security, privacy, and compliance can no longer rely solely on network threat monitoring but requires using a layered identity defense to limit access to and within mission-critical applications.