In 2011, Austrian law student, Max Schrems requested his personal data from Facebook as part of college research, and was shocked by the results. Facebook had a record of his entire user history, from pages he’d ‘liked’ to private messages he’d sent. Even personal communications regarding a friend’s health, which Schrems had deleted, were still […]
EU to consolidate and network cybersecurity to help fight online crime
The EU is enhancing its efforts in Europe’s ongoing struggle against net-based crime with a new initiative set to unify and network its expertise in research, tech and industrial development for cyber-security. The Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee recently gave the green light to authorities in Romania to begin discussions with the European Parliament to create […]
One Year on from the Cambridge Analytica Scandal
Just one year after news broke of the shocking relationship between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the scandal has lost none of its relevance in terms of how organisations worldwide handle data on consumers and employees. The UK-based analytics company created an app linked with Facebook that uncovered personal information about millions of the social network’s […]
Tokenex: GDPR and the Future of Privacy
In 2018, the information security industry received a new standard for privacy: the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Since its implementation on May 25, the law has revolutionised the way companies around the globe handle and store personal data, forcing entities to re-evaluate their methods for securing sensitive information and pushing security, IT […]
Verification.io suffers major data breach
Email platform, Verification.io has suffered a major data breach that has compromised around 2 billion records, reports reveal. The intrusion, discovered by security research, Bob Diachenko, has put countless personal email addresses and names into the public domain. Working in collaboration with colleague, Vinny Troia, traced the breach back to Verification.io, an email validation service. […]
Cybersecurity as the means to prevent customer disloyalty in 2019
According to the data of Ponemon Institute, 91% of companies fell victim to at least one crushing cyber-attack in 2017-2018. When customers pay for goods or services, they take a decision to rely on a company. Clients expect that the product and services will be high-grade and the result will hit their expectations out of […]
Clothing equipment retailer hit by data breach
An outdoor clothing and equipment retailer in New Zealand has been hit by a data breach, reports reveal. The stockist, named Kathmandu, admitted that an intrusion took place on its systems at the start of 2019. Customer credit card details and further personal information was compromised after hackers apparently got into the firm’s IT systems […]
Regulation rewritten: complying with chaos in 2019
2018 marked the arrival of two of the most impactful regulatory developments to hit the financial sector in decades: the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) on the 13th January and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the 25th May. On the face of it, the two are in complete contradiction with each other. One […]
Facebook takes legal action over quiz apps that grab data
Facebook says that underhand data harvesting tactics have been employed by quiz apps, compromising the privacy of thousands of the social media platform’s users. Malicious quiz apps were allegedly created to encourage user participation and lift profile data. Any account holders who wanted to take part in the quizzes were prompted towards the installation of […]
Sir Tim Berners-Lee warning on future of the internet
Reports recently released reveal the hopes and fears of Sir Tim Berners-Lee on what lies in store for the world wide web. Berners-Lee, who is known as the inventor of the internet, has been reflecting on the evolution of the progress his brainchild has made over the last three decades. The Facebook / Cambridge Analytica […]
Marriott proposals to strengthen data privacy following data breach fallout
Marriott president and CEO, Arne Sorenson has described potential changes in its cybersecurity approach to a governmental subcommittee in the US. Mr Sorenson said: “Part of our strategy going forward is to rely on encryption and tokenisation to say, ‘Whatever data we keep in this space, for example, it should all be encrypted.’ That, by […]