Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of discussing security, privacy, governance and data breach concerns with our clients and prospects. On an average day I speak to 3-5 prospects, and today is no different with a total of five meetings set for this Tuesday in mid-December. While some of these discussions are repetitive, others are more insightful as to what challenges they are facing and looking to improve on in 2022.
Looking back is something we all do at this time of the year as we start to lay the mile-markers for our next year, along with our career and personal goals. One of the statistics I found interesting is a positive one. Public reported data breaches in the USA are down 9% in Q3. Of course, given the bad news of 2021 the total breaches for the year (as of October) exceeded the 2020 stat. However the total breaches this year has exceeded 2020 by just over 17 percent with 1,291 breaches in 2021 and over 1,108 in 2020. These are concerning metrics for all of us as consumers and certainly concerning to our trusted businesses that store and manage our data. How do we know and trust that our suppliers are managing our data effectively?
Companies are experiencing a whirlwind of mixed priorities and changing budget allocations. Forbes recently wrote an article in November on National Data Privacy Laws and the current state of progress on regulation in the United States. Key takeaways include that only California and Virginia have privacy laws in place but progress is being made to extend that. In this year alone more than 20 new privacy laws have been introduced including NY, CO and WV. As a US Citizen, I am a proponent of consumer data regulation, but more importantly an advocate of personal data control. The last thing we all want to hear is that a company we trusted with our data has had a breach or ransomware attack. I have been randomly lucky this year with regard to the vendors I have chosen, have you?
Data Privacy regulation is continuing as a priority in 2022, however we should take the time to consider where our data is being stored when we use digital products. Do those companies have the ethics and stewardship policies in place to protect us? Take a few minutes with a coffee and have a peek at the privacy policies these companies post online. Do you agree with their terms and conditions? Do you understand how they collect information? Do they have a specific policy for sensitive personal information? It’s something you should consider as you make your choices rather than assuming a blanket ‘TRUST’ on your data being out there. Remember, only two states are obligated to protect you and only if you engage them to do so. This is not a fear tactic, it’s a fact. The information is out there and you opt-in every time you make a purchase, sign onto their website or other consumer actions. One of my favorite companies collects a whole bunch of private data including name, location, phone, email address, account numbers, credit cards, biometrics, passport, drivers license, browser data, survey results, email history and the like. I am mostly confident with this organization and have been with them for over 20 years. However, I have no rights to manage my own data as I am living in a state with zero privacy laws and therefore am obligated to opt-in to their policies in order to use their products.
Trust implies that organizations are measuring, classifying, managing and improving processes to defend your data through robust security and data privacy initiatives. While we know that security and ID protection are improving, we can tell by the breach rate above that sometimes this isn’t always enough control. Either employees on the inside make a mistake or hackers on the outside make their way into our data. A key imperitive of trusting an organization is knowing that they control the perimeter, but also understand and manage data based on it’s content with a keen focus on personal data.
Data Sentinel was built to address this challenge in a democratic way, simplifying the process through automation and data visualization. Our solution is unique in the market to handle this process at scale, across all data types and locations for our customers. We built our solution to support data focused individuals across data privacy and data management. Whether you’re technical, or business focused, connect today to discuss how we can help manage all your data challenges. Happy Holidays to you all. We at Data Sentinel hope it’s a memorable one.
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Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of discussing security, privacy, governance and data breach concerns with our clients and prospects. On an average day I speak to 3-5 prospects, and today is no different with a total of five meetings set for this Tuesday in mid-December. While some of these discussions are repetitive, others are more insightful as to what challenges they are facing and looking to improve on in 2022.
Looking back is something we all do at this time of the year as we start to lay the mile-markers for our next year, along with our career and personal goals. One of the statistics I found interesting is a positive one. Public reported data breaches in the USA are down 9% in Q3. Of course, given the bad news of 2021 the total breaches for the year (as of October) exceeded the 2020 stat. However the total breaches this year has exceeded 2020 by just over 17 percent with 1,291 breaches in 2021 and over 1,108 in 2020. These are concerning metrics for all of us as consumers and certainly concerning to our trusted businesses that store and manage our data. How do we know and trust that our suppliers are managing our data effectively?
Companies are experiencing a whirlwind of mixed priorities and changing budget allocations. Forbes recently wrote an article in November on National Data Privacy Laws and the current state of progress on regulation in the United States. Key takeaways include that only California and Virginia have privacy laws in place but progress is being made to extend that. In this year alone more than 20 new privacy laws have been introduced including NY, CO and WV. As a US Citizen, I am a proponent of consumer data regulation, but more importantly an advocate of personal data control. The last thing we all want to hear is that a company we trusted with our data has had a breach or ransomware attack. I have been randomly lucky this year with regard to the vendors I have chosen, have you?
Data Privacy regulation is continuing as a priority in 2022, however we should take the time to consider where our data is being stored when we use digital products. Do those companies have the ethics and stewardship policies in place to protect us? Take a few minutes with a coffee and have a peek at the privacy policies these companies post online. Do you agree with their terms and conditions? Do you understand how they collect information? Do they have a specific policy for sensitive personal information? It’s something you should consider as you make your choices rather than assuming a blanket ‘TRUST’ on your data being out there. Remember, only two states are obligated to protect you and only if you engage them to do so. This is not a fear tactic, it’s a fact. The information is out there and you opt-in every time you make a purchase, sign onto their website or other consumer actions. One of my favorite companies collects a whole bunch of private data including name, location, phone, email address, account numbers, credit cards, biometrics, passport, drivers license, browser data, survey results, email history and the like. I am mostly confident with this organization and have been with them for over 20 years. However, I have no rights to manage my own data as I am living in a state with zero privacy laws and therefore am obligated to opt-in to their policies in order to use their products.
Trust implies that organizations are measuring, classifying, managing and improving processes to defend your data through robust security and data privacy initiatives. While we know that security and ID protection are improving, we can tell by the breach rate above that sometimes this isn’t always enough control. Either employees on the inside make a mistake or hackers on the outside make their way into our data. A key imperitive of trusting an organization is knowing that they control the perimeter, but also understand and manage data based on it’s content with a keen focus on personal data.
Data Sentinel was built to address this challenge in a democratic way, simplifying the process through automation and data visualization. Our solution is unique in the market to handle this process at scale, across all data types and locations for our customers. We built our solution to support data focused individuals across data privacy and data management. Whether you’re technical, or business focused, connect today to discuss how we can help manage all your data challenges. Happy Holidays to you all. We at Data Sentinel hope it’s a memorable one.
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