As I watch the Equifax scandal unfold, it becomes clear to me that many are at a loss of what to do, or even how to think about this data breach. The first reaction people have is centered on if they, their friends, or family were personally impacted. Rightfully so. For some advice on what you can do to protect your identity, read my recent blog, Equifax Data Breach: How to Protect Yourself.

In addition to the personal reaction, however, I would call on all employers to consider how this breach,

As the CEO of a risk management company, I think critically about data breaches all the time. Every day we are working to make sure our clients have the means to protect themselves, their customers, their employees, and their communities. We help them manage all kinds of risks: competition, goal achievement, vendors, regulation changes, and of course, data theft.

In the recent Equifax data breach, hackers gained access to 143 million consumer names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates

On September 7, big-three credit reporting company Equifax reported that hackers gained access to the personal information of about 143 million U.S. consumers. This scandal will be bigger than the Wells Fargo, BP, Chipotle, Volkswagen and Bernie Madoff scandals combined.

The Equifax breach is unprecedented in both quantity and quality. It is second to none in terms of how many Social Security numbers were compromised, dwarfing all preceding attacks 10 to 1. But more importantly, this attack is un

If you haven’t yet heard, Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, has been hacked. What does this mean for you? It means that your Social Security number, and possibly even your driver’s license information, could be in the hands of hackers. Some are already calling this the worst breach of data in history.

How Did This Happen?

On September 7^th, Equifax announced that a security breach occurred that could impact as many as 143 million people. Though this isn’t the larg

Kmart recently suffered another cyber breach (the second in the past few years) that echoes events affecting companies including Wendy’s and Target. In this case, a wholly preventable weakness in the company’s POS system let through a malware attack, affecting an undetermined number of Kmart’s 735 domestic sites. Failure to recognize and mitigate the root cause of a security breach is inadequate risk management; it leaves the company vulnerable to future failures.

In response to the breach, Sears

It’s hard to keep track of the news of politics these days, and even if you can, how do you know it’s even real? The political landscape has greatly changed since January, and there have been a lot of laws passed that will affect us all, including the repeal of a law that protected your privacy on the internet. Basically, with this repeal, your internet service provider, or ISP, can sell your browsing history to anyone.

If you use the internet, you will be affected by this law. Not only will this

Believe it or not, you just can’t shred too much. If you aren’t destroying your sensitive data, my best advice is for you to start now. There are people out there who make a living diving into dumpsters in search of credit card info, bank account number, mortgage statements, and medical bills; all things they can use to steal your identity.

Here are 12 tips that you can use to help you destroy your sensitive data:

1. Buy a shredder. That said, I don’t own a shredder. I’ll explain shortly. There are a

A new study was just released by the National Association for Information Destruction. What did it find? Astonishingly, about 40% of all digital devices that are found on the second-hand market had personal information left on them. These include tablets, mobile phones, and hard drives.

The market for second hand items is large, and it’s a good way to find a decent mobile device or computer for a good price. However, many times, people don’t take the time to make sure all their personal informati

A shocking study by the National Associated for Information Destruction has revealed some terrifying information: 40% of electronic devices found on the second-hand market contains personal information. This information includes usernames and passwords, personal information, credit card numbers, and even tax information. Tablets were the most affected, with 50% of them containing this sensitive information, while 44% of hard drives contained the info.

What does this mean for you? It means that al

To those of us consider Tom Cruise the movie star of our day or even Grunge as the music we grew up with, looking at millennials, and the way they view life, is fascinating. These “kids” or young adults, many are brilliant. They really do define “disruption”.

However, that doesn’t mean that this tech savvy generation is always right. In fact, a new study shows just the opposite when it comes to internet safety. Though, they can also teach us a few things and are definitely up to speed on the valu

Donald Trump, the Power of Big Data and Psychographics

“Mind Manipulations” to Influence Election Results

Source: Peter Koening,

Global Research, January 06, 2017

According to Peter Koenig, the truth behind Donald Trump’s ‘surprise’ election may lay somewhere else. It’s called Psychometrics, a method based on massive behavioral data collection of people to be targeted by propaganda, or more accurately expressed by mind manipulation. This PR technology has been marketed and applied by a small London-

Over the past 30+ years, businesses have spent billions on talent assessments. Many of these are now being used to understand job candidates. Increasingly, businesses are asking how (or if) a predictive talent acquisition strategy can include the use of pre-hire assessments? As costs of failed new hires continue to rise, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for any kind of pre-hire information to increase the probability of making a great hire.
For All of the Marketing Hype, all Predictive

It is crazy to think that insurers are now the ones that need to manage their risk in the face of disruption. They must reinvent their business processes and strategies from the inside out to keep up with the rate of change. So, what are insurers doing to take action?

Insurance Nexus conducted exclusive interviews with the largest life insurer – Manulife and a mid-tier insurer IAT and created an exclusive white paper on analytics, business transformation and customer-centricity.

Take a look at th

A couple of weeks ago, a colleague of mine came to tell me about a new finding that she knew I'd love: BCM helps reduce data breach costs.

All I could think was, 'FINALLY.'

This is something that I've been telling clients for years: BCM is more valuable to your business than you can possibly imagine.

The new research from Ponemon Institute found that data breaches now cost as much as $4m - to say nothing of reputational hits. And, you could face a double whammy with higher insurance premiums, too.

B

The words “data breach” are often met by a clamor whenever they make headlines. Home Depot, Target, Ashley Madison, Heartland, Citibank, the list goes on and on. These breaches spent time in the limelight because of their magnitude; they affected hundreds of thousands – in some cases millions – of cardholders.

But the reality is data breaches are far more common than large headline events like these would have us believe. According to a report published by the Identity Theft Resource Center, ther

Last year, says the security firm Gemalto, over 700 million records were breached. Or, to put it another way, this translates to two million stolen or lost records every day.

2015 Breach Level Report

• 1,673 hacking incidents
• 398 were triggered from the inside of the attacked company: employees and even IT staff who were tricked (social engineering) by hackers into clicking on malicious links or attachments
• Government agencies suffered the greatest data leaks.
• Following that were nation states and heal

Disasters happen every day. Crashing hard drives, failing storage devices and even burglaries could have a significant negative impact on your business, especially if that data is lost forever. You can avoid these problems by backing up your data.

Backing up means keeping copies of your important business data in several places and on multiple devices. For example, if you saved data on your home PC and it crashes, you’ll still be able to access the information because you made backups.

A great way

You may be putting your company at risk simply by hiring a new employee. Why? Because that person could have a hidden, malicious agenda.

This is known as an inside threat, and it means that someone within your organization is planning or conducting activities meant to harm the company.

There is a pattern that most insider threats use: The first step is to gain access to the company’s system. Once they have access to the network, they will investigate it and seek out any vulnerable areas. The malic