Privacy

It’s the  middle of January and my thoughts revolve around Data Privacy Day. Even though Data Privacy Day is observed every January 28th, not a lot of people know about it so I’ve decided to become a stronger advocate and shed light on the issues that Data Privacy Day stands for. What is Data Privacy Day Data Privacy Day commemorates the signing of Convention 108 back in 1981, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. The Data Privacy Day campaign is spearheaded by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and I laud their efforts to […]

2017 is over and it was certainly a year where data breaches were front and center for organizations and the public in general. There is a renewed interest around what personal data protection should entail, and in multiple cases, organizations are not there yet. This interest stems from a clear concern from consumers about how their data is being managed and protected. It has also become a top priority for regulators, as we can attest from the implementation of GDPR in Europe. Therefore, what can we expect in 2018? In my opinion, more of the same… but on steroids. Cybersecurity, […]

GDPR reminds me a lot of Y2K. Eighteen years ago I was an IT project manager for one of the largest consumer goods manufacturers in the world: Procter & Gamble. I had been working for them for almost 5 years and one third of the time I was there, I spent it on a critical, expensive, dreadful, but at the same time very exciting initiative: Y2K. As a young professional that was starting her career, I could not relate very well to the repercussions of this technological bug. I was told to do a job and I was happily doing […]

Introduction Over the last few years, privacy has become a term that has relevance for almost everyone in almost every context: be it an organization trusted with the information of their customers, governments monitoring citizens’ data in the name of national security or a consumer simply buying a pair of sneakers online. When we hear about privacy in the news, it is usually an incident related to online hackers or what is also known as a cyber attack. The message is usually the same: an individual that was lured into giving out their personal information, generally causing them great financial […]

When we hear about Privacy, different terms come to mind: breach, regulation, identity theft, exposure, risk. The one word I assure you will not immediately come to mind is “sexy”. When it comes to information privacy, we think of our right to keep our personal information safe, unused, undisclosed. We fear someone getting their hands on our information and use it to their advantage or worse, to our detriment. As businesses grow closer and deeper relationships with their customer base, what if they think of privacy management not as something they have to do because consumers, government or regulators demand […]