Security News
Each year at the end of January, internet users are deluged with advice on how to keep their data protected and reclaim their online privacy. What started as Data Privacy Day has now become a Week, to match our increasing dependency on the internet and help us navigate treacherous online privacy waters.
Google announced on Tuesday that it's officially rolling out Privacy Sandbox on Android in beta to eligible mobile devices running Android 13. "The Privacy Sandbox Beta provides new APIs that are designed with privacy at the core, and don't use identifiers that can track your activity across apps and websites," the search and advertising giant said.
Google on Tuesday began rolling out a beta test of its Privacy Sandbox software for a small portion of Android 13 devices to learn how its purportedly privacy-protecting ad tech actually performs. Google began working on its Privacy Sandbox in 2019 and its Android iteration surfaced a year ago.
Cisco's 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study found that companies that invest in closing the gap are benefitting: The study found that the estimated dollar value of benefits from privacy rose more than 13% in 2022 to $3.4 million from $3.0 million the year before, with significant gains across the various organization sizes. A Cisco blog about its 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Survey said its estimated $3.4 million value of benefits from privacy initiatives constituted 1.8 times spending on privacy, with 36% of organizations getting returns at least twice their spending.
Organizations are required to capture, index, secure, and dispose of all PII based on differing state, federal, and foreign data privacy laws. While global data protection regulations forced organizations to pay more attention to how they handle PII, we still see massive breaches, and millions lose their privacy daily.
Cybersecurity and privacy leaders should realize that as consumers become more aware of their data autonomy, enhanced data privacy can offer a real competitive business advantage. As data becomes embedded in each interaction, numerous data privacy concerns come into play throughout.
Microsoft says the KB5021751 update is respecting users' privacy while identifying the number of customers running Office versions that are outdated or approaching their end of support. It will only be installed on systems where one of the following Microsoft Office versions is also present: Office 2013, Office 2010, or Office 2007.
In particular, NCA and several of its partners are hosting Data Privacy Week virtual events where you can listen to data security experts, learn about today's most pressing data privacy issues, and even share some of your own tips and advice. Keep in mind that Data Privacy Week and Data Privacy Day are both widely recognized events in the data and security spaces, so other technology and security leaders may be hosting similar events.
Ireland's data protection authority has fined WhatsApp Ireland €5.5 million for breaches of the GDPR relating to its service and told it comply with data processing laws within six months. Why Ireland? The Irish Data Protection Commissioner is the head regulator for several of the US tech giants, and this is because they have sited their operations in the European Union member state - with its Silicon Valley friendly 12.5 percent corporate tax rate.
Lengthy privacy notices included in a social media platform's terms of service can do little to help it comply with transparency requirements under European law, according to recently revealed documents from a case in which Meta was fined €390 million. The documents have been released by noyb, the privacy law campaign group founded by Max Schrems, the lawyer who has twice successfully challenged US-EU data sharing, including the cases that defeated the US Safe Harbor and Privacy Shield agreements.