Identity is Security: Knowledge is Power

Believe it or not, we’ve made it through the first half of the year, data breaches and all. But 2018 has proven to be a busy one in cybersecurity. Take, for instance, the fact that collectively, millions of people have been impacted and billions of dollars’ worth of data has been stolen already.

Speaking of stolen data, you may have heard about the former Apple employee who managed to take off with proprietary data downloaded before he left the company. This is a prime example of the role a strong identity program plays in enterprises as they work to protect data from both outside and inside threats. And speaking of insider threats, the US healthcare industry is particularly challenged by this.

However, the intent in telling you this is not to scare you into building a bunker. Knowledge is power, and the more you know the better you can arm yourself and know when you’ve been impacted. The fight is still going strong, as evidenced by the latest in government-sponsored cybersecurity efforts. Georgia opened a $100 million, 330,000 square-foot cybersecurity center this week, making it the single-largest investment in a cybersecurity facility by a state government. That’s good news for the people polled in this survey. 71% of Americans polled said that state and local governments should spend more money on cybersecurity to prevent another major breach.

Bottom line: people are paying closer attention to how their data is being used, how data breaches are increasing and impacting them, and what that means for their futures in this digital sphere we all live in. So, it’s no surprise that the “right to be forgotten” is considered a fundamental right by many. As such, organizations holding increasing levels of personal data also wield the power to safeguard that data and the right to be forgotten.

Until next week, stay secure!