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“Has Facebook really got our best interests at heart?” – Facebook may have ulterior motives for rejecting Admiral’s cheaper car insurance plan

Following on from Admiral’s seemingly crazy suggestion of providing cheaper car insurance to new or young drivers if they grant access to their Facebook profiles, I admired Facebook’s response and its mission to uphold our privacy.

However, the Guardian reports that Facebook might have declined Admiral’s suggestion as the social media giants want to be the only ones with exclusive access to our data.

Could there be some truth to this?
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“Cheaper car insurance if you give us access to your Facebook profile” – Admiral wants to create a new service which could potentially breach data privacy rights

In the digital age, where technology is growing faster than we can imagine, it serves as an important reminder that data protection and security must be at the forefront of all our minds.

Recently, car insurance company Admiral suggested using Facebook profiles as a way of assessing who should have cheaper car insurance. Facebook has blocked Admiral’s seemingly absurd claims; and rightly so!
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“Phishing messages sent to Red Cross blood donors” – Cyber attackers are trying to extract more sensitive data from the 1.3 million Red Cross data breach

Following ‘Australia’s largest data breach‘ where 550,000 Red Cross blood donors’ information was reportedly hacked, victims have found themselves to be at a potential risk of further hacking as criminals are reportedly attempting to steal patients’ details through a recent phishing scam.

These sorts of follow-up attacks are not uncommon – when people are at their most vulnerable after a cyber attack, it can be common for other hackers or criminals to jump on the situation to try and use the hack for further gains.
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Companies must not drop their security ‘A-Game’ – The rise in data breaches and cybercrime year on year

Businesses and organisations need to keep their ‘A-Game’ as reports show that data breach costs are sharply increasing.

If they do not want to be facing fines and costs for not providing adequate security to their customers, they must step-up.

In the growing digital era, it’s important that companies and organisations are equipped to fend off cyber hackers/attackers, as malicious techniques are used to gain unauthorised access to personal data.
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“Largest data breach in Australian history” – 550,000 personal details of blood donors were accessed by an “unauthorised person”

You may have seen the recent news coverage of the huge data breach in Australia involving the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.

It seems they’re the next organisation to face a gruelling investigation into how 550,000 of their patients’ details were accessed by an “unauthorised person”. It has been described as Australia’s largest data breach to date, and it’s a real concern, as most data breaches are.
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“BBC reports 169 data breaches” – 10,000 customers’ data lost over a decade

Recent reports show that BBC has allegedly breached 10,000 of their customers’ personal data over the period of almost a decade.

Over the 10 year period it was reported that there were 169 data breaches, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. The personal information that seems to have been lost includes partial bank details, mobile numbers, addresses, and signatures through TV licensing fee accounts.

All very worrying…
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“iOS and Android are Leaking Data” – The mobile device software providers are leaking all types of data, including metadata, personal data, and location data

In the midst of increasing data protection woes, new reports suggest that the biggest mobile device software services – Android and iOS – are both leaking huge amounts of data.

Not that it matters more, as both are perpetrators of the leaking data, but iOS applications are said to be leaking considerably more when compared with Android.

But both systems leaking data is bad enough!
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“Personal Devices Used as a Weapon to Hack” – DDoS attacks on DNS service provider, Dyn, led to many users losing internet connection recently

Millions of personal devices connected to the internet were used as a weapon to assist the cyber attacks that happened on Friday 21st October.

The tools assisted the cyber hackers to launch a huge DDoS cyber attack against major websites – the target of the attack being a DNS service provider, Dyn, based in New Hampshire, U.S.

It was a huge attack.
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“Data breach fines that could dismantle a company” – The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council imposes a new EU regulation that could impose £122 billion worth of data breach fines on U.K. companies, taking effect in 2018

As cyber-attacks are on a continual upward trend, so is the need for real and robust data protection.

This is shown in the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council’s (PCI SSC) statement where new penalties are to be enforced under EU data protection regulations for data breaches. Any financial penalty should scare any organisation from potential data breaches until the end of times!

The figures are staggering!

It’s reported that UK companies could face up to £122 billion in fines if they violate data protection principles, which is a lot of money.
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Threat to Johnson & Johnson’s cyber-security could lead to insulin overdose

Another hacking scandal comes from beneath the murky waters of the World Wide Web.

This time, it’s Johnson & Johnson.

The pharmaceutical manufacturers are warning patients of a cyber-attack where a hacker is thought to have access to the medical pumps that could administer more insulin than necessary, causing diabetic patients to overdose.

It goes without saying, this is a potentially serious issue.
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