Tag: #data

4 Steps Small Enterprise Owners Should Take If Their Business Data Were Breached

No matter how good your security measures are, you are always at risk of having your business data breached. Whether it is your work, documents or data about your clients or employees, all this valuable information can become someone’s target. And even though you are trying your best to prevent such incidents, sometimes, it is not possible. Therefore, knowing what you should do in such a situation is highly important. It will protect your business, employees and customers at the same time. Here are steps small enterprise owners should take if their business data were breached.

Invest In Tools That Will Reduce The Risk In The Future

Every business should have tools that will minimise the risk of data breaches. You should have software that will protect the computers of your employees, and you need to do your best to protect any data you have on your business, employees and clients. Companies such as SaaS Protection offer cloud storage that will reduce the risk of losing your data from Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. The data will be protected from malicious activity and other harmful elements in three backup points. And if by any chance you lose any data, there will be a higher possibility of their recovery.

Find The Cause And Extent Of The Breach

When your business data gets breached, you need to find the source and determine the extent of the malicious attack. The experts working for https://www.velocityit.net can explain how this step helps identify how the breach happened, what data was compromised, and whether it is still at risk.

Ideally, you should have in place tools and software that will notify you of any unauthorised log-ins and intrusions. With the information available, you will be able to address the problem as soon as possible and take other steps to prevent a similar incident in the future. You will be able to find out where the attack came from and which files were compromised. Based on the data you find, it will become easier to decide what you need to do next to resolve the issue.

Address The Problem As Soon As You Can

A solution to the problem will heavily depend on which files were attacked and how. However, no matter what you find out, you should immediately notify your IT experts, who know how to deal with data breaches. They will be able to act fast and control any damage. You might also have intrusion prevention systems that might be able to resolve the issue automatically. Nevertheless, you should still have your team involved. You also must remember that you should keep any evidence of the malicious attack that you can for your record and any legalities you might need to deal with.

Inform The Authorities And Anyone Affected By The Breach

In the event of a data breach, it is necessary for you to notify the authorities and anyone who might be affected. If your customers were affected by the malicious attack, you must ensure that they are aware of what happened and what was the extent of the breach. Telling them soon after the attack will give them enough time to protect their identities and take any measures they need. You should also tell the authorities who might be able to give you advice on any regulations you need to comply with.

 

Five steps to become a data-driven business using technology

Every organisation and industry has had to transform in recent years. All are striving to move faster, become smarter with data and innovate more with technology. The main message I’ve been hearing from business leaders in every corner of Ireland is that digital transformation is a must-have. As organisations navigate this journey of change and transformation, they manage increasingly complex data and tasks. And while data is considered critical for any efficient operation, it also has the potential to become the number one barrier to transformation. Jason Ward Vice President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies Ireland tells us more. 

According to the recent Breakthrough study of 10,500 knowledge workers, business decision-makers, and IT decision-makers undertaken by Dell Technologies, 42% of organisations in Ireland believe the opportunity to become a data-driven business will pass them by. Another way to put this is that at every business conference you attend, there is a chance more than half your peers are worrying about data.

Going deeper, 30% of Irish respondents believe their people won’t be able to keep up with technological change. It is an interesting paradox. While technology is an enabler to human potential and it has significant business benefits, the number of solutions and settings to navigate can overwhelm workers with too many choices. From my interactions with customers facing the same challenges, I noticed the path out of the data labyrinth is often a mix of the right set of tools with a human perspective. Here are five steps to help Irish businesses navigate their digital transformation:

1. Have a clear shared vision of how digital transformation can help you realize your business goals.

Every IT problem starts with a business problem. Before laying down the foundation on how to deal with your data, think about the challenges you are trying to solve as a company. Once you have that vision, you can articulate the right technology solution and partner with the IT experts on your team to build a plan. You don’t have to build an aggressive timeline. A phased approach accounts for your most important asset – your people. Give them enough time to understand the strategy and align to it.

2. Invest in appropriate edge and as-a-Service Strategies that can scale.

As-a-service experiences help ease or drop the infrastructure management burden on your teams. When working with a flexible IT consumption model, you can operate with agility. But you can also control and scale your environment, adapting to different dynamics. And then there is an opportunity in the edge – where you can act on data near its point of creation to generate. With real-time data analysis, you can act faster and reduce the cost concerns associated with sending large amounts of data to a central location. This is especially true in industries like retail, healthcare, and even public transportation.

3. Automate mundane tasks.

The research shows that people would be willing to partner more with technology if the personal benefits are clear. In fact, 66% of respondents in Ireland would look forward to having more time to develop their skills and elevate their roles. By automating work, people are available to focus on what inspires them and on uncovering business opportunities. The curiosity mindset is a valuable skill for data analytics. And once your teams have enough time to look at the data with a strategic approach, you start to pave the way for insights-driven decisions.

4. Start with small-scale pilots.

The sandbox environment is perfect for the test-and-learn method. People feel safe, and you have control over the impact. It is one of the best tactics to gain insights from analytics while stimulating people to adopt and publicize the successes. At this point, you go back to the number one step in this framework. Look at the initial business problem. Combine your newly added technology with your team’s recent gains in time to generate a positive outcome. Then assess your pilot. Replicate. Scale.

5. Provide adequate coaching, mentoring, and reassurance. 

Real breakthrough happens at the intersection of people and technology. Thus, it is paramount to recognise that while consumption-based IT models provide the necessary breathing room to your teams, you must deploy them in ways that are sensitive to human behaviour. Make sure that everyone is accessing the necessary tools and has enough training and resources to use them to their fullest. Communicate and establish a platform to contribute ideas and be heard. Lack of communication is one of the areas where respondents say their teams struggle the most.

At Dell Technologies Ireland, we have been helping leading companies leverage data in order to enhance business performance. Through our partnership with Ronan Daly Jermyn (RDJ), we’re enabling one of Ireland’s top law forms to harness the power of data to transform its legal services and adopt a hybrid working model running on Dell Technologies infrastructure.

Outpacing competitors also requires organisations to embrace new technologies. The Dell Technologies Ireland team is well positioned to help businesses realise this goal. Thanks to the work being undertaken at our 5G Edge Labs, led from Cork and Limerick, we are bringing together 5G, Edge Computing and Machine Learning to prototype next generation products and services for the global and Irish markets.

I am optimistic about the role that technology plays a role in unlocking a company culture shift toward data-driven decisions. Once organisations augment human capabilities with automation and consumption-based IT, they create new opportunities and experiences that excite their team, while delivering incredible business outcomes.

New research reveals which dating apps collect the most data from their users

Whilst dating apps are a great way to meet new people, they present significant privacy risks which are often overlooked when we are busy looking for our future significant other.

One of the biggest issues with dating apps is that, unlike most other apps, they request a lot of sensitive information from their users to build a profile. Often this includes basic information such as your name, age, gender, and date of birth, however, the research revealed that this can also include a lot more personal information such as religious beliefs, sexual orientation, drugs and alcohol use, whether you have/want kids, height and weight.

Although this is important information to the experience on the app, leakage or disclosure of this information could expose users to all kinds of threats, including hackers and scammers who have been gaining access to people’s most sensitive information to trick them into sending payments.

With this in mind, experts at MoneyTransfers.com have analysed 15 different dating apps to identify which apps share the most of your sensitive information with third parties, collect for their own marketing and which have the longest privacy policies to find the most invasive dating app overall.

The dating apps that share the most data with third parties

The research revealed that overall 67% of dating apps collect your personal data to share with third parties. Badoo and HER were discovered to be the dating apps which share most of their users’ personal data with third parties (35%), including everything from location, contact information, identifiers (IP address and cookie identifies) and usage data.

In joint second place were eharmony and Grindr who shared 21% of their users’ data with third parties and in third place came Tinder and Plenty of Fish who both collect 14% of users personal data to share with third parties.

Out of the 15 dating apps investigated, there were 5 apps which did not collect any of their users’ personal data to share with third parties. These apps were Hinge, Thursday, Flava, Once and, the exclusive celebrity and influencer dating app, Raya, meaning that as far as their users are concerned, none of their personal data is being shared with third parties and is being used solely for the purpose of their own marketing or analytics.

The dating apps that use your personal data to track you

The data collected to track you include contact information like name, address, mobile number and also location data, meaning apps can share device location data or email lists with third parties. In order to show nearby potential matches, the majority of the 15 dating apps we investigated track user location through the device GPS and Wifi. This does raise concerns that several apps at a time can track down users, with only minimal location data available.

The research revealed Badoo and HER were the worst two apps for using their users’ personal data to track them, collecting 36% of users’ data. This included data such as purchases made, contact information, location, usage data, “other data” and identifiers.

In joint second place were eharmony and Bumble who collect 29% of their users’ data for tracking purposes. In third place came OKCupid which used 21% of users’ data to track them. This is a scary amount of data that dating apps are selling to other parties, including data brokers or advertising networks.

The dating apps that use your personal data for their own marketing

Apps also collect your data for their own benefit which involves their own marketing. Developer’s advertising and marketing on an app involve their own ads popping up on other apps, sending marketing communications, and in-app promotions.

OKCupid collect the most of their users’ personal data for their own benefits with 42% of users’ personal data collected to sell more of their own products and serve relevant ads on behalf of others. This information included purchases made by users, users’ location, contact information, users’ content, identifiers and usage data.

There were several apps which collect 35% (which was the second highest amount) of users’ data for their own marketing and advertising purposes. These apps included Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, Plenty of Fish, Badoo, HER and Happn.

In third came Grindr, eharmony, Once and Raya who all collect 28% of users’ data for their own personal benefit.

The overall worst dating apps

Overall, based on how much data the apps collected in total, for selling on, keeping for their own benefit and for tracking you, the least private dating apps included Badoo and HER in joint first followed by OKCupid and eharmony in second and third.

Dating app Thursday, which only launched in 2021, was revealed to be the safest dating app to use when it came to the safety and privacy of personal data. According to the research, Thursday collects absolutely no data on their users for either their own personal benefit or shared with third parties.

In second place came Flava which collects no user data for third party marketing or their own marketing and just 7% to track users. Surprisingly, in third place came one of the most popular dating apps, Tinder which only collected a total of 28% of users’ personal data with none of their users’ data collected for tracking purposes.

Worst Business Data Breaches of 2021

Data breaches have a huge impact on organizations. All it takes is one tiny mistake to suffer a major security issue. That’s why it’s no secret that a data breach can destroy any company. Such cybersecurity incidents that lead to data breaches put the whole company’s network in danger. Entities need to use special security measures to avoid these serious consequences,

If a business experiences a data breach, it usually takes a toll on the company’s reputation, as the clients want to use other companies’ services where they feel safe. Unfortunately, you can say that everyone’s at risk. That said, keep reading to find out about the biggest and most notorious data breaches from last year. 

How do fraudsters breach data? 

As years go by, the main security gap that results in data breaches remains human error. Even though users aren’t directly associated with the breaches sometimes, they play the leading role in the success of cyberattacks. Usually, criminals gain access to data through insider leaks. For instance, a trusted employee with many privileges can still commit cyber theft. 

Another popular example is when cyber criminals break into lost or stolen devices. They can also exploit personal data by accessing drives or even physical folders. Typically, this happens due to hardware vulnerabilities, especially if companies use old software. In this scenario, criminals can inject malware and steal sensitive information. 

The impact of data breaches

If a business lacks security measures and has its data stolen, the chances are that the incident will impact the company’s sales. Reputational damage is a real deal, leading to the loss of clients and, eventually, a decrease in sales revenue. On top of that, the media picks up negative news and spreads it around the internet without the possibility of scraping it. Of course, such factors might scare off some potential new partners or customers. 

Not only new clients but also new employees are affected by data breaches. Specialists argue that data breaches can result in employee turnover, which adds more uncertainty and stress to the organization’s table. Let’s not forget that there are also legal penalties for non-compliance with the laws and security standards. In other words, the mitigation process is much more complex than the prevention procedures that ensure safety against data breaches. 

Now that we’ve wrapped up the basics, let’s continue with a short list of the worst data breach cases of 2021. 

Microsoft data breach 

Microsoft’s servers were attacked back in January of last year when some of the servers were affected. Hackers gained access to users’ credentials; this way, making their way through to other information systems that were connected to Microsoft’s network. To repair the damages, Microsoft released updates and updated its file encryptions. 

Facebook data breach

Facebook made the news last year for the wrong reasons when the personal data of over 533 million users was posted on a low-level hacking forum. Many important details were stolen, such as the users’ full names, emails, phone numbers, or location data. Fraud prevention specialists speculated that this data breach could be used as a channel to commit further crimes, for instance, impersonating people.

LinkedIn data breach 

The government launched an investigation on LinkedIn when hackers stole and shared the data of 700 million users. Even though LinkedIn tried to deny the damages in its statement, the evidence proved otherwise. The stolen personal details were uploaded to one of the forums on the Dark Web. The bad actor behind the data breach divided the stolen information into different parts, filtering the credentials by profession: IT specialists, Finance executives, and HR professionals. 

How to resolve the issue? 

There are essential security practices that companies must follow in order to safeguard their data. For example, using encryption, regularly updating software, and training your staff are the fundamental rules of an effective security strategy. Despite that, guaranteeing long-term data protection requires extra security layers. Nowadays, innovative companies choose to implement ID verification as a fraud prevention measure against dangerous attacks.

This service is powered by artificial intelligence, enabling smooth and secure customer identity verification services for businesses that want to onboard trusted accounts to their network. That means scammers and hackers with stolen identities are restricted from gaining access to the businesses’ services. Automatic ID verification detects photo or video spoofing, montage, and other graphic manipulations, leaving fraudsters out of the picture.

What Is a Residential Proxy and How Can It Be Useful for Business?

The use of residential proxies is a great way for businesses to collect and analyze data, compare prices and products online, and expand their market reach without being noticed or blocked by sites.

There are several advantages to employing a residential proxy, and in this post, we’ll go into greater detail about how services like proxy residential IP can aid businesses.

They Help in Obtaining Real-Time Data from Competitors’ Websites

Competitive intelligence is one of the most well-known uses for a residential proxy. Tracking and blocking requests issued by data center proxies have become easy in recent years. Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu are among several major online services that restrict access to IP addresses belonging to specific providers.

If you use a residential proxy, on the other hand, every request appears to have been sent by a real person. When several requests need to be sent from different IP addresses in different countries and cities, residential proxies allow them to be sent from local ISPs as well as different countries and cities.

They Increase Brand Security

Brand protection and the battle against counterfeiters are two further practical applications of residential proxy technology. For example, the makers of Vicodin may want to combat the sale of counterfeit versions of the drug.

As a general rule, these vendors restrict their websites to nations where the manufacturer has offices. This makes it more difficult to catch counterfeiters and take legal action. Residential proxies could be used to obtain an IP address from the same country as the imitation site and collect all relevant information.

Aids in Performance Analysis and Software Testing

Tests of new features for websites and mobile apps can also be performed using residential proxies. Users from all over the world can observe how their software performs. Utilizing various residential IP addresses to send a large number of queries is also useful for testing software performance under high load.

In addition, this technology can be used to keep tabs on performance. The speed of a company’s website for consumers in a given country is an important consideration for multinational corporations. So, obtaining relevant data is made easier with the use of residential proxies with IP addresses.

They Optimize Marketing and Advertising

To get the best possible results, it is essential to test ad campaigns. Residential proxies can be used to check how specific online adverts appear in search results for people from a specific place, as well as whether or not they are displayed.

If you want to see how effective your local SEO efforts are, you may use residential proxies to see if your website ranks at the top for your target keywords or not.

Using search engine infrastructure to gather data is not something search engines appreciate. Consequently, these businesses are constantly improving their anti-bot systems to make data collection directly from the search extremely challenging.

In contrast, using residential proxies to send several search requests makes it appear that real people in different regions are looking for something. A real user can’t be blocked by a search engine. As a result, the residential proxy is an ideal choice for ensuring that search engine results are accurate.

Residential proxies can also be used to monitor and analyze the success of your competitors’ marketing campaigns. Both in-house marketing departments and external marketing and advertising companies employ this technology.

Content Collection

Since Big Data is everywhere these days, several companies have formed their business models around combining many sources of data into a unified view that can be displayed on their platforms. Residential proxies are needed to keep their databases up to date with the aggregated content. For instance, it would be difficult to maintain current data on prices for a specific commodity on many e-commerce websites without this application. These types of actions are prohibited on these sites because of the potential for exceeding the requests of the company.

For instance, if you want to keep a comparison table of TV prices from 20 websites up to date, you’ll need a bot that visits and refreshes the pages. Anti-bot systems are likely to prevent such queries, but a residential proxy can get beyond these types of data protection measures.

Assists in On-Demand Data Gathering and Analysis

In recent times, there has been an increase in the number of organizations that specialize in on-demand data collection and analysis in recent years. Crawlers scour the web for data that matches specified profiles. It is then possible to market, sell, or gather competitive intelligence using this information.

Residential proxies help web crawlers circumvent filters like anti-spam and content filters.

Conclusion

Businesses can benefit from the ability to replicate requests from real users using a real, local IP address. This technology is frequently employed by businesses to collect data, conduct testing, and gain access to various web resources, among other things.

Data Edge seminar: Timing & 5G Connect Forum

Data Edge, Ireland’s leading Network Synchronisation/Timing & 5G Testing specialists, will host a free seminar on Tuesday, 24th May, in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Newlands Cross, Co. Dublin.  The event will look at the latest developments in 5G, particularly in relation to timing and synchronisation, which have become critical functions of 5G’s success.

Data Edge’s seminar will provide attendees with an overview of the strategic outlook for 5G, IoT, service assurance, automation, and managed solutions. Industry experts, including Data Edge’s CEO Paul Phelan, will outline the value of timing, testing and assurance as well as discussing 5G use case scenarios.

The event is being co-hosted by Spirent Communications, a leading global provider of testing, assurance, analytics, and security solutions. Stephen Douglas, head of market strategy at Spirent will address delegates about 5G, Edge and Cloudification.

With over 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, Stephen has been at the cutting edge of next generation technologies and has worked across the industry helping service providers, network equipment manufacturers and start-ups drive innovation and transformation. Stephen leads Spirent’s strategic initiatives for 5G and future networks and is a company representative on several Industry and Government advisory boards.

Stephen’s colleague Dharen Ells will also speak to attendees at the event, covering the topic of ORAN deployment. Dharen will discuss how ORAN bridges the divide between vendor-specific infrastructure and determines how enterprises will deploy future technologies. Live demonstrations will also take place after lunch for any attendees that wish to see how these next-generation technologies perform.

For more information and to register for the event, visit: https://dataedge.ie/spirent-connect-forum-registration/ Coffee and lunch will be provided on the day. Places are limited so early booking is strongly recommended.

Date: Tuesday, 24th of May 2022

Time: 9.15am to 4pm

Venue: The Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Dublin

Mobile Network Experience in Ireland – Opensignal analysis

Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Their industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.This week’s report reveals a strong performance from eir, which picks up wins in 13 of 15 award categories, including outright wins in Upload Speed Experience, 5G Upload Speed and 5G Reach. Check out who  is topping the charts below. In the report we see that 3 remains the outright with consistency but with their data outage recently some might have a different opinion regarding 3

eir wins both upload speed awards

Opensignal’s Irish users observed the fastest average upload speeds on eir’s network — both for 5G Upload Speed and for overall Upload Speed Experience. For 5G Upload Speed, eir scored an impressive 23.7 Mbps, giving it a lead of around 4.8 Mbps (25.3%) over 3 and Vodafone. On Upload Speed Experience, eir wins with a score of 9.7 Mbps — 0.6 Mbps (6.5%) faster than second-placed 3’s 9.1 Mbps

3 is the outright winner for Excellent Consistent Quality

The highest proportion of tests from users meeting the minimum recommended performance thresholds for watching HD video, completing group video conference calls and playing mobile games was seen on 3’s network — making 3 the sole winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award. 3 with its score of 73.5% commands a 1.7 percentage point lead over second-placed eir’s score of 71.8%, while Vodafone places third with 68.1%.

Users found 5G in the most locations when using eir’s network

eir is the sole winner of the 5G Reach award, as our eir users on average saw a 5G signal in the the highest proportion of locations out of all the locations they visited — with a resulting 3.7 points on a 10-point scale, comfortably ahead of 3 and Vodafone’s statistically tied scores of 1.7-1.8 points.

The fastest average 5G download speeds were seen by our users with 3 and eir

3 and eir are joint winners of the 5G Download Speed award with statistically tied scores of 182.3-189.9 Mbps — around double that of Vodafone’s score of 92.4 Mbps.

You can access this week’s report here.

Here’s how your router collects data and handles your privacy

As the internet has become an indispensable need for users today, routers are at every user’s home. An internet router is one of the required and utilitarian devices that makes the internet accessible. 

When you use a router for accessing the internet, your entire web activity goes through it. And there are people, on the other hand, ready to capture it. Sometimes, they are also prepared to monetize it or interrupt it.

So, you cannot stop using the internet; you cannot exclude the router from the network; you cannot stop the information from passing through the router. What is the solution here?

Does your internet router collect data?

Yes, the internet router collects data daily, no matter which brand it is. The router is designed to collect and store information to be used for website optimization, marketing, and analysis purposes.

Big brands like Netgear, TP-Link, Asus, D-Link, etc., capture user data for marketing purposes. Some of the prime aspects that these brands collect are location data, websites visited, and other personal data identifiers.

While this may not seem like a big issue, the concern lies in the fact that the router companies can share this data with third parties. Your Internet Service Provider is one such entity that has access to your router and all the data passing through it. And in some countries, these companies can share or sell information about their users. Furthermore, there might be limited options for disabling such practices. 

All the brands listed above share user data with third parties. Some claim that those third parties are in-house. It means that they have control over the fact that they do not use it unethically. However, some may share the data with unassociated third parties. These parties can use your data in questionable ways.

Do privacy policies help?

Whenever you install software on your device, it pokes you to accept some of its terms and conditions. Though we don’t take much time to tap on the “I Agree,” it can become dangerous if you don’t read them carefully.

If we talk about the privacy policies of the routers, they are designed in a complicated way. These policies are lengthy to read and are written in a vague manner with no specifics. The minimum length of the privacy policy is around 2000 words which takes 10 minutes to read. But it will take you more time for sure. 

As they are tough to comprehend in one go, you may end up with more questions than answers. Some manufacturers have taken steps to improve their privacy policies by presenting them in a summarized form. But to understand it better, you must read the entire piece. So, privacy policies may not help you much.

How can you keep your data safe?

Now you know that routers collect your data and can be shared with third parties. Though no one can know who possesses their data, you can put some methods in place to keep your mind at ease.

Most router brands do not provide this feature; there are some that do. If you want to keep your data safe, you should opt-out of data sharing. When you disable this feature, the router will stop collecting data daily.

One way to minimize the information ISPs learn about you is to encrypt your internet traffic. It means that they won’t be able to read the details about your activities. The easiest way to do this is to use a Virtual Private Network. 

It is essentially a program allowing users to reroute their traffic through remote servers. Additionally, it masks IP addresses, which could serve to bypass certain geo-blocks. So, download VPN apps if you wish to keep your activities a secret, especially if your ISPs tend to throttle (slow down) connections.

Conclusion

Though your router collects data, you can take some steps to ensure your data is safe. One of the first steps is to look for ways to opt-out of having your data shared with third parties. It guarantees that fewer companies will receive information about users’ activities. The second option is to hide your activities. We suggest pairing a Virtual Private Network with incognito modes and privacy-focused browsers for the best results. 

Three Ireland has huge data outage

Three Ireland again has seen another data outage today, infact more than one outage which has been an issue since around 11.30 am this morning, the network briefly came back only to go down and Three claim it has been addressed, at the time of writing this post it has not been addressed for us. It is fair to say by looking on Twitter people are annoyed regarding the length of time and lame responses they got all day claiming to be addressed when it clearly is not. Three has a huge share in the Irish market with over 3 million customers, both mobile data and broadband services have been interrupted today for hours.. FULL SERVICE still has not been restored..

email from 3

 

Three simply told us via a Twitter DM the following which is pretty lame not specifying the cause of the outage

We can confirm that the root cause of the difficulties with data services that affected customers today has been resolved. Our focus is now working to restore full service as quickly as possible. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.