‍ Without a doubt, data privacy will be a much bigger focus for small- and medium-sized businesses in 2023, as the U.S. states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia all enact stricter privacy legislation. Similarly, the Canadian province of Quebec is also in the process of updating its data privacy laws.

Governments, businesses, and society depend on reliable, functioning information and communication technology. However, increased severity of ransomware attacks and vulnerabilities in computer chips undermine these infrastructures. Further, as people adopt Internet of Things (IoT) devices, their inherent lack of security and ability to be aggregated into large, malicious bot networks increases these risks.

Almost every day we hear of another data breach. There has been no shortage of headline-hitting breaches here in Australia, such as Medibank and Optus. The old-school method of ransomware encrypting any data it has access to and requesting a ransom for the decryption key to restore data has evolved. It is now a more insidious and far-reaching problem involving bad actors exfiltrating data and requesting a ransom to keep from exposing that data publicly.

Cold calling and emailing have always been popular and effective techniques of sales and communication with prospective clients. It is a way how brands can reach out to potential clients who may not be aware of your service or product offerings. It is a technique of creating brand awareness and lead generation. However, many customers see these activities as spamming.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) applies to many types of financial institutions, like banks, savings and loans, credit unions, insurance companies and securities firms. It requires those organizations to explain their information-sharing practices to their customers and to protect sensitive data. On November 15, 2022, The FTC announced a six-month extension for companies to comply with data security provisions in the GLBA. The new deadline is June 9, 2023.