The new currency in the digital age is personally identifiable information (PII). Information about who we are, what we like, how we act, where we go and why we do things is a valuable resource which organizations use to sell to us more effectively. Users rightly expect businesses to take proper care of this information, because in the wrong hands, it can be used to harm the user.

In a fiercely competitive industry, user experience (UX) is one area where retailers can differentiate themselves and win customer loyalty. UX design is a means to reducing friction between users and what they want to do (or more accurately, what the business wants them to do). UX is thus vital to influencing metrics like conversion rate, time on site, page views and basket size.

Data breaches are increasing in frequency and severity. Following a data breach, most companies have protocols in place to contain the breach, assess the damage, and tighten their security to ensure the incident is not repeated. While this is a standard process for organizations to go through, would you be surprised to learn that cybercriminals do the exact same thing when their underground forums are revealed or exploited?

Many businesses are starting to investigate proactive vs reactive cybersecurity methods. Reactive cybersecurity strategies have been effective in the past when dealing with incidents and remain relatively effective where known threats are concerned. The problem is that cyber criminals are now aware that businesses are already prepared for known threats and are actively improving and evolving their cyber-attack methods to evade detection.

Originally posted on CyberNews. As more businesses race to shift their operations online, new website owners have to adapt to a new way of doing business and deal with a variety of online threats. While most of us think of disrupted websites or servers going offline when we hear the words “bot attack,” the reality is often different.

Social media has evolved to become much more than a simple platform to share thoughts and updates with the internet. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are frequently used for business, politics, news, and online events, in addition to their original purpose of social sharing.

In a recent episode of the Cybersecurity Sessions podcast, Netacea CTO Andy Still quizzed Beacon CTO Stewart Boutcher about ‘artificial engagement’, a term Stewart has championed as a member of the Data and Marketing Association North Council. Artificial engagement refers to fake clicks and impressions generated by bots on ad networks, costing marketeers huge chunks of their digital advertising budgets.

The cybersecurity culture of an organization encompasses the knowledge, awareness, attitudes and behaviors of employees regarding the threat landscape, cybersecurity and information technologies. Strong cybersecurity culture starts with building awareness and encouraging best practice cyber-hygiene, normalizing these behaviors so they become second nature to your team.

In a world driven by digital business, enterprise security needs to be continuously monitored and improved to keep up with evolving cyber-threats and to ensure data protection across the web. As the corporate, office-based workforce evolves to become more permanently remote, increased access control to business assets is needed for those both within and outside of the company network.