Credit and debit cards have become the most prominent form of wealth access in the last decade. Once consumers pulled out thick wallets of cash—they now pull out thin clips of cards—if they bother using a card, not a watch or cellphone. Credit cards are necessary in modern life because they allow individuals to access their money instantly and because they can be better protected than physical money.

Dell recently issued a notice regarding a data breach that occurred on May 9, which has reportedly affected over 49 million customers across the globe. According to a report by BleepingComputer, Dell initiated the distribution of notifications cautioning its customers that their personally identifiable information (PII) had been compromised in a data breach.

This is Part 13 in my ongoing project to cover 30 cybersecurity topics in 30 weekly blog posts. The full series can be found here. If you search recent cybersecurity news it's easy to find the threats that keep your CISO awake at night. While there are many, a short list is: However, it's quite a bit harder to find articles discussing defenses against these attacks, so let me help out by offering a select set of security best practices that, if properly deployed, should help your CISO sleep at night.

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a cybersecurity discipline, so it’s almost trivial to claim that a solid IAM foundation brings critical security benefits for any organization. Fundamentally, IAM allows the right people to access the right resources at the right times, in the right way for the right reasons. Yet IAM projects consistently take a backseat to other, more fashionable cybersecurity initiatives in a lot of organizations, ultimately harming the security posture.

The video sharing platform has become a trendy scene for cyberattackers as of late.

Inspect your credit card, and you’ll likely find interesting—and crucial—elements of the plastic rectangle. The front might display the provider’s name, a chip, some digits, or an entire card number; the back might hold much the same, along with a signature, when necessary, and a “valid thru ” date. All the information on a credit card is necessary to conceal, but when data breaches happen more often than ever, it’s a matter of time before every card is online.

When someone is born on US soil, they are a national citizen; with this distinction, they obtain a list of entitlements and benefits, as well as societal obligations and predetermined consequences for bad behavior. Digital citizenship works like this, with unique freedoms, consequences, and obligations.

More organizations than ever are moving to online processes, offering convenience and efficiency to their consumers and clients. However, the move to digital isn’t without its risks; security audits assess the current state of an organization’s IT and data environments and then offer recommendations to improve them. Security audits are an essential aspect of an organization’s approach to data defense, especially when threats are moving and growing daily.

In 2020, the world moved online, and the pandemic kicked industry demand into overdrive. Seemingly overnight, entire organizations yielded to the mandates pushed by health professionals, encouraging anyone not already online to make an account or two. That year, transaction card fraud totaled around $149 million in losses in the US and has only increased since then, up to $48 billion globally.