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Equifax Replaces CEO After Poor Response to Data Breach

Equifax, one of the “big three” credit bureaus in the US, is in hot water at the moment after suffering a data breach which has exposed personal data for 143 million people. Social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and even some driver’s license numbers are believed to have been compromised, making this one of the largest data breaches to date. While most of the data exposed to “unauthorised access” belonged to US citizens, Equifax stated that that “limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents” had also been compromised.

Equifax made a series of mistakes following the data breach, culminating in replacement of the CEO, Richard F. Smith

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Irish National Teachers Organisation Hit by Cyber Attack, Exposing up to 30,000 Teachers’ Data

INTO, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, has reported that it was the target of a cyber attack in recent days, notifying up to 30,000 teachers and retired staff who may have had their personal data compromised. The organisation has stated that any user who has completed online courses on their website (intolearning.ie) may be affected, which includes not only current teaching staff but also past staff who had booked retirement planning courses.


INTO, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, does not believe any financial data was accessed during the attack

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Studies Show Many Businesses Confused or Unprepared for GDPR

With the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) only 8 months away from coming into force, surveys are showing that many businesses across the UK and Ireland are still confused about exactly what the regulation means for them, and may be unprepared for GDPR. A survey conducted of over 1000 IT decision makers revealed that 64% were unaware that customers’ birth dates are considered personally identifiable information (PII), which is especially worrying as any mishandling of such data could constitute a breach of the GDPR and result in fines of up to €20 million. 42% did not realise that email marketing databases contained PII, 32% did not consider physical addresses to be and 21% did not even consider customer email addresses to be PII. In contrast, 85% of these survey respondents reported that they have reviewed the GDPR requirement thoroughly and 79% believe they have done everything they need to do to secure their data. This disparity marks a worrying trend for businesses, big or small.


The GDPR comes into full effect on the 25th of May 2018 – and no one wants to be made an example of

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Consent is Always Required – Busting that GDPR Myth

With the GDPR now less than 8 months away from becoming enforceable, businesses all over the EU and indeed any company that conducts business with EU citizens are scrambling to prepare in time for the legislation. The upcoming General Data Protection Regulation was designed to give back clarity and control to users about how their sensitive data is being processed and held, but has led to quite a bit of confusion for businesses about how this will actually work. Most people will have heard about the increased fines, as regulators can now fines offending bodies up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover, but there is a lot of confusion and indeed misinformation and misinterpretation out there to make the process even more difficult. To this end, there’s a few things we’d like to set the record straight on, particular around consent. Over the coming weeks and months we hope to provide more guidance of areas prone to misinterpretation, so stay tuned!

Myth: You must always have consent to process someone personal data.


With the stakes so high, it can be hard to tell the difference between important guidance and scaremongering when it comes to the GDPR

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Windows 10 Creators Update Introduces New Features to Defend Against Ransomware

Ransomware has taken the world by storm this year, costing millions for businesses around the world. In the last 12 months alone, the number of ransomware variants spotted in the wild has more than doubled. As its prevalence has increased, so has the complexity of the attacks, and new ways to defend against them have been developed. Microsoft have been known to take the ransomware threat very seriously, even releasing a security patch for the long obsolete Windows XP operating system in the wake of the infamous WannaCry attack back in May. With the realease of the Windows 10 Creators Update (build 1703), now there are even more features built right in to the OS that can prevent and protect against ransomware. In fact, it’s so secure that Microsoft claim no Windows 10 devices were affected by WannaCry.


The Creators Update of Windows 10 is Microsoft’s most secure operating system yet, containing many anti-ransomware features

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