Is AI good for productivity? Of course… but, like most things, there are two sides to consider. Since artificial intelligence is so good for productivity, many employees (perhaps even some of yours) are turning to public AI tools without authorization or oversight, exposing summarized meetings, written code, entire spreadsheets, and other proprietary and sensitive data to a public database. In short, they’re using a specific form of shadow IT… shadow AI.
The Federal Trade Commission has spent years providing businesses with guidance and advice concerning their security. Now, this guidance has converted into enforceable mandates. In short, your business needs to have systems and protections in place—not plans—in order to abide by last month’s executive order that focuses on the prevention of cybercrime and fraud. Let’s touch on what needs to be accomplished in order for you to do so.
How many employees do you have who keep your company’s passwords on sticky notes stuck to their monitors? This simple, seemingly benign trick could be putting your business at risk. After all, if you can see the password on a sticky note, so too can others who happen to be wandering around the office—including potential threat actors.
It’s easy for employees to reuse passwords just to make things easier for themselves; after all, why use different passwords when you have a dozen accounts to remember passwords for? Unfortunately, this habit will come back to bite you, especially if your business is ever involved in a data breach. These credentials could be put up for sale on the dark web… and that’s just the beginning of your problems.
In a time when Internet connectivity is so important, manufacturers have met this demand by creating products that feature the ability to connect to apps or other Internet-based dashboards. Unfortunately for users, there is a lot that can go wrong when organizational practices don’t do enough to protect their customer’s privacy; or, simply look to exploit it. Let’s take a look at how the smart devices you depend on can be undermining your family’s privacy.