Privacy Files

In 2023, Americans lost more than $10 billion to fraud. This is the largest annual loss in US history. In terms of dollars lost, investment scams emptied consumers' bank accounts more than any other scam at $4.6 billion. But a close second was imposter scams at $2.7 billion. In this episode of Privacy Files , we look at the tragic story of former New York Times journalist Charlotte Cowles. On...

The demand for cybersecurity professionals is strong. Job vacancies in the industry grew from one million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. And because of this shortfall in talent, companies are struggling to keep up with the latest in modern threat awareness, including phishing, social engineering, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and financial fraud. Many corporate security and compliance teams fe...

In 2015, Dr. Robert Epstein, a psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, made world news. Dr. Epstein was one of the authors of a groundbreaking study that found that Google's search ranking algorithm could influence how people vote. Even more shocking, according to Dr. Epstein, "We estimate, based on win margins in national elections around the world,...

In 2023, it is estimated that $3.1 trillion in illicit funds moved through the global financial system. Financial crimes can take many forms. Money laundering accounted for trillions of dollars supporting a wide range of crimes, including $346.7 billion in human trafficking, $782.9 billion in drug trafficking activity, and $11.5 billion in terrorist financing. In 2023, fraud scams and bank fraud s...

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States, consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023. This is a 14% increase over reported losses in 2022. Some of the most common scams include investment scams, imposter scams, bank transfer scams and cryptocurrency scams. "Digital tools are making it easier than ever to target hard-working Americans,” said Sa...

The rise of remote work has led to the rise of a wild phenomenon: the overemployed. While it is difficult to know exactly how many people juggle multiple full-time jobs simultaneously, it is evident the trend is more common than most realize. 79% of remote workers say they have been overemployed within the past year In fact, on Reddit, there is a subreddit called "r/overemployed" with ne...

Modern organizations face continuous threats from bad actors that put systems, data and people at great risk. This is why it's critical for companies to adopt solid cyber governance strategies. Cyber governance, or cybersecurity governance, is a holistic approach to mitigating business risks. Via risk management and security awareness, companies develop cybersecurity plans designed to prevent,...

If you have ever spent some time on dating apps, you most likely have encountered fake profiles. And with recent improvements in AI, there's a good chance some of those fake profiles aren't even using pictures of real people. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported some form of a romance scam, with total reported losses reaching $1.3 billion,...

Whether it's at work or at home, everything we do online is based on permissions. If you have the proper credentials, you can obtain access. When permissions management breaks down or a threat actor manages to gain unauthorized access, the situation can deteriorate very quickly. In this episode of Privacy Files , we talk to Jake Moshenko. Jake is an authorization pioneer who is the Co-Founder...

In this episode of Privacy Files , we talk to Cindy Cohn, an American civil liberties attorney and the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). In 2018, Forbes named Cindy one of America's Top 50 Women in Tech. Cindy's passion for internet law spans decades and has put her in the middle of landmark legal cases involving privacy, censorship and the Fourth Amendment. W...

Happy New Year! In this first Privacy Files episode of 2024, we kick off a new true crime series...with a privacy angle. We examine the disturbing crime of cyber kidnapping. According to the FBI, scammers have been perpetrating variations of cyber kidnapping for at least 20 years. Sometimes called "virtual kidnapping," cyber kidnapping is an extortion scheme where scammers contact a pers...

Quick Note: This is the last episode of 2023. We will be back the second week of January 2024 with exciting new changes and many more fascinating guests. Thank you to everyone who has supported Privacy Files over the past year. You have given us encouragement to continue our mission to help the world take back control over its personal information. Have a great holiday season and see you in 2024!...

The mission to give people back control over their personal data is far from an easy one. Fortunately for society, there are a few mavericks around the world who are sacrificing sleep for the protection of individual privacy. In this episode of Privacy Files , we talk to JB Benjamin, a privacy tech innovator who is reshaping the digital landscape. JB runs three separate technology companies, all w...

There are many good people around the world who are working long hours to make data privacy and security second nature. Aaron Painter, CEO of Nametag, is one of these leaders whose passion begins with focusing on the human side of business. Author of the book Loyal: A Leader's Guide to Winning Customer and Employee Loyalty , Aaron shows you why it's important to provide superior customer s...

Special Note: This is the 50th episode of Privacy Files . Thank you to all for your continued support of our mission to make the topic of privacy approachable for everyone. 2024 will be even better! ABOUT THIS EPISODE In this episode of Privacy Files , we look at the rise of the Software-Defined Vehicle and how this evolution in automobiles is putting your privacy at risk. A Software-Defined Vehic...

The reason we started Privacy Files is to make the topic of privacy and personal data protection more approachable for a wider, global audience. Many people acknowledge that privacy is important, but they just don't know where to begin. At Privacy Files , we believe this begins with understanding your privacy risk exposure. In other words, it's about education. On November 4, 2023, Privacy...

Tens of millions of Americans alone have submitted their DNA to companies in the hopes of learning more about their ancestry. Genetic testing for ancestry research and identifying potential health issues is big business. However, as with any tool used for good, there can be a downside. Recently, a hacker stole the genetic data from millions of users of the popular genetics test kit company 23andMe...

One of the biggest challenges to getting more people to be proactive about protecting their personal data is the data privacy knowledge gap. In this episode of Privacy Files , we're getting back to the basics of how to manage personally identifiable information by talking to Nick, a power user of MySudo, the world's only all-in-one privacy app. Nick has been using MySudo for several years....

Privacy is a hot topic. There are headline news stories about data privacy concerns, laws and breaches appearing virtually every single day. Polls show that the public worries about protecting personal data. However, people often don't know where to start. Yes, there is most definitely a data privacy knowledge gap. In this episode of Privacy Files , we speak to Matt, the VP of Sales at Anonyom...

There has been a giant spotlight shining on cybersecurity at Las Vegas casinos. Recently a hacking group pretended to be an IT support employee with Caesars Entertainment, Inc. and gained access to the company's computer systems. Hackers made off with Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers from a “significant number” of loyalty program customers. Social engineering attacks exploi...

We've talked a lot about social engineering on Privacy Files . It's commonly said that the human is the weakest link in data security. In this episode, we talk about what you could call unintentional social engineering. What if you had a story so compelling that employees of retail businesses would eagerly hand over personally identifiable information (PII) about strangers? In this intervi...

To learn more about this episode's guest Phil Windley: https://www.windley.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/windley/ https://internetidentityworkshop.com/ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/learning-digital-identity/9781098117689/ In this episode... Data breaches are a common occurrence in the digital age. Most of us feel pretty helpless when it comes to protecting our personal information....

To learn more about this episode's guest Olivia Arnauts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviaarnauts/ https://www.zfisolutions.com/ https://www.relentlessrevival.org/ In this episode... Most people are generally familiar with the work that private investigators do. But there is a specialization within this profession that few are aware of. In this episode of Privacy Files we talk to Olivia Arnau...

It's hard to believe, but ten years have passed since former government contractor Edward Snowden shocked the world disclosing that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting data from the electronic communications of millions of American citizens--all without a warrant. For the majority of the public, that's what people remember. But the classified documents Snowden l...

Privacy is an important topic for an increasing number of people around the world. But it takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to professional athletes. In this episode of Privacy Files , we sit down with former NFL defensive lineman and Super Bowl XXVI champion Jason Buck. Jason was the 17th overall pick in the 1987 NFL draft and played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins bef...