With one sensational data breach headline after another, we decided to take on the details behind the story because a concentrated focus on the headline tends to reveal only a partial dimension of the truth.
For instance, when a bank’s sensitive data is compromised, it depends on how as well as the what. Security practitioner Mike Buckbee said, “It’s very different if your central data storage was taken versus a Dropbox where you let 3rd party vendors upload spreadsheets.”
We’re also living in a very different time when everything we do in our personal lives can potentially end up on the internet. However, thanks to the EU’s “right to be forgotten” law, the public made 2.4 million Google takedown requests. Striking the perfect balance will be difficult. How will the world choose between an organization’s goals (to provide access to the world’s information) versus an individual’s right to be forgotten?
And when organizations want to confidently make business decisions based on data-driven metrics, trusting data is critical to making the right decision. Our discussion also reminded me what our favorite statistician Kaiser Fung said in a recent interview, “Investigate the process behind a numerical finding.”
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