Cybersecurity Expert

The ‘wearable technology’ market has been exponentially growing in recent years and is expected to exceed 830 million devices by 2020 . One of the key drivers pushing this rapid expansion are fitness trackers, namely wristband tech and smartwatch apps which monitors our daily activity and health. But as we integrate wearables devices seamlessly into our everyday lives, what are the privacy and security risks they pose? How should wearable manufacturers and app developers be protecting consumers? Insurance company Vitality offers customers a heavily discounted Apple Watch  to customers in return for their fitness routines and health data, the more activity you do each month, the greater your reward through a monthly discount. While t his exchange of information for rewards provides a great incentive for consumers to improve their health, the personal data consumers are sharing in return has a tangible value for the insurance company. However, providing an insurance compan...

Search engine giants Google and Bing have announced an agreement to make it harder for UK internet users to find pirated films, music and illegally stream football by blocking websites. It appears they have bowed to pressure by the entertainments industry and the UK government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to sign up to a voluntary code of practice. I certainly don’t condone piracy or digital theft of any kind, but blocking websites is really a terrible idea for the security, privacy and even piracy prevention and enforcement, as it will just drive more people onto the dark web looking for the material they desire. I fear this will only serve to pour petrol on the illicit activities of the dark web by the swelling dark web ‘punters’. What's worst is new and inexperienced UK dark web users are vastly more likely to end up as victims of cyber crime in their desperate attempts to find banned content.  This is a 'sweeping under the carpet' approach, dri...