Year of the Breach
As 2018 ends and 2019 begins, our feeds are filled with top-10 lists, best-of compilations, and highlights of the year’s best songs, sound bites, and scandals. The stroll down short-term memory lane can be amusing, but it also serves to remind us of the things we don’t want to think about. Reading more like an anthology, the worst security breaches of 2018 is far lengthier than a top-10 list and it affected hundreds of millions of people.
Listed as one of the largest breaches of the year, Marriott Starwood Hotels was targeted by hackers stealing the information of 500 million guests. Google revealed it had a series of data breaches that exposed the private information of 52.5 million of its users. Facebook informed the public of a security issue where the private profiles of almost 50 million user accounts were accessed, this was in addition to news that third-party company, Cambridge Analytica, had been collecting user data. Orbitz, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific all had breaches of their booking systems affecting over 10.6 million travellers. The largest breach of 2018 was a data leak of India's government identification database affecting 1.1 billion citizens. And this is only a few from 2018. Back in 2017, Equifax reluctantly reported a breach of its credit report database exposing highly sensitive data, including personal, credit, and banking information of 148 million people.
Biggest Security Breaches of 2018
If you shopped in a retail store, stayed in a hotel, booked a flight, used an app, liked a cat photo on social media, or even if you were just a citizen of a country, your information is likely in the hands of someone less mysterious than a friend of a friend of a friend on Facebook. Weak security, crafty hackers, large corporations exploiting or misusing data. Why is our personal information so easily stolen? Why do we have no control over our own data? Is privacy even a thing anymore?
These are the questions that led to the creation of StormFree Cloud Corporation (StormFree). Designed using our progressive cutting-edge technologies combined with our flexible hosting and management options, StormFree enables users to regain control of their data without sacrificing security.
We are seeing enterprises of all sizes struggling to keep up with emerging technologies, increasing number of devices, and maintaining secure communications. Users attempting to manage their data by moving to cloud technologies or applications to help support functionality across devices have either lost control, privacy, or both. The StormFree EMM Platform empowers users to move to flexible integrations that support interoperability at all levels of infrastructure. The platform is built to be portable, so users can distribute as they choose, splitting data between services, hosts, and physical locations. Users will no longer be locked into using, and being reliant upon, a single infrastructure provider. Our purpose is to return control and privacy of data to users and allow them to move away from one-size-fits-all services. By operating on a minimal to zero-knowledge footprint, user information is protected, thus reducing the potential threat footprint. We can help any user or business improve efficiency by leveraging the portability, scalability, extensibility, and adaptability of our platform. StormFree believes anyone should be able to easily manage where their data is stored and who has access to it.
Following this philosophy, we run our operations much like our technology using highly collaborative processes and simplified language in order to maximize utility and be effective in a competitive market. We are a team of bright, passionate, and curious individuals and we embody what we call The StormFree Way: Simpler, Smarter, Safer.
The StormFree EMM Platform launches soon and we are excited to share insights into our internal workings such as team objectives, decision-making processes, and cool announcements. Each month, we’ll be sharing our thoughts on relevant industry news, how it reflects on our business, and how we adapt in this ever-changing landscape. We will also publicize the lessons we learn and the knowledge we gain surrounding the people, policies, and products we operate with as a startup company.
This is the beginning of a new era in technology. We believe in sharing (the good kind of sharing) so please interact with us: subscribe to our feed for regular biweekly posts, apply now if you want to join us, or reach out to introduce yourself or leave a comment (as for now commenting is disabled until we choose an appropriate implementation).
