Privacy Rights and Privacy Wrongs: 3rd National Privacy Conference

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Social media users are often criticized for being too harsh, or should we say, too open. It has become a no holds barred venue that could be an outlet for posting of either rants or raves especially when there's too much hate or love for something or somebody.

This openness makes most of us so vulnerable because we tend to reveal even sensitive or confidential information that could lead us to danger if it falls into the wrong hands. Our lives may be in jeopardy if it is taken advantage by cunning individuals that are up to no good. On the other hand, social media can also be used by shady individuals to malign or ruin the reputation of individuals too. There is so much false news and information proliferating online that many are getting brainwashed or confused on what to believe.

Statements on social media could make or break anybody if taken too far. The advantage is with those that have the financial resources that could easily run a massive campaign online for or against anybody.

Meantime, there are some entities or organizations that require us to submit our personal information that we know could also be a source of threat for us, just as how the COMELEC was hacked and robbed of its precious data that is all about the many Filipino voters. Who knows what they will do with all those information about a few million Filipinos?

An attendee gave a tip that we should also think twice about sharing personal information like emails and addresses with institutions or corporations. If absolutely necessary, use a separate email account not linked to any other accounts. I agree because we wouldn't know if they could use these information to penetrate, access and control our personal accounts.

Thus, we do need to have some sort of regulatory body that could help prevent such occurrences to persist and also to identify and penalize the erring individuals or groups. We need to talk more about our privacy and the impact of data breaches on our rights.

Jumpstart 2017: Tips on how NOT to break you New Year's resolution!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"I don’t really believe in resolutions. (Because why wait a year for it, right?)

Let’s be honest. How many of us diligently pen down our resolutions in the last few days of the year and successfully spend the next 365 days sticking to them?

But Bing is onto something -- Bing tracked a 48 percent increase in users searching for “calendars and planners” in January* – clearly indicating how planning for the rest of the year is on most people’s minds.

In fact, Bing tracked a 48 percent increase in users searching for “calendars and planners” in January* – clearly indicating how planning for the rest of the year is on most people’s minds.

But perhaps 2017 is the year for you to finally make a resolution and keep it. We asked Bing what searches saw a surge at the start of the year in Asia and rounded up actionable tips on how to NOT break your resolutions.

With that, we have 10 tips on how NOT to break your New Year’s resolutions!"

Mine will be #10 and #2.

But #8 is also interesting. I'm going to get a new friend from Space and Skype with him to say (from Translator), "ylqm 'lHqu'! (because Skype Translator also has Klingon!)

What is yours?

Five Areas for Cybersecurity Innovation in 2017

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The world never stands still. In the technology space, this means that constant innovation and discovery is the key to a solution provider’s survival and growth.

In the cybersecurity arena, this creed is even more vital. Many hackers are brilliant people. There’s only one way to get the better of them – be even more brilliant. And faster and more creative.

Which is why R&D is crucial in the security technology business. Cybersecurity solution providers must deliver open, integrated security and networking technologies that enable enterprises to see and react rapidly to changing attack techniques, increase proactivity, and scale and provision their security along with business growth. To cope with this breadth of demands – sometimes in very short time spans − technology providers need to be able to cross traditional boundaries, allowing them to innovate across the entire ecosystem.

Fortinet is at the forefront of such innovation. In 2016 alone we were granted close to 80 patents in such diverse areas as CASB, malware detection techniques, data leak protection, virus detection, hardware acceleration, DDoS and cloud services.

However, the cyber threat landscape is continuing to become more challenging in 2017. Here are a few areas that Fortinet has identified for intensive R&D during the coming year: