Your customers and business partners are taking data privacy more seriously than ever before. They expect a high level of security and will take action if you are careless with their confidential information. Firms who heed these new customer expectations will succeed and outperform the competition. The fastest and most reliable path to data security is the use of zero trust services.
Zero trust apps have become a buzzword for a reason. Data breaches are another reason why zero trust apps continue to rise in popularity. Businesses lost $1.5 trillion dollars to data breaches last year alone. Whether the threat is from the inside or the outside, zero trust apps are the future of private and secure communications.
What is Zero Trust?
Zero trust technology is built to ensure that even the most reliable employee does not become the weak link in your data protection chain. History has shown that whenever special data access is granted to employees, it is eventually used to mishandle customer data by internal or external adversaries. Take the recent Snapchat fiasco, for example. Trusted security staff members abused their access to “God Mode” to gain unauthorized access to customer information.
To get around the danger of customer data falling into the wrong hands, solutions like zero trust apps featuring end-to-end encryption have emerged. These apps are designed to keep customer information invisible from external and internal threats.
Tech giants, like Facebook, Instagram and Google have felt a huge backlash over monetization (some would say abuse) of user data and finally have begun hinting at a future where exceptional privacy features will become core to their products. However, without a clear definition of what “privacy” means, consumers are left to what their solutions will be and when they will arrive. On the other hand, companies like Wickr are equalizing the market by bringing advanced privacy capabilities to the public on a much greater scale than we have seen in previous years.
Wickr employs the best principles in data privacy. We offer zero trust collaboration tools that are encrypted end-to-end. Wickr customers will often deploy enterprise compliance capabilities to ensure data retention and deletion policies are followed. Further, developers are using Wickr to build custom zero trust workflows by exercising Wickr Bots and APIs. All Wickr products are vetted by the best security minds in the world and are backed by Wickr’s industry leading and transparent Security Promises.
Who Is Watching the Watchers
In the age of digital advertising, social networks and A.I., Big Tech companies are gathering more data than ever before. Data mining started with the promise of learning about customers to provide better service. This practice has morphed into an intrusive advertising industry that has been abused to disenfranchise populations and give adversaries previously unattainable surveillance capabilities. This has prompted elected officials, regulators and your customers to ask an extremely thought-provoking question.
Who is watching the watchers?
Big tech firms gather and hoard vast amounts of information without customer knowledge. These same firms are responsible for watching and protecting this data from unauthorized access by adversaries inside and outside their organization. But these watchers have a terrible track record. They have focused solely on data monetization while data protection remained an afterthought. This is starting to change. Customers, regulators and legislators have taken note of the dangers of having information harvested by unsuitable custodians and are demanding change.
Trusted industry leaders like Wickr have been giving customers an alternative, one which doesn’t involve anyone directly handling personal data at all. With our application of zero trust apps and end-to-end encryption, we can give customers unparalleled privacy. We furnish an elegant form of discrete communications that ensures that none of your messages, files, photos, calls or video conferences can be seen or heard by anyone aside from the sender and recipients.
In this way, Wickr has solved the question of who will watch the watchers. The answer is simple in concept, yet sophisticated in applied design. Zero trust solutions shift the power from the hands of the watchers to the customers directly. With Wickr’s secure communications, you can enjoy complete and total privacy, knowing that your information cannot be seen by anyone unless you give permission.
What Happens When We Don’t Watch the Watchers? Why You Need Zero Trust Apps
Ask any security professional and they’ll tell you the worst breaches happen from within. Movies and snappy headlines aside, the vast majority of security issues occur from authorized users either erroneously or maliciously mishandling user data. A 2019 data breach report by Verizon shows that 34% of data breaches were perpetrated by insiders — that’s up 10% since the last report in 2017. The same report shows that small organizations are no more safe than large organizations, so the bad actors are everywhere.
Historically, there were few things that could be done; training, logging, splitting duties and least privilege being the typical methods. However, with modern cryptography and the right application of that cryptography, user data can (and should) be protected.
When businesses have been left unchecked, the data shows that serious abuse of personal data can and has occurred. Examples like Snapchat employees found to be spying on users and taking customer phone numbers, email addresses, and physical locations as well as saved Snaps appear to be growing not diminishing. As the saying goes, “what can go wrong, will go wrong,” and this applies to user data left unprotected. When no one is watching the watchers, what are they doing? Sadly, the answer appears to be whatever they like with your data.
A Path Forward — Why You Should Be Using Wickr
Wickr is the only product in the market that provides zero trust communications and the ability to conform with information governance requirements in any regulated industry. In plain English, that means we can’t see your data, so you don’t have to worry about it. Wickr offers a military-grade secure collaboration platform and is one of the easiest and most effective ways for organizations of any size to guarantee their data will not be breached. Furthermore, Wickr has opened up its platform to allow your developers to build custom end-to-end encrypted workflows. Given that investment in cybersecurity in 2019 was $124 billion, now is a good time for you to invest in your data privacy strategy too.
By using Wickr, you can save money and get some of the best security features on the market today. Cybersecurity is changing, so make sure that you are protected with Wickr. Learn more about Wickr today.