What is it that you think of when reading or hearing the term "machine learning"? Chess playing robots? That gadget that cuts the grass of your lawn while you enjoy your new-found spare time? or the terminator relentless chasing Sarah Connor through a movie franchise and TV series?

From smart automated homes to WiFi enabled children's toys, this Christmas was a bounty for manufacturers of gadgets and gizmos offering internet connected functionality. Otherwise known as IoT or the Internet of Things.

But, what exactly is IoT and what concerns does it bring to companies and organisations who adopt such technology?

There is a very good chance that you have used multi-factor authentication (sometimes referred to as two-factor authentication) at some stage over the past few years, even if you are not familiar with the term.

It is widely recognised that there is still strong under-representation of women in IT. While this gender imbalance has improved over the years, there is still a long way to go. According to Women in Tech, only 1 in 6 tech specialists in the UK are women, only 1 in 10 are leaders and worse still, female representation in the tech sector has stagnated over the last 10 years.

By now I am sure you have seen and read enough IT security "predictions" for 2019. As cynical as it may seem, I often chuckle at the alignment of an author's predictions and the solutions and services that they sell. Coincidence? Or good marketing?

AI, ML, DL... we live in an age of jargon which is sometimes hard to keep up with. You probably have a general awareness of what artificial intelligence (AI) is or you may even have worked with an IT solution which professes to use AI in some manner.

There are many myths surrounding the creation and naming of Black Friday, that yearly American imported shopping bonanza, which seemingly includes almost anything these days. Including, the dark web where it was reported that cyber criminal gangs were selling stolen credit card details at a limited discount.

With the final months of 2018 in full swing, every vendor, marketing agency and outlet will be busy evaluating the events of the year; and looking into their crystal balls, in an attempt to predict the trends of 2019.

Despite it being punished under the Data Protection Act 1998, the penalty handed out to Equifax recently in reaction to their catastrophic handling of a widely reported data breach in 2017, has pushed the issue of data protection and the GDPR right back under the spotlight.

If you have been following our blog for the past few weeks, you will know that we have been focusing on the well-known virtues of third-party managed IT security solutions, otherwise known as managed security services providers (MSSPs).

For anyone who works in IT or compliance, you will be more than aware that the year 2018, has been seen more than its fair share of new regulations and updates to industry standards. This year alone we have seen the introduction or update of:

It seems that every IT-related conversation involves some element of cloud today. From cloud-hosted email, to cloud-hosted file storage and even cloud-based telephony through the use of centrally hosted VoIP services.

I am sure that we can all agree that cloud hosted software or SaaS (Software as a Service) is generally more cost effective, more convenient and easier to maintain. But in the back of our minds, there is always a concern about security; and whether or not submitting to the cloud means losing control.

It is both curious and comical to me how certain topics surrounding the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) seem to generate more buzz than others, whether they are correct or not. Such as the topic of consent being the only form of lawful processing, the overriding right to be forgotten in any circumstance and the belief that all forms of outbound marketing have been confined to history.

Hot on the heels of The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), yet enforced just fifteen days before, the directive on security of network and information systems (NIS) has been created to achieve a high, common level of network and information systems security across the European Union.

In the scramble of the final days leading up to the 25th of May 2018, Google crawl bots would have noticed universal updates taking place across the internet. Privacy policies for an unquantifiable number of organisations and companies were being adapted to fit the GDPR.

The 25th May 2018 has arrived and you as a data subject have been empowered with Europe's most ambitious and forward-thinking data protection regulation to date, the GDPR. As the ultimate steward of your personal data, you now have control over its use in most scenarios making data privacy a fundamental right. But what about instances where your personal data is available publicly? Is personal data fair game, once it is in the public domain?

By now you have probably learned that the processing of personal data does not always require an act of consent. Whilst much of the internet is obsessing over consent, re-consent and double opt-in consent, you have correctly discovered that it is not the only way to legally process personal data.

Marketing automation solutions have come along way in the past five years. Once used for mass emailing, now expanded to include an array of interactivity features such as blogs, landing pages and pop-ups, all to enrich the process of inbound marketing. But as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) enforcement data looms nigh, how ready are the likes of MailChimp? and what do you need to know as their data controller?

With the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) getting all the headlines in the past two years, it is hard to garner any attention on anything else. Yet for good reason, the GDPR is widely focused and will for some challenge the way they take their offering to market. However, there have been developments, both legislative and not, in the past two years which can present opportunities for VARs (Value-Added Resellers) and solution providers alike.

Like many an industry trend before, MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider) appears to be trending among IT teams and security practitioners alike; embracing the cloud and hosting technologies to relieve the burden of ownership and maintenance, retain security practices and benefit from subscription models of service.

With less than 100 days to go until the enforcement of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the relevance of this blog post on a short time span, a certain level of panic may begin to consume those who have only just started to take this subject seriously.

So, you've been told that you need to destroy your prized contacts database unless you can prove that you have consent to process the personal data of those that you store. Maybe you can send out communication asking those contacts to re-consent... but how many would? And what about the problems which Honda incurred by doing this?

I am certain that there is likely to be nobody reading this blog who has never been to a trade fair or industry event. Huge gatherings of like-minded individuals, peers or even just the curious jostle past one another, between extravagant stands paid for vendors promoting their wares.

With May 2018 within touching distance, you may think it will soon be all over. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is taking its toll and fatigue around the topic has undoubtedly begun to set in. Yet, it is only just the beginning, as one door closes another door opens, to make way for the European Union’s ePrivacy regulation.