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Evelyn Teti

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Fox School of Business

The Downside of Companies Using Big Data

May 4, 2019 By Evelyn Teti Leave a Comment

Since the rise of social media sites, the certainty of online privacy continues to become a question for concern. The influx of personal information available and stored online should put the need for stronger security measures in the forefronts of our minds. But it’s not just your social media sites you need to be concerned with. Instead more and more companies are using big data to personalize services to their customers. When you think of companies using big data it’s easy for us to think of the obvious examples like Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. but you may not expect Starbucks, Spotify, McDonald’s or Burberry.

Big data and predictive analytics are the perfect way for companies to personalize their approach to their customers and in turn boost their performance, sales and customer satisfaction. However, with this revolutionary development of technology come some major privacy threats. The lack of anonymization, increased security breaches and inaccuracies are just some of the risks that Big Data bring to the table. Since increasing numbers of companies are using this type of technology your personal information has a greater chance of being compromised.

Once upon a time, it was just your computer you needed to worry about. Now you have technology like smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, robot vacuums, thermostats, Alexa and more that are connected to your network. While these may not all have your personal information stored on them they do give attackers the opportunity to gain access to your network and the devices that are connected to it. A study done last year by McAfee found that 52% of consumers aren’t sure how to secure their connected devices and apps; leaving the opportunities for attacks wide open.

It’s not just consumers that are leaving these doors to their information open. Companies are doing it too and they may not be aware of it until it’s too late. Target had a huge security breach in 2014 that involved the theft of over 40 million consumers debit and credit information because a third-party vendor (that had remote access to Target’s network) responded to a phishing email. Similarly, Home Depot, Equifax, Yahoo, eBay, Marriott and many more companies have had security breaches that have put their customers at risk.

Since consumers enjoy personalization from the companies they shop, the need for big data only rises while the looming threat of future security breaches rises with it. Privacy is becoming more elusive and rapidly evolving technology is making it difficult for companies to keep up. However, companies need to acknowledge that it’s their responsibility to protect their consumers and look at privacy as a necessity for basic customer experience rather than a luxury.

 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2018/01/27/top-5-concerns-to-focus-on-for-data-privacy-day/#7d1bbad84f3c

https://blog.kolabtree.com/5-companies-using-big-data-and-ai-to-improve-performance/

https://www.smartdatacollective.com/big-data-privacy-issues-worry-every-internet-user/

https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=%2Fcourses%2F596825%2Fitems%2FHEC130-PDF-ENG%2Fcontent&metadata=e30%3D

https://www.csoonline.com/article/2130877/the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-21st-century.html

https://www.secureworldexpo.com/industry-news/10-big-data-analytics-privacy-problems

https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Privacy-concerns-in-the-digital-world

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