Simple solution? Remove and destroy all storage devices.

https://www.ft.com/content/9aed6933-1c96-402e-a194-069c8ed3306c

Sensitive Morgan Stanley devices were auctioned off online, finds SEC

US regulators have fined Morgan Stanley $35mn for an “astonishing” failure to protect customer data, which resulted in some computer hardware containing sensitive client data being auctioned off online.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that the Wall Street bank’s wealth management business failed to protect information identifying around 15mn customers over a five-year period.

From at least 2015, the bank, which agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the accusations, failed to properly dispose of devices storing clients’ personal data, according to the SEC.

Morgan Stanley hired a moving company that did not specialise in discarding data and tasked it with disabling thousands of servers and hard drives, the agency said.

The moving company subsequently sold thousands of the bank’s devices, some of which contained customer data, to a third party before they were eventually resold on an online auction site. The bank has recovered some but not most of the equipment, the SEC said.

Could be interesting if this applied to politicians as well as companies…

https://www.insideprivacy.com/dark-patterns/new-ftc-report-on-dark-patterns/

New FTC Report on Dark Patterns

Last week, the FTC announced its release of a staff report discussing key topics from the April 29, 2021 workshop addressing dark patterns. The report states that the FTC will take action when companies employ dark patterns that violate existing laws, including the FTC Act, ROSCA, the TSR, TILA, CAN-SPAM, COPPA, ECOA, or other statutes and regulations enforced by the FTC. The report highlights examples of cases in which the FTC used its authority under these laws and regulations to bring enforcement actions against companies that allegedly used dark patterns. Accordingly, the report builds upon the FTC’s historical approach of using its existing authority to bring enforcement actions in this context.

… The term ‘dark patterns’ deserves a few words of explanation. It certainly sounds ominous – but as the report explains, not all dark patterns are unlawful. … While the use of this term may be relatively new and attention grabbing, at its core the term describes practices that have long been the focus of FTC enforcement actions. For example, the agency has prosecuted companies that used ads deceptively formatted to look like news articles to drive sales;… sued websites and apps that obscured or hid fees;… and challenged efforts by companies that prevented customers from canceling memberships… Rules of thumb and decision-making shortcuts have value. And companies legally can capitalize on common heuristics in ways that increase profits.

Is this really the next big thing?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/financing-computings-next-great-disruption/

Financing Computing’s Next Great Disruption

The quantum computing industry is slated to have a huge impact on humanity. Quantum computing has a new architecture using subatomic properties that could provide unfathomable power when combined with the existing computer infrastructure that we use today. According to McKinsey, quantum computing now has the potential to capture nearly $700 billion in value as early as 2035. As a result, funding from both private and public sources is pouring into the quantum computing industry.