EPISODE 7: If Data is the new oil, how do we prevent data spills?
Welcome to Compromising Positions! The tech podcast that asks non-cybersecurity professionals what we in the industry can do to make their lives easier and help make our organisations more prepared to face ever-changing human-centric cyber threats!
This week we have a very special guest, Reema Vadoliya. Reema is the passionate business founder of data consultancy, People of Data, a gifted storyteller, and a professional problem-solver.
In this episode, Reema shares her insights on how to collaborate more effectively between cybersecurity and data professionals. She emphasizes the importance of empathetic communication, how sometimes quantifying risks is about gut feeling, not just metrics…
We look at how we can use data-driven storytelling to engage and educate people about cybersecurity, including how to make our phishing simulation stats not only more interesting to non-cybersecurity people but also how to make it actually drive meaningful behavioural changes.
Top 5 Takeaways for Building a Strong Data Culture and Cybersecurity:
1. Collaboration is key: The best way to ensure data security is by fostering good relationships between cybersecurity and data teams. Encourage open communication and explain the importance of keeping data safe.
2. Empathy is crucial: To solve problems effectively, it's important to understand the actual problem. Avoid closed questions and focus on the "why" behind the issue.
3. Checklists can help: Consistent, repeatable, and reusable rules of engagement can prevent insecure practices and reduce the need for constant consultation with the security team.
4. Quantifying risks is complex: Sometimes, you need to rely on gut feeling to balance a complex risk landscape. Business analysts can help identify potential risks that may have been overlooked.
5. Start small: Building a strong data culture takes time. Start by removing barriers that make data feel unobtainable and use storytelling to help people understand complex concepts. Make better use of phishing data to tell better stories and improve outcomes.
Links to everything we discuss in this episode can be found in the show notes and if you liked the show, please do leave us a review.
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We hope you enjoyed episode 7, If Data is the new oil, how do we prevent data spills? - See you next time, keep secure, and don’t forget to ask yourself, ‘Am I the compromising position here?’
Show Notes
The phrase ‘Data is the new oil’ was coined by Clive Humby in 2006. In this, he meant that data, like oil, needs refinement and processing to turn it into something useful. We couldn’t find the original conference in which Humby said this, but I did find an interesting article looking at this assertion years later called ‘Data is the new oil of the digital economy’ by WIRED which is worth a read.
As of November 2023, GDPR fines can be up to 20 million euros, or up to 4% of a company’s global turnover of the preceding fiscal year (whichever is highest for the company found in breach of this regulation).
A ‘DBA’ is a Database Administrator’. A DBA is a person who manages, maintains, and secures data in one or more data systems so that a user can perform analysis for business operations. DBAs take care of data storage, organization, presentation, utilization, and analysis from a technical perspective.
The meme Jeff was talking about is the ‘Prince or Popstar meme.’ A nice write up of it can be found here.
One of the best books at looking at the successes of checklists is Matthew Syed’s thought-provoking book, Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success - highly recommended by team CP!
About Reema Vadoliya
Reema is a passionate business founder, gifted storyteller and tireless advocate for inclusion in data. By challenging audiences to reshape their perception of data as a dreary necessity, she draws out the real human stories which organically empower intentional inclusion in data and beyond.
After seven years and multiple roles in data, Reema decided to launch her new, trailblazing company, People of Data. Through this organisation she seeks to create a world in which data can be used as a springboard for understanding the real people that data represents.
Reema is confident speaking about data strategy, analytical exploration, data collection and governance. Her talks offer a passionate manifesto for a world in which Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) are the beating heart of all data handling and usage.
An experienced speaker not afraid of digging into the gristle of the difficult topics, Reema’s talks push beyond a 1D (one demographic) view of data and offer a refreshing, multi-dimensional consideration of how humanised data can pioneer a brighter future.
Links related to Reema Vadoliya
Reema’s LinkedIn
Reema’s Consultancy, People of Data
