Last month, |

VTech Holdings Ltd. fell to a three-year low after the Hong Kong-based company said hackers who infiltrated its online services gained access to the profiles of more than 6 million children whose files lacked encryption.
Almost half of the 4.9 million parent accounts that were accessed belonged to users in the U.S. and the rest were scattered around the globe, the maker of children’s electronic toys, smartwatches and computer tablets said in an
Lack of Encryption in Healthcare Insurance
The FBI warned that medical devices and other hospital and healthcare systems need some serious

security upgrades to weather the
According to
Along with its customers, the Health Insurance companies also suffer from the the hacks of the records that are NOT Encrypted. Aside from the brand and reputation damage and cost of credit monitoring, the company could even be hit with fines for HIPAA violations due to failure to protect sensitive medical data. Customers face much more severe losses due to lack of encryption such as losing their benefits to imposters and the exponentiating possibility that Medical Implant devices as with millions of other Internet of Things (IoT) devices whose software lacks encryption could face personal injury or even loss of life.
Encryption and Political Rhetoric
After the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, encryption has once again become a political target. Despite there still being no solid evidence the attackers benefited from or even used encryption (in at least one case, they coordinated via distinctly

In the wake of the numerous incidents that have been traced to the Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL, academics and security advocates say officials are again seizing on public fear to push more aggressive surveillance legislation. This month, the French newspaper Le Monde
Similarly, the British Parliament is in the process of passing something called the Investigatory Powers Bill, which, according to its current draft, would drastically expand the government’s online surveillance privileges and require Internet and phone companies to have “permanent capabilities” that can intercept and collect data passing through their networks.
Why Encryption isn't == Terrorism
It took nearly two weeks for French officials to piece together how a team of nine terrorists planned the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130. And during that time, intelligence officials filled the media vacuum with their own theories for what happened.
A Nov. 15
According to
No government has provided a concrete example of when encryption has stopped them from getting information that they deemed necessary to investigate a terrorist attack, that they weren’t able to get through other means, |

The simplest analogy for why the narrative around encryption as being anything more than enabler for the privacy and security that people and companies need comes from
"This is like saying, well, you know, cars are of use to bank robbers. This was at one time a very major thing," he said. "Nobody ever took seriously at that time the notion that you should cut down the abilities of cars in order to solve one particular sort of crime." |
I look forward to your thoughts and inputs on the critical and timely topic of encryption and it's role in ensuring the privacy, safety and security of people, processes and technology both in your personal and professional lives.