Predictions 2017.6 – Richard Stephens

December 5, 2016

We live in a connected online world – everyone would agree with that. But what is the correlation between being permanently online and cybersecurity? Given that so many of us now live in the cloud, are we taking enough precautions with our data – with data affecting our clients and contacts?

I have been experimenting over the last couple of years with Google’s Chrome OS on a variety of devices – actually, the platform is getting better and better. Google is porting Android apps across to it, more and more Chromebooks are appearing aimed not just at the education market (where it is already strong in the US) but at business plus Google Apps are getting stronger (though still far from perfect). It’s a great platform in many ways and I do some at least of my work on it. But then I think – this is a thin client, it is always connected and doesn’t really work that well offline, so just how safe am I with all my various cloud accounts?

So I think 2017 will be about embedding more work cloud devices like the Chromebook in our lives and the consequent worry about security breaches they will inevitably bring in their wake. Expect more and bigger cybersecurity attacks.

{b}{i}Richard Stephens FBCS FCIArb Fellow of the Society for Computers & Law
The Law Office of Richard Stephens – LORS. Don’t miss his {Annual Contract Update sessions in Bristol, London and Leeds: http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=th0}{/b}.