Thanks to data privacy, or the lack of it, the B2B news is all personal today. Feel free to message us at @B2BNewsNetwork to tell us about your own experiences with data you didn’t know was out there. There’s no reason for our phones to know everything about us if we don’t!

My cat fell off the balcony a little more than 2 weeks ago. Attempts to save her leg, followed by an amputation, cost almost $5000 in local and surgical vet bills. While I am grateful to have my now three-legged cat, who is adapting her new challenges, my social media channels are causing significant distress. My social media feeds have been taunting me with ads for pet healthcare insurance.

“Your phone is always listening,” my sister reminded me. I knew that. We all know that. Data privacy is a huge issue and companies are starting to listen to what consumers want…all the time, on a variety of smart devices. Word is clearly reaching the B2B community and products and services to improve data privacy are appearing.

The trend is emerging not a moment too soon. Regulators are investigating last week’s data breach of the Kroger family of companies. The holdings include 30 different US grocery chains. Disclosures made to the California Attorney General and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, almost 1.5 million individuals were affected. The breach has been linked the company’s use of the Accellion file sharing program.

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/privacy-alert-kroger-companies-including-ralphs-foods-co-and-food-4-less-under-investigation-for-data-breach-impacting-nearly-1-5-million-individuals-301305260.html

Vancouver-based Zoominfo, a business intelligence company launched its Business Contact Preference Registry (BCPR) on Thursday. It’s a global database of opt-out requests processed by ZoomInfo that it then makes available to other B2B data providers.

“It’s critical for data-focused companies to prioritize privacy,” says Bubba Nunnery, ZoomInfo’s Senior Director of Privacy and Public Policy. “The Business Contact Preference Registry offers businesses a convenient way to prioritize privacy by supplying the entire B2B data industry with a ready-made list of consumer opt-outs. We’re proactively sharing our opt-outs as an invitation to B2B companies to join us in putting privacy first.”

Press release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005308/en/ZoomInfo-Launches-Industry%E2%80%99s-First-Business-Contact-Preference-Registry

Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada has taken a completely different approach to protecting data privacy. They’ve declared it open season on their platform. Yesterday, the company launched a public bug bounty program with YesWeHack. The idea is that “ethical hackers” will identify vulnerabilities in the system to the company for a $10,000 US bounty. The announcement follows an 18 month-long private program that is now being opened to the broader cyber security community. The company has already paid out $150,000 in bounties.

“Given the importance of data and personal information, Lazada takes great care in protecting our customers and we have worked to patch these vulnerabilities, to ensure a safe shopping platform. With the evolving nature of data security, as well as the aggressive nature of hackers who exploit technology to steal data, we believe in working with the larger cyber security community to strengthen our IT ecosystems,” says Alan Chan, Chief Risk Officer of Lazada Group.

Press release: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/southeast-asia-ecommerce-platform-lazada-launches-public-bug-bounty-program-with-yeswehack-825877681.html

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Kate Baggott is a former Managing Editor of B2BNN. Her technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun and the Bay Street Bull. She is the author of the short story collections Love from Planet Wine Cooler and Dry Stories. Find links to recent articles by following her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-baggott-9a0306/