Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the IASA Northeastern Conference on a favorite topic of mine of late — Privacy and Data Breaches in the workplace.

Of course, that sounds kinda of boring.

So my presentation is actually called the title of this post: “The Rise of Smartphone Fueled, Social Media Addicted Workplace Zombies.”

Much catchier right?

Speaking before the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) Northeastern Chapter at their 54th Annual Regional Conference was great fun though.

In my talk, I highlighted items like Business E-mail Compromise scams, Ransomware, and yes, even workplace zombies.

What do I mean by that? Well, too many of us (including me at times) stare at our phones and sometimes respond to e-mails or click without thinking.  (Think Before You Click would make the name of a good book; fortunately, I wrote a chapter in that very book a while back.)

Protecting workplace data IS about thinking. It’s about protecting personnel files, or benefit information, or retirement plan data.  It’s about protecting trade secrets or just plain confidential information.

It’s about building a CULTURE of data privacy. Where employees buy in that protecting data is a core value and where employees are REWARDED for good data practices while enforcement (with a bit of punishment where needed) is encouraged by all.

It’s not the most exciting topic to be sure but everyone wants to be protected from the zombies, right?

I gave a similar talk early this summer as keynote lunch speaker for the ADNET Worksmart conference and it worked so well, word got around.  Maybe data privacy can be interesting after all.

My thanks to IASA for the invitation and opportunity to speak to the group yesterday.