#data-loss

#data-loss

Enterprise IT execs know well the dangers of relying too much on third-parties, how automated decision systems need to always have a human in the loop, and the dangers of telling customers too much/too little when policy violations require an account shutdown. But a saga that played out Tuesday between Anthropic and the CEO of a Swiss cybersecurity company brings it all into a new and disturbing context.

If you're sensitive to tech disasters, you might want to look away now: A recent Reddit thread tells the story of an unfortunate user who found 30 years of photos and work locked away and inaccessible in Microsoft OneDrive. The individual made use of their cloud storage account to consolidate files from various hard drives, which had to be discarded due to a move.

"Every day, organizations face a spectrum of insider risk, from accidental missteps to deliberate sabotage," states Dr. Margaret Cunningham, Vice President of Security & AI Strategy at Darktrace. "The high-profile cases we see in headlines - sabotage, bribery, espionage - are real and damaging, but they're relatively rare. The daily reality is far more mundane: employees forwarding files to personal accounts, bypassing controls to meet deadlines, or uploading sensitive data into unsanctioned AI tools. These 'tiny crimes' are normalized behaviors that, at scale, create significant organizational risk."

Lemkin's experience with Replit revealed the risks of vibe coding when an AI program caused a code freeze, leading to the deletion of an entire database.

Many startups rely on cloud storage for data sync rather than as a proper backup solution. This mistake could lead to complete data loss during a cyberattack.