This week, it Home Depot's credit cards. A few weeks ago, it's Target's. Is any of your financial information safe?
That's what we are discussing in today's Twitter chat. Our main question is "What does the recent spate of credit cards hacks say about the state of cybersecurity?"
The chat is from 2-3 p.m. ET, hashtag #CIOchat
Next week, we chat about fashion versus features in smart watches and wearable devices. Check outour CIO Question and HP blogger E.G. Nadhan's post on the topic.
How much does Google REALLY know about YOU? There's an easy way to find out
An option on your internet settings lets you find out just how much Google actually knows
It knows too much... or does it? It doesn't
Forecasts of Google's omniscience may have been over-exaggerated, but there's a very easy way to find out how much Google knows about you.
Searching "Google Ads settings" and clicking "Ads Settings" reveals a list of what the search engine/behemothic superpower knows about you, listing your age, gender and your interests.
Google determines which adverts you see when you browse online, based on your previous activity- it's why you get shown adverts for shoes when you've been looking for a new pair of pumps.
Here's what the settings panel looks like (without the picture, don't worry), it lists what it thinks YOUR interests are:
Mirror writer Richard Beech's Google Adsense profile
But when we asked readers to try this out for themselves, they got some amusing results.
Jason Wilding, from Exeter, is apparently interested in hair care... the only problem is, he's going bald - and gave up on hair care a long time ago.
He also really doesn't like hip hop...
Jason Wilding: Happily losing his hair, and certainly not listening to hip-hop
HelenaHorton, who is as student at the University of York, found that Google thought she was a man, but got her interests pretty spot on... apart from soccer.
Helena: Not a man
When Rebecca Morgan, who lives in London, looked at her Adsense profile, she got a huge list of results, some of which were absolutely bizarre.
"A lot were quite accurate," Rebecca told us.
"Some I could see were a natural progression from others (i.e. they would make sense if they were advertised to me based on similar searches), some were a bit strange - 'Reptiles and Amphibians', 'Veterans', 'Vehicles'."
"Spooky how they were able to determine my age and gender. I know a lot comes from cookies, but it is scary to see how much can be found out about you!"
Lois Stone from Washington DC discovered that Google also thinks she's a huge sports fan.
"I think there are WAY too many mentions of sport. Like I dance sometimes and once in a while go running but I don't follow any sports or play any regularly and they have me down for ads of every kind of sport."
Sian Williams from Surrey found that some of her interests were accurate, but others not so much...
"I definitely like travel, fitness, tv, books, food etc. But I'm certain I've never Googled Bollywood & South Asian Film, locksmiths, military, or motorcycles..."
But Tommy Taylor, who lives in London, got a creepily accurate set of results, though Google did get one thing wrong. It incorrectly claimed that he knew how to speak German, which he is adamant he doesn't (bist du SICHER, Tommy?).
Tommy has an Android phone, and decided to take the test one step further. We asked Tommy if Google knew him better than his girlfriend knows him.
"Well - joking around I asked Google Now (Google version of Ask Siri) to 'call my girlfriend'. It brought up my girlfriend's contact details and asked me to confirm she was my girlfriend..."
We all knew you could set contacts under certain tags, but it seems Android is clever enough to predict your relationships with friends and family.
Rochester resident Ben Cameron probably had the best explanation of the weird results.
"They're pretty accurate, a couple of strange ones may be down to Googling while at the pub..."
So, Google thinks it knows a lot about you, but it isn't clever enough to know whether you're searching something because you are genuinely interested in it, or because you're at the pub and your friend just told you to look up a hilarious article they just read about calculators and blues music.
If you do have inaccurate info you can change it to see ads that are relevant to you, or opt out of targeted ads entirely. Your profile isn't linked to your name, photo, or other personal info.
If you have tried this, and have seen particularly accurate or hilarious results, feel free to tweet us - @RichTheJourno and @Sophie_Gadd.
