Trunomi looks to bring data ownership back to the people

Most people do not understand how complex data is, Stuart Lacey believes.

Mr. Lacey is the founder and CEO of Trunomi, a company whose consent management data-sharing platform connects financial institutions with customers. They give individuals control and transparency over the use of their personal data while providing financial institutions with compliant and secure messaging and document sharing.

“It was a fallacy that the customer owns their data,” Mr. Lacey said when discussing traditional approaches to data stewardship.

You generate a host of data when you register for online banking, for example. Your bank has your name, address, employment records, mortgage information and spending patterns, all valuable information for Corporate America.

“(Technology) has given rise to a new asset class – your data,” Mr. Lacey said.

Your data leaves a vapor trail, Mr. Lacey explained, meaning it continues to exist and have influence long after you initially generate it. The problem is there has been no mechanism to properly steward that.

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There are two kinds of people, those who know they’ve been hacked and those who don’t, Mr. Lacey said. He advises to make yourself less interesting and more difficult to compromise online. Don’t centralize your data. Avoid the cloud.

Trunomi uses four million one-tone encrypted pipes, so in order to access and use your data a hacker would have to break into the actual pipe and the exact instant the data flows through and then replicate it.

We are in a transitional period where millennials have different expectations of privacy. They know their movements are being watched online and expect them to be. That’s not to say that they don’t make mistakes online but for the most part they know what they are getting into.

Banks are also adjusting to data-sharing and new technologies, though not as quickly as the millennials. That provides opportunity, Mr. Lacey explained.

“Early adopters can build the future bank, which will look more like a technology company than a bank.”

There are  common risks with data management, Mr. Lacey explained. One is in the transfer, which we rely on when accessing sites from our phones and laptops. For the most part encryption is great in the transfer and at the endpoint, Mr. Lacey said.

“The big exposure is when data is at rest. That’s the bullseye target.”