How cool is it to say something and have your car act on it? “Play my favorite song,” or “Add my meeting with world leaders to my calendar,” or “Take me to the nearest Radio Shack.” Okay that last one’s tough, but digital assistants are almost ubiquitous in cars these days. And just as with their home-based cousins, your automotive assistants are listening even when you’re not talking to them. The automakers or third-party vendors then capture and package that data to make your shopping, driving, and existential decisions in real time. The quandary remains, where is the balance point between convenience and privacy, and who guards that line?

From an organizational standpoint, don’t be too quick to dismiss the implications of this trend. Consider how much business your staff conducts on the phone while commuting to the office. How many times do we look to our cars as “cones of silence” when trying to keep a conversation private? While manufacturers are working on keeping digital assistants in their lane, ask yourself how many times you see new ads on your phone immediately following face-to-face conversations about a product or service, at a dinner table when your phone was off. Happens more frequently than you might imagine. Now imagine your trade secrets or confidential business information being sucked into the ether the same way.

Neither Lender Nor Luddite Be

It seems unlikely that we’ll return to landlines and bag phones anytime soon, but a higher level of vigilance is certainly warranted.

If you have questions about your enterprise security, call ICS. It’s what we do.