As part of our broader education and training services, Identity Management Institute organizes various data protection webinar training courses to introduce the Certified in Data Protection (CDP)® content and provide online training for CDP certification to improve the knowledge and skills of webinar attendees and prepare them for the CDP certification exam. CDP webinars offer a convenient and quick way to learn about CDP content, and prepare for the CDP data protection certification exam. This page is intended to provide information about data protection webinar training.

About Certified in Data Protection (CDP)®

Certified in Data Protection (CDP)® is a comprehensive global training and certification program developed by Identity Management Institute which leverages international security standards and privacy laws to teach candidates about best data protection practices during the entire data lifecycle management.

Webinar Training Benefits

• Efficient learning – attend online training without travel to learn about the main topics quickly
• Safe environment – attend from a safe and comfortable location of your own choosing
• Cost effective – online training is much more cost effective than onsite training
• Earn CPE – every webinar is an opportunity to earn CPE hours
• Focused topics – the CDP webinars offer specific topics included in the CDP study guide
• Convenient participation – team members from various locations and time zones can attend
• Prepare for certification exams – data protection webinar training complements self-study materials to prepare candidates for CDP certification by Identity Management Institute
• Stay up to date – CDP webinars offer up to date information about the CDP content and industry best practices

CDP Data Protection Webinar Training Benefits

Individuals who intend to join IMI and become CDP certified may desire to supplement the study guide and quickly improve their knowledge of CDP content and exam information while current CDP members may wish to refresh their knowledge and obtain CPE hours. The main benefits of the CDP webinar are:

• Introduction to CDP chapters and concepts
• Quiz for exam preparation

Data Protection Webinar Training Dates

Please contact us to organize your CDP training webinar. We offer various webinar durations, time zones, and pricing to meet your needs. 

Data Protection Resources

Join the CDP page on LinkedIn or IMI home page on LinkedIn to stay in touch and interact with our content and others.

Note: CDP webinar training courses offered by Identity Management Institute are the only official and authorized webinars to prepare candidates for the Certified in Data Protection (CDP)® certification program which is a registered property and trademark of Identity Management Institute.

With the introduction of the blockchain technology and next generation Web3 internet, Identity Management Institute offers a metaverse certification training course with a focus on security as metaverse security will have a significant importance while the world continues to explore new possibilities in the digital world. The metaverse where everyone will be immersed to socialize and conduct business with decentralized platforms and new payment systems is the next logical step in the evolution of the internet as top tech players like Facebook are investing to make it happen. The metaverse will incorporate integrated blockchain applications with virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) to support user interaction. This will change the internet like never before as users will transverse the net using digital avatars and other digital assets. This transition from Web2 to Web3 will not be without cost as new metaverse security risks will be introduced.

Metaverse Security Threats and Risks

The metaverse is currently live on platforms such as Decentraland and Sandbox but will expand and evolve by major tech giants to offer more alternatives. As the metaverse grows, cybercriminals will be looking for loopholes to rig the system and steal valuable assets and confidential data. The importance of metaverse security will be significant as cybersecurity will be necessary to ensure the safety of users’ data and assets.

Big tech players like Facebook and Nvidia, being at the helm of the metaverse realization, have recognized the growth potential as the metaverse market size will increase from $40 billion in 2021 to an estimated $1600 billion worth in 2030. This may be good news for many metaverse players, but it also offers many concerns as the world is venturing into the unknown at a very fast rate. Some of the metaverse security concerns include:

Identity Safety

The metaverse users have the freedom to use an avatar of their personal choice which will be used and recognized across many platforms. These avatars are associated with the distinct real-life identity of the users. This poses a huge risk as the accounts can be hacked and the digital avatars taken over. The authenticity of the user identity will be of great importance in metaverse security management.

Cybersecurity

The cyber security risks that the metaverse users face are somehow similar to those of the current internet users, such as malware, phishing, data hacking, etc. However, the immersive aspect of the interactive metaverse and the exchange of digital assets raise the possibility of new risks that cybersecurity professionals must be able to identify and address. Criminals are always looking for new exploitation methods; therefore, cybersecurity frameworks and governance need to be updated and improved.

Data Privacy

It is unclear to what extent the current privacy regulations will apply to the metaverse or if they need to be expanded to address metaverse user privacy, and protect users’ personally identifiable information (PII). This is a major threat as the amount of personal data collected by various platforms and artificial intelligence will surely increase.

Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets

Digital currencies and digital assets such as NFTs are largely used in the metaverse and may be targets of attacks. Digital currency payments must be verified alongside the person’s identity to prevent fraud.

Importance of Metaverse Security

The metaverse is a new digital environment and the world must be prepared for the new security risks. Metaverse security matters greatly as it ensure a safe environment for the users in this new digital dimension. It addresses cyberbullying, exploitation of sensitive information, and property theft which are currently major concerns on the internet. Metaverse security also involves predicting new methods cyber criminals may deploy to exploit metaverse users and mitigate the risks before they become bigger issues.

The metaverse is humanity’s new technological step forward. It has seen massive growth and is expected to be worth just above $1600 billion by 2030. This proves that the metaverse is a gold mine for cyber criminals, with experts agreeing that data surveillance, collection, and extraction will present major risks which is why data and assets need to be secured, making metaverse security an integral part of the future. Users demand safety when going about their tasks on the internet, even if it is on a platform that is a blend of virtual and real things. For metaverse to be accepted and trusted, security must be strong and transparent.

Learning About Metaverse Security

To learn about metaverse security, get certified, and become experts in metaverse security. Interested professionals can take IMI’s metaverse certification training course online to excel in their careers. The Certified Metaverse Security Consultant (CMSC)™ certification offers the following critical risk domains:

Critical Risk Domains

1. Metaverse Security Overview
2. Web3 Model and Architecture
3. Metaverse Security Threats
4. Metaverse Security Risks
5. Metaverse Security Countermeasures

Metaverse Security Risks

• Blockchain and Smart Contract
• Decentralized Identity and dApps
• NFT and Crypto
• AI and Data Management
• Ethics, Privacy, and Compliance
• IoT, Wearables, AR/VR
• Phishing and Social Engineering
• Identity Theft and Cybercrime

Metaverse Security Consultant Career

The future is bright for metaverse security consultants as they are at the forefront of an emerging change in the internet. Metaverse security consultants will be highly sought after as various companies expand into the Web3 digital world. As long as cybersecurity professional have the skills to identify metaverse security threats and propose solutions to prevent identity theft and fraud as well as many other unimagined consequences, they can find career opportunities in metaverse security.

Metaverse Certification Training Course

Metaverse may currently be just a buzzword, but it is the center of the new internet. Cybersecurity professionals must keep up with the trend and undertake a metaverse certification training course to get certified in metaverse security. The current internet may soon become obsolete and cybersecurity professionals must keep up with the changing world to remain employable.

The metaverse is being pushed by the big players in tech like Facebook, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Being trained and certified in metaverse security increases one’s chances of being an attractive candidate in the cybersecurity field and hired by the progressive metaverse companies.

Consider the Certified Metaverse Security Consultant (CMSC)™ certification to prepare for the future of the Internet now. Apply now for a risk-free review and approval to receive your CMSC credential.

This article covers email verification software benefits while pundits keep predicting the death of email as the number of worldwide email users continues to grow year-on-year. Based on figures from Statista, that number will continue to grow by over half a billion between 2020 and 2025. Despite the rise of all kinds of other communication tools, email remains hugely popular. It’s stubbornly integral to most of the things people do online including almost everything that involves logging on to an online account.

This article discusses how you can make use of the prevalence of email to assist with everything from identity management to fraud protection by using email verification techniques. Email verification is a powerful tool that’s easy to build into everything from a personal daily routine to a complex business process. Read on to find out more.

What IS Email Verification – And Why Do We Need It?

On the most simplistic level, email verification is merely checking that a specific email address is valid. However, it’s possible to take things much further than that, as we will cover in a moment. 

There’s a host of reasons why somebody may use a fake email address. Perhaps the most innocuous is an individual making up an address when they wish to sign up to a website or service without providing their real email address. This is one of several reasons why many websites require people to confirm their email address by clicking a link in a verification email.

Making up an email address doesn’t necessarily demonstrate any malicious intent. Some companies are rather aggressive in their methods when it comes to harvesting email addresses. People are increasingly wise to this, and may opt to enter a made-up address in some circumstances.

For example, somebody searching for a house online may not wish to provide their address to every estate agent in the area, purely to look at property details. They will use a fake address to avoid being hounded by the agents. 

At the other end of the scale, you have hackers and cybercriminals who do have nefarious reasons to fake an email address or “spoof” a genuine physical address. This is where email verification can become an important part of a company’s fraud prevention processes – and where checks can go far beyond simply confirming an email address exists.

An email address can reveal a surprising amount about an individual. As SEON’s article on identity verification software explains, the right software solution can query freely available data to find out things like:

• Whether the account is running on a free or paid domain.
• How established the account is.
• How many (and which) social media accounts and networking platforms the email address is linked to.
• Whether the email address has been caught up in historical data breaches.

By analyzing the information above – in a manual or automated way – it’s possible to make informed decisions. The data returned may support the legitimacy of a user or customer, allowing them to use a system or make purchases without friction. Conversely, red flags can be raised if things look suspicious.   

What are the Email Verification Software Benefits?

As we’ve seen, fake email addresses can represent anything from an inconvenience to a threat of fraudulent activity.

Here are a few examples of email verification software benefits that can assist both businesses and individuals:

Email Marketing

Above, we referred to an example of somebody keying in a false email address to register with a service or access some online information.

“Harmless” though this may seem, relatively speaking, it can create major problems for email marketers.

Sending out marketing emails to non-existent email addresses is costly, for starters. Usually, email marketing services charge on a “per-subscriber” basis, so it’s in a company’s interests to only pay for sending emails to real people.

In addition, having a bunch of fake addresses in a system means that lots of emails will bounce. This has a detrimental effect on delivery statistics and open rates. This can then lead to difficulties sending to genuine addresses.

Fraud Prevention

Verifying email addresses can help with fraud prevention on a personal or professional level. Phishing emails are ubiquitous nowadays, and while some savvy users may recognize the most obviously suspicious email handles, more vulnerable people won’t, which is why a simple and economical email verification service can be very beneficial.

Banks like Barclays advise their customers that it’s crucial to check where emails are really from. Taking this step can save people from financial losses and identity theft.

Companies can take this much further by using more advanced email verification solutions. As described above, these can extract additional information from an email address – a process known as OSINT (Open Source INTelligence), which is then assessed via data enrichment.

Using data enrichment to uncover a user’s digital footprint leads to a lot more confidence for companies operating in the ecommerce space. For example, examining a user’s registered email address for its social media associations is an invaluable tool in determining the validity of an online presence. If an email address is associated with multiple social media accounts, it is extremely likely that the user is valid, as most fraudsters operate at scale with stolen data, with no ability to create believable social media profiles for each one.

Likewise, the best way to use these checks in a fraud prevention tool is at speed and scale. For example, a software suite that includes both API integration can combine email verification with a customized screening process, rejecting orders that raise red flags or flagging them for a manual review.

Know Your Customer

Similarly, email verification can form an integral part of onboarding and KYC processes.

On the most basic level, this can mean a simple check of an email’s validity before a new account can be used. Google requires people to verify an email address to create an account.

Taking it further, businesses like financial institutions and digital casinos can use the kind of data enrichment discussed above to probe more deeply into the person behind the email address.

How Does it Work?

The majority of the information that facilitates email verification is out there in the public domain. It’s a form of open source intelligence (OSINT).

For example, anybody can check that an email address is valid by performing an SMTP-MX check. This confirms that an email address is live and able to receive messages. This is what the more basic email verification tools are doing in the background.

More advanced verification solutions reference a far broader selection of data sources which look at databases of historical data breaches, data from social media APIs, and domain registrars. Much of this information could also be accessed with dozens of manual searches, but automated email verification software benefits include scalability and speed.

A fully-integrated tool can check all of these data sources in seconds and feed the results into a single risk score. Based on this, a team member or automated system can decide if a user is genuine, fake or fraudulent, and then judge whether the situation is suspicious enough to warrant further investigation.

Overlaps with Identity and Access Management

The abundance of information that can be uncovered through email addresses means that email verification also crosses into other areas of IT security, such as Identity and Access Management.

Email verification sometimes forms part of multi-factor authentication (MFA) systems. Most people are familiar with some kind of MFA or 2FA process. Attempting to log on to a specific site prompts you to click a link in an email (or enter a unique one-time code) to complete the sign-in process. Sometimes your mobile device might be a part of the process, with the unique code being sent to an associated phone number.

This is slightly beyond the typical email verification gateway. Rather, MFA allows a company to check that they are still granting access to the genuine person. When cyber criminals hijack an identity and gain access to some user credentials, they can bypass initial ID checks, but requesting confirmation via an email link further into the onboarding process can stop them in their tracks.

Email verification is simple to implement and generally inexpensive (or even free). While email remains so central to the way people interact with the online world, it will remain important to do due diligence on the email addresses people use.