Privacy’s Paradox: More Awareness, More Abuse

We live in a paradox: privacy awareness has never been higher, privacy legislation has never been more robust, yet personal data exploitation has never been more pervasive. For privacy professionals, this disconnect breeds cynicism. But I argue that this paradox itself contains reasons for hope. The gap between our values and our reality isn’t evidence of failure—it’s the space where change becomes possible. And our ability to see that possibility may be our profession’s greatest asset. 

Michael Corn is an executive strategic consultant at Vantage. Bringing more than 25 years in the field to this role, Michael’s areas of interest include research security, AI security, identity management, and organizational resilience. Michael works with higher education institutions to enhance and evolve their cybersecurity posture while making security and privacy principles accessible and useful for the entire campus community. He also leverages his knowledge and experience to help clients discover strategic opportunities and harness innovation to advance institutional priorities. 

Prior to joining Vantage, Michael served as the cybersecurity advisor for research infrastructure at the National Science Foundation. He also brings a long career in higher education to the team, having previously served as CISO at the University of California at San Diego; the CISO, CPO and Deputy CIO of Brandeis University; CISO of the University of Illinois system and the CISO and Chief Privacy and Security Officer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.