The Privacy Co. Announces Priiv® App for iOS, Enabling Anyone to Take Back Control over Personal Privacy and Data Security
Startup exits 'Stealth Mode' after raising $3M from K2 Intelligence FIN and its founders.
NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Privacy Co. today announced that the Priiv Privacy Manager app for iOS is now available in Apple's iOS App Store in the US and Canada. Priiv is a free app that can help anyone quickly and easily improve their personal privacy and security.
Priiv is the first app to offer a simple and comprehensive solution to the rampant problem of privacy theft. It gives each user a personalized Privacy Path that covers hardware devices, social media, financial accounts, passwords, and more. By following their path - which includes actions to take, tips to make better choices, and tools to install - anyone can quickly improve their privacy and protect more of their data. The app covers nearly every aspect of a user's digital life.
The centerpiece of the app is the PriivScore, a new measure that tracks the level of privacy protection someone has achieved in their digital life much like a credit score tracks the achievements in their financial life. As someone moves through their Privacy Path, their PriivScore improves reflecting progress in reducing risk. A target score is also calculated for each person, providing a clear goal which reflects the ideal level of privacy for their lifestyle and preferences.
"People are increasingly uncomfortable with their own devices and apps exploiting their personal data, but almost nobody knows how to make it stop," said Craig Danuloff, CEO of The Privacy Co. "We decided to solve this problem by building the Priiv app. It helps anyone make steady progress to achieve meaningful and highly impactful changes in terms of how you and your data are protected.
The Privacy Co. was founded in 2019 by Danuloff, an experienced entrepreneur, and Jordan Arnold, the Chief Innovation Officer at K2 Intelligence FIN (an industry-leading corporate investigations and cyber-defense firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, who is credited with originating the modern corporate investigations industry). K2 and its founders led a $3M seed round investment into the company in 2019.
"We are living in the era of privacy theft," said Arnold, "and we've seen it lead to drained bank accounts; hacked inboxes and the forever leakage of photos and other personal documents; as well as home address information that ends up in databases that can help an adversary find your front door. The threat associated with the use of stolen, mishandled, or data brokered personal information cannot be overstated. The good news is that so much of this can be avoided and we created Priiv to help people do just that."
For consumers, privacy has never been more important, nor further out of reach. A recent KPMG study showed that 97% of Americans indicated that privacy was important to them, 87% characterizing privacy as a human right, and 56% desiring more control over their data. Yet every second of every day, the companies we interact with - via our devices, apps, and services - collect massive amounts of deeply personal and revealing data, often without clear or at least intentioned permission.
Yet the KPMG study showed that more than 40% of users still practice very risky habits like re-using passwords or logging into public-WiFi without protection.
"The danger of privacy loss was once hard to define; people were uncomfortable with the idea of their information being shared, but didn't quite understand why it mattered," said Danuloff. "Today everyone has read stories of real damage being done by shared location data, felt the watchful eye of ads following them, seen digital assistants record more than requested, and heard about dozens of other leaks and abuses. It's created an urgency in people to protect themselves."
Priiv helps by showing users exactly how protected they are against five specific kinds of risk that can be faced if you're not fully protected. These include personal risk (embarrassment and self-censorship), commercial risk (ad targeting and price discrimination), financial risk (economic loss and identity theft), physical risk (harassment and harm), and political risk (oppression and disenfranchisement).
"In just a few minutes per week, moving through their Privacy Path allows anyone to drastically lower their risk levels across these five critical areas, by increasing the amount of data they protect." Danuloff said.
Jeremy Kroll, CEO of K2-FIN, puts Priiv in context: "Our client's security and privacy risks have escalated dramatically over the past twenty years since we pioneered and launched the first true identity theft remediation and monitoring product. However, the 21st century presents new risks. Now at our new firm, K2, our continued commitment to protect our client's most significant risks continues and we are grateful for their trust in us. The K2-FIN team is proud to support the formation of The Privacy Co. and the creation of Priiv. We are excited to bring this effective safeguard to our clients and the broader world."
The Priiv app is available for free in the iOS app store at https://apple.co/2Fddwib. Expanded versions with additional levels of privacy and security protection and additional features will be made available as in-app purchases in the near future.
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The Privacy Co. believes privacy is possible and that privacy is a right. We create and distribute software and services that help people to take control of their personal privacy and data. Our first product is the Priiv Privacy Manager for iOS, now available in the Apple iOS App Store. More information is available at our website at https://www.theprivacy.co. Our editorial website offers privacy news, articles, and reviews at https://www.theprivacy.com.
Craig Danuloff is co-founder and CEO of The Privacy Co. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded early ecommerce platform iCat (acquired by Intel) and early ad-tech platform ClickEquations (acquired by ChannelIntelligence) as well as WireSecure which is reducing wire fraud in large financial transactions.
Jordan Arnold is co-founder and board member of The Privacy Co., and Chief Innovation Officer at K2 Intelligence, a leading global corporate investigations, compliance, and cyber-defense consultancy. He is also founder and Global Chair of K2 Intelligence's Private Client Services practice, which provides privacy and security services to ultra and high net worth families and clients in the entertainment, music, and sports industries.
Jeremy M. Kroll is a 25-year veteran of the governance, risk and compliance field. Kroll is CEO and co-founder of K2 Intelligence Financial Integrity Network (K2-FIN) as well as a co-founder of credit ratings upstart Kroll Bond Ratings and BlueVoyant, a recently launched cyber defense company.
Priiv is a registered trademark of The Privacy Co.
SOURCE The Privacy Co.
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