Trust, security, and ethics are beginning to matter more in the world of business. Cambridge Analytica has reported massive customer abandonment due to persistent negative media coverage and public sentiment around the questionable collection and use of over 87 million personal records harvested from social media. 

It recently announced it will go into bankruptcy and liquidate assets, but some reports indicate it will re-emerge under a new name of Emerdata Limited. Privacy advocates and victims, first feeling success of driving a potentially caustic organization out of business, may feel less victorious if this company simply re-emerges after a marketing make-over.

If trust, security and ethics are truly in the mind-set of the public, will a name-change be sufficient to shed the negative publicity and usher in a clean slate? Time will tell. People sometimes forget quickly or move on to a new drama. Expectations at the national or global level takes time. 

I predict as society takes the attributes of ethics and security more seriously for businesses, that simple re-branding or executive leaders starting a new replica firm will not suffice. The underlying business practices themselves, for behaviors deemed detrimental to customers, will be challenged and potentially individuals may someday be held accountable, prosecuted, or even branded by the public with a reputation that impedes them from participating in future endeavors.