Since long before computers were even thought of, data has been collected and organized by diverse cultures across the world. Once access to the Internet became a reality for large swathes of the world’s population, the amount of data generated each day became huge, and continues to grow exponentially. It includes all our uploaded documents, videos, and photos; all our social media traffic; our online shopping; even the GPS data from our cars. Big Data: A Very Short Introduction explains how big data works and is changing the world around us, the effect it has on our everyday lives and in the business world, and it considers the attendant security risks.