With poor security practices, private and government organisations put confidential data at the risk of a data breach
It goes without a saying that today, data has empowered the technology sphere and we’re bearing fruitful results of it.
However, it has posed serious threats to humanity and the business world.
Over 40 per cent of people worldwide fear the loss of their data, according to McAfee antivirus and one-third of the parents are unsure of explaining it to their kids.
Moreover, a report by DELL EMC shows that more than a quarter of businesses experienced irreparable data loss in the past year.
Data breach concerns are on an alarming rate, but the action taken is minimal. It’s no secret that the recent data breaches have put personal information at stakes and the action is taken is minimal.
About 43 per cent of people feel they lack control over their personal information, and 33 per cent are unsure how companies collect their personal information
Also Read: Can your data actually be anonymous?
This also draws our attention towards the app permissions that we impetuously give without reading the terms and conditions.
This poses severe threats to our privacy and security as the app builders have access to our photos, videos, contact information, and whatnot.
Facebook’s recent data breach is the talk of the town where a third party app siphoned off user accounts. This vulnerability allowed the attackers to see everything in a victim’s profile. Furthermore, entertainment apps like Face app and Tik Tok have caused a stir amongst the data experts.
These breaches are just the tip of the iceberg about hacked and stolen data. In countries like India, the problem worsens where data piracy is pretty much evident and normal.
A report by the News India Minute shows that as many as 1.1 billion Indian citizens were affected as the government ID Aadhar database suffered multiple data breaches.
Furthermore, the same reports state that the criminals were selling data sell candies, and the authorities weren’t taking it seriously.
In this article, I’ll explain to you what data piracy is, the challenges and the potential threats it poses to the individuals, companies, and the country.
What do you mean by personal data?
The term personal data refers to anything and everything that is used to identify a person. It includes:
1. Name
2.Contact Number
3.Permanent Address
4. Birthdate
5. Credit card information
6. Social security number
However, your data isn’t limited to these attributes. With the coming of facial and voice recognition, we are now more susceptible to data security breaches.
Why it is essential to understand data protection and threats
Data is growing at an enormous rate. A whopping amount of 1.7 megabytes of new data is created every second. Because of the technological advancements which enable everything at just a click /tap away, it becomes overwhelming to handle and protects millions of data records.
This makes data protection necessary than ever before both at the personal level and organisational level.
Also Read: Challenges and opportunities for Big Data enterprises
Every interaction you make on your mobile phone or desktop involves giving data. Whether you’re shopping on Amazon or booking a cab through a ride-sharing app or giving your information for a promo code, everything is considered as data.
Not just that, whenever you install an app through the play store, the app asks you to give specific permissions. So you ought to be careful while giving the same.
Let me give you an example. If a torch/flashlight app seeks permission to save files on your computer, you ought to be vigilant enough to spot this illegitimacy. You should immediately ask yourself why a torch app ask for such permission?
Now, many people would argue that there are laws to protect us and our data. Nonetheless, data protection laws have been passed by many governments, but we need to learn to protect ourselves.
Data threats to companies and individuals in 2019
In the past few years, enterprises pan world saw a surge in the data breaches, including companies like Quora, Mariott, and British airways. Recently, Facebook had to pay US$5 billion as it lost control over personal data and mishandled its communication to users.
A data breach not only costs tens of millions of dollars to a company but also can land legal complexities in their bag.
Not just that, even IoT is putting severe concerns for all security professionals.
A recent study shows that over 90 per cent of security professionals are more concerned about IoT than network security.
IoT vendors don’t release security vulnerability disclaimers for connected devices, and yet the number of IoT enabled devices selling grows at an alarming pace.
Also Read: How can privacy-focused apps step up amid a world of data breaches?
Furthermore, a 2019 global data risk report states that 53 per cent of companies found over 1,000 sensitive files open to every employee. It throws light on the security issues faced by companies that include data breaches, insider threats, and malware attacks.
The same report also stresses that the overexposed data are a common security vulnerability.
An IT professional takes about 4-6 hours to locate and manually remove the globally accessible files and identify users who need the data and group them accordingly. Along with that, 71 per cent of the companies have a massive 5000 stale files, and the problem is worsening.
If we talk about data threats to individuals, the situation is as bad. There’s a lucrative black market for data, and hackers sell them for an incredibly good value to scammers.
A scammer can intrude your privacy in the following ways:
1. Access your bank, business, and other confidential information
2.Attempt to hack your social media accounts
3.Overwhelm you with phishing calls
For example, if a scammer gains access to your name, number an email address, the next thing he’ll do is to dial your number, lure you in exchange of obtaining your bank account details. Scammers also tend to release voice commands, which further increase the chances of duping.
Steps to protect yourself
A public tracking website for data breaches, Breach Level Index, has reported as many as 9,198,580,293 data records that have been lost or stolen.
Well, shutting your eyes to the growing risk of data scams happening pan world won’t lead you anywhere.
If we don’t wake up now, we’ll have to bear of the brunt of our actions. You also must understand that not using social media or shopping apps won’t save you. Educate yourself about the latest scams and the security measures taken against them.
Here are a few tips to start—
1. Use passwords everywhere—phones, laptops, desktops, tablets; literally everywhere.
2. Use a combination of alphanumeric and special characters while setting a password—such passwords are termed ‘strong’ and are hard to crack.
3. Install a lock enabled application and use it for your apps.
4. Keep on changing your passwords quarterly (more often if you can remember them).
5. Check your privacy and sharing setting on all social media accounts and review them regularly.
6. Check the type of permissions you’ve given to the applications you have installed. If you think specific permission might lead to a scam, revoke it, or uninstall the application.
7. Read ‘privacy policies’ and ‘terms and conditions’ before installing an app.
8. Install robust antivirus software to shield your personal information.
9. Avoid free WIFI points
10. Protect your home network by enabling a password.
11. Understand the potential risk of personal assistants such as Alexa, Siri before using them.
12. f you own a business, keep a tab on the number of shared files your employee has and also that whether he’s integrating the same with his device. Such actions might put you in a soup.
There’s no shortage of information about data safety and security measures. You can check more such tips online and incorporate them into your daily practice.
You may not be fully protected against a potential scam, but following these tips will eventually decrease the chances of intrusion.
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Image Credit: Lukas Blazek
Author: Sharon Winget, Staff Writer with GoodFirms, a review and rating platform of top IT companies & software
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