One interesting factor of computer system breaches is that the words “biggest ever” are occurring with greater frequency. The latest hack of the Internet service provider Yahoo certainly seems to qualify for the “biggest ever” tag. More than a billion of its customers have lost personal data to criminals who broke into the company’s computer systems.
Though Yahoo is insisting certain key details such as bank account, home address and telephone numbers were not accessed, it has admitted that passwords and memorable information were taken, along with credit card details. But there is more to this massive cyber-burglary than meets the eye. This crime actually happened almost three years ago and was only discovered when US law officers discovered a criminal with some of the stolen data.
On this basis it is very easy to believe that globally since 2013 there have been other hacks of confidential data from other companies which, when they are discovered, will qualify for the title “biggest ever”. And it may well be that there are major breaches that will never be discovered.
The world is ever more connected. The dangers of data theft are increasing exponentially. And it is not simply passwords and credit card information that is at risk. There are much bigger scandals to come. For advertising and marketing purposes, social media and websites collect an immense amount of information about everybody’s personal preferences. The likes of Facebook actually encourage users to deliver highly personal details in their profiles. They follow their customers’ behavior; whom they befriend; what they say to each other; what they like and dislike and the videos they look at. And this data is combined with other important facts, such as the past and present locations of the person logging in.
Many people over 40, who grew up without smartphones, do not feel particularly comfortable that so much of their private information is kept legitimately by so many organizations and could therefore be stolen by others. For younger people, the smartphone is an essential part of life and rarely is any concern expressed about the quantity of their confidential data that can be seen by others.
Clearly, being paranoid is not going to be a solution. Life in an advanced society is now pretty well unsustainable without the use of these many computer databanks, which despite hugely expensive firewall protection are clearly still inherently vulnerable to hackers. But that does not mean that individuals cannot defend themselves. They can be cautious about what they share in cyberspace. They can be leery of unsolicited approaches and attached files. They can work on the basis that there is no such thing as a network - least of all a public Wi-Fi - that can be completely trusted. They should disable unnecessary tracking features, which are often set to work as a default and change passwords and memorable information regularly. And from time to time, they should turn off their smartphones and computers, check the effectiveness of their firewall settings and run deep, not quick virus scans.
Unfortunately, all of this requires the sort of wariness and discipline that social media providers deliberately set out to discourage. Smartphones may now be an everyday part of our lives, but we do not need to make our lives an everyday part of the world’s every expanding and still vulnerable databanks.
