{"id":5146,"date":"2014-03-26T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T14:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=5146"},"modified":"2014-03-26T10:00:51","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T14:00:51","slug":"in-the-big-data-breach-era-the-safety-of-your-personal-data-is-ultimately-out-of-your-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/03\/26\/in-the-big-data-breach-era-the-safety-of-your-personal-data-is-ultimately-out-of-your-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"In the big data breach era, the safety of your personal data is ultimately out of your hands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2109707\/in-the-big-data-breach-era-the-safety-of-your-personal-data-is-ultimately-out-of-your-hands.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/istock_000035838862large-100250599-large.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Each time there\u2019s a high-profile data breach, security experts exhort the same best practices: Create unique logins for every service you use, use complex passwords, vigilantly comb your credit card statements for anomalies. The advice is sound. Unfortunately, it obscures the fact that the safety of your personal information is ultimately in the hands of companies you share it with.<\/p>\n<p>Identity theft is changing. Customer databases are a treasure trove of personal information and much more efficient for hackers to target than individuals. In this new landscape, the guidelines security experts\u2014and journalists like me\u2014espouse are really just damage-control measures that minimize the impact of a successful attack after the fact, but do absolutely nothing to protect your personal data or financial information from the attack itself.<\/p>\n<p>Look back on some of the major data breach incidents of 2013. Adobe was hacked, and attackers gained access to customer account information for nearly 150 million users, as well as credit-card information from nearly three million customers. Target was hacked, and the credit- or debit-card details for 40 million customers were exposed. In those cases, there was little any individual consumer could have done to prevent being affected by those data breaches.<\/p>\n<p>This week it was revealed that an EA Games server was compromised, and the attackers launched a phishing attack aimed at capturing Apple ID account information. In this case, there doesn\u2019t seem to be a direct compromise of user data, and hopefully users won\u2019t fall for the phishing scam and share account details with the attackers. But it illustrates the same point: With identity thieves targeting companies rather than individuals, your personal data is vulnerable no matter how well you, personally, protect it.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if you accept that a data breach is more a matter of \u201cwhen\u201d than \u201cif,\u201d then it still makes sense for you to do everything that is in your power to safeguard your personal information and minimize the fallout. Attackers can crack any password given enough time, but in cases like the Adobe breach, the millions of accounts using silly passwords like \u201c123456\u201d are much easier to victimize.<\/p>\n<p>You also need to accept that preventing the data from being compromised in the first place is the responsibility of the site or service and is out of your direct control.<\/p>\n<p>The one area where you have the most influence in this regard is your ability to choose which companies you do business with. Be discriminating about where you share sensitive information, and exactly which information you trust with third parties. If a company shows a lack of regard for protecting your data, move on.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2109707\/in-the-big-data-breach-era-the-safety-of-your-personal-data-is-ultimately-out-of-your-hands.html\" target=\"_blank\">In the big data breach era, the safety of your personal data is ultimately out of your hands | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each time there\u2019s a high-profile data breach, security experts exhort the same best practices: Create unique logins for every service [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[506,951],"class_list":["post-5146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-identity-theft","tag-security-breach"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1l0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8413,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/06\/16\/us-fears-second-major-breach-exposed-more-employee-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":0},"title":"US fears second major breach exposed more employee data","author":"NCCT","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A second major cyber breach that might reveal far more personal and damaging information appears to have hit the U.S. government\u2019s Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The breach was apparently carried out by hackers with connections to China and targeted a database containing copies of the government\u2019s Standard Form 86,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7464,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/01\/19\/travelers-beware-hackers-are-after-your-information\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":1},"title":"Travelers beware: Hackers are after your information","author":"NCCT","date":"January 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequent fliers get all the perks\u2014and all the attention from cyber criminals, apparently. United Airlines, American Airlines, and Park-n-Fly have all reported breaches in the past few days, pointing to an emerging trend of attacks targeted specifically at travelers. Travelers can be an easy mark for cyber criminals, because they're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6848,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/11\/14\/chinese-hackers-suspected-in-usps-breach-data-on-every-employee-compromised\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":2},"title":"Chinese hackers suspected in USPS breach, data on every employee compromised","author":"NCCT","date":"November 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The FBI is investigating a data breach at the U.S. Postal Service in which employees\u2019 personal data may have been compromised. Every person on staff with the Postal Service, from the Postmaster General down to letter carriers, was exposed according to a report from the Washington Post. Sources familiar with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8270,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/05\/12\/security-breaches-cost-the-us-healthcare-system-6-billion-each-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":3},"title":"Security breaches cost the US healthcare system $6 billion each year","author":"NCCT","date":"May 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Cyber attacks targeting the US healthcare system now cost the country roughly $6 billion per year. The uptick is directly related to organized crime units shifting their attention from financial firms and large retailers to healthcare providers. According to a report from Bloomberg, attacks against healthcare providers have more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7685,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/27\/hackers-impersonating-it-staff-popular-tactic-in-data-breaches-fireeye-finds\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":4},"title":"Hackers impersonating IT staff popular tactic in data breaches, FireEye finds","author":"NCCT","date":"February 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Fresh FireEye research suggests that today's cyberattackers are becoming smarter about the systems they seek to break, and are commonly using impersonation and social engineering to tap into the most common weakness in the security chain -- employees. Within FireEye's sixth annual M-trends report, which tracks the threat landscape and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2988,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/22\/data-breaches-hit-2-5-million-in-california-in-2012-report-says\/","url_meta":{"origin":5146,"position":5},"title":"Data breaches hit 2.5 million in California in 2012, report says","author":"NCCT","date":"July 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first report of its kind, California's Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris, revealed last week that 2.5 million people\u2014roughly 6.5 percent of the state's population\u2014were exposed by data breaches in 2012. California has always been the go-to state for innovative technologies. A law passed in 2009 requires data breaches\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Networking&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}