Internet Privacy Is Now A Defense And The Other Side Has The Ball.
There's a whole group of privacy advocates who debate the best ways to keep themselves 'protected' on the Internet. Here's my warning.
You can lock down your private interactions with the internet and reduce your exposure to bad actors, but you have zero control over companies who have collected your most personal information.
I'm talking about internet providers (AT&T hacked), your medical records (Concentra Hacked), and any other service that you trust your info to and are required to hand over the typical stats like,
- First, Last name
- Address
- Email address
- Phone Number
- SSN
- DOB
and maybe some other nuggets like the car you drive (car insurance companies).
These businesses need you to prove who you are and mere aliases won't suffice.
I'm preaching from the victim's pulpit because I get a f*cking letter every 6 months from some large corporation, saying that one of their Third Party Vendors was hacked (they will always say 'compromised' - it's softer sounding). Straight up people. My personal information is on the dark web right now. DOB, First and Last Name, home address, Social Security Number, phone number, and on and on.
It's not because I was sloppy with my privacy - it's because companies that require REAL PERSONAL DATA to do business can't shore up their databases and then hand over the keys to the Privacy Kingdom to VENDORS, who leave the door wide open for hackers.
No internal security audits and no third party vendor audits equals a clear and present danger to you and I.
So while everyone is trying out the newest, best recipe to keep the bad guys out, I'm forced to monitor my credit report because my 'goods' are now for sale for the highest bidder.
In closing, keep up the good fight and lock your doors at night. But those who utilize internet apps for privacy, password management, and anonymity as the end-all- be-all and think they have their bases covered, read the news.
Google: 'security breaches'. Here are a couple of the big ones:
AT&T at 100 million plus
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/business/att-data-breach.html
Concentra at 4 million
https://cybermaterial.com/4-million-concentra-patients-notified-breach/
Ticket Master at - 560 million
https://cybernews.com/news/ticketmaster-notifies-customers-omits-important-details/
Also...
Breaches this year (2024) https://tech.co/news/data-breaches-updated-list
Number of Data Breach Victims Goes Up 1000%
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2024/07/number-of-data-breach-victims-goes-up-1000