It's amazing how insecure the world is

It’s amazing how insecure the world is. But the truth is that we have good reason to be.

Sony, Google, Microsoft. These are just a few high-profile companies that have recently experienced data breaches.

In reality, Facebook is just a giant phone book for the world and the amazing, albeit terrifying aspect of that, is we are more than willing to hand over our personal information for a “Like”.

There has been a total shift in perception recently about data security. Where we used to be afraid of viruses and incursions on our personal devices, we now see a shift to the cloud and the rise of concerns around the vulnerability of our data stored in the “cloud”.

Corporations have firewalls, secure scanners, and hire companies to do intrusion detection. There are specialized security companies that analyze specific networks for companies.

But our personal data is far less secure, and we seem more than willing to give away information about ourselves and have no idea where it goes or how it is used. Someone I trust who is very well versed in data analytics and data security once told me to NEVER give my birth date to any social media site, or on any form I complete on the internet. This opens me up to identity theft, or worse.

Luckily, there are things such as identity insurance to protect us, or clauses in the use of privacy documents that allow us to reclaim our data.

It’s not all bad news, but the moral of the story here is to always practice caution and awareness.