How safe is your data?

[pc747]

​

Last night The Verge posted an article about Ashley Madison's data being breached by a hacker. Despite how one may feel about the morality of that site it begs the question about how safe is our data. In this day in age social media knows more about us than our own family (see Target article). This begs the question on who should be held responsible for protecting our data.

Corporations: Though these corporations are making billions of dollars off of our information it is hard to believe that they would be fool proof. Even the most secure banks in the world find themselves getting robbed or hacked from time to time. So no matter what we may expect from a corporation there is always a chance of someone from the inside being the culprit.

Hacker: Whether it be for thrill, revenge, or a sense of morality there seems to be someone who feel the need to not only compromise a company's data but to use that information for their own personal mission. Hopefully the company has something in place to detect and protect their information from a breach, unfortunately there are times where the company may be too late and the result ends in other people having to deal with the aftermath.

You the user: In the end we need to take personal responsibility for what we say and do on the internet. I am not looking to stand on a podium and point my finger at anyone. But we need to stop putting the responsibility on everyone else and start putting it on ourselves. Whether it be social media, forums, or websites people should not put anything that they do not want getting out on the web. If a person is using a website to commit acts of infidelity then ask what is keeping that site from sharing the information to the public. With the exception of banks, employers, or medical facilities we have a choice on what information we want to put on the web and that includes the cloud. So take a moment and think about what you are about to put out (or do) on the web and ask yourself if you trust the recipient or if you are ok with that information going public. If the answer is no then you may want to pass on sending that genital pic.

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

This is a non story to me. I'd guesstimate that AM users use their real names (and contact info) at about a 10% clip. Further, most the people using that thing are already divorced or headed that way.

 

[Dusty]

This is a non story to me. I'd guesstimate that AM users use their real names (and contact info) at about a 10% clip. Further, most the people using that thing are already divorced or headed that way.

I think that most will agree that the AM types are dirtbags, but that's beside the point. The thing is that the site built it's "thing" on maintaining an aire of discreteness and an attitude of "your secrets are safe with us." But in the end they're just as vulnerable to a data breach as everyone else.

I think we're coming to a paradigm within the next decade regarding our expectations and practices in regards to our personal data sharing, social media, general liabilities, and corporate culpability. Even what one would expect to be the pinnacle of data safekeeping proved to be worthless with the OPM hack last month. Credit is becoming harder to obtain with a widening wealth gap and private information scoured from the internet has been eyed as a possible metric. Companies grapple with liability in protecting stored data for both employees and customers. And at the poorly lit end of the table on a rickety chair sits each of us; hoping for a glimpse at the scraps of our private data that they decide to share with us.

But like EVERYTHING we'll just simply go along until it all blows up in our collective faces and then we'll scream for justice only to realize that the boat that held our chances for legal protection had long since sailed.

 

[pc747]

@Dusty, that was well put. Thank you.

I was trying to portray that in my OP in saying that put AM aside and look at how much of our information we put on the web (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) and ask yourself if you feel that information is safe.

Whether it be some perv stealing celeb pics from the cloud, corporate sites being compromised, or Target losing customer bank info, we put a lot of information into servers. So at what point are the corporations liable and what point are we to have "known better" for putting our info out there?

 

[dgstorm]

Solid writeup @pc747!

 

[dgstorm]

I think that most will agree that the AM types are dirtbags, but that's beside the point. The thing is that the site built it's "thing" on maintaining an aire of discreteness and an attitude of "your secrets are safe with us." But in the end they're just as vulnerable to a data breach as everyone else.

I think we're coming to a paradigm within the next decade regarding our expectations and practices in regards to our personal data sharing, social media, general liabilities, and corporate culpability. Even what one would expect to be the pinnacle of data safekeeping proved to be worthless with the OPM hack last month. Credit is becoming harder to obtain with a widening wealth gap and private information scoured from the internet has been eyed as a possible metric. Companies grapple with liability in protecting stored data for both employees and customers. And at the poorly lit end of the table on a rickety chair sits each of us; hoping for a glimpse at the scraps of our private data that they decide to share with us.

But like EVERYTHING we'll just simply go along until it all blows up in our collective faces and then we'll scream for justice only to realize that the boat that held our chances for legal protection had long since sailed.

What a depressing, dystopian view... you probably nailed it though.

 

[Ollie]

I walked into my bank yesterday and deposited a check. The teller told me that it is not safe to keep the amount that I have in my checking account and that I should move it.

That is how safe your data is. When a bank tells you that your money is not safe with them it is a sign of the times.

 

[Dusty]

If my bank teller ever told me that my money wasn't safe there I'd change banks that day.

Unless you keep over $250k in your checking account it's FDIC insured, right? If you keep more than that in checking I guess you must buy Lamborghinis at will or something.

 

[mountainbikermark]

I walked into my bank yesterday and deposited a check. The teller told me that it is not safe to keep the amount that I have in my checking account and that I should move it.

That is how safe your data is. When a bank tells you that your money is not safe with them it is a sign of the times.

Sounds like they were trying to sell you something. Probably a money market account or something similar.

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[94lt1]

We definitely need to make and enforce laws for cyber security. Our info is just floating out there..similar things have happened from major retailers having our card info leaked..


Tech will keep progressing..we need to stay ontop and out front...its not just this..our own government gets hacked ..China's new smoke blowing pos fighter might look familiar... Like an f22-f35 powered by a diesel??baaahahahahahahahahaha.. But it is a serious matter.

 

[kinfolk248]

Its sad that when I go out women consistently ask for my IG, twitter, snapchat, etc etc. I'll say I dont have all that social media nonsense b/c its just not my thing, they look like wtf is wrong with you....smh. My thing is you/I/anyone can easily tap into that but I've never heard of someone's phone number being hacked, not gonna hack Verizon, they probably sell it to you lmao but thats a diff rant lol.

 

[Ollie]

If my bank teller ever told me that my money wasn't safe there I'd change banks that day.

Unless you keep over $250k in your checking account it's FDIC insured, right? If you keep more than that in checking I guess you must buy Lamborghinis at will or something.

The alternative would be to sign on to a bank that doesn't have their customers in mind by falsely reassuring them that their monies would be just fine in their institution. Which we all know just isn't the case anymore.

Sounds like they were trying to sell you something. Probably a money market account or something similar.

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Beast Mode 4

They have approached me before about alternate ways to deposit my balances that would "be the best thing for me". This time however she was merely suggesting that I transfer the bulk of it to my savings account which isn't accessible to anyone online.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Great points made all around.

It's definitely a "shared risk" situation. We, as user/customers/etc, have certain expectations that our data will be secure with these companies. Therefore, I feel like these companies owe it to us to keep our data as secure as possible. However, we should all know what many of you have mentioned in your posts. Even the "most secure" info can be hacked into, given enough time and computer/man power. So, knowing this, it's also our responsibility to weigh the pros and cons of giving our data up and trusting these companies to protect us.

There's really no "safe" route, unless you're willing to live completely off the grid. For the average person, even if you don't sign up for online banking, your bank probably offers it. This means that your info is accessible from outside of the bank's secure network whether you ever sign up for online banking or not. IMO, you may actually be safer if you do sign up for it, because at least then your bank should have email alerts that you can setup for when someone tries to log in and/or gets in and tries to change anything. That's just my theory though. May not actually be any more or less safe.

Even your healthcare provider and/or insurance companies have data on you accessible online, so even if you manage to live off the grid everywhere else, they've at least got personally identifiable information on you.