Data Theft & Opportunities
By: Clears Connect
Tags: Blockchain, Security, Identity, Data, Hacker

We live in a fast-paced world where a life without the internet — Google, Facebook, Email, you name it — is simply unimaginable. Problem is, this presents a number of loopholes and opportunities for data theft.

The typical day of a tech-savvy person likely involves: Getting out of bed and checking email, replying to social media messages, reading the news, getting to work and using the company system, returning home and continuing to chat or send mail.

One way or another, each of us is plugged in to a substantial degree.

Understanding Your Exposure

It may be hard to comprehend the risks you face if you’ve never had your email or bank details compromised. But don’t be mistaken: hacking and data theft are serious threats to us all.

According to Kroll Inc., a risk consulting unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., 4.8% of data breaches occurred with disposed computer documents, 1.8% with emails, 15.3% via web usage, 22.4% through a stolen or missing device, and 20.8% through hacking.

Since 2005, over 250 million records of US residents have been compromised and exposed to security breaches. Reason being — you can hardly get anything done in today’s world without some form of digital ID. Whether it’s opening a new email, creating a bank account, or gaining access to employee database, your identification is required.

Let’s probe even further into where your data lies and how easy it can be stolen.

Infection

What sites do you visit? Which USB devices or networks do you connect to your pc or mobile phone? Depending on how you use your device, it may be easy for easy for a cybercriminal to hijack and manipulate your device.

Do you store sensitive information like passwords on spreadsheets? I am particularly guilty of this because I sometimes store 2FAs and recovery phases on my PC. With access to your device, a hijacker can search out this information and exploit your account in no time.

In fact, around 400,000 new malicious programs are registered every single day by the AV-Test Institute.

Website Breach

Most people don’t realize how much of their data gets stored on websites. There’s hardly a site that doesn’t require some form of login information, ranging from private email addresses to phone numbers.

eCommerce sites are even worse, given that they often necessitate sensitive details like our addresses and payment information

We’ve seen some of the most secure websites get hacked, so it’s safe to say sites storing your data are at risk. The Heartbleed exploit in 2012, for instance, left 500,000 common websites compromised. And, unfortunately, such incidents are a regular occurrence.

Conclusion

We can go on and on about the ways your information can be stolen, from email breaches to old hardware to vulnerable devices. The bottom line is that the internet is littered with vital, personal information that demands higher safety precautions. A breach could cost you dearly, or even harm your reputation.

What we need to solve this privacy challenge is a data-less, turnkey solution that allows total control of one’s data.

Because the reality is: Hackers will go to any length to steal data. So let’s not make it easy on them.