Personal Data Privacy – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!
How ironic is it that our world is constantly enhancing the technology we have today, and yet as technology progresses to more powerful, people start having concerns with issues like personal data privacy. 79% of Americans reported being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies.
According to the law, personal data refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. Such data collated and combined together can then lead to the identification of a particular person.
· Name/Surname
· Home address
· Date of birth
· Email address
· Identification card number
· Location data
· Internet Protocol (IP) address
· Internet Cookie
· Biometrics data
How companies or the government collect our personal data?
Whenever we visit websites, enter our credit/debit card information, sign up for accounts, enter our email, fill out online forms, post on social media and store documents or images in cloud, we are basically releasing personal information into cyberspace, leaving digital footprints everywhere. Hence, it is important for us to be more aware of our personal data privacy.
Benefits of releasing personal data:
Companies of data-driven products or services often claim that the collect of personal data potentially save users time and money or may even lead to improvement in health and well-being. Objectively speaking, there is truth to their claims. Sometimes when we are filling out online forms, we can choose to save our particulars so that in future we do not have to fill those up again. Also, think about those times when you are logging in to any account, the ‘remember me’ option allows users to login to their accounts without having to key in their usernames or passwords the next time round. These save time while providing users with more convenience and hassle-free experiences. However, when there is good, there is also the bad. 81% of Americans say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits.
Threats against personal data:
59% of adults in America say they understand very little or nothing about what companies do with the data they collected. Below are some negative ways our personal data is being used:
· Data brokers collect and maintain data on millions of people and sell them to other companies for a large sum of money, legally. Companies buy this kind of information for many reasons such as marketing purposes, credit risk analysis, and targeted advertising. However, we can never be sure of the intent of these companies, they use our personal data for illegal purposes too!
· Sometimes when we are on certain websites or applications (apps), they will prompt us to either login or sign-up a new account. Instead of creating an account, we have the option to login via our Google or Facebook accounts. This then gives the websites/apps access to our social media data. We will not know exactly how much of our particular will be shared among these websites/apps. An example would be the 2018’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company leveraged this mechanism to illegally obtain data on more than 50 million Facebook users.
· Most of us shop online frequently and have made payments online several times. Some of these websites then store user data for more convenient future purchases. Long after users deleted their accounts, these websites/apps will still store customers’ data in their system. This would mean that your credit/debit card details will still be in their logs. Imagine if these websites/apps encounter data breach, your personal data will then be hijacked, in the hands of hackers who may use it for all kinds of illegal purposes.
· Have you ever noticed ads regarding certain product you viewed earlier on another website appearing on a website that you are currently browsing right now? Well, that is because your online movements and history are being tracked by websites and advertisers. Techniques such as cookie profiling are used to track users’ online activates and create detailed profiles of their browsing habits. This may seem very minor to some, but to others this is not just annoying but also a serious invasion of privacy.
· Malware, spyware, and phishing techniques used by cybercriminals to gain access to your accounts and device poses danger to your personal data as they might use it to engage in activities like identity theft. Victims often end up losing all their hard-earned money simply because they opened emails, messages or attachments from dubious unknown sources.
How to protect our personal data?
86% of Americans have taken action to protect their online privacy and personal data.
· Install strong and reliable anti-virus software on all devices (desktops/mobile phones). A good security software program will keep your devices free from all types of malware (e.g. spyware/ adware/viruses/ phishing/ rogue websites/keyloggers) and keep hackers from remotely taking over your computer, accessing your personal and financial information and tracking your location. You should run the security software regularly and carry out frequent scan to ensure your devices are well protected. Additionally, you should keep your anti-virus software up to date by installing the latest version whenever it is updated as this helps defend against latest malware, spyware, and other viruses. You should also activate your firewall to keep unwanted network traffic at bay.
· Set your browser to delete cookies whenever you finished browsing or opt-out cookies on your browser to keep websites, advertisers, and other third parties from tracking you online. Also, use cookie-blocking browser extensions to help keep tracking and third-party information gathering at bay.
· Use HTTPS Encrypted Web Server Connections by only visiting websites with “https://”. If you’re on a website that uses HTTP, personal data is flowing between your device and the website. Your online activity is probably being monitored by trackers or potentially intercepted and stolen by malicious hackers (man-in-the-middle). HTTPS or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts your online communication with that website. Whenever you are making any online purchases or entering any personal particulars online, you should always look out for “https://” or a padlock icon in your browser’s URL bar to verify that the website is secure before entering any personal information.
· Access the internet via virtual private network (VPN). VPN establishes an encrypted virtual tunnel between your device and a secure server. Essentially, this keeps your passwords, personal data, IP address, location and all online traffic secret from sites you visit. Also, your internet service provider will not be able to sell information about your browsing habits to advertisers. VPN protects you from hackers as even if someone hacks the connection, all they will have access to is an indecipherable encrypted code. Also, your internet service provider will not be able to sell information about your browsing habits to advertisers
· DO NOT open or click on any unidentified emails, links or files. One of the ways hackers compromise your online privacy is through phishing. These emails, links or files are embedded with all kinds of viruses that may steal EVERYTHING on your device, including your personal data. Sometimes, these scammers try to trick you into providing your financial or personal information by sending you fake emails that appear to be from reputable big companies like banks. Often, these emails will prompt you to click on a link to verify your particulars or identity to prevent your account from being frozen or closed. Once you click on those links, you will be brought to spoofed webpages that resemble the homepages of the reputable big companies. Upon enter your account information to login or any other personal/financial particulars, you’ll be sending it to the scammers behind the phishing attempt instead.
We cannot stop others from trying to steal or misuse our personal data. However, we can do our part in protecting our personal data and be more conscious and aware of the permission we grant websites/companies/apps to collect our particulars or track our browsing history, online activities or location.
Cheers,
Dayna.T
