If Governments Aren't Safe, Are We?
Since the day computers have changed our lives, most of the adjustments and accessibilities have been positive. As always, there will be an opposite, negative side that takes advantages of defects in the system. Instead of the fear of our physical items being forcibly taken from us, our valuable personal information has come under attack. Cybercriminals unmercifully hack and steal our identities and other personal data. We, as individuals, aren’t the only ones receiving the virtual damage.
The adage ‘Whoever has the knowledge, has the power’, has never been more true, as the right amount of information can become a very valuable commodity. In mid 2009, hackers broke into a Virginia health professions database and held millions of personal customer information hostage in a password protected file, demanding ten million dollars for the return of the data. A hacker imposed deadline passed without payment, but it brings up the point that no one is completely safe from information hacking and intrusion.
The enormity of the situation lies in the fact that no one, even corporations and governments, aren’t immune to a security breach. Recently, in the past year and a half, China and Europe have experienced a continued hacker attack involving approximately 2,500 combined companies and government bureaus. Data from personal customers, credit card transactions, intellectual property and more have been exposed.
Contaminated spam, popup-up windows and links of malicious web sites lure unwitting users to click on their site, with disastrous results. Banking and other related institutions suffer security intrusions, doing their best to keep the incidents as quiet as possible, lest customers instantly withdraw their funds and return to hiding their money in their mattresses. U.S. military installations have experienced hacker break-ins, where pranks have been left in the form of altered web pages. Inside jobs have been committed against corporations by disgruntled or ex-employees, using worms or spyware to cause damage or steal propriety information. Cyber security comes under attack. The question becomes, how can regular citizens keep their own data and information safe from attack?
One of the concerns by certain groups is the eventual possibility and advent of personal health information becoming completely electronic. Even though the public agencies will assure and repeat to everyone the safety and security of their information is guaranteed, in truth, there will be a time where the data is violated.
Cybercrime grows as more and more systems and processes are put in place to automate the management of the influx and storage of data. The irresistibility of huge data repositories are a target of opportunity for identity thieves. It becomes difficult for the average individual to accept any business or government at any echelon to sufficiently contain the technical ability to keep our personal data safe and out of the hands of the cybercriminals. The only question becomes the point where corporations and governments reach a limit where the attacks overtake the amount of security, and peace of mind can still be expected. Otherwise, no one will be safe.
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