Data security on the internet is a huge issue. Companies large and small spend fortunes creating infrastructures to make our data as safe as possible.
However, there continue to be high profile cases in which the sensitive data of the general public is being compromised and accessed by hackers.
With more and more data about our lives being stored online, data security is a hugely important issue, and it is an area in which public confidence has hit a new low in light of recent scandals. The latest event is a data breach surrounding the hack and subsequent bulk release of data belonging to registered Ashley Madison users.
This sight has attracted attention due to the controversial service that it provides: it was designed as a dating site for people that wanted to have affairs. It still raises serious issues about the availability of personal data.
The nature of the site and the service that it provides does not detract from the fact that users put their data on the internet in the belief that it will remain private.
The fact that hackers can access a company’s records and put them on the internet for everyone to see has rocked confidence in the ability of companies to keep our data secure. Shockingly, users of Ashley Madison had their information revealed even if they had paid the company an additional fee to remove their information.
Keeping your data secure online is extremely difficult: once you put something on the internet it is recorded. Should someone want to find it, then it is very hard to remove it to the point it cannot be found.
Therefore, it is important to make sure you share essential information only with the businesses you interact with online, and that you only put things online that you would not mind your granny seeing.
The internet is a wonderful and often scary place, make sure you are prepared and follow good data practices.