Have you ever entered your credit card and phone number information into a website and then had been a little concerned about your data being stolen? If your answer is yes, then you are not the only one. Thousands of people who use the internet give away their personal information daily. But we often either don’t care about it or type away with a bit of hesitation because we need to use the internet, and there is no getting away from it.
So now the question arises: how vulnerable is your information from getting stolen? Is our data safe when put out on the internet? If we talk statistics, an average American got their data stolen at least two times in 2019. In June of 2021, around 700 million users of LinkedIn got their data stolen and then put up for sale online. There are so many records of companies whose data have been stolen and sold to various sources. The list is endless, with companies like Facebook to even Yahoo! Data and personal information have become more public than private.
So, what do you do to save your vulnerable data? There are quite a few steps that you can follow to keep your data from being breached. A few tweaks here and there to your internet ethics will help you from any data phishing.
Calculate the risk of your stolen data:
Not all data breaches are the identical, and neither is all data. So, imagine a company that you’re associated with gets their data stolen. There are some chances that this data will be rendered unstable or useless to the thieves.
The first thing you’ll need do when you find out that your data is stolen is to calculate the risk of the data. Is your data simply a shopping record or your credit card information? If it is the latter, you have a greater chance of financial loss.
So, if you are made aware of any data breaches, the first step is to change your passwords and delete any sensitive information that the account may possess. You should also delete, or close old unused accounts associated with the accounts.
What is the market for stolen data?
Data breaches are generally financial crimes, and the hackers have no use for the data. This data gets sold on the dark web to scammers. The dark web is usually full of such data packets which contain sensitive personal information. But this data is generally sold at minimal prices.
But you must be thinking about the uses of this data. The use of data depends on its type. For example, credit card information or social security numbers is used to make dupes of the card and carry out fraudulent transactions. This can lead to identity theft.
So, it’s always advised not to use this information with the utmost discretion. If a site without cause wants you to enter your social security number, check if it’s safe to share it. But always beware of who you are sharing your information with.
How to Prepare Yourself?
While all this information may make you think that there is no way to save your data, there is no need to give it all up. You can take a few steps to protect yourself from the inevitable.
The easiest way to save yourself from any data breach is to use unique and different passwords for different websites. These are mainly for government and banking websites. Using passwords is not complicated enough for a hacker to decrypt.
Another great way to save yourself from data breaches is to use multifactor authentication. So, you can use an app or a USB device that uses such encryption that protects your data from being stolen without your consent.
Follow your Guts
In most cases, data breaches happen due to phishing. Phishing attacks can fool you into believing that certain emails will take you to the correct websites where these websites will steal your data. Some people get easily fooled by such emails and enter their personal information. In June 2021, APWG saw the highest rate of phishing attacks.
But there are times when people can easily detect if a website is a little off. So, if you get emails about entering your information into any website that might look legit, you should take a good look and browse around. You will be able to find something or the other that might alert you. So, it’s best to be aware that phishing exists and take caution from preventing it from happening. People aware of phishing have saved themselves from such attacks because they could detect that the websites weren’t right.
So, beware and tread with caution to save yourself from getting data stolen.
Conclusion
Now that you know that there are ways in which you can prepare yourself for data breaches, you’ll find it easy to navigate in the scary internet world. Don’t ever think that it is inevitable that your data will get stolen because if you follow the correct protocols and share things with a good safety net, then there are no chances for your data to get stolen.
Remember the saying here: prevention is better than cure, so use the correct encryption and keep changing passwords or using different and unique passwords. Follow these, and you can believe that you’ll be safe from data thieving.
Also Read: 8 Cybersecurity Predictions For 2022
