Let me ask you a question. Did you happen to throw a cyber-related party Saturday night or call up your bank thanking them for keeping your information private on Monday morning? You probably did not, and that's okay. You also probably didn't know that Saturday was Data Privacy Day, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA).
Now, before you stop reading because you think this is a nerd topic, you should be aware of something. We all have information online somewhere. If it's not online, it's in a computer database. And when that information we want to be private becomes public, a problem occurs. Who has that information and what are they doing with it? The NCSA works to stop that and ease our fears.
While it's not a national holiday, Saturday's Data Privacy Day served as a reminder for something much more important. It was a reminder of the risk that is always there — the risk that identity theft and data security are not issues to take lightly.
Back in 2010, Congress passed a piece of legislation and tacked it onto already standing Internet transaction legislation that required most businesses to secure a client's and an employee's personal information. If businesses would fail to do so, they risk an expensive fine totaling some $150,000. What's the worst part about this? Such fines can be imposed if the information is simply lost, no matter who has it or whether it was a vicious cyber attack or not.
Cyber security today is more of a necessity than ever. We live in the technological era and the thought of a world without computers now is like a world without water. The change of that technology is also more of a necessity than ever.
Society is using more than just the laptops and desktop computers of yesterday. There are a ton of new electronic devices that could easily invite data breaches. iPads and iPhones, mobile phones, digital video recorders, thumb drives and just about anything else with memory capability could all pose as avenues in which data can be stored and then released into the wrong hands.
That's not to mention the ease of network information security. It is unbelievable how many wireless networks you can tap into and access vital information about that network's owner. All it takes is some basic computer skills to accomplish this task nowadays. And it usually takes only a small amount of time thanks to the rapid speed of the broadband networks.
Our computer's hard drives contain more information than just saved Microsoft Word documents. Also stored on there are medical records, bank information and password information for all of your favorite websites.
But worrying about this information being stolen doesn't have to keep you up at night.
There's plenty you can do to protect your information. Be sure to always have up-to-date anti-virus and anti-theft software on your computer. Also, make sure to regularly clean junk files from your electronic devices. This not only frees up space, it also cleans up any old or confidential information. With that said, it might be a good idea to remove any of that sensitive information off your devices that connect to a network and on an external hard drive. This way, you have the information backed up in a safe place and away from the wrong hands.
Even though Internet privacy is nothing new, it is certainly a growing problem and has gained a lot of steam when it comes to news coverage. Most recently, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) were in the news because the two acts would work to tighten down on Internet sharing and anti-piracy servers.
While many people are against these bills since they would limit much of the free content we receive via sites such as YouTube and Wikipedia, you have to remember that copyrighted content is often on those sites because it was leaked or stolen. What if that video was your bank information that people were viewing? Not as entertaining, right?
Data Privacy Day is not a day set aside to complain about the problems with free content online. That is not the point at all. The day is meant to get people taking the first steps to protect data. It works to promote the importance of having a plan in place before a breach is found and have a system or contact that can be reached if something were to happen to your personal and sensitive information.
