The ride-hailing service Uber suffered a major data breach not long ago. The company reported that the hacker did not gain access to sensitive user data.
What Qualifies as Sensitive Data?
Usually that refers to credit card information, bank account numbers or social security numbers, all of which can be used to profit by identity theft.
Does your home address qualify as “sensitive”? Uber didn’t say – it is not known (or has not been disclosed) how much data the hacker stole or how long they were inside Uber's network. But if you’re a judge, police officer, a social worker or any other kind of public servant, having your home address shared or sold online can be very dangerous.
The Main Lesson?
When you allow companies to collect, store, and sell sensitive information on you, you make yourself vulnerable.
We provide our clients the support they need to prevent this from happening.
Yes, if your private data ends up online, we’ll make sure it comes down. But these situations would not happen as often if so many companies did not collect this information in the first place – and if so many people did not provide it willingly.
We are hopeful that nationwide legislation is forthcoming that will make it easier for everyone to utilize an “opt-in” web privacy standard, and stop service providers from using, disclosing, selling or providing access to customers' personal information without permission. This protection is now available in California, Maine and a few other states.
Until that happens, it is up to you to be aware of the policies of websites where your data is captured. That may mean not using some apps – or buying local from companies rather than shopping online with sites that play fast and loose with your privacy. It could mean using mail forwarding to better protect your home address. And it could mean using IronWall360 privacy protection to address the damage that has already been done.
We’re here when you need us.
