Your Most Valuable Asset Is At Risk

From Equifax to Capital One, it seems no one is safe from data theft

In a time where data is seemingly more valuable than gold, protecting personal information online is becoming increasingly difficult. Vast opportunity for hackers and cybercriminals resides in data theft and exploitation, and those privy to committing these crimes are not ignorant of this fact, as news of another cyber threat surfaces.

A series of multiple big-name data breaches affecting millions of Americans and resulting in billions of dollars in payouts has taken precedence in the world of tech news and has sent banks, cloud services, and digital platforms into a fit of panic. Most recently, Capital One has fallen victim to stolen data, resulting in the largest bank breach ever.

The convenience of storing data online is so pervasive in everyday scenarios that you likely aren’t noticing when you are putting personal data into the easily impenetrable world of data storage. Saved online passwords, auto-filling bank information for online purchases, using digital tax services, and even backing up photos to the cloud are daily activities we engage in. These activities unknowingly offering up bank accounts, social security numbers, e-mails, and photos to the business of hacking.

In a statement made by IBM, stolen and hacked data has resulted in 11.7 billion accounts of collective personal data over the past three years.

Though cyberspace allows for infinite connections and endless ease, it has opened the doors for entirely new subsets of criminal activity, resulting in identity theft, lost revenue, and a decrease in privacy.

To compensate for the loss, affected companies are offering payouts to those whose data is at risk by filling out online forms. Coincidentally, these forms also pose risks for further stolen data. The perfect catch 22.

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