PRIVACY AND CYBER SECURITY: IMMEDIATE CONVERGENCE IS A NECESSITY
The daily lives of ordinary citizens are connected to the internet in many ways, with multiple vulnerabilities and different exposure points. Reliance on the internet is so strong that individuals often turn a blind eye to the risks taken as they readily transfer bank data, medical information and other sensitive information over networks.
Online activity is being recorded and scrutinised, often without the knowledge or consent of the people affected. It is an infringement of privacy and should not be taken lightly.
The companies obtaining, storing and using data linked to individuals have both the business incentives and the ethical duty to protect such information. To do so effectively, privacy and cyber security must converge into a single affair, managed with a more assertive approach to keep data safe and secure.
Regardless of recent corporate attempts to prevent them, data breaches affecting millions of people have become all too common. Disclosed in 2018, in the now-famous scandal, Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to gather data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles without users’ consent. Facebook was fined in the US and the UK for the incident. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy.
Apr-Jun 2022 Issue
Vishal Chawla