The personal data protection law must be complied with in a mandatory manner, both by companies and citizens themselves, who have to preserve and take care of the places where they enter private documentation. Thus, it is not unusual that when making purchases online, through the Internet, many websites ask you to enter personal data to perform the activity of buying and selling, such as name and surname, address and identity of each person.
However, behind these websites hide real data thieves and professional hackers, who know how to act silently to steal private information from each user. In fact, according to cybersecurity experts, this type of incident is not new and companies that collect consumer information are often targets of hacks. The Washington Post, for its part, reports that the data that can appear in hacker forums includes everything from a person’s name to his or her Social Security number.
By the way, in some cases, this data breach may be somewhat exaggerated, according to the institutions in charge of handling these matters. The National Public Data institutions and the Social Security Administration often do not immediately respond to requests for comment, raising questions about their security protocols and responses to the data breach. In fact, Troy Hunt, security analyst, although some data has been verified, the inclusion of false data or data obtained from other sources underscores the difficulty of authenticating the totality of information exposed by hackers on these websites.
Protect your data
In this way, a credit freeze is a key tool to prevent your personal data from being stolen, as it blocks any new lines of credit, preventing criminals from opening new cards or accounts in your name. This process involves completing a form and setting up an account, which does not affect your credit score and provides an additional layer of security.
Likewise, enabling two-step authentication can make a big difference in protecting your online accounts. This measure provides an additional code to be entered along with your password when logging in, which safeguards your authentication of your identity in multiple ways. In this way, experts also claim to promote the use of long and unique passwords for each account is essential already in these times of permanent digitalization. Password managers generate secure passwords automatically. The Identity Theft Resource Center recommends avoiding the use of easily guessable personal information in passwords.
Social networks
In relation to these platforms, it is advisable to reduce the amount of personal information publicly visible on social networks, as it can prevent criminals from accessing sensitive data. Likewise, public accounts on Facebook and other sites can facilitate attacks are a very affordable scenario for data criminals. For this reason, the relevant institutions choose to set accounts to private, which will directly limit exposure.
Finally, another very useful measure to avoid unintentional personal data breaches is to delete accounts you no longer use can reduce the risk of your data being shared or sold. In fact, some states have privacy laws that require companies to delete your information if you request it. Taking these steps can help protect your personal information from future data breaches and reduce the risk of fraud.