Data Breaches. Cyberterrorism. Hacktivism.
What a shame that we've become desensitized to these words over the course of the last few years. Why is it now accepted as commonplace that personal information will be at risk whenever we so choose to disclose it? And, since typically the risk taken is simply preferable to the alternative of refusing to disclose personal information at the expense of receiving services and benefits that sustain our livelihood, individuals are left stuck between a rock and a hard place. To make matters worse, individuals generally lack the understanding of how data encryption works, systems are integrated, and data is manipulated.
The issue of cybersecurity has integrated itself into the amalgam of white noise that we are so happy to tune out. We've all heard about the Chinese hack where the information of a daunting four million Americans was stolen. Hard-working Americans, students, and those in the military--yet what is being done about it?
Do people even care anymore?
We are minimally concerned with data breaches when it is we, the people, who are most at risk of being harmed by them. It is our information that is being targeted. The average citizen does not understand cybersecurity to the necessary degree and there are minimal resources available to help him gain an understanding. Resultantly, because nobody understands the issue, there is no active discussion among the people--the people whose information needs to be protected--of what action needs to be taken.
Not only do people have no grasp on the issue itself, but they don't even remotely understand the systems, the applications, and the tools that are supposed to be protecting their information. The same tools that are failing in a massive way.
This is the end of the line.
Mistakes described as mere "software glitches" have led to the early release of thousands of prisoners. Our personal health information has been left unprotected and openly available by 90% of industries.
This is an overwhelming majority. This is an unacceptable majority. And this is our call to action.
Hackers are going to continue to target personal information as its appeal for them is multi-faceted. It is often inadequately protected, the general public does not understand the process of how organizations attempt to protect their personal information nor the ways in which hackers circumvent standard protection measures, and, perhaps most pivotally, the public is growing numb to these types of breaches.
Personal information is easy to target when the persons to which it is attached are all looking the other way and almost entirely oblivious. The defeatist mentality touted by companies and individuals alike is unacceptable, and therefore the onus is on everyone in 2016 to refuse to accept these acts of theft as merely "part of the deal."
Let's repeat that: "part of the deal." This attitude is absurd--as we are already fighting a losing battle in which the opposition is growing ever-stronger. A battle where we're already multiple steps behind. Attacks will only increase in number and severity if we were to simply bow our heads and accept them as "part of the deal." It is an entirely impractical non-solution. Rather, everyone must stand up and proclaim that these acts of theft are not acceptable.
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