Have you heard of Big Data? It’s like a shadowy James Bond villain, intent on global disruption, cackling in the background while the rest of us go about our mundane daily business. Or it might be the best thing since potato chips on a bologna sandwich.
One thing is certain. We ALL need to pay attention to Big Data.
What are we talking about with this term? Think of it as the result of increasingly powerful computers that collect, process, and store stupendously large sets of information, personal and otherwise, in real-time. Though the predictive benefits (such as how many people the Disney folks can expect at their parks on any given day) are already a fact of life, so is the potential for large-scale abuse.
The Scale of the Disaster
Simple hacking is where Big Data shows weakness thanks to the millions of people whose personal details can be put at risk with any single security breach. The scope of the problem has grown considerably in a short time. For instance, it wasn’t too long ago that we’d get our knickers in a bunch at the idea of a few thousand data sets being put at risk by a hack. Then in September of 2016, Yahoo announced that – oh, by the way – they managed to not secure the real names, date of birth, and telephone numbers for 500 million people.
A recently noted 32% rise in successful hack attacks between 2015 and 2016 is not likely to decrease anytime soon. For the criminal mind, this is the biggest, tastiest smorgasbord in history, while security professionals lament the unique difficulties of protecting the tens of thousands of servers spread across a large geographic area that a company might use to collect information. Any individual server can serve as a point of attack. Protecting hundreds or thousands is a logistical nightmare. This has been one of the underlying causes of the surge in public interest behind VPN technology.
Access Control is a Big Deal with Big Data
Unfortunately, scattered access points aren’t the only problems in securing Big Data. At least as dangerous has been the somewhat cavalier attitude towards information protection that companies – large and small – have displayed in the mad dash to collect as much information from customers as possible. By the time a company realised there was a problem, they had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on foundational software. That’s how you end up losing a hundred million customers’ data to cyber thieves.
What Can Joe or Josephine Public Do?
Consumer demand drives everything and internet security is no different. As the website browsing public grows more wary of data breaches, the pressure will (and already has) come to bear on the business community to pay more attention to securing data. Countermeasures that used to be optional are in the process of becoming standard. We’re talking about intrusion detection, access control, encryption, backups, and regular audits. In short, data collectors should start to feel consumer heat to prove they are worthy of safeguarding personal information.
At risk in this heightened environment of security at all costs is the concept of privacy, which has already been rendered somewhat obsolete by the fact of the massive breaches themselves. Employers and law enforcement grapple daily with the balance of doing their job versus society’s expectation of some semblance of privacy. The result is often a blanket surveillance mentality and tendency to treat everyone as guilty until proven innocent. Any random citizen should realise that the government knows more about their personal life than at any time in human history. Large companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple are under constant pressure from law enforcement to cough up data that might aid in investigations.
The flip side to all this intrusion paranoia is that Big Data can actually help in the fight against hackers. An example is the possibility that the fraudulent email practice of phishing could be rendered almost non-existent as software becomes sophisticated enough to identify and remove threats before they ever get to your computer or mobile device.
First – Secure Yourself
What we haven’t mentioned yet is the reality that you probably put your own data at risk every single time you get on the internet, whether for fun or while working remotely. Hackers love the kind of public wi-fi networks found at your favourite coffee shop. The public access side of the internet is a shootout at the OK Corral and you’re standing in the middle of the gunfire with a butter knife. What can you do about this? A good start is always to use a private network when you’re out and about. This next level security practice functions sort of like a firewall with your home computer but secures your data online.Don’t wait for others to protect you. Getting proactive is always a good strategy.
Big Data – A Love/Hate Relationship
Let’s take advertising. Big Data allows a company to target your interests and deliver offers for products and services to you with almost creepy precision. You can bet there is a detailed profile of not only your basic demographic information but political beliefs, music and reading habits, social causes – the list seems endless. Used properly, this information could be seen as a benign way to improve your web-viewing experience. In the wrong hands, it’s a slippery slope to Scary-ville. Anyone out there ever read 1984 by a gent named Orwell?
Final Thoughts
Banning large-scale data collection is not the answer any more than we are prohibiting cars because some people kill themselves while operating them. Transparency is probably the ultimate answer to the issue of reaping Big Data benefits while protecting individual privacy, but the process is easier said than done. Until blockchain technology goes wide, consumers need to know how and where their data is stored, who can access it, and who controls that access. And rather than waiting years to reveal data breaches, modern companies should err on the side of public awareness and education about what measures they’re taking to guard this valuable asset.
