How To Be Safe At The Time of Data Theft and Data Breach
Governments on all habitable continents have been caught snooping on their citizens. No matter where you are, there’s a reason some government agency would want to monitor you. Sometime it may be needed for securing borders but all the time it may or may not. Apart from Governments, there are private organizations, who try hard to obtain personal information of people and sell it for monetary gains.
No matter how safe you are with your personal data, it’s not safe from government snooping. Some of the Anonymous hackers involved in data breaches of Stratford, HB Gary Federal, Sony, and PayPal used temporary laptops (similar to a drug dealer’s burner phone) and kept all info (including the operating system) on USB drives, and they still got caught. If these tech experts were tracked, even with all of their advanced techniques for evasion, then you don’t stand a chance.
We are living in the future, and our actions are being judged by anyone with the money to access and analyze it. Keeping your head down will temporarily avoid any trouble, but your only real chance for long-term change is joining the various protests against government monitoring, such as February's International Day of Privacy, held annually by the Computer Chaos Club (Europe’s oldest and largest hacker organization).
Even If You Do Not Have A Social Media Account Still Your Information Can Be Leaked
Let’s say you don’t have any social media accounts, and you never shop online. You likely have an email address, though. You also have an employer and a financial institution, and you shop somewhere. All of these businesses store your information. One need not to hack you to know everything about you; he just has to hack Walmart, LinkedIn,Gmail, or some other company you do business with.
It happens all the time. If you use the same username and password for everything, you’re much more at risk of people using your stolen info to further harm you. Mitigate this risk as much as possible by only working with and for honest companies you trust. This way you’ll be less likely to be involved in a beef that has nothing to do with you.
Your Digital Life Will Outlive You
What you post online will last longer than you; you’re just some meat puppet with a shelf life, but your Twitter account is part of a publicly-owned company. Every app or game you download on your phone wants your personal info and they’ll incentivize you giving it to them with extra features, easier connectivity, and bonus in-game items. Every time you use your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Whatsapp or other social-media accounts to log in to an app, you’re giving them access to your personal information, and they will use and sell this information as they see fit. Did you ever notice many apps and games don’t tell you they’re not sharing your information? That’s because they are.
With your information already out there and lasting so long, you should be the one in control of how you’re remembered. At this point, you’re better off making your voice heard publicly – at least you’ll control your own narrative. Be proud of who you are, and keep your social media accounts updated with how you feel and what you think. If they’re monitoring us, the least we can do is give them our honest opinions. Don’t ever be afraid of voicing your opinion – how those opinions are accepted by others is their problem. It might be wise, however, to take just a minute think about how you will feel if that opinion or photo you just posted were to be looked at ten years from now by a prospective employer.
Threats Are Everywhere
Losing your phone is like losing your keys, wallet, and everything else in your life. You don’t realize how much personal information is on your phone; it could be devastating if someone stole or found it. Luckily, there are measures you can take to mitigate this risk.
A feature that is useful for consumers is to have is a remote “kill” option should the phone be lost or stolen. There are free apps available that will not only try to locate the phone by pin-pointing the location of the last cell tower to which it connected, but if it is determined that the phone cannot be retrieved, you can remotely erase/wipe the phone.”
Losing physical possession of your device is hardly the only threat, however. Data-retrieval devices can be anywhere; simply walking down the street exposes your phone to everyone with a wireless signal within 500 feet. Anytime you swipe your credit or debit card, the machine could’ve been compromised (and you’d never know). ATMs are especially vulnerable because the manuals are so easy to obtain online, and laws have made prosecuting ATM theft difficult. No matter what you do, there is a risk associated with it. Keep yourself informed about the many data theft possibilities by Googling the specifics for your particular phone and financial services, as the subject is much too detailed and complicated to go too far into here.
What you post online will last longer than you; you’re just some meat puppet with a shelf life, but your Twitter account is part of a publicly-owned company. Every app or game you download on your phone wants your personal info and they’ll incentivize you giving it to them with extra features, easier connectivity, and bonus in-game items. Every time you use your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Whatsapp or other social-media accounts to log in to an app, you’re giving them access to your personal information, and they will use and sell this information as they see fit. Did you ever notice many apps and games don’t tell you they’re not sharing your information? That’s because they are.
With your information already out there and lasting so long, you should be the one in control of how you’re remembered. At this point, you’re better off making your voice heard publicly – at least you’ll control your own narrative. Be proud of who you are, and keep your social media accounts updated with how you feel and what you think. If they’re monitoring us, the least we can do is give them our honest opinions. Don’t ever be afraid of voicing your opinion – how those opinions are accepted by others is their problem. It might be wise, however, to take just a minute think about how you will feel if that opinion or photo you just posted were to be looked at ten years from now by a prospective employer.
Threats Are Everywhere
Losing your phone is like losing your keys, wallet, and everything else in your life. You don’t realize how much personal information is on your phone; it could be devastating if someone stole or found it. Luckily, there are measures you can take to mitigate this risk.
A feature that is useful for consumers is to have is a remote “kill” option should the phone be lost or stolen. There are free apps available that will not only try to locate the phone by pin-pointing the location of the last cell tower to which it connected, but if it is determined that the phone cannot be retrieved, you can remotely erase/wipe the phone.”
Losing physical possession of your device is hardly the only threat, however. Data-retrieval devices can be anywhere; simply walking down the street exposes your phone to everyone with a wireless signal within 500 feet. Anytime you swipe your credit or debit card, the machine could’ve been compromised (and you’d never know). ATMs are especially vulnerable because the manuals are so easy to obtain online, and laws have made prosecuting ATM theft difficult. No matter what you do, there is a risk associated with it. Keep yourself informed about the many data theft possibilities by Googling the specifics for your particular phone and financial services, as the subject is much too detailed and complicated to go too far into here.
Everybody Want You
You may think you’re not worth watching, but everyone is worth watching. When you apply for a job, potential employers stalk you. When you meet someone new, they stalk you. Some people you haven’t even met will stalk you to see if you’re worth getting to know. Scorned exes, rivals, friends, and family are all stalking you. People may not talk about it, but everyone snoops. Basic password protection and social media privacy settings can mitigate this risk.
Hacking Is Easy to Hackers
The hard part of hacking isn’t breaking into a system. With a few attempts (and, in the worst case, a brute-force attack), you can get into anyone’s network or computer. The hard part is knowing what to look for and where to look once you’re in there. The basics of computer structure explained at the beginning of this piece are easily applied, however, and many people besides me know this…and I just blabbed it to everyone whose reading this. Knowledge was passed on in art, song, and literature well before the internet was invented, so even removing hacking info from search engines won’t delete it from human memory.
There are efforts to reframe how you think about computers (with the most basic one being to train users into thinking their home screen is the root folder) so fewer people grasp computer hacking concepts, but the knowledge will always be easily available to those who know where to look. There are no good or bad people, just good or bad actions, and people hack for good and bad reasons. Many times, it’s to satiate curiosity, practice, or just for the lulz. The point is, hacking is like playing the guitar; it is easy…it just takes 10,000 hours of practice.
You may think you’re not worth watching, but everyone is worth watching. When you apply for a job, potential employers stalk you. When you meet someone new, they stalk you. Some people you haven’t even met will stalk you to see if you’re worth getting to know. Scorned exes, rivals, friends, and family are all stalking you. People may not talk about it, but everyone snoops. Basic password protection and social media privacy settings can mitigate this risk.
Hacking Is Easy to Hackers
The hard part of hacking isn’t breaking into a system. With a few attempts (and, in the worst case, a brute-force attack), you can get into anyone’s network or computer. The hard part is knowing what to look for and where to look once you’re in there. The basics of computer structure explained at the beginning of this piece are easily applied, however, and many people besides me know this…and I just blabbed it to everyone whose reading this. Knowledge was passed on in art, song, and literature well before the internet was invented, so even removing hacking info from search engines won’t delete it from human memory.
There are efforts to reframe how you think about computers (with the most basic one being to train users into thinking their home screen is the root folder) so fewer people grasp computer hacking concepts, but the knowledge will always be easily available to those who know where to look. There are no good or bad people, just good or bad actions, and people hack for good and bad reasons. Many times, it’s to satiate curiosity, practice, or just for the lulz. The point is, hacking is like playing the guitar; it is easy…it just takes 10,000 hours of practice.
Social Hacking Is Easy
Even if you’re technically cautious, you may not realize how obvious your social cues are. Social hacking is how most cyber-attacks are executed, not technical programming. Although we all like to feel unique, convincing people to give up their personal data is simple. Read the following para to understand how social hacking may be responsible for Target’s recent data breach:
A careless Target worker, possibly in the IT department, was fooled by a link in an official-looking email – ostensibly from his or her bank, or from a manager or superior in the company–or by visiting an alluring website–to reveal important authorization credentials, which were passed on to the hacker,
But in case you want to be safe from breach of information and personal data, probably you have to follow the tribal
community staying in jungles of Bastar in Madhya Pradesh who do not have mobile connection, gas connection, power connection, bank account, Aadhar Card. I come across a write up in international edition of New York Times about Jameson Lopp, a self described libertarian who works for a Bitcoin security company. He had long been obsessed with the value of privacy and shown a way out that how a person can escape the all seeing eyes of Corporate world as well as government and that too without giving up internet access and moving to a shack in the deep jungle. Here is his prescription :
1. Create A Corporate Identity
People end up in databases when they fill out forms to buy property, register for credit cards or complete run-of-the mill transactions.
To do such normal consumer things, Lopp created a limited liability company L.L.C. Creating a corporation in most states in USA is not difficult. That would make him easy to track as he is register as owner. But three states in US viz., Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico do not require corporations to record their owner, so he took advantage of that.For good measure, Lopp set up a few corporations to use in different situations, in case an adversary tied him to any one LLC.
2. Set Up A Bank Account
Some of the most personal and widely tracked information we generate is through your financial transactions. To make new purchases that were not tied to him. Lopp opened a bank account with one of his new LLC and created a corporate credit card with an online company that did not require him to list his name on the card. To ensure he does not tie too much in formation to the corporation, he makes most purchases, especially when buying something online, with prepaid debit cards that do not list his name or his LLC.
3. Carry Cash
The most anonymous way to buy things, of course, is to simply use cash. Lopp carries enough to handle most of his daily transactions.
4. Get A New Phone Number
Phone records allow the phone companies-and anyone who subpoenas or hacks them-to know everyone we have spoken with Lopp stopped using his old phone number, which was linked to his real name, and set up a new one under his corporate identity.
Lopp also started using a service to generate new, throwaway phone numbers that masked his master account.
5. Turn Off Phone Directions
To make sure Lopp's phone was not keeping a record of every where he had been-and potentially transmitting it to app he was using-he turned off all its geo-location services. When Lopp drives and needs directions, he uses a dedicated GPS device that is not otherwise tied to him.
6. Move
As staying in house can direct any one to you. so he need new home. But he does not buy any new property in his name. He uses his LLC and a cashier's check from the LLC's bank account to pay for the house in full.
7. Buy A Boring Car
Lopp discarded his motorcycle and car becand purchased a boring and less fleshy car that too not in his name but used his LLC to sign papers. To registered his car, DMV insisted on the real name - no an LLC - and a street address. To satisfy DMV without giving away the address of his new home, he purchased a very cheap and small house for this purpose.
8. Setting Up A Private Mailbox
Lopp did not want his new home on anyone's mailing list, even if it was only under his LLC's name. For those times when he is needed to receive mail or a delivery , he created a private mailbox at a shipping center not very far from his new home.
To be extra cautious, he has his mail and packages shipped through a re-mailing service, where the shipper gets the address of a private company that receives the mail in a different state than re-routes to Lopp's private mail box.
9. Mastering The Art Of Disguise
These days surveillance cameras are in every nook and corner and many of them are having ability of facial recognition. Lopp did not go for plastic surgery to completely change his appearance rather venture out wearing sunglasses and a hat.
10. Work Remotely
He works but change the way to conduct the business. Lopp now insists on working remotely, doing any meeting by video conference in rooms where people wou'nt be able to identify his location.
11. Encrypting Data While Traveling
When Lopp travels abroad , he has no choice but to present his passport at border. But he shuts down his digital services and encrypts all of his data. That way if a border official turns a device back on, his information is still protected
But if you ask me, whether Lopp's efforts are enough to protect his privacy completely, I have my own doubts but definitely his efforts are a baby step to lay out what it takes to reclaim privacy in the present day world otherwise one has no choice but to go to deep jungles stay there completely cut off from modern day to day comforts.
1. Create A Corporate Identity
People end up in databases when they fill out forms to buy property, register for credit cards or complete run-of-the mill transactions.
To do such normal consumer things, Lopp created a limited liability company L.L.C. Creating a corporation in most states in USA is not difficult. That would make him easy to track as he is register as owner. But three states in US viz., Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico do not require corporations to record their owner, so he took advantage of that.For good measure, Lopp set up a few corporations to use in different situations, in case an adversary tied him to any one LLC.
2. Set Up A Bank Account
Some of the most personal and widely tracked information we generate is through your financial transactions. To make new purchases that were not tied to him. Lopp opened a bank account with one of his new LLC and created a corporate credit card with an online company that did not require him to list his name on the card. To ensure he does not tie too much in formation to the corporation, he makes most purchases, especially when buying something online, with prepaid debit cards that do not list his name or his LLC.
3. Carry Cash
The most anonymous way to buy things, of course, is to simply use cash. Lopp carries enough to handle most of his daily transactions.
4. Get A New Phone Number
Phone records allow the phone companies-and anyone who subpoenas or hacks them-to know everyone we have spoken with Lopp stopped using his old phone number, which was linked to his real name, and set up a new one under his corporate identity.
Lopp also started using a service to generate new, throwaway phone numbers that masked his master account.
5. Turn Off Phone Directions
To make sure Lopp's phone was not keeping a record of every where he had been-and potentially transmitting it to app he was using-he turned off all its geo-location services. When Lopp drives and needs directions, he uses a dedicated GPS device that is not otherwise tied to him.
6. Move
As staying in house can direct any one to you. so he need new home. But he does not buy any new property in his name. He uses his LLC and a cashier's check from the LLC's bank account to pay for the house in full.
7. Buy A Boring Car
Lopp discarded his motorcycle and car becand purchased a boring and less fleshy car that too not in his name but used his LLC to sign papers. To registered his car, DMV insisted on the real name - no an LLC - and a street address. To satisfy DMV without giving away the address of his new home, he purchased a very cheap and small house for this purpose.
8. Setting Up A Private Mailbox
Lopp did not want his new home on anyone's mailing list, even if it was only under his LLC's name. For those times when he is needed to receive mail or a delivery , he created a private mailbox at a shipping center not very far from his new home.
To be extra cautious, he has his mail and packages shipped through a re-mailing service, where the shipper gets the address of a private company that receives the mail in a different state than re-routes to Lopp's private mail box.
9. Mastering The Art Of Disguise
These days surveillance cameras are in every nook and corner and many of them are having ability of facial recognition. Lopp did not go for plastic surgery to completely change his appearance rather venture out wearing sunglasses and a hat.
10. Work Remotely
He works but change the way to conduct the business. Lopp now insists on working remotely, doing any meeting by video conference in rooms where people wou'nt be able to identify his location.
11. Encrypting Data While Traveling
When Lopp travels abroad , he has no choice but to present his passport at border. But he shuts down his digital services and encrypts all of his data. That way if a border official turns a device back on, his information is still protected
But if you ask me, whether Lopp's efforts are enough to protect his privacy completely, I have my own doubts but definitely his efforts are a baby step to lay out what it takes to reclaim privacy in the present day world otherwise one has no choice but to go to deep jungles stay there completely cut off from modern day to day comforts.
Comments
Post a Comment