Being online has become a necessary part of our daily life and we are connecting with the online world via Wi-Fi hotspot and broadband connections. Technology is important for us in various ways like it is providing an overwhelming amount of information and it has also created lots of advancements in our lives. Along with these benefits of the latest technology, we are also facing some privacy issues. The most important privacy concern about the latest technology is that it is exposing our private information with the rest of the world. Here, we will discuss the privacy risks that people are facing while using the latest technology.
Vulnerabilities in Web Applications:
To ease our life, we are using different web applications like we are using Facebook to connect with the people, we are using online video games to entertain us and we are also using some other web applications for various purposes. Now, the problem is that while using these web applications, we have to share our personal information. If a web application has a single vulnerability, hackers can easily attack this website and this single vulnerability can become a cause of larger data breach. As a result, hackers can steal the private information of the users and they can use this private information for various illegal purposes. The latest example of this kind of data breach is in the form of a data breach in the Equifax. There was a single vulnerability in the Equifax and this single vulnerability provided a way for the hackers to attack it. This attack of the hackers was in the form of a major data breach and hackers steal the private information of more than 143 million people.
Hacking-Breach Response:
No doubt, all the major companies have the best security controls and they are trying their best to control the online data of the users. Anyhow, hackers are still able to hack different websites and steal the private information of the people from these websites. Now, the privacy concern is that these online companies don’t have enough resources to give an immediate response to these hacking breaches. Its reason is that if a company can control the hacking breach immediately, it can save private information from lots of users. On the other hand, if a company is not able to take quick action against this hacking breach, it will lose all the private information.
Inadequate Personal Data Disposal:
When a customer contacts with an online company, he has to share his private information like name, email address and credit card information with the company while buying its products or services. Once, payment is done and the customer has no dues, it is the responsibility of the company to dispose of the personal information of the customers. Anyhow, if customers want to get relationships in the future, you can keep their private information. Most of the online companies make delay in disposing of the personal information of the customers who are not in contact with them. As a result, private information of the customers is leaked and customers have to lose money. This is known as direct GDPR compliance and most of the companies have to pay hefty fines due to this act. As a customer, if you are facing this kind of problem, you can make a complaint against that company.
Lack of Transparency:
It is the responsibility of the online companies that they should publish a privacy policy on their websites in the same way as The Academic Papers UK did. Along with privacy policy, it is also necessary for them to upload terms and conditions page on the website. Now, the problem is that most of the companies have not published terms and condition and privacy policy on their websites. Some companies have uploaded these things but these things are not clear for the customers. There are also some companies which have uploaded these things in other languages. In other words, privacy policy and terms and conditions pages are not available in the local language. As a result, customers are facing lots of problems. They are not able to know their privacy policy, terms and conditions. Due to a lack of transparency in the privacy policy, terms and conditions, they have lots of concerns while making online payments.
Collection of unnecessary data:
When you are going to buy anything from an online company, you will have to provide your personal information to this company. Now, it is the responsibility of the company that it should collect only the required information. For example, if your customer wants to buy shoes, you should ask his name, a variety of shoes, colour of shoes, size of shoes, shipping address and credit card information. Anyhow, if you want to ask some further information from the customer, you will have to get his consent. If you are getting additional information from the customers without the consent of the customers, it is illegal.
Personal Data Sharing:
Nowadays, data has become a currency for companies. Most of the online companies are sharing data of their online users with third parties for several purposes. The most important example of personal data sharing scandal is Facebook. Facebook has shared data of over 50 million Facebook profiles with the Cambridge Analytics. Cambridge Analytics has built models of this data and their experts have known the influences of the choices of the political fields. Now, the problem is that Facebook has shared this data of the users without knowing their consent and it is against the online policies.
Data Transfer over Insecure Channels:
Nowadays, websites are using two kinds of protocols. The first protocol is known as HTTP and the second protocol is known as HTTPS. If you are visiting a website which is using the HTTP protocol, your data on this website will not be secured. On the other hand, if you are visiting a website which is using HTTPS protocol, your data on this website will be secured. If you share your credit card information on these insecure channels, hackers can easily get access to these websites and they can steal your private information. Some other privacy issues that users are facing on the internet are session expired and incorrect or outdated personal data etc.
