The internet is becoming a scary place for personal data. In 2014 alone, there were an estimated 80,000 cyber security breaches in the US affecting tens of millions of people. Over 2,100 of those breaches resulting in confirmed individual data loss, the biggest of which has been the breach in the White House Office of Personal Management. This breach resulted in the loss of sensitive data, like social security numbers for an estimated 21.5 million people. The worst part about this particular breach is that, for all we know, it is still ongoing. And with major data hacks becoming a seemingly permanent fixture in the news nowadays with other major hacks like Sony and Facebook, the argument that the internet is becoming a safer place is losing steam with some, while others are feeling more protected than ever.
Massive cyber hacks are nothing new and do not seem to be a passing trend. The number of estimated attacks rose 14% just from last year and resulted in the loss of an estimated 400 million dollars. These hacks will undoubtedly proliferate and grow in complexity as technology is further integrated in the average person’s life with the number of devices connected to the internet estimated to outnumber the amount of people on Earth by 2020. This is resulting in a greater amount of cyber-literacy with many more millions of people having the ability to perform security breaches.
Despite this rise in “Cyber-Literacy”, industry leaders still point to a lack of employees with the right skills as a major missing piece of the security puzzle. As threats grow in size and complexity, the demand for cyber security experts will continue to grow as well. The biggest problem to solve yet is how to meet that demand. Last year alone, there was a shortage of an estimated one million employees in the cyber security sector. This is largely in part due to the time and experience it takes to train employees to keep up with ever more sophisticated hackers.
Fortunately the tech world isn’t declaring a cyber doomsday just yet. In fact, there is still a strong argument that the internet is now safer than ever, although that may seem hard to believe when news of constant cyber threats seems to be a part of daily life in the 21st century. According to the Global Commission for Internet Governance, the amount of cyber hacks relative to the growing size of the internet is actually decreasing. The way the commission explains the situation is as follows: “Imagine there is a town of 1,000 people with 100 violent crimes a year. Now imagine that there is a city with 100,000 people with 1,000 violent crimes per year.” Even though the city has ten times the volume of crimes, the likelihood of being a victim is one tenth as much. This is good news, but the counter argument is that the size of the internet shouldn’t be a factor in determining internet security, since the number of potential victims isn’t growing nearly as fast.
There is no doubt that the amount and the complexity of cyber hacks, threats, and breaches will continue to expand exponentially in the coming years. As that happens, we’ll continue to find out whether or not the internet is safer than it once was. Either way, it’s starting to look like the best way to protect your personal information online is to simply not put it online in the first place. And as far as privacy is concerned, the only sure-fire way to secure your own information is [%]*@@][0*&!#,
