Who needs hackers when it’s the people you trust…
Who needs hackers when it’s the people you trust…
If you think you only really need to worry about hackers and criminals in shady basements stealing from you on-line, let this story be a lesson to you…
But before I begin, let me put this into context by asking a few quick questions:
What do you call someone who steals from you? A thief
What do you call someone who says something deliberately false? A liar
What do you call someone who promises something and then breaks that promise? Untrustworthy
A few days ago, a massive fine was imposed by regulators in the USA of $391 Million! That’s almost R7 BILLION!!!
What was the heinous crime they were found guilty of?
Basically;
- They stole people’s property (theft)
- When accused, they said they hadn’t done it (lied)
- When caught, they apologized and promised never to do it again but kept on going (untrustworthy)
OMG! So what were these untrustworthy, lying thieves stealing that was so dreadful? It must be something bad… was it bank details? Medical records? Credit history?
No
They were stealing and people’s LOCATION!
Wait, what? My location? How can that be a serious problem? I mean I know where I am, other people know where I am… I mean seriously, how bad could that be?
Just think about it for a moment…
If they know your location, they know facts like:
- where you live
- where you work
- where you go (and when)
Then they can use this information to ask further probing questions like:
- who did you come into contact with?
- Why did you meet them?
- What did you do?
- How long were you there together?
Then they can start to look for and predict future behaviour like:
- How often do they go there?
- How regularly?
- Do they go to other similar places?
Ok, that does sound a bit suspicious, it’s almost like the KGB or CIA or the Government monitoring me… but I’m sure it was only being collected for some vital public service like security or something right?
Nope, it was purely for profit, and SOLD to anyone who was ready to pay for it.
Wow, who are these master-criminals?
Google.
Now, before you chuckle and say ‘’well at least it wasn’t the CIA or someone bad’’…
Just remember this:
Right now many of you are:
- reading this on a Chrome (Google owned)
- using an Android (Google owned) device
- linked to your gmail (Google owned) email address
I have 3 questions for you:
- What information does Google have of yours?
- What are they doing with it?
- Who are they sharing it with?
Still chuckling?