A personal information breach was discovered in a recent study released this past Monday, June 17 by independent researcher Anurag Sen. The breach exposed the personal information including people’s full names, phone numbers, intended salaries, and intention of moving jobs for professionals and job seekers throughout the United States, Australia, Japan, and a few other countries.
Information initially provided by CNET.
In total, 1.6 million job seekers had their information compromised and are located in a database owned by an Indian recruiting company, all of which is open for public viewing through the proper URL. Some notable names included are those who hold high positions in the Australian government, at Tommy Hilfiger, as well as the FBI’s cybersecurity division (ironic, I know). Here’s the kicker: all of the information was collected legally through the compilation of information from LinkedIn profiles as well as directly reaching out to job seekers to collect information.
The report, in partnership with Sen, was released by Israeli company Safety Detective, who specialize in reviewing anti-virus software with the report being part of their initiative to make the public aware of the potential dangers of cloud storage.
Although cloud computing is extremely convenient and for the most part very secure, companies who do not know how to properly secure their cloud-based databases can fall prey to hackers that can easily take the information they need in order to cause further damage to institutions as well as people.
For instance, this specific data breach could not only cause strain in people’s work environments as their bosses may now know that they are looking for other jobs, but it can also allow hackers to access sensitive company information by impersonating the individual whose information was compromised in the breach.
This being said, it is up to companies who collect personal data to better secure their servers so that users will no longer have to fear losing their personal information to people with malicious intentions.
Do you think personal information should be stored or should it be up to the individual to keep their info for their own distribution? Could there be a better way fo companies to keep this information? Let us know in the comments below!