{"id":2783,"date":"2018-09-13T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alvantia.com\/?p=2783"},"modified":"2018-10-22T15:52:53","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T14:52:53","slug":"data-protection-age-big-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alvantia.com\/en\/data-protection-age-big-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Data protection in the age of Big Data: an important discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In March 2018, an investigation by The Guardian and The New York Times revealed one of the most serious technological scandals of the decade: consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica had illegally obtained the personal data of up to 87 million users through Facebook. The data leak originated from an application called \u201cThis is your digital life\u201d, a seemingly harmless online personality test which the consultancy firm used to search for and establish socio-political profiles thanks to Big Data, therefore predicting and influencing election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This scandal,\nwhich culminated in the closure of Cambridge\nAnalytica<\/strong> and the appearance of Mark Zuckerberg before the European\nParliament, thrust the importance of data protection into the spotlight in the\nage of Big Data and social networks. Although it was one of the most\nhigh-profile cases, it was not the first confidential data leak, nor the\nlargest in recent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"data-protection\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the graphic reveals, the largest leak in the last\ndecade came from Yahoo, and in the majority of cases users are not aware that\nthey have been affected because few companies inform their users when this\noccurs. How can we find out if we have been hacked? We have various online\ntools that enable us to check if we have been affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tools against data leaks<\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Facebook<\/strong> has been\ninforming its clients affected by the Cambridge Analytica leak, but if we want\nto be completely sure that our data has not been revealed we need to verify\nthat from our own profile on the Facebook\nhelp page<\/a>. In this test, the red box reveals that neither the\nuser nor their friends logged in to the \u201cThis is your digital life\u201d\napplication, and therefore, no data was shared with Cambridge Analytica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The website Have I Been Pwned?<\/a>, created by\nMicrosoft cybersecurity specialist Troy\nHunt<\/strong>, shows if your email has been exposed to cybersecurity violations. The\nwebsite has registered around 4 million affected accounts and is very popular\namong information security specialists. In this case, the email address we\nentered has been affected. As we can see, the tool even tells us when and\nthrough what platform the leak occurred. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The website Hacked-Emails<\/a> has additional\ndatabases to the website developed by Troy Hunt. Verifying your email address\nin the database is also highly recommended because it has a DNS in Spanish: hesidohackeado.com<\/a>. As we can see\nin the image, after verifying the same account used previously, the website\nshows us other sites where our data has been leaked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to\ninforming of cases of hacking that have already occurred, Breach Alarm<\/a> offers\nsomething new: the possibility to receive an alert in real time if your email\nis involved in any type of attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What to do in the event of\nhacking?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We have just\nseen that we have been hacked. What should we do if our data has been\ncompromised. How big could the leak be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Change your passwords on the websites where you have been affected<\/strong>. The longer and more complex the password, the more secure it is. If you cannot think of one, you can use a secure password generator such as pwgen<\/a>, which has versions for Windows and Linux. We do not recommend online generators, because they could store generated passwords and use them in the event of a cybersecurity attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Do not re-use passwords<\/strong>, especially if you have been affected by a leak, because these will have been published on the \u201cDark web\u201d, a part of the internet that will not appear on search engines and that is often used for criminal activities. If they are difficult to remember, use a Password Manager<\/a> to store your passwords securely. It works like an agenda for all your passwords, which can only be opened with a master password. This remains the method most recommended by specialists to avoid repeating passwords on different websites or using weak passwords, but if the hackers get hold of the master password they will have access to the other ones too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Be careful w<\/strong>ith the security questions<\/strong>. If you use them, make sure only you know the answers to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Add a 2nd Factor Authentication (2FA)<\/strong> to your email account if possible to strengthen your credentials. The main email services (Gmail<\/a>, Hotmail<\/a> y Yahoo<\/a>) allow this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Delete the affected email account<\/strong> to avoid future leaks from the same account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Do not accept third-party applications on social networks\u00a0<\/strong>that have access to your data. To review the permissions for these applications on Facebook, go to the page \u201cApplications and websites<\/a>\u201d once you have logged in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bear in mind that data transferred to third parties\nnot only includes your list of friends and personal data, but also photographs\nand \u201clikes\u201d which can reveal sensitive data such as your political leanings,\nbeliefs, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, in the age of Big Data, both the data\nwe reveal and the way third parties use this data is important. By entering our\ndata under the philosophy \u201cI have nothing to hide,\u201d we are conceding our right\nto privacy without knowledge of the true scope of this concession. In the cases\nof Cambridge Analytica and the surveillance program revealed by Edward Snowden,\nthe consequences are sometimes not clear, and do not solely affect the person\nwhose data was disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The users who authorised \u201cThis is you digital life\u201d\ndid not imagine that a personality test could use their sexual orientation or\nunion affiliations to influence electoral results, neither were they aware that\nthey were effectively selling access to the profiles of friends and families. When a product or service is free, we are\nthe product <\/strong>(or the equivalent to us, our data).<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In March 2018, an investigation by The Guardian and The New York Times revealed one of the most serious technological scandals of the decade: consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica had illegally obtained the personal data of up to 87 million users through Facebook. The data leak originated from an application called \u201cThis is your digital life\u201d,<\/p>\n

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