Is Your Data Protected by Tech Companies?

If you compare the technology of the recent times with what existed only a decade ago, you will notice that there has been a significant level of improvement. Just about two decades ago, things such as graphic user interfaces, touchscreens, and track pads did not exist. As a result of this, everything had to be typed out. As programs get developed, everything changed.

Today, the technology has significantly improve to a point where it is possible to store enormous amounts of data in small digital storage media.

Most of the tech companies store massive amount of data regarding you. This includes your email address, passwords, your search data, your contacts, and your trends. In fact, a number of major applications of tech giants also keep a record of the level of your smartphone’s battery.

Do note that these tech companies will not really sell your data away. However, they will certainly use them to make a lot of money. Since these companies know what you have been looking for on the internet, they will use that data to show specific ads on your news feed. Take Facebook as an example. Nowadays, Instagram pretty much displays the advertisements in the very same way. These ads are automatically selected based on their algorithm with recognizes that you may enjoy clicking on.

Facebook has reported a revenue of about $40 billion in one particular year, all through advertisements. We can only expect these numbers to grow.

In order to view how tech companies such as Facebook use the data that it records about you, consider taking a look at their data policy.

However, like every other tech company, your data is not necessarily secure with Facebook. Surrounding Cambridge Analytica, which is a 3rd party firm found access to more than 87 million accounts on Facebook without the permission of the users.

The biggest risk that surrounds this entire fiasco, is that of getting hacked.

For instance, each and every business stores information about you when you conduct a transaction. Anyway, a tech company that you have previously done business with gets hacked, your data is also likely to get leaked. In case you use the same password for every other online activity, you are at an even greater risk.

Another example of a privacy breach was the event earlier this year, in which hackers found access to 50 Million Facebook user accounts. At this point, all the information of users were accessible to the hackers. While this may sound like a one-off event, the truth is that hacking is not that difficult after all. Most of the hackers use brute force attacks to hack user accounts. Hacking a single low security account can result in a lot of online havoc.

Another reason why your data is not safe with tech companies is that your digital life, and all your transaction history is likely to outlive you. In the digital age, internet is going to go long way. Hence, your data is susceptible to getting misused perhaps 50 years from now or let’s say a 100 years. Nevertheless, you can never be completely sure that tech companies have your data safely packed away while these companies themselves are the most vulnerable.