Everyone Knows Who You Are, And Companies Don’t care

This past July, Samsung was struck by a cyber-attack that compromised many users’ personal information. The names, demographics, dates of birth, and contact information of said users were all illegally accessed and acquired. This breach of security was not detected until the following month in August. Samsung was fully aware of the incident and its impact on August 4th.

They did not release a statement until September 2nd.

Critical information that is integral to the users’ lives was compromised fully, waiting to easily be used by nefarious individuals. Yet, Samsung felt that it was not necessary to inform the users of this breach until nearly a month after Samsung themselves became aware of it, and two months after the breach actually occurred. This lack of urgency is completely unacceptable.

Personal data is incredibly valuable. The entire technological industry is upheld by companies that gorge themselves on streams of information that is syphoned from phones, emails, and other technologies that are used daily. Entire apps are made solely for the purpose of extracting precious intelligence about their users. There is a saying surrounding the digital world – “If you are not paying for a product, then you are a product.” This product is worth billions of dollars if the spending of these major companies is to be believed. In 2020 alone, LinkedIn earned 3$ billion dollars by providing advertisements to their users. People’s pockets and especially the knowledge of what they like to empty them on is coveted fiercely in the technological world. It is chased down by the quickest of cheetahs.

On the other side of the coin, people’s data is not valued by the people themselves; the privacy and scarcity of it is. Obviously, people hope to limit how much is known about them by companies and malicious hackers to keep themselves safe. One small data leak can reveal a singular person’s social security number or their banking information, and this can cause huge damage. Identity theft or simply theft can cripple a person financially in a blink of an eye. The importance of personal data and the ability to limit who has it is indeterminable.

Imagine the damage that could be caused if a security breach such as the one that struck Samsung had revealed such sensitive info. The effect on people’s lives would have been catastrophic. This was a distinct possibility with this Samsung leak, and yet they handled the situation as sluggishly as a snail.

They did not care.

Companies are as fast as cheetahs for themselves, and as slow as snails for those they trample on. This needs to change. Legislation and policies must be put in place that require companies to inform users that a data leak has occurred the instant the company becomes aware of it, regardless of severity. Personal data has shown to be incredibly valuable, and that value should be reflected in how companies handle negative situations, even if it is not significant. People have the right to know if unsavory individuals know who they are.