Serious Ongoing Concerns re: Hacking on the Internet

Hackers are highly motivated to obtain and then sell &/or use the information they obtain from illegal means of accessing the online files and records we have for illegal gain.  As such, there are serious ongoing hacking concerns each of us must be vigilant accessing the internet.

In a most recent newspaper account, there was a report that over 10 million customers of MGM Resorts international had their records accessed because MGM was hacked; it said someone had gained unauthorized access to the company’s “cloud” server. [The “cloud” being something everyone speaks highly about since businesses maintain their data and information on the internet and not on their premises].

It has been reported that Yahoo, owned by Verizon, allegedly has had  the largest data breach in U.S. history. Others are Capitol One [July, 2019: 100 million said to be 30% of the population]; Marriott [ 2018 500 million];  Equifax one of the three largest credit bureaus[ 2017 146 million accounts (names, birth dates, social security numbers, addresses and some driver’s license numbers + 209,000 U.S. credit card numbers were exposed).  2018,(they found an additional 2.4 million U.S. consumers’ names and partial driver’s license information were stolen)]. FEMA [2019 the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced about 2.5 million disaster victims] and, just one other familiar business is Facebook [2019 540 million records; they admitted it has not properly secured passwords].

Also, reported were other familiar companies with various types of content hacked, such as INSTAGRAM, EVITE, SPRINT, STATE FARM, CHOICE HOTELS, MOVIE PASS; DOOR DASH, ADOBE, DISNEY Streaming Services, MACY’S E-Commerce site, T-MOBILE, and ZYNGA are some of those identified via information and  data protection services.

Clearly, security issues on the internet can be compromised. 

Everyone has to be proactive, because  the question that is being asked is “not” who is next, but WHEN will be the next hacking!