Recently the business Insider published a article saying that the West was in danger more than ever and not because of hackers attacking our systems, but of something else and that report was fucking damning.
You see when companies store a lot of data on their hardware and when the time comes to upgrade the hardware, they sell all of the previous hardware with critical information already inside to a middleman who then will wipe out the data and put it up on sale.
Things like this is where the problems arise.
It’s not governments, no they’re really extreme on the security of the nation. It’s actually Companies who have a lot of stored data on servers they lease from other companies, which once they have stopped using are then assumed to be scrapped by he server companies and sold off.
Usually they are wiped before they are sold, however given how lax western companies are this is not the case and the middleman sometimes comes across vital and critical information such as:
- Codes for controlling multiple traffic lights in Spanish cities.
- A password directory for a major European Aerospace Manufacturer.
- Dutch public health insurance system, which includes social security numbers, addresses and a lot more personal data
The 21st century is an open book and no ones past or life is hidden no more because privacy has become commercialised, it can be bought and sold very easily.
Companies are actually not even lax but negligent about his issue, imagine you personal data ending up in the hands of someone else half way across the world and into the hands of stranger.
We really need to address the issue of our privacy and see how we can keep our private data safe from people who’d do us harm