Just like there are four seasons in a year, which occur every three months, it seems as if there is another company disclosing that x-amount of user’s data has been exposed to an unauthorized party — every three months. On Thursday, Under Armour had announced that roughly 150 million users of its MyFitnessPal app were affected by a company data breach. MyFitnessPal is an app where users can easily track their calories, workouts, and nutrients on a daily basis. I was drawn to this article because I am a user of the app and I was curious to read about another data scandal.
Under Armour has made the claim that even though the data was exposed to an unauthorized party, the usernames and passwords that were exposed have not been used to access the accounts of the MyFitnessPal users. But does this make it okay? Often times people use the same usernames and passwords for several different accounts. Can Under Armour confirm that the information leaked hasn’t had a trickle-down effect on my other accounts? While part of me wants to believe that there is an Edward Snowden of the hacking world and this person is just exposing the weak cyber security in place at these companies, another part of me wants to believe that this data is being sold on the dark web for people to mishandle. Either way, it is becoming more and more apparent that companies need to be doing more to ensure that the data of its users is secured.
While I did state that it feels that data breaches are beginning to happen more frequently, it doesn’t seem as if people care (or at least millennials). My friends and I discuss what is going on with these companies, but that doesn’t mean we stop using these apps or services. We act as if it’s no big deal. We are desensitized to the fact that unauthorized parties have access to our own personal data. The Facebook situation can be used as a prime example because all of my friends — myself included — still use the app. This is after it was discovered that Facebook knows a lot more about us than we originally thought and an unauthorized party had access to this data.
I wish I had the solution to these problems. I truly do. I wouldn’t do it for the money I would do it because it’s right. The #DeleteFacebook movement on Twitter is pointless and a terrible ploy by the company to save its dying business. In times like this, we need to work together as a country to work out these problems. If we don’t act quickly, we could see another blog like this in a few months from now.
Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/29/under-armour-announces-data-breach-affecting-150-million-myfitnesspal-app-accounts/?utm_term=.761d3ecd55ea
I found this post very interesting because I am an avid user of the myfitnesspal app. I agree with your point about how it seems that millennials often have their information exposed, but still continue to use the app and not necessarily care that their information has been shared. I can take myself for an example. I was alerted about this data breach, and even after reading the email I received, I still continued to use the app. I also can relate to your example about how when Facebook had a data breach, my friends and I still used Facebook like nothing had happened.
I think these data breaches can be blamed on both the apps and the users. I think it is the app’s fault because the app should be working much harder to secure user information. I also think it is the user’s fault because often times, myself included, users still use the apps even after knowing that data breaches occur, which can lead for even more data to get hacked into.
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/
I completely agree with you in the sense that we, as frequent internet users, willingly agree to have our data collected sometimes without even knowing who is receiving the information. It is a bit unnerving to think about, which I why I believe people sweep it under the rug so often. Like you said, several people are uncomfortable with the fact that third parties are collecting data from them – but does it really stop anyone from using these technologies? Most often the answer is no.
I believe it is the responsibility of these companies to make sure that they have a security system in place to protect their so-called “valued customers.” If we are so “valued,” why isn’t more being done to protect our information? I agree that it is a frustrating issue with no “black or white” solution, but I do believe the responsibility lies with the organization. Of course individuals should practice safe online habits such as switching between passwords and installing antivirus on their computers, but having information collected by an organization stolen is far out of our control. Big companies should step up and improve their security practices as technologies evolve.
It is true that, at contemporary society, while advanced internet service bringing huge convenience to our daily life, it also created ways that allow unauthorized third parties to use our private data stored online to backstabbed us easily.
We used to believe that, even if there is not really a very explicit social policy or law that designed to protect online users’ private information, as an unspoken, service providers should have the duty to keep its users’ data secure.
What brought up my concern about our personal information safety is the 2011 PlayStation Network outage, when personal details from approximately 77 million accounts were compromised and prevented users of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles from accessing the service.Sony confirmed that personally identifiable information from each of the 77 million accounts had been exposed (one of the largest information breach in the history).
Luckily, even though I am a play station at that time, since I was only in middle school at that time, I don’t really have a credit card at that time. But that is still a red alert to me. That is the first time I started to realize that even giant company like Sony still wasn’t able to 100% ensure the safety of our personal data.
Like what the author of this article claimed, In times like this, as potential victims of the information leak, we need to work together as a country to work out these problems. Companies like Under Armour definitely have the funds to invest in the security perspective, they just don’t want to invest in this area since its user haven’t show that strong need here. What we need to do is to force these companies to realize that there is a need to do so, and steadily make it as an unspoken social norm again, in this information era.