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While you may regard your data, whether of the personal or more sensitive type, as sacrosanct to your needs, you can bet others regard it in a more laissez-faire or commercial sense.  To them, and I am referring to that unsavoury breed known as hackers here, data is a modern currency used to facilitate deals.  Any issues regarding privacy are there to be circumvented by whatever means possible.  A recent report, released by Kaspersky, as part of the Safer Internet Day initiative, emphasises the current state of affairs regarding how consumers regard privacy and the misuse of personal data.

This report, while advocating the use of a number of Kaspersky's excellent security solutions, found that over half of Internet users questioned, some 56%, have admitted that, in their opinion, complete privacy in our modern digital world is currently impossible.  When you consider that nine out of ten consumers venture several times on a daily basis to satisfy their surfing needs, you realise the seriousness of the situation with regards to privacy as activities, such as shopping, movie watching, job hunting, banking and communicating with others, are carried out as part of the usual daily routine of many users. 

The breadcrumbs left behind on each of these multitude of visits only add to the difficulty of keeping personal privacy under some sort of "lock and key" protection.  The Kaspersky report indicates that 32.3% of users, approximately one-in-three, confess that they do not know how to fully protect their online privacy when using the Internet.  More worrying is the fact that one-in-ten people questioned had lost interest in how to carry out the necessary steps in order to improve their privacy when online.  They would rather take a chance on having their data falling victim to unauthorised access than by applying restrictions.  Around 18% would happily sacrifice their privacy and share their data with others if they were promised something for free.

Using the recent incident when Kim Kardashian was robbed in Paris 2016 as an example, the Kaspersky report feels that sharing information via social media outlets has an obvious open-door approach and can result in disastrous long-term consequences.  In this instance, the robbers were felt to have used information gleaned from social media sources when planning and carrying out their raid of certain premises. 

You need to be aware that the use of facilities such as Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter could come back and bite you in unexpected ways from both hackers and more  legitimate sources.  I recently read of an individual being brought to book when images of him taking part in physical activities while he was claiming disability benefits.  His actions resulted in a court case.

While you may not have been a victim of privacy invasion, there are many who have not been so lucky especially, according to the Kaspersky report, with the younger generation.  According to Kaspersky, 26% of those questioned claimed to have had their personal, private data accessed and this figure increased to 31% with those aged between 16 and 24 years.  For some the breech of their privacy was followed by their data being stolen and abused in various ways.

To aid us being safe when venturing into the online world and prevent us from falling victim to privacy abuse and data misuse, Kaspersky offers the following advice.  You should think twice before posting too much personal information on social media channels as this information could be accessed by anybody.  Do not share passwords or permit access to your data with third parties unless it is absolutely necessary and you have checked them out.  Kaspersky also has the following solutions that will aid your safety when dealing with the Internet and the threats you may encounter.

How safe is your data and various online activities?

While you may regard your data, whether of the personal or more sensitive type, as sacrosanct to your needs, you can bet others regard it in a more laissez-faire or commercial sense.  To them, and I am referring to that unsavoury breed known as hackers here, data is a modern currency used to facilitate deals.  Any issues regarding privacy are there to be circumvented by whatever means possible.  A recent report, released by Kaspersky, as part of the Safer Internet Day initiative, emphasises the current state of affairs regarding how consumers regard privacy and the misuse of personal data.

This report, while advocating the use of a number of Kaspersky's excellent security solutions, found that over half of Internet users questioned, some 56%, have admitted that, in their opinion, complete privacy in our modern digital world is currently impossible.  When you consider that nine out of ten consumers venture several times on a daily basis to satisfy their surfing needs, you realise the seriousness of the situation with regards to privacy as activities, such as shopping, movie watching, job hunting, banking and communicating with others, are carried out as part of the usual daily routine of many users. 

The breadcrumbs left behind on each of these multitude of visits only add to the difficulty of keeping personal privacy under some sort of "lock and key" protection.  The Kaspersky report indicates that 32.3% of users, approximately one-in-three, confess that they do not know how to fully protect their online privacy when using the Internet.  More worrying is the fact that one-in-ten people questioned had lost interest in how to carry out the necessary steps in order to improve their privacy when online.  They would rather take a chance on having their data falling victim to unauthorised access than by applying restrictions.  Around 18% would happily sacrifice their privacy and share their data with others if they were promised something for free.

Using the recent incident when Kim Kardashian was robbed in Paris 2016 as an example, the Kaspersky report feels that sharing information via social media outlets has an obvious open-door approach and can result in disastrous long-term consequences.  In this instance, the robbers were felt to have used information gleaned from social media sources when planning and carrying out their raid of certain premises. 

You need to be aware that the use of facilities such as Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter could come back and bite you in unexpected ways from both hackers and more  legitimate sources.  I recently read of an individual being brought to book when images of him taking part in physical activities while he was claiming disability benefits.  His actions resulted in a court case.

While you may not have been a victim of privacy invasion, there are many who have not been so lucky especially, according to the Kaspersky report, with the younger generation.  According to Kaspersky, 26% of those questioned claimed to have had their personal, private data accessed and this figure increased to 31% with those aged between 16 and 24 years.  For some the breech of their privacy was followed by their data being stolen and abused in various ways.

To aid us being safe when venturing into the online world and prevent us from falling victim to privacy abuse and data misuse, Kaspersky offers the following advice.  You should think twice before posting too much personal information on social media channels as this information could be accessed by anybody.  Do not share passwords or permit access to your data with third parties unless it is absolutely necessary and you have checked them out.  Kaspersky also has the following solutions that will aid your safety when dealing with the Internet and the threats you may encounter.

• Kaspersky Security Cloud
• Kaspersky Internet Security
• Kaspersky Password Manager