Thieves coming after your money is easy to understand. But, why would someone target your data?
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have been over 540 major data breaches reported for the first half of 2020, affecting over 160 million people. This easily tells you how valuable data can be to attackers nowadays.
Many people do not think of protecting data such as their email address, phone number, or personal ID number. However, these simple pieces of information are often targets for attackers. All forms of data are valuable in one way or another: a phone number, for example, can help an attacker impersonate someone and search for more connected identity information.
Protect your data and the data of others that you may handle. You can do this by never giving out information to anyone without explicit permission. Knowledge is your best defense: be aware of the different ways attackers can target your data and the various tricks that they use to convince you to hand it over.
When in doubt, always double-check with your management team! In today’s world, anything could be an attack, and your data is often the target.
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