Dominique Smith | Staff writer

Sept. 18, 2014

On a routine afternoon, with sheer boredom fueling your movements you log into your Facebook page, you notice that you have a message from your friend John Doe, or Jane Doe, and in that message they ask “Hey is this you?” and what follows is a link that does not quite show up in blue like normal links and they keep sending messages of “hey.” They sound nothing like your friend.

Most likely it is a hacker praying upon the easiness of their passwords or figuring out their security question.

This as well as Data breaches all over the United States has been taking place. Some breaches are even more damaging than having to change your password. It causes you to need a new bankcard or social security number.

June 16, Riverside City College was caught up in a breach that affected 35,212 students. This means social security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and birth dates were misplaced, all because an employee who remains anonymous made a typo to an email address.

Even though that individual most likely did it on accident, they did enough to cause the campus to implement a credit watch for students affected by the breach for one year.

We have become a world dependent upon technology, and no one is complaining but when is enough enough ?

Most of us do not even put thought into our passwords, or where we swipe our bankcard.

We are a generation that does not pay attention.

I use the same password for every social media network, and it certainly frustrates me when I sign up for a new website that ask me to use characters and symbols or makes me rewrite each password a million times because it in, the sites opinion not, difficult enough.

No matter how frustrating that situation can be, it is more alarming that not everyone has such security measures in place.

Apple is set to launch their latest iPhone creation and even they have been victims of hacking.

As more and more people buy Apple products they use something known as the iCloud, for android users it is the same principal.

The iCloud is easily breached, an individual can guess your passwords multiple times, and your security question with out being notified or properly identified.

For the victims of the celebrity hacks Apple released at statement claiming the attacks were “Targeted.”

When I Googled the Facebook hacks, I received multiple links that taught me how to do it.  I found a website that featured a tutorial video. They bragged about being in the New York Times right on their website.

There has to be something done about hacking, and data breaching. Our school being a victim shows our own venerability.

In 1998, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrent Act passed. That law is supposed to protect individuals from identity theft, but the anonymity of hacking from a computer provides protection to these cyber monsters.

An update to that law should be in place protecting credit cards, websites, and personal information.

Even knowing that the place you file your taxes might leak your information or could be subject to a hacker means your identity and information is exposed. What a scary notion. Even pumping gas can cause you to loose your private information.

UPS and Chase bank have been involved in breaches recently according to the ITRC identity theft report of 2014.

Apple will release its new phone Sep. 19. The phone is going to be more dependent on the iCloud, and in response Apple has added a two-factor authentication, which sends a code when you log into your iCloud from a new device.

As more places fall victim to data breach like Home Depot and the Goodwill its only a matter of time before every single American has lost a piece of their digital self.

It might be wise to start only carrying cash, and steering clear of that iCloud, which might burst someday.