Digital Natural Selection: Evolve or Become a Virtual Victim

(Photo via warungkopiseesharpminor.blogspot.com)

The buzz word around the interweb these days is privacy (and its apparent unsecured availability). I conduct the bulk of my daily tasks online (and on my BlackBerry) like millions of other plugged in citizens of this increasingly virtual world. There have been 3 major breaches that have sounded the alarm in the past month that should make you put your s%|t on lock down. If you don't take this seriously, you will succumb to Paqman's first law of Digital Natural Selection: the virtual ecosystem is a living, evolving environment, and you should adapt to its changing landscape. If not, you will become a victim (as your information will be used maliciously and your funds will become extinct).

Without going into a Do and Don't list on how you should surf or conduct your online activities, the second Law of Digital Natural Selection states that you must be act like a protector so that your private information can survive. Be smart and control your curiosity. If your friend sends you an email in which they state that you can make $1,000 an hour and the email has the worst grammar or spelling you've ever seen in your life, you should probably avoid hitting that link. If you are a clicking fiend and can't help yourself... Congratulations! You will be a prime candidate for Digital Natural Selection!

To avoid being left behind and to evolve out of the pond like the rest of us walking fish, be aware of your environment. That said, the holders of your private information need to assure the public at large that their information is safe. There have been some major cases of security neglect by well known companies and consumers need to be aware of them.

Sony

Sony's Playstation Network and Qriocity music service servers were compromised as a hacker has extracted over 100 million user accounts including names, email addresses and credit/debit card numbers. Sony is blaming Anonymous, a righteous faceless collective that attacks corporations with campaigns they label as virtual justice, for dropping a program on their server that allowed them to cop that treasure chest of info. (Paqnote: Anonymous has denied this hack attack) The blame here should be placed directly on Sony's shoulders for not catching this, including not securing their databases properly. This could have a negative effect on Sony's products and more importantly their sales. Consumers may be turned off by this breach and opt for other products and services, namely Microsoft and Nintendo.

Apple and Google

If you're a Mac head, you might not care about this but you will need to stick your head out of the bubble for a minute. Software engineers found a security issues with the iPhone and iPad where an unencrypted file is downloaded to your computer. This file contains all of your device based activities including were you have been and where you live. This file can easily be found with a bit of digging which is a hacker's dream come true. If an individual gets access to your computer, they can grab this file which contains data that can put your real life at risk. It took Apple a while to put forward a press release explaining the security issue. They passed it off as "whatever" and promised an update to the OS that will put an end to this tracking file. For a company that prides itself on customer service, this is a pretty lame response. In addition, it was claimed that everyone's favorite turtlenecking CEO Steve Jobs responded to a customer concern by email (he's done this in the past) about the issue and he said that the Android OS from Google does the same thing. Deflecting the issue is an Apple specialty. It would be great if companies would come out and say "Listen up! We screwed up...our bad. We'll get this fixed ASAP." Now Google and Apple are going to be sued by consumers. A little transparency goes a long way.

Your survival in this circuit board jungle is simple as long as you stay informed and continue to be aware of your activities. You can take off that tin foil hat because it really isn't that bad. Digital Natural Selection will swallow the weak, while the strong and prepared will survive.

-Paqman