Online Security

As a retail employee of a company that requires confidential information to start accounts, I often hear customers very concerned with giving out their private information to establish service.  Social Security numbers and credit card information is a sore subject for many people due to the consistent flow of security breach stories in the news.  I come from an era that grew up online shopping and I barely blink an eye when ever I enter my social security number, save a credit card on file, or sign up for auto-pay.

The worry for many people is that their information will be used to steal their identity or drain their bank account.  I do not balance a checkbook, I manage my account through an application on my phone.  I have a one-click option through Amazon rather than use an incognito browser to make a purchase.  I have had my credit card information stolen twice, but my bank was quick to recognize the charges weren’t me and they immediately refunded my money and shipped a new card.  This only reinforced my trust with the bank I use.  I also use a free credit score website to see if anyone is running my information.  This low monthly cost gives me peace of mind to shop and operate as I choose and helps me plan for my future for purchases I might make down the road. 

This week’s content in my marketing class covered security and privacy on websites and inspired me to look up some of the most famous breaches in recent history.   It was pretty alarming to see all the connections I have the sites that have been hacked, in which I made no changes to log in information or my credit cards associated with the security breaches.   For example, I found that Gawker, Fidelity, Target, Global Payment Systems, Adobe, Yahoo, Evernote, and even the Federal Reserve all have had issues in the last 5 years with their private customer data!

After doing my own research on security breaches and reading about the scale of the crimes that took place, I will definitely be more careful with my information going forward.  I read several articles including ones on CSO, SC Magazine, and GoLocal Prov News that detailed the major companies I listed above.  As an employee that works with customer privacy, I have always taken their personal information and followed protocol 100% to ensure they are taken care of.  The lessons I have learned this week have only reinforced me to continue to do so.