The entire world depends on technology in different ways. In big sectors such as retail and natural resources, IT-based innovations and robotics advanced the business approach tenfold. Moreover, manpower is essential to look over the software that is programmed to do the job by itself. Even in the small things, people let their gadgets do the work.
That is why the more technology advance, the more risk must be taken to provide better services. This risk, however small it is, is all what hackers need to expose or extract valuable personal information. In turn, those ransacked data can become available in the black market.
Nonetheless, the growth of technology will not stop and humans will increasingly rely on the current innovation. Does society have to accept that hacking is a by-product of technology’s triumph?
Targeting Target
The biggest retail hacking in the U.S. victimized Target and its customers. Some 40 million credit cards and 70 million personal records were breached and stored at a remote server connected to Target’s own. All evidence points to an inside job, as the malware was installed on site. Nonetheless, a hack of this scale is a cause of concern for the company and the consumers. Two servers in each branch receive late-night system patches and reboots. Their point-of-sale application is connected to more than 170 devices in the store.
Recognizing the Problem
Anything that can be hacked will be hacked, especially for devices that rely on Internet connectivity. It has happened to a Californian electric grid in 2001 and the International Space Station in 2012.
The site datacenterjournal.com says data center infrastructure management services are mostly handled by third-party sources. Fortunately, computer programmers are determined to put a solid firewall to protect people’s personal data. The fight is happening on two sides, and it’s not just the hackers who are making the offensive.
Just like regular crime, it’s hard to anticipate who, when or where the next hack will happen. No one will admit that server breaches are normal, but it is. What everyone can do is contribute to safeguarding each devices.