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Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

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Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#41
post #8

I'm not particularly worried, Google and Facebook have two of the best security teams in the world and spend an amazing amount of money to protect customer data. The amount of convenience I get from Facebook and Google outweigh the risk I'm exposed to in my opinion. If Governments want to create data protection regulations I'll save my opinion until I see whatever regulation is proposed but I think it'll be difficult…

>I'm not particularly worried, Google and Facebook have two of the best security teams in the world and spend an amazing amount of money to protect customer data.

The fact that they have the best engineers and the best infrastructure, doesn't mean that they are able to find all vulnerabilities and fix them in time. The only way to do it, is to have a proof that system is secure which is beyond our reach today.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#42

As far as I know google/Facebook doesn't have my SS number, dl license number etc. I would be more worried if they hacked my bank account etc.

Are you sure that you don't have your SS or DL number somewhere on google or Facebook? You accountant might have sent you your tax return in pdf via email. You might have took a picture of a document where your SSN appears.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#43

Why does it feel like there is a barrage of propaganda being published against tech companies right now?

Think it is pretty clear there is. Now for what purpose and whom? Is it to create more distrust in the US? Is it to try to get us to destroy ourselves from within?

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#44
People don't understand why it's dangerous because such hacks are what Taleb calls black swans. They are really rare, but their results might be catastrophic in unforeseen way.

Those who thinks that Google and Facebook have harmless data compared to Equifax, imagine what criminals might do with all your information located there to target you. Add here AI technologies, like NLP and speech synthesis, and it gets really scary. Think about massive but at the same time highly targeted social engineering attack abusing all this information.

We should not allow this to happen and it's better to prevent it now, not after the moment such attack happens. Markets won't solve this problem due to rarity of such events. Only legislation can help here.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#45
post #8

I'm not particularly worried, Google and Facebook have two of the best security teams in the world and spend an amazing amount of money to protect customer data. The amount of convenience I get from Facebook and Google outweigh the risk I'm exposed to in my opinion. If Governments want to create data protection regulations I'll save my opinion until I see whatever regulation is proposed but I think it'll be difficult…

> I'm not particularly worried, Google and Facebook have two of the best security teams in the world and spend an amazing amount of money to protect customer data.

But the Google and Facebook security teams are particularly motivated to protect Google and Facebook, not me. If our interests happen to align, then I reap the benefits; but if they conflict, or even if they don't align particularly well, then the sterling quality of those teams becomes more or less useless to me.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#46
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you. But one still has to wonder who watches the watchmen.

Crazy libertarian SREs. :-P

> Crazy libertarian SREs. :-P

A Google search didn't immediately clarify. What is 'SRE'? The most plausible de-abbreviation I could find was "site reliability engineer".

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#48
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crazy libertarian SREs. :-P

> Crazy libertarian SREs. :-P A Google search didn't immediately clarify. What is 'SRE'? The most plausible de-abbreviation I could find was "site reliability engineer".

That'd be the right abbreviation.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#49
post #8

I'm not particularly worried, Google and Facebook have two of the best security teams in the world and spend an amazing amount of money to protect customer data. The amount of convenience I get from Facebook and Google outweigh the risk I'm exposed to in my opinion. If Governments want to create data protection regulations I'll save my opinion until I see whatever regulation is proposed but I think it'll be difficult…

I can't say I'm that concerned about those regulations being an expensive burden on companies. I'm more concerned about them being effective.

Re: Forget Equifax. Facebook and Google Have the Data That Should Worry You

#50
post #47

Do they? Cause Equifax has my financial info. Facebook and Google know that I like cat videos.

Exactly. Also, people opt in to Google and Facebook, at least to some degree. I never consented to Equifax having my data, and I got nothing in return for it. It's the difference between a free transaction - even one you regret later - and theft.
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