The past year has been something of a disaster for the modern consumer. Starting with the MONUMENTAL Equifax breach that started in March of 2017 and was not disclosed until 6 months after the fact, to the more recent-yet-equally-terrifying Cambridge Analytica scandal. 3 things are becoming increasingly apparent: Companies have incredible amounts of data on you, they're gathering more all the time, and they are doing less than the bare minimum to protect it. Both the Cambridge Analytica scandal as well as the Equifax breach brought the issues of data collection and data privacy to the forefront of our national dialogue for months.
Unfortunately, however, we have seen little change in the U.S. as a result of this ongoing conversation. Equifax is still around, and is actually up nearly $40/share since the announcement of the breach last September, despite the fact that one of their software engineers was convicted of insider trading, AND that the vulnerability that was exploited could have been patched months earlier. Cambridge Analytica filed for insolvency in March of this year, but we have received little in the way of answers from Facebook.
If anything good has come out of this situation, it's that at least the average consumer is becoming increasingly self-aware of the data footprint they leave behind, and is actively seeking ways to manage it. While there is nothing that anybody can do about the data that's already out there, there are things that can be done to limit what data you share in the future. It may seem like a half measure, it's a better solution than to keep bleeding personal information as most of us are currently.
If you're interested in reading more specifically about what has happened since the disclosure of the Equifax Breach, you can read a good report on the past year from Forbes HERE.
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