File system. We can now do things that were impossible a few years ago, and existing ethical … 8 video chat apps compared: Which is best for security? Not long ago, a breach that compromised the data of a few million people would have been big news. Date:  December 2018Impact: 162 million user accountsDetails: In December 2018, New York-based video messaging service Dubsmash had 162 million email addresses, usernames, PBKDF2 password hashes, and other personal data such as dates of birth stolen, all of which was then put up for sale on the Dream Market dark web market the following December. The breach was discovered in January 2009 when Visa and MasterCard notified Heartland of suspicious transactions from accounts it had processed. As an increasing number of companies collect data, the likelihood of hackers infiltrating systems and taking it goes up. The breach was discovered on July 29, but the company says that it likely started in mid-May. The Heartland breach was a rare example where authorities caught the attacker. Editor's note: This article, originally published in March 2014, is frequently updated to account for new breaches. The company asked customers to change their passwords. Date: March 2020Impact: 538 million accounts Details: With over 500 million users, Sina Weibo is China’s answer to Twitter. Yahoo claimed that most of the compromised passwords were hashed. The 15 biggest data breaches of the 21st century Data breaches affecting millions of users are far too common. The online auction giant said hackers used the credentials of three corporate employees to access its network and had complete access for 229 days—more than enough time to compromise the user database. Dubsmash acknowledged the breach and sale of information had occurred — and provided advice around password changing — but failed to say how the attackers got in or confirm how many users were affected. It also said that since doesn't store passwords in plaintext, users should have nothing to worry about. The same vendor was also selling information taken from other Chinese giants such as Tencent’s QQ.com, Sina Corporation and Sohu, Inc. NetEase has reportedly denied any breach. For example, if a company sends an email to someone in the European Union and got their address from an entity that may have unethically acquired the data, the person could become wary and contact the company to assert they have never done business with the enterprise or even heard of them, so they certainly did not provide consent. If a seller obtained data through illegitimate means, they might not want to be forthcoming with their name or other details. Two a series of reports detail Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data and how it was allegedly used to underpin efforts to manipulate the 2016 presidential election. Get tips on incorporating ethics into your analytics projects. The company was criticized at the time for a lack of communication with its users and poor implementation of the password-renewal process. Information Business Even though digital information is evolving at a rapid pace, the world is still document-centric. Failing to include number of eligible partici-pants. However, according to a later post by Canva, a list of approximately 4 million Canva accounts containing stolen user passwords was later decrypted and shared online, leading the company to invalidate unchanged passwords and notify users with unencrypted passwords in the list. Date: 2013Impact: 360 million user accountsDetails: Though it had long stopped being the powerhouse that it once was, social media site MySpace hit the headlines in 2016 after 360 million user accounts were leaked onto both LeakedSource (a searchable databased of stolen accounts) and put up for sale on dark web market The Real Deal with an asking price of 6 bitcoin (around $3,000 at the time). Date: March 2008Impact: 134 million credit cards exposedDetails: At the time of the breach, Heartland was processing 100 million payment card transactions per month for 175,000 merchants — mostly small- to mid-sized retailers. Compliance and Business Innovation When the U.S. based non-profit organization RHD | Resources for Human Development decided to move its operations into the cloud, one of its top priorities was compliance. Date: October 2013Impact: 153 million user recordsDetails: As reported in early October of 2013 by security blogger Brian Krebs, Adobe originally reported that hackers had stolen nearly 3 million encrypted customer credit card records, plus login data for an undetermined number of user accounts. They may also ask for payment through a method that’s hard to trace, like cryptocurrency. These ethical issues related to such data in databases can be examined from three perspectives: Ethical responsibilities of … The code of ethics of the American Sociological Association advises sociologists to "adhere to the highest possible technical standards that are reasonable and responsible in their research…act with honesty and integrity; and avoid untrue, deceptive, or undocumented statements…and avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflict." 3 UK Data Service – Big data and data sharing: Ethical issues This a brief introduction to ethical issues arising in social research with big data. Then in December 2016, Yahoo disclosed another breach from 2013 by a different attacker that compromised the names, dates of birth, email addresses and passwords, and security questions and answers of 1 billion user accounts. But, when companies buy what criminals have to sell, they incentivize them to continue. We trust big data and its processing far too much, according to Altimeter analysts. According to the company, lost data included email addresses, passwords and usernames for “a portion of accounts that were created prior to June 11, 2013, on the old Myspace platform.” According to Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned, the passwords were stored as SHA-1 hashes of the first 10 characters of the password converted to lowercase. In 2012 the company announced that 6.5 million unassociated passwords (unsalted SHA-1 hashes) were stolen by attackers and posted onto a Russian hacker forum. The FriendFinder Network, which included casual hookup and adult content websites like Adult Friend Finder, Penthouse.com, Cams.com, iCams.com and Stripshow.com, was breached in mid-October 2016. The 4 pillars of Windows network security, Why CISOs must be students of the business. The United NationsFundamental Principles of Official Statistics, the International Statistical Institute's Declaration on Professional Ethics, and the American Statistical A… – Halliburton has been accused of overbilling the US army for food and oil supplies during the Iraq war, 2003. Some are rooted in time and will never change, while others are brought about by new changes in technology. Weibo acknowledged the data for sale was from the company, but claimed the data was obtained by matching contacts against its address book API. How to master email security... 10 things you should know about dark web websites. This unethical practice essentially tricks a website buyer into thinking a website transaction is complete when, in fact, the business never gets notice of the sale, and the money is lost offshore. LinkedIn acknowledged that it had been made aware of the breach, and said it had reset the passwords of affected accounts. Data breaches dominate news headlines in today’s society. Data Storage; Contact; Select Page. Another example of data getting out of hand, said Buytendijk, is data integration projects in the public sector, resulting in identity theft victims being persistently arrested. Whichever ethical requirement may be chosen, the history of human research offers grim examples of its violation. And, experts say the overall worth goes up in multiples of five for each piece of supplementary information, such as a name or an address. For example, an audit by the General Accounting Office of the information system for the Federal Family Education Loan Program, published on June 12, 1995, found that the system "did not adequately protect sensitive data files, applications programs, and systems software from unauthorized access, change, or disclosure." Bad Data Ethics Examples. But, it’s still possible to check domain name registrations or see when a business first appeared on Facebook when deciding whether to proceed with buying data. Yahoo revised that estimate in October 2017 to include all of its 3 billion user accounts. Date:  September 2019Impact: 218 million user accountsDetails: Once a giant of the Facebook gaming scene, Farmville creator Zynga is still one the biggest players in the mobile game space with millions of players worldwide. Companies collect and store a wealth of information about customers in their databases. Date: July 29, 2017Impact: 147.9 million consumersDetails: Equifax, one of the largest credit bureaus in the US, said on Sept. 7, 2017 that an application vulnerability in one of their websites led to a data breach that exposed about 147.9 million consumers. Create a file system client. Unethical data is more common than individuals think, but awareness can avoid the potential risks of using it. Taking that approach creates an ethical dilemma. Luis von Ahn, a computer scientist at CM… Storage, security and disposal of research data Your responsibilities. Oldsmar cyberattack raises importance of water utility... SolarWinds attack explained: And why it was so hard to... 9 types of malware and how to recognize them, The state of the dark web: Insights from the underground, How and why deepfake videos work — and what is at risk, What is the dark web? Whether it's surveilling or deceiving users, mishandling or selling their data, or engendering unhealthy habits or thoughts, tech these days is not short on unethical behavior. An About Us page, contact details and customer testimonials are some of the characteristics of a company webpage that could indicate trustworthiness. Create a directory client. Equifax was also slow to report the breach. Answer. Getting the data back prevents criminals from doing what they want with it, likely exploiting victims even more through their actions. The goal of the seller is to make a profit without revealing too much. These take on different flavors and have different levels of transparency. For example, if Gap Inc. were a client, and had supplied Retention Science with consumer data, that information would never be shared -- even anonymously -- with other retail clients. A federal grand jury indicted Albert Gonzalez and two unnamed Russian accomplices in 2009. Equifax was faulted for a number of security and response lapses. Date:  2012 (and 2016)Impact: 165 million user accountsDetails: As the major social network for business professionals, LinkedIn has become an attractive proposition for attackers looking to conduct social engineering attacks. These are the most prevalent issues nurses face. The social media giant said it had notified authorities about the incident and China’s Cyber Security Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it is investigating. Why is it that some studies only use data on certain cities and not others? Twitter, for example, left the passwords of its 330 million users unmasked in a log, but there was no evidence of any misuse. For example, if a company sends an email to someone in the European Union and got their address from an entity that may have unethically acquired the data, the person could become wary and contact the company to assert they have never done business with the enterprise or even heard of them, so they certainly did not provide consent. Passwords were not included, which may indicate why the data was available for just ¥1,799 ($250). Leading Tech Trends 2020 Cloud computing has become the norm. Ethical issues in nursing contain all the tough decisions the healthcare profession faces each day in caring for society. MyFitnessPal acknowledged the breach and required customers to change their passwords, but didn’t share how many accounts were affected or how the attackers gained access to the data. Create a parent directory. What happens if a journal requests your data? Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc. In November 2016, the amount paid to customers was reported at $1 million. Nonetheless, she suggested that it is important to understand what is at stake in these contexts. The information was being sold as part of a collected dump also including the likes of MyFitnessPal (more on that below), MyHeritage (92 million), ShareThis, Armor Games, and dating app CoffeeMeetsBagel. SETI@homeis probably one of the most famous examples of a collective action science experiment where everyday people are invited to run software that turns people’s personal computers into a supercomputer. Avoiding the snags and snares in data breach reporting: What CISOs need to know, 7 security incidents that cost CISOs their jobs, 7 overlooked cybersecurity costs that could bust your budget. 12 security career-killers (and how to avoid them). Nov 12, 2018 | Resources. This widespread adoption means that although it was once a ... SMEs & ERP Solutions Remaining competitive in the market is the primary goal of every business. CSO provides news, analysis and research on security and risk management, 10 things work-from-home employees can do now to help protect the network, Undervalued and ineffective: Why security training programs still fall short, How to select a DLP solution: 9 unusual considerations, How to defend against OAuth-enabled cloud-based attacks, How to harden Microsoft Edge against cyberattacks, The biggest data breach fines, penalties and settlements so far, Sponsored item title goes here as designed, CSO's ultimate guide to security and privacy laws, regulations, and compliance. More commercialized and set up websites or social media profiles to broaden their appeal customers in their databases was. Even when companies buy What criminals have to sell, they demonstrate a demand makes. 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