Data, and the Damage Done

The world of data takes many curious turns.

Recently, my favorite credit card (mileage plan, of course!) was declined while traveling. Beyond the momentary awkwardness was the confusion. Namely, what happened?!

I was at the W Hong Kong trying to check out of my hotel when this happened and was the last time I traveled without a back-up. Of course, when I got home, my mailbox had a letter from the credit card company including a new piece of blue plastic. In vague terms, the letter explained that my card may have been one of many “compromised” at a certain (unnamed) vendor. As a precaution, and for my safety, they turned it off and immediately shipped a new one.

Maybe this seems ok or cursory from the outside, but my concerns are many. One is why, in a modern age, I am not text alerted immediately? Secondly, why is it ok to not disclose the name of the vendor where the data breach occurred? Each company now that takes credit cards, or does online payments, etc. is accountable for securing their customers’ data. Having worked at an innovative information security company that specialized in cybersecurity and breaches, I am not one to just kick back and assume large companies are doing their jobs keeping my data and credit information safe. Hello, Equifax.

Also, did I tell you how easy to is to breach security at a large bank or retailer? My old team knew.

No doubt, the bank did the right thing by cutting off my card, leaving me stranded on Lantau Island in the process, but no big. But does that mean the company whose data was breached is also taking extra precautions to do the right thing? Question answer is maybe, possibly…hopefully?

Ultimately, I should have the choice of knowing, and then deciding how I want to continue doing business with them. Perhaps I choose to start using cash only, or possibly find another like-company to swipe away at my leisure.

Luckily the media is regularly publishing news about the data breach du jour. Just today, a high-end yoga supplies vendor sent me snail mail about a security breach on their vendor ordering site. Oftentimes, once they discover a breach, enough time has gone by that we pretty much miss the point. As hackers get increasingly more sophisticated, I am certain no letter or text alert would do any good whatsoever. In this case, the breach was February 22nd, but I was notified on April 4th.

Once the breach, then the damage done.

With any breach of data, there comes a breach of trust, and this also occurs when a company who knowingly covers up a data breach or underplays its severity. There is also the breach of trust where your information is used against you, such as the recent Facebook sharing of the personal data of 87 million of its users to Cambridge Analytica and all emotion on its intentions.

All this inspired me to comb through all my apps and cached pages, not to mention which sites ask me to acknowledge the use of cookies, etc. What I found on Facebook gave a glimpse, a mirror-reflection of what people buying information about me think I am.

They couldn’t have been more off target. That was almost more disturbing than being right with laser-tight precision. Would you like to meet the online me? I know I would. Politics=wrong. Interests=somewhat right, but also sometimes wrong. Gender=mish-mashed.

A lover of luxury goods and exotic travel= finally, guilty as charged, insert blushing emoji.

Here is a real-time example of how this data gets turned into marketing to online “me”.

Towards the end of last year, every sponsored advertisement on my Instagram feed was in a foreign language, one that I do not speak. I was advertised bespoke rabbit hair slippers, nightclubs, cookbooks, and automobiles. I am a male/female demographic marketed in a language of a country I only traveled through once. Over the months, there was not one single thing that I found interesting or would have considered buying. What I did contemplate was jettisoning off Instagram all together.

The erroneous algorithm was stubborn. Even after months of providing “it’s not relevant” feedback when blocking their sponsored ads, the ads kept popping up. No, I don’t want to spend the winters in cold northern climes, nor purchase new steak knives or colorful wool socks.

Damn you, bespoke velvet smoking jackets!

Come January, I had regained my American identity and now all my ads are around American “stuff” which is equally problematic because things like processed foods- Uncle Bens rice, Stouffers, Reese's- popped up. Please note, all of the people that I follow on Instagram are vegan, raw foodies or high-end chefs and I shop at Whole Foods exclusively. Although I love to follow these people, none of them, myself included, would dream of buying these types of products.  

Where they hit it out of the park is the luxury goods, and God knows, I’m easy prey. Constantly bombarded daily by Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, with the occasional outlier Nordstrom, their cashmere sweaters have me at hello. They know I am a woman (thank you) with a penchant for the finer things. They know I can afford their clothes (thank me). At this point, probably a hundred clicks in and many a joyful purchase made, I pretty much love everything they display. I even have captain sliders for clothing options as I try in vain to stay focused on the task at hand.

Last week, Saks Fifth Avenue in the news for a data breach and shivers shoot down my spine. And yes, I possess enough self-control to think twice about ordering from the site again. Why? Because I heard about it in the news, never from the vendor directly.

Again, that little thing we call trust.

Data is more than just data. It’s about me, a human being. As data gets accumulated, soused out, and distributed, the part that is authentically my soulful self is being broken apart, distortedly reconfigured, and sometimes stolen from me.

On some level, the accountability is on me for sharing, opining and putting myself out there. But for the most part, it is on how companies are using data and how important it is for them to invest in ways to respect people, the very ones who keep them in business.  

#data #datasecurity #databreach #accountability #facebook #cambridgeanalytica