The Massive Hack of Anthem Insurance: Career in Security Anyone?
Looking for a career? Try the security field. This is following up on yesterday's post, where we expressed the opinion that two growing fields were worth considering if you're starting out in the job market, or even if you're looking to change careers: compliance and security.
Meanwhile, in case you missed it, Anthem, a huge health insurer, was recently hacked. A company's data being hacked isn't news anymore. It's become part of daily life in a world dependent on technology. But to illustrate how huge Anthem is, and how bad this particular hack really was, they finally disclosed that almost 80 million people's information was hacked: 80 million!
Naturally, the disclosure was presented in a manner designed to mollify those whose identities were stolen, as well as the rest of us. But the impact of this particular hack does appear to be in a class of its own at this point.
Those whose SS#'s were stolen need to be vigilant and monitor all their accounts, especially online accounts. Any strange or suspicious activity needs to be addressed quickly, before things get out of hand. As for the rest of us, it's a scary world out there, and it's getting scarier. Getting back to our original point, that's why a career in security of all kinds holds such promise. In this case, it would be cyber security, of course.
So there it is, a bit of career advice for those who want it.
Meanwhile, in case you missed it, Anthem, a huge health insurer, was recently hacked. A company's data being hacked isn't news anymore. It's become part of daily life in a world dependent on technology. But to illustrate how huge Anthem is, and how bad this particular hack really was, they finally disclosed that almost 80 million people's information was hacked: 80 million!
Naturally, the disclosure was presented in a manner designed to mollify those whose identities were stolen, as well as the rest of us. But the impact of this particular hack does appear to be in a class of its own at this point.
The attack exposed names, birthdays and Social Security numbers, among other data, but still doesn’t appear to involve medical information or financial details such as credit-card or bank-account numbers, Anthem said.The phrase "still doesn't appear to involve..." was strategically places to distract your attention from what precedes it, the key to the disastrous nature of this hack: Social Security numbers. Think about it. Once someone has your Security Security number, what are you going to do about it? It's not like someone hacking into your email or financial account. There you can change passwords to prevent them from returning. It's happened to me. It's not pleasant, but you deal with it. In fact, someone I know personally had money withdrawn from their checking account at a big bank in another hack. The money - after some difficulty - was restored. But if someone has your Social Security number, they can open accounts in your name. What do you do then? As opposed to changing passwords to prevent a recurrence, how do you change your Social Security number? I suppose it's possible, but, frankly, I don't know how you do it.
Those whose SS#'s were stolen need to be vigilant and monitor all their accounts, especially online accounts. Any strange or suspicious activity needs to be addressed quickly, before things get out of hand. As for the rest of us, it's a scary world out there, and it's getting scarier. Getting back to our original point, that's why a career in security of all kinds holds such promise. In this case, it would be cyber security, of course.
So there it is, a bit of career advice for those who want it.
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