‘Over-sharing’ Net users at risk of identity theft

A recent study by a global cybersecurity company revealed that a great majority of Internet users make their personal data available online, putting their lives at risk and exposing themselves to identity theft or financial attack.

Data sharing habits of 16,250 people in 17 countries around the world showed that majority or 93 percent of the respondents share data digitally, while almost half or 44 percent of Internet users share information publicly. And 21 percent even share data to strangers, according to Kaspersky Lab's My Precious Data: Stranger Danger report.

These habits are worse among younger generations, who are making large amounts of their personal information accessible to strangers, the study showed.

It also disclosed that one in five people admit that they share sensitive data with people they don't know well, and with strangers, exposing themselves to identity theft or financial attack by sharing financial and payment details (37 percent), scans of their passports, driving licenses and other personal documents (41 percent) or passwords (30 percent).

In addition, the survey showed that people share devices that store their precious data.

According to Kasperksy, one in 10 people have shared the PIN for accessing their device with a stranger and 22 percent have left their devices unlocked and unsupervised among a group of people. Nearly a quarter or 23 percent have given their device to another person to use for some time.

Furthermore, the study showed that young people are the most likely to share private and sensitive photos of themselves with others—61 percent of those aged 16 to 24 admit to this form of sharing, compared to just 38 per- cent of the over 55-year-olds.

This pattern also extends to financial information, with twofifths of young people sharing their financial and payment details (42 percent of 16 to 24-yearolds) with others, compared to just 27 percent of 55+ year-olds.

Andrei Mochola, head of Consumer Business at Kaspersky Lab, raises concern over these data sharing habits, saying over-sharing personal data with people and companies is a “really dangerous habit” to get into.

She urged people to think twice before they share important information publicly online.

She encouraged all Internet users to put safety measures in place to protect their data, and their privacy, should their devices or data fall into the wrong hands.

“By disclosing important and sensitive information with other people at the push of a button, you relinquish control over it, because you can't be sure where that data is going, and how it will be used,” she said. /