Hackers once again violate consumer trust

Companies have to find ways to protect private information

This Facebook hack is one that has the potential to get ugly.

It’s shrouded in mystery, which is troubling because it leaves open room for lots of speculation – and that’s rarely a good thing.

According to the Associated Press, a data breach gave hackers access to 50 million accounts. The article notes that Facebook considers another 40 million at risk – meaning a total of 90 million accounts potentially impacted.

The hack is unsettling enough, but compounding the problem is the fact that Facebook doesn’t know what, exactly, the hackers were after.

AP reports that attackers would have been able to view private messages or post on someone’s account, but there isn’t an indication that they did.

However, imagine someone being able to go through your private messages. That’s disturbing. People use the private message feature to have conversations that they don’t want to have broadcast to the world. It could be to share one’s phone number or address with a friend, or it could be a conversation about an illness or a personal problem. Or it could simply be a chat between two old friends – but the point is, it was held in a private message situation because people wanted the conversation to be private.

Now, it is unknown what – if anything – will happen going forward, because it’s not certain what the hackers were after. There are a lot of “what ifs” and “maybe” scenarios going on right now. Those hackers could take that information and post it in a public forum, or they could do absolutely nothing at all with it.

They may have stolen private information, or maybe not. It’s a complete unknown.

What we do know is this: people trust social media networks and online companies alike to keep their data and information secure. When a hacker accesses that private information, it creates a breach in the wall of trust between the customer and the business. Whether it’s a social media company, an email platform, a bank or an online shopping experience, customers want to know their information and data is secure and safe. Companies must make protecting information a top priority, or said companies will not succeed.

If Facebook wants to keep its customers, it has to do better.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?