WASHINGTON — Four out of every 10 Americans have had their personal information stolen online, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Recent intelligence says the numbers will rise unless the public becomes more careful.
The National Counter Intelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has launched an aggressive campaign urging Americans to better protect their personal data. The crusade began in September as a result of the Office of Personnel Management data breach.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had more than 21 million people fall victim to the OPM breach, and more than 90 million victims of other breaches in the last couple of years,鈥� NCSC director William Evanina told 小萝莉影视. 鈥淪ome estimates we鈥檝e seen indicate that 47 percent of Americans have fallen victim to some theft of personally identifiable information.鈥�
The campaign includes four components: spear phishing awareness, understanding threats of social media deception, human targeting based on stolen personal data, and maintaining safety and security while traveling.
鈥淭he first segment we rolled out a month ago was on spear phishing 鈥� what it is and what can you do to protect yourself from it,鈥� Evanina said. 鈥淭his month, we鈥檙e rolling our social media deception campaign 鈥� the threats that are faced by American citizens from applications like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, which make available personal information for people to see.鈥�
According to campaign details, roughly 15 percent of people using social media don鈥檛 have privacy protocols set up. Therefore, 鈥渨e鈥檙e trying to make people aware that if you maximize your privacy settings, you鈥檙e going to minimize your risk of having your systems penetrated,鈥� Evanina said.
Also, he pointed out, 鈥渇oreign adversaries will use social media to exploit those they wish to target.鈥�
罢丑别听, “data breaches involving personal information result in a broad range of risks to individuals and organizations. 聽This includes identity theft, targeting of individuals with knowledge of sensitive government information and internal business processes, and other intelligence activities that use personal information of U.S. citizens to undermine national security.鈥�
In numerous hacking cases, cyber thieves use social engineering tactics or deceptive methods to trick email and social media users into clicking phony links that open their systems up to malware.
In many cases, Evanina said, the infection can compromise an entire organization鈥檚 systems.
This effort was launched a month before Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan鈥檚 email was hacked and released in part by WikiLeaks.
Evanina said the Brennan family hack is 鈥渁 learning tool 鈥� if something like this can happen to a director of a major intelligence agency, it can happen to you at home or at work.鈥�
He also pointed out that no system is completely fool proof.
It鈥檚 not clear how Brennan鈥檚 breach occurred, but it鈥檚 believed a hacker tricked an employee of a service provider into releasing access to Brennan鈥檚 account.
鈥淭here is no indication that any [of] the documents released thus far are classified,鈥� the CIA said in a statement. 鈥淚n fact, they appear to be documents that a private citizen with national security interests and expertise would be expected to possess.鈥�
In November, the NCSC will launch part three of its campaign, which will focus on human targeting.聽Evanina said it’s designed to detail 鈥渨hat our foreign adversaries can and will do to you predicated upon information that鈥檚 been stolen from you.鈥�
The final release, in December, will feature tips on maintaining personal safety while traveling.
