Consequences of Cyber Breaches
The world has seen an increased use of the internet and its products from the recent decade that has brought various impacts to different people globally. People can now communicate and access information promptly and use multiple techniques to interact. Many companies are embracing this advancement in technology to ease their efficiency in production, customer and employee satisfaction, and to increase sales. Despite the clear advantages of using new technologies such as embracing virtual activities, corporations are at risk of attracting attacks that are detrimental to their existence and protection of their data. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address the possible consequences of cyber breaches and harassment.
Among the most used technologies right now are video conferencing and social media. Most recently, there has been a spiked use of zoom as the dominant video conferencing since the incidence of the corona. It has seen the company rise in the number of users from 10 million in December 2019 to over 200 million in March 2020 (Bond, 2020). This high number of users has increased the chances of a cyber breach as it presents a high possibility of having different kinds of people intrude or hack your ID and post negative messages for your audience. One of the occurrences of what is termed as “Zoombombing” has befallen many users around the world where trespassers takeover your video call and post offensive messages, images such as pornography, and hate speech (Bond, 2020).
“Zoombombing” has a tremendous intensity that the FBI has warned people from using Zoom. One such cyber breach happened to Mr. Dennis Johnson, a student who wanted to defend his doctoral dissertation using zoom video conferencing. He had his classmates, family members, close friends, and the dissertation committee among his audience (Bond, 2020). Moments after he was proceeding with his presentation, someone from the audience drew a male private organ on the screen. This incident destabilized the meeting as everyone in the audience froze, and the organizers had to suspend the video transmission to allow the removal of the intruder. It is evident from this that cyber breaches cause massive harm as, after this incident, it destroyed Mr. Johnson’s reputation to extend his self-esteem was affected, and he did not want to engage with people anymore (Bond, 2020).
Another incident that has gotten worldwide attention is the Cambridge Analytica scandal. As depicted by the documentary directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, and performances by Brittany Kaiser, David Carroll, Paul-Olivier Dehaye, “The Great Hack.” It accuses Cambridge Analytica of using private information of Facebook users to manipulate political opinions in Britain and the USA. Specifically, they were involved with the processes of Brexit and the US elections that made President Trump victorious. The film portrays how data can be utilized to determine the outcomes of unsuspecting subscribers, especially on social media. This incidence breaches privacy and confidentiality of personal information, which is unethical, and it shows it was used to give advantage to Trump and that it did not give Americans the chance to vote for their leader of choice.
In conclusion, cyber breaches are disastrous, as mentioned above, and it may cause trauma to the users of these new technologies. Besides, violations may cause financial losses, interruption of regular business activities, impact negatively on one’s reputation, and class action lawsuits, which can be costly. Therefore, tech companies should ensure that they put strict measures that provide the security of their users, data, and information to protect them from any harm. In my opinion, cyber breaches at times can be caused by the manufacturer when they fail to put in procedures of ensuring that they give adequate cybersecurity on their devices that provides loopholes for hackers to utilize.
References
Amer, K., & Noujaim, J. (2019). The great hack. The United States. Netflix
Bond, S. (2020). A must for millions, Zoom has a dark side — and an FBI warning. Retrieved 30 April 2020 from, https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/826129520/a-must-for-millions-zoom-has-a-dark-side-and-an-fbi-warning