Search This Blog

Internet and the personal data security

Whoever has an internet email account would have, one time or the other, come across mails from unknown senders seeking your help in transferring mind-boggling sums of money to your account for some commission. The other way of luring gullible people on the internet is to send mails saying that you are the lucky winner of a wellknown company's promotional campaign.

During the initial days of this phenomenon on the internet, there were many people who were tempted by this sudden opportunity and shared some vital personal information hoping that they would achieve financial freedom easily. If that is so easy, then nobody in this world needs to work.

Nigeria has one of the main sources for these kind of mails and what I learn is that they are keen on collecting as much as possible personal details of a legitimate person to indulge in all kinds of terror on the internet.

One of my cousins who was contacted by this internet scam mail group sometime back, forwarded his details and waited patiently for many days to hear back from them. But they never came back because their intention is to collect as much as possible personal information and use it elsewhere. I myself called the phone numbers given in the mail only to find that nobody picked up those calls.

Now why suddenly this has gained prominence is because of the fact that these scamsters have started sourcing contact details from reputed internet sites like naukri.com, where job seekers store their personal data. Naukri.com, which hosts your resume on their portal allows paid users, mostely prospective employers, to access all personal information of the candidates to identify suitable persons for the job. These scamsters have started enrolling for this service of naukri.com and has started sending out mails to people who have their resumes stored. I am not sure if naukri.com does a antecedent's check of the person who wants to use the database of job seekers, before providing them with access. Of course, naurki.com's terms and conditions may protect them against possible legal action but that is not in the right spirit. As a custodian of personal data of many people, Naukri.com can't wish away their liability in case of any untoward incident. We hardly ever read any of the terms and conditions on any of the internet sites. We would have signed without even giving a cursory look at the terms and conditions.

I myself was surprised when a message from a so called "Landmark Bank (UK)" landed up in my inbox. This was a personal message addressed to my name and the sender of the message has very clearly mentioned that he has obtained my email id from Naukri.com. In that mail he seeks my help in transferring a huge amount of money through wire-transfer to my account for a 40% commission.

I have referred the issue to naukri.com as I think it is an abuse of the privilege. I am yet to hear from them. In the meantime, now I am getting worried as to the safety of other information like passport number, date of birth and other details which are stored online in these accounts. It is dangerous if any of the unscrupulous elements gets hold of these data and uses it for any other purpose. It is really scary to note how vulnerable internet is. I am not sure if this is limited to naukri.com or people have received mails from other sites as well.

Beware of this and take steps to ensure that you dont compromise on your personal data security.

No comments: