Some 38 million pieces of personal data and information were badly kept due to a configuration defect in a software.
www.euronews.com
When I first came across that article, it looked ho-hum. Based on the deceptive headline, I figured - Another data breach, an Oops on Microsoft's part.
A closer look revealed that it wasn't a mistake on Microsoft's part, nor a 'defect'. It was users not thoroughly understanding their configuration options before deploying.
I have almost become numb to so-called data breaches. 90% of the time the data that was leaked or stolen was the same data you can pay a nominal fee and purchases lists of, anyway.
So some people in Russia now have my name, address and date of birth. I've worked for clients before who were in marketing, those lists can be easily bought, and some of them aren't very expensive, if you're not a perfectionist and will accept partly aged data.
My client used to amaze me with stories about how specific the lists are. He said something along the lines of: "If I wanted to buy a list today, specifically for ____ ethnicity, ____ age, who were mid-level managers, with 2 children, who own an SUV and have bought a grill in the last 30 days I could" (he would go on to list particularity after particularity until it got impressive). And I believed him, as I wrote scripts to manipulate many of his very interesting lists.
I think the media over sells these stories a little bit. Anyone can obtain all your basic data. All you need to worry about is your passwords and try not to lose physical control over your phone, IDs, text messages and emails. Those are the 4 elements that will be necessary to obtain credit and really use it. I haven't been able to open any significant account without those for 15 years.