Did you know the world was not only fighting a pandemic but with invaders of privacy too? The year 2020 not only exposed the vulnerability of the medical sector but also showed how data breach can land you into several troubles. It is not the first-time data breach has gained all attention but probably the first time given serious attention.
I remember in 2020 my credit card details got compromised and I suffered a loss of approximately Rs. 20,000/- unauthorised transaction that too card being in my possession (by the nature of the offence I got an idea that it is a kind of card cloning/card skimming). Obviously, I was having sound legal knowledge and I knew how to tackle the situation. I followed the steps and got the refund, all thanks to my corporate exposure and experiences in data privacy.
But I always wonder, if I also could be a victim of data breach even after being extra careful about my personal details and probably this is the reason, I limited my social media presence and restricted putting photographs on social media platforms. Although I handled my own case and took requisite steps in such a situation, in a country like India where literacy itself is a question and expecting legal literacy from the common people is definitely beyond expectation.
Nonetheless, making people aware of their privacy is the need of this information age. In today’s article we will discuss the top 5 data breach incidents that happened along with pandemic.
Juspay (August 2020)
Justpay is a partner for some leading e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Makemytrip, Swiggy, Yatra, Bookmyshow, Freecharge, Snapdeal etc. subsequently a team from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reached to the Key stakeholders including payment council of India in order to enquire the incident.
The data of almost 3.5 crore records with masked card data and card fingerprint were breached. Approximately, 10 crore non-anonymised, plain-text email IDs and phone numbers got compromised. Indeed, this is a huge loss and damage seems beyond repair.
Air India (May 2021)
The data registered with AI between August 26, 2011 to February 20, 2021 of customers got breached recently and affected almost around 4.5 million passengers. The details like passport, credit cards were compromised in the cyber-attack. However, Air India assured that no misuse of data so far has been reported or evidenced.
Subsequent to this data breach Mumbai based Lawyer, Adv. Zaman Ali served a notice to AI management and asked for damages of Rupees 15 lacs along with probe request.
Big Basket Data Breach (2020)
The online grocery store also became a victim of data breach and almost 2 crore of data including email IDs, phone numbers, order details etc. were leaked to dark web.
Zoom Data Breach (2020)
Due to worldwide lockdown when everyone was relying and working via zoom meetings, who knew their privacy would be at stake? Almost 5 lakhs zoom login data being sold on dark web for less than a rupee.
Unacademy Data Breach (2020)
The most trusted online learning platform also became a victim of data breach which exposed the details of almost 22 million users and was sold at darknet forum for $2000.
The take away from this article is nothing but a small reminder, change your passwords. Keep changing your passwords whenever you notice any suspicious activity. Be alert in your virtual world too. Provide only that information which is required, nothing more or less. Don’t click on any random URLs even if it is shared by your trusted contacts. Remove your card details after completing your transaction from any online portal.
Picture Credit- https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com