Unless you’ve been staying offline – in which case you won’t even be reading this piece – chances are you’ve got some information stored online.
From basic ones like your name and address to something more personal like your health data, date of birth or credit card details.
It’s become so common that we sometimes don’t even think twice about keying in these bits of info whenever we start a new account.
Unfortunately, that means there’s a fair bit of data about us that can be stolen online, sometimes through no fault of our own.
Take, for example, the recent SingHealth breach in Singapore where the hackers accessed the information of 1.5 million people, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
And then there’s the Facebook fiasco earlier this year where the data of 87 million people around the world was improperly shared with British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Having your data stolen is the digital equivalent of losing your wallet – and will give you an equally big headache.
As long as there is information about you available online, you are vulnerable.
The concern is, we never quite know in what way our data will be used against us down the road once it gets in the hands of hackers.
If you’ve ever had your data stolen, here are 5 things you should immediately do in order to minimise the damage:
