{"id":4884,"date":"2019-07-26T17:30:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T17:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=4884"},"modified":"2019-07-26T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T17:30:46","slug":"consumers-your-data-is-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Red nose clown smiling\" class=\"wp-image-4886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies do not care about protecting consumer data and the Equifax breach confirms this. Equifax faced a day of reckoning on Monday. The credit company was fined close to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/07\/25\/us\/equifax-700-million-settlement-data-breach-trnd\/index.html\">700 million<\/a> dollars for their 2017 attack . The hack exposed the data of over 143 million consumers. The breach leaked full names, date of births, SSN, Driver\u2019s license numbers, tax ID and other sensitive information. Sure, the company is being fined and victims are being compensated but does that fix the damage that accompanies leaked data? This sensitive information is exposed indefinitely for any one to misuse or exploit. And exploit they will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are Hackers a Myth?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Hacks and breaches have become extremely prevalent. Victims range from companies, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/ransomware-coming-to-a-city-near-you\/\">cities<\/a>, to entire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/bulgaria-the-land-of-roses-and-data-breaches\/\">nations<\/a>! Ironically, the more breaches are revealed, the clearer it becomes that companies have major holes in their security network. (One would think the reverse would occur.) &nbsp;Either companies don\u2019t think hackers are ruthless or they think our data is a joke and don\u2019t care enough to protect it. &nbsp;(I vote for the latter, what about you?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Every Company Should Care About Security<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Companies big and small, must understand that data is valuable. Why else would hackers go after it? Therefore, every company, whether it\u2019s a tech, beauty or car company, needs to have a security plan in place, consumers should be your number one priority and with consumers comes their data. Data that needs protection. &nbsp;This Equifax breach should set off alarms for all companies <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/09\/10\/unsecurity\/\">to reevaluate their security practices<\/a>. This could mean increasing the security budget, or implementing security awareness training. With the news of Windows 7 end of support, it also means migrating to the latest operating system, and tossing outdated and unprotected hardware. Whatever is needed to reduce the risk of a critical breach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consumer data is in fact not a joke and companies need to get serious about security. Hackers are becoming more and more vigilant, companies would be foolish not to follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are your thoughts on the Equifax fine? Was your data affected? Do you agree that our consumer data is a joke to many companies? Want to know if you&#8217;ve been affected by the Equifax breach? Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/enforcement\/cases-proceedings\/refunds\/equifax-data-breach-settlement\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies do not care about protecting consumer data and the Equifax breach confirms this. Equifax faced a day of reckoning on Monday. The credit company was fined close to 700 million dollars for their 2017 attack . The hack exposed the data of over 143 million consumers. The breach leaked full names, date of births, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1014,876,1013,47,1015,164,746],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-security","tag-consumer-data","tag-data","tag-equifax","tag-hackers","tag-joke","tag-security","tag-security-awareness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TechTonic Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zaudita Fender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zaudita Fender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zaudita Fender\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15\"},\"headline\":\"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\"},\"wordCount\":379,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"consumer data\",\"data\",\"equifax\",\"hackers\",\"joke\",\"Security\",\"Security Awareness\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Data Security\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\",\"name\":\"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15\"},\"description\":\"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg\",\"width\":6000,\"height\":4000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"TechTonic Times\",\"description\":\"Security I Networking I Storage I IT Staffing I Managed Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15\",\"name\":\"Zaudita Fender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zaudita Fender\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/author\/adminsupport\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times","description":"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times","og_description":"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/","og_site_name":"TechTonic Times","article_published_time":"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zaudita Fender","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zaudita Fender","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/"},"author":{"name":"Zaudita Fender","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15"},"headline":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke","datePublished":"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/"},"wordCount":379,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg","keywords":["consumer data","data","equifax","hackers","joke","Security","Security Awareness"],"articleSection":["Data Security"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/","url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/","name":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke - TechTonic Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-26T17:30:43+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-26T17:30:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15"},"description":"The Equifax breach demonstrates that companies do not have a robust security practice in place. Which ultimately puts consumers at risk.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/artist-circus-clown-476.jpg","width":6000,"height":4000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-your-data-is-a-joke\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Consumers, Your Data is a Joke"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/","name":"TechTonic Times","description":"Security I Networking I Storage I IT Staffing I Managed Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/30220b7a34ba2cc2afa87ae22ac67b15","name":"Zaudita Fender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26058d8e5420f97fe06cc37206c91f92bc862bd778f4367d370d11c7a5dd2552?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zaudita Fender"},"url":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/author\/adminsupport\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abrahamsconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}