Security, Safety, Privacy and Data Risk(s): Mass Victim Crimes, Strategy & Digital Realities of Contemporary Life

It is naive to think you 'aren't valuable' to criminals, thieves, curious digital nomads and active cyber foragers, no matter your physical location, wealth, status and age.

It is naive to think there are incalculable, infallible, and 24/7 digital walls, barriers, complex security and 'protection' between you, harm, loss, disruption, destruction or exploitation.

But it's not you; specifically, they may be hunting or seeking to leverage, but that of your community, locale, country or demographic(s).

Moreover, a single adversary prefers to hunt the pack, like a predatory African mammal, like a lion. But instead of hunting a pack for a single meal (usually the slowest, weakest or least attentive), contemporary, syndicated, capable and persistent digital threats want to consume the entire herd... or multiple herds at once.

Forget physical apex predators; the modern digital adversary, both human-centric (corporeal) and automated (AI, ML, Bots, etc.), continues to be an adaptive, agile and intelligent danger the world and human history have never experienced.

Unlike traditional or conventional criminals, bad actors and terrorists are limited in time, space and effort to harm and attack victims. Even wars are constrained to specific territories, adversaries and munitions. Digital actors can achieve mass casualties with the click of a mouse or by hitting enter on their devices. You, your business, your community, your data, your life, your information, your money, your health and your future are all worthy rewards in one form or another to one or more digital predators. Remembering, of course, the digital predator may be a child, elderly, person with a disability, infirm or gravely ill (and invisible to you or the other side of the world), but they remain a deadly and effective predator nonetheless.

Defying conventional reasoning or thinking of who may/may not be a threat or cause you harm.

But these hunters and gathers aren't the first of their kind because we have all been digitally hunted and harvested for decades. But it was called marketing, advertising, 'research', social media and transactional terms and expressions to lessen concern, motivate participation and evade regulation or legal intervention. The moment you have an action, number, data point or preference, there is a system, person, government or business that wants that information. "Data greed" has consumed most commercial decisions. More is more.

Your mother's maiden name, date of birth, first pet's name, and all known associates... are profiling and surveillance tactics once exclusively reserved for criminals, terrorists, bad actors, violent offenders and the like.

Now, the same degree of intrusion, harvesting and data scraping takes place when you buy a sandwich or walk along a footpath. Secret data connections, correlation, intelligence and forecasting take place behind the scenes. Mountains and mountains of 'digital dirt' and waste accumulate. Like uranium, it is difficult to extract and deadly to handle. But now, the hunters have become the hunted. In fact, data greedy are the preferred target of the modern digital actor. That is, don't target people; target databases, institutions, industries, governments and community data warehouses. After all, it's a victimless crime, right? Like the polite bank robber that tells you, 'it's the bank's money, it's insured, don't resist or you'll get hurt', so do many digital actors believe or insist that they aren't harming you or your community.... because its just data, information, knowledge or numbers.

Because they are significantly removed from human connection and association, it presents or feels less 'bad' for many curious or first-time bad actors.

Nevertheless, where you and your friends have all your information is what they now covet, such as password aggregators, financial institutions, medical record repositories, government systems and major data, and marketing and social media titans. The individual is just collateral. The one-to-many threat and predatory model is now the preferred, at-scale reward and attack vector. In other words, why steal one dollar when you can steal $10 million with the same limited and detached effort?

Especially if organisations, designers, departments and people keep leaving digital doors open... if they even bothered to make or lock the doors.

Some systems are little more than massive digital town squares where data, information and private content have just been dumped... and anyone or thing can come and take as little or as much as they like. Similar to seagulls at garbage and landfill sites.

In sum, if you're alive, deceased or close to either, you're a likely digital victim now and forever.

Recently deceased celebrities, historical figures and death statistics have all been exploited, repurposed, harvested and used for various digital frauds, scams, tactics and crime(s). Birth data, evidence, lack of records or mass databases have also been exploited. This massive, growing 'digital soup' is being weaponised, repurposed, bought and sold all over the world for various reasons. Meanwhile, data greed persists, more numbers, more forms, more checks, more consolidation, so today's 'secure' environment is tomorrow's cornucopia of opportunity and exploitation, which includes your information, life, medical records, personal data, habits, preferences, viewing/browser history... all used to create a fake, virtual/digital twin. Even if you didn't volunteer or choose to play.

Like the Robin William's movie...you're in the jungle now... this is Jumanji.

Stay alert, protect yourself, work as a tribe, because your survival depends upon it. You are being hunted, you are valuable, and there are a growing number of clever, adapted, networked and automated predators online and in your systems, some of which can spy on you in the real world, at home, at work and everywhere in between. Security risk management isn't just my profession and vocation; it's your personal key to safety, security and survivability in the future.

Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP FSyI SRMCP

Security, risk, resilience, safety & management sciences

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Risk, Security, Safety, Resilience & Management Sciences