Your Information is Surely Secure… Dummy!!

Today was a day of shopping for the wife and me.  The mall is a wonderful place to be, during the week, before kids are out of school.  As I was shopping for a new pair of shoes, I found that I was asked questions that shouldn’t really be asked.  They told me it was so they could give me a military discount, but why would they need my name, address, phone number, and email address?  Normal people would be more than happy to give them this information, without really knowing what is going to happen with it.  I questioned the gentlemen who were working the cash register, and they told me I could give them anyone’s address and information.  Now, my question, why would you need the information if it isn’t really used?  What if I don’t have an email address?  I have told a “customer service representative” this before, and she questioned me on it!  I told her that I don’t have one that I give out to retailers, and she got annoyed at me.  People, you really need to stop giving out your personal information to retailers.  Do you sign a privacy statement when you give out your email address?  Does the email address you just gave the GAP tie into your bank account?  How good is your security on your yahoo account?  Does it shutdown the account after 3 bad passwords are used? 5 bad passwords? How about 10 bad passwords?  Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, none of them have a security feature to stop people from guessing your passwords (this is called brute force password hacking).  You can bet your bank’s website has security in place.  So, now you can see how your email address is actually private information.  Would you give a stranger your home address and your phone number?  Hi, I am Jonathan Roadblock, can I have your home address, phone number, and your email address?  When you give this information to a retailer, you might as well give it to a stranger.  They are not required to keep this information private, they are not required to keep it safe.  Do you think they encrypt your data?  Do you find yourself living in a world where peace is the only way of life, and there is no hunger or disease?  Come on people, wake up.  I am a certified ethical hacker, and I am a big fan of complacent people in the workplace, so how do you think an “unethical/black hat” hacker feels about complacent people in the general public?  Protect your information, protect yourself.  Coffee is brewing people; it is time to wake up!