Data and privacy breaches are quite prevalent in today’s times. The common people and even celebrities also fall prey to the traps of cybercriminals. Day by day, the risk is increasing. Professionals who work with celebrity clients often do not handle sensitive information well. And that’s when the mishap of data leakage occurs. Some thoughtless actions lead to unwanted consequences and jeopardize cybersecurity.
What prominent people of the society can do to prevent such things from happening is to find out what a service provider can do not let the breaches happen. Do companies that handle cybersecurity train the staff members on this? How and when are stored data encrypted? The answers to these questions will help a celebrity figure out if the company they are relying on is serious about cybersecurity or not.
Celebrity Related Data is the Target of the Cybercriminals
The main aim of cybercriminals is to attack and cause maximum possible damage. When they lay their hands on any data related to a celebrity, they sell the entire or part of the information to the tabloids, leak the information on the Dark Web, or use the data to blackmail the celebrity.
Variety reported a media and entertainment law firm hack in 2020. Seven hundred fifty-six gigabytes of data, comprising personal messages exchanged between the firm’s employees and celebrities, were stolen. The list of celebs who were victims of hacking includes Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, and Idina Menzel.
Addressing the loopholes is necessary to prevent such incidents. Besides that, it will also help if a company is willing to make its overall cybersecurity stronger and tighter. Parties must prove if they have cybersecurity certifications to work with the United States Department of Defence. That’s a must, according to the contract.
Hospital Visits Increases Curiosity Of Criminals
When a celebrity falls ill, that becomes the talk of the town. When it’s an emergency, the media gets more attracted to it. However, it’s not only the paparazzi from whom the stars need to shield themselves. There’s much beyond that.
People working at a hospital often happen to be too curious in such cases, and they tend to access a celebrity’s medical records without permission. That is a data breach.
The Netherlands issued its first-ever GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation fine when a Dutch celebrity faced a similar incident. According to an investigation, 197 people had access to the celebrity’s medical records. Sometimes, cash motivates these people to access celebrity data without authorization.
When late Farah Fawcett was battling cancer, a tabloid knew about it even before her family. Yes, someone broke the news to the media without the knowledge of Fawcett. Jason Pierre-Paul, the NFL star, was also a victim of a data breach when the news of his partial finger amputation was on ESPN. The news leak came from two hospital employees. Inquiring in detail about a hospital’s way of handling data is necessary to avoid such cases.
Social Media Hacks lead to Account Takeovers
Celebrities are influential individuals among their followers on social media. This makes them keep track of every single post of a celeb. The main issue here is that cybercriminals tend to exploit the trust celebs have in their fans and followers and eventually try to breach important data from a star’s account.
Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Kanye West, and several other influential stars were victims of hacking. Hackers got into the internal systems of Twitter and committed this act. The hackers changed the passwords and used the accounts for a Bitcoin scam advertisement. The key here is to activate 2FA or two-factor authentication. It might be alarming to the celebrities when someone gains access to their accounts.
Data Breach is Actually a Genuine Risk
Any individual can be a victim of a data breach. In the case of a non-celebrity, they make the private details available to the media. Personal life is out in the open. Reputation is at stake, as it might even jeopardize their career. But it’s the celebrities who suffer the most. And that is because of their social status and the curiosity of people to know more about them. However, they have more ways to prevent such violations than common people. They have more resources ready at hand and can deal with it better.
Exceptional and effective measures are necessary to prevent data breaches. If personal information is not secure, these incidents will continue to happen.