Data Brokers: What do they know about you and why are they selling it?

Why does my data matter?

Data is a modern goldmine. The more of your data can be grabbed, the more of it can be sold. Companies sell your data, to data brokers, who in turn sell it to a multitude of companies for many varying reasons. In this article we will be exploring where your data goes and why.

Why does my data sell?

Simply your data sells because it is a tool. It shows habit, interests, political affiliation, address, health issues and a multitude of other things.

With enough data we can be categorised into different groups to see what products we will like the most or what algorithm will keep us on our phones the longest.

One way this is accomplished is by simply monitoring what sites and pages we spend time on, how long we stay on them for, and what we buy on them. If a certain demographic of people subscribes to a magazine, say car enthusiasts, and then you sign up for it the data taken from that would suggest you are a car enthusiast.

This may seem a bit trivial to some. ‘How could a few bits of information be worth anything’? The point is its constant and its everywhere. Your data is always being collected and there is a lot of it.

This amalgamation of invaded privacy is getting larger and larger. There are now 5000 data brokers currently, with the global data broker service market expected to reach $407.5 billion by 2028.

The risks

Data breaches are something that you would assume are few and far between, but in 2023 there was 299.8 million accounts breached. Although this is an 18% drop from the 366.7 million in 2022, this number is still a few hundred million more than most people are comfortable with.

It is important to keep in mind that this applies globally, and different countries have had different experiences. The United States for instance had an increase to 96.7 million compromised accounts, while Europe had more breaches but saw a 27% reduction from 2022.

With breaches from recognisable companies happening monthly, the type of data leaked globally consisted of passport numbers to full names to e-mail usernames and passwords.

Integris Health is a non-for-profit health organization that manages health care facilities. In December 2023 they learnt that almost 2.4 million patients had their data leaked and as a result started receiving demands from hackers to pay $50 or they would sell their data to data brokers on the dark web.

As these issues become more prominent in the digital age, we as consumers need to be vigilant with who we give our data to and what it is being used for.

Protecting your data

If you’re now wondering what you could possibly do about your and your loved ones’ personal data floating about somewhere, there’s actually a few different ways to protect yourselves.

Data removal services. Companies have been formed to combat the looming data broker giants. Their services revolve around removing your data that is already out there. This has a number of benefits, from keeping data brokers away from your private info to removing your info from breachable sites where hackers can steal your data.

Five of these services recommended are Incogni, DeleteMe, Optery, Privacy Bee and Hello Privacy. With different specialties and payment plans there is a variety of products to choose from.

As always, prevention is best. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is becoming a must have for data safety. To put simply, a VPN shields the internet from knowing it’s you browsing by encrypting your personal data. The only issue is that the VPN themselves can collect your data if they wish.

Because of this it is important to use a trusted service. Something like McAfee Total Protection which gives antivirus, VPN and up to $1 million in identity theft coverage.

Keeping your privacy private

Your data is out there, and it can be used and abused for profit. But there are many products and methods that can help remove your data from the internet and prevent it going on there in the first place.

Keep your privacy private and keep yourself safe.

 

 

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