The world changes fast. A few decades ago, few people could have predicted the state that we would be in today with respect to technology. Smart televisions and refrigerators, self-driving cars, and that bothersome thing that we carry around in our pockets everywhere we go are just a few examples of the innovations that humanity has made in my 28-year lifespan.
With things evolving at the rate that they are, it is important to keep current; whether discussing a group or a single person, the idea is the same. The technologies of today will soon be those of yesterday, and the technologies of tomorrow will be here in our hands. The internet allows us to transmit information, services, and even currencies at unprecedented speeds. You can have a face-to-face visit with your healthcare provider and then pay your taxes, all without ever having to leave your own home. Inevitably, along with the benefits that this convenience offers there come drawbacks. Slow internet speeds can make your appointment experience frustrating, or the lack of a tax-expert can cause you to miss refunds. In the worst case scenario, the service provider is irresponsible with their client’s data and allows it to fall into the hands of someone with bad intentions. With so much technology at our fingertips, cybersecurity is an increasingly important matter that needs to be addressed.
People should be responsible with what they put on the internet, because once their information is out there, it is next-to-impossible to reel it back in. While every individual ultimately bears this responsibility for themself, organizations have a similar responsibility to their members. It is imperative that groups with access to sensitive personal information, such as governments and healthcare organizations, fulfill their duty to protect that information.
Government websites are a frequent target of automated data scraping carried out by malicious entities. According to IT security company Imperva’s bot expert, Edward Roberts, “government sites have so much information…that people are constantly scraping it to get the latest data.” Roberts goes on to mention that things like business registrations and COVID-19 testing location lists contain information that can be repackaged and sold. Prevention is the best form of cure; never making something available publicly is just one example of a step that can be taken to address a vulnerability before it becomes a problem. Vulnerability identification alongside an appropriate response by government organizations has the potential to save citizens a lot of hassle, or worse.
Extract doesn’t believe government agencies should have to hold back documents that would otherwise be publicly available so we offer an automated solution that permanently and securely redacts sensitive information from these documents. If you’d like to learn more about our solution, please reach out.
About the Author: Ben Alberico
Ben Alberico is a member of the Professional Services team at Extract Systems. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences, with a degree in Biology, and spent 4 years at Epic prior to beginning at Extract. Ben’s professional interests include process improvement and finding the best ways to communicate issue resolutions between people with different backgrounds.