Leaked! Hacked! Screwed!

By MARC GOLDBERG
 Your information is out there and there''s nothing you can do about it!
A contract worker from the Ministry of Labour and Welfare sold information on 9 million Israelis living and dead to a "private buyer" according to the Justice Ministry.
All it took was a single contract worker to decide that he/she wanted some money and 9 million Israelis personal information has been put out into the world of cyberspace for all to see, save and use for whatever purpose they see fit and before you get annoyed about it you should know that it is going to happen again and again and again.
There are no tech police, no internet cops able to prevent information from spreading once it is up on that fabulous, schitzophrenic invention called the internet that has transformed our lives for the better and for the worse. The truth is that we love being able to chat to whoever we want from thousands of miles away, we love being able to order a pizza without having to speak to someone, we love buying gifts without having to leave the comfort of our own homes and we love a gazzilion other things about the internet too. The flip side is that everything the internet gives the internet can also take away.
This is only the most recent example in a string of online shockers that have rebooted our understanding of the cyber world that is organically developing more every day. Sony are only just getting over the hackers who wrecked their network and stole the credit card details of untold numbers of people and Wikileaks has already vomited out highly sensitive government intelligence for all the world to see.
All three of these examples are similar only in that they concern the internet. In short, your finanacial details are out there, your personal ID details are out there and no government in the world is able to keep their own secrets safe much less yours.
Unless you want to go the route of the Unabomber and lock yourself up in a shack with a typewriter, an envelope and a book of stamps there isn''t any real way of getting around the problem of hackers. People who would once don a ski mask and rob a drugstore with a Saturday Night Special (that''s a gun) are now getting degrees in Artificial Intelligence and stealing info worth billions. What''s worse is that the Israeli case shows that they don''t even need the degree. Anyone working anywhere is going to have access to sensitive information of one kind or another and if they choose to turn to the darkside then there is very little anyone can do about it except pick up the pieces.
You better make sure that you lock the door tonight because they know where you live but take comfort in the fact that they won''t need to break in because they already have your financial details.