Clicking accept on an app frequently grants the developer access to a wide range of information on your mobile device and the contacts in your address book. (Photo: iStock)

Don't turn over the keys

Identity theft is now one of life's certainties, right behind death and taxes. Your personal data is the key to accessing finances and your health care information — and the damage can be devastating. Well over one billion records containing personally identifiable information is exposed annually according to IBM.

Breaches are now commonplace, and it's not going to get any better. An identity thief only needs a few data points to seize your data, we all need to stop carelessly permitting third-party apps to have full access to our data.

The Ponemon Institute, a leading research firm on privacy, data protection and information security policy reports that 43 percent of companies have experienced a data breach in the past year. Most people don't know how to qualify or quantify the impact a breach can have. The financial burden could cripple an individual or business, if not shut it down all together.

According to the FBI, hackers employ email phishing campaigns targeting 50,000,000 people at a time. The odds are good that a few individuals will click through a link that acquires an online password, triggering a malware virus that instantly begins collecting names, dates of birth, social security numbers, bank accounts, credit cards and health-related information.

A security breach may result in harm to a person or company. Businesses have a legal obligation to notify state and federal agencies of a data breach. Every state has mandated time guidelines as to how soon individuals must be notified that their personally identifiable information has been compromised. There are costly penalties for any business that does not comply with the regulations.

The likelihood of being breached is more likely than ever, so it is wise to take steps to ensure you are covered. Comprehensive cyber security insurance offsets most of the risk from a breach. Currently, there is $2 billion in written cyber security insurance premiums and it is estimated that by 2020, the cyber security insurance industry will total over $4 billion dollars.

Istanbul, Turkey – July 20, 2016: Close-up image of pokemon go game app icon in the Apple App Store on an iPhone 6s. Pokemon Go is a popular virtual reality game. (Photo: iStock)

Take sensible precautions

When playing Pokémon GO or downloading any mobile application, verify the authenticity of downloaded applications. Also:

• Enable two-factor authentication for sensitive transactions such as mobile banking or conducting financial transactions to provide a higher level of security than traditional passwords. Your mobile device can generate pass codes sent via a text message to the phone.
• Install antimalware to protect against malicious applications, viruses, spyware and malware-based attacks. Protect against unwanted (spam) voice messages, text messages and e-mail attachments.
• Install a firewall and security updates to protect against unauthorized connections by intercepting both incoming and outgoing connection attempts and blocking or permitting them based on a list of rules.
• And remotely disable lost or stolen devices so that your personal data remains secure.

Gaming is fun, let's make sure it is safe for our kids. Don't permit access to your personal data and privacy. Grant third-party applications limited access to your data and take precautions to protect your family from the possibility of being hacked.  

Marc Schein is executive director of commercial insurance for Farmingdale, New York-based Integrated Coverage Group. Contact him at [email protected].