Why should we ‘disrupt the norm’?

Traditional security protocols in our world of online chatting, banking, social platforms, insurance and investment or identification are built around pre-fed security codes or end-to-end encryption.

This broadly translates to device-to-device encryption or passwords (dynamic or saved) and OTPs. They do provide a fair share of security but do not ensure that the sender is the person who was supposed to initiate the message or the receiver being the person the message was intended for.A case to the point is cloning of devices, SIM cards and credit or debit cards that are increasingly becoming commonplace.

Consider a realistic situation where a fraudster enters your system by hacking the server or your device. Now, soon, the hacker will gain access to sensitive information stored in the device and the server. This would include among others your personal pictures, videos, documents, and the digital key that contains all your access codes. And thus begins the nightmare....

Such a virtual trespassing that can have grave repercussions is possible because the security of your data and device is dependent on a digital key that is already stored in the digital realm. Your passwords, digital signatures, OTPs will all come to naught, and the damage might be irreparable.

Now, imagine the magnitude of the breach when today, globally, more than 5.19 billion people are using mobile phones.

Adding to that, it is estimated that Internet users around the world have grown to 4.54 billion. This is an increase of 7 percent or additional 298 million new users in comparison to January 2019.

Out of which, there are now 3.80 billion social media users by January 2020, which is an increase of 9 percent. This translates to nearly 321 million new users since this time in the year gone by!

With this growing trend, on an average an Internet user now spends 6 hours and 43 minutes online each day. Many of us currently spend more than 40 percent of our waking lives on the Internet.

What is more, the world’s internet users will spend a cumulative 1.25 billion years online in 2020, with more than one-third of that time being spent in using social media. In other words, you will probably spend more than 100 days online this year.

Validating the trend, Global Web Index finds that the mobile’s share of Internet time has grown to 50.1 percent. (1)

And rapid progress in digital technologies has taken the mobile usage beyond the mere spectrum of calling and messaging. Multiple financial transactions and storing to sharing of intimate happenings of our lives on social media are easily accomplished through readily available smart phones.

The concern to address now is to how with all the existing digital security we can ensure the privacy of our online activity. Because privacy is neither about strong encryption or who has the key, it is about does the right person has the KEY. And on that depends how secure we are from online theft of identity and fraud.

Source: 1- We are Social Jan 2020 report by Hootsuite