Maintaining privacy is a key challenge for many celebrities. Mishaps can occur when organizations mishandle their celebrity clients’ sensitive information. Personal data leaks can be costly and damage a star’s reputation. With the rising cases of data breaches, celebrities are more vulnerable and must adopt strategies for data leakage prevention.
Cybercriminals plan their attacks to cause the most damage. Therefore, they target large organizations and celebrities. Keep reading for tips on how celebrities can avoid personal data leaks.
Using strong passwords
Passwords have, for a long time, been a vital tool for preventing a data breach. With modern technology, celebrities have social media accounts, email accounts, and cell phones containing sensitive data. Hackers seek access to these accounts and devices to steal sensitive data and sell it to tabloids.
Celebrities can use strong passwords to protect their data. However, they should avoid common password mistakes, which can lead to data leaks. Stars should avoid using birthdays, pet names, and loved ones as passwords. Recycling passwords is another common mistake that puts all your accounts at risk in case a single password is compromised.
Password managers allow you to create strong, unique passwords for all your accounts. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about remembering all these passwords. A strong password should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Sending anonymous emails
Celebrities can avoid data leaks by sending anonymous emails, which don’t contain personally identifiable information and cannot be tracked. Furthermore, anonymous emails hide the sender’s identity. But how do anonymous emails work?
An anonymous email service encrypts your messages, and attackers cannot see their contents even if they intercept the messages in transit. Furthermore, services like this site create anonymous email addresses that don’t display your address. Cybercriminals can’t identify your email address and use it to steal sensitive data.
Identify sensitive data
Celebrities must identify their sensitive data and set up measures to protect it. Sensitive data is any data that can cause harm to an individual and must be safeguarded from unauthorized access. Sensitive data includes the following:
- Health-related data.
- Personal information revealing political opinions, racial and ethnic origin, and philosophical and religious beliefs.
- Biometric and genetic data used to identify human beings.
- Data about a person’s sexual orientation and sexual life.
- Personally identifiable information such as social security numbers.
A data leak can adversely affect the life of a celebrity. For instance, Jason Pierre-Paul, a New York Giants football player, suffered an injury and was treated at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. Physicians had to amputate his right hand’s middle finger, and hospital employees leaked the medical information. The leak was devastating for the player, who was negotiating a 60 million US Dollar deal with the New York Giants. Two employees, who had leaked the information to the press, were eventually fired.
Secure sensitive personal data
Once you have identified sensitive data, securing it is next. Celebrities are at higher risk of data breaches and should store their personal data securely. They should ensure that only authorized persons have access to their data. Simple data leakage prevention measures include using strong passwords and storing paperwork in locked cabinets.
Care should be taken when sharing celebrity personal cell phone numbers. Though many people will ask for their cell phone numbers, staff and associates should only give them out with permission from the celebrity. Celebrities hide their personal phone numbers by registering them under corporate names.
One way of securing sensitive information is by not giving it out. Celebrities must have strict information-sharing discipline. A team, including managers, assistants, and agents, should filter all the information sent out. This creates a privacy layer between the celebrity and the fans, paparazzi, and tabloids.
Securing personal data and having a dedicated team that filters all information before it is released is a perfect way of preventing a data breach. A clear desk policy restricts staff from storing paperwork on their workstations and may minimize the risk of leaving important documents unattended.
Assessing all third parties’ risk
Celebrities don’t work in isolation. Apart from their assistants, managers, and agents, they also work with numerous third parties, including event organizers and companies that hire them as brand ambassadors. Unfortunately, third parties can be a source of data leaks.
Celebrities should be careful with the information they share with third parties. A third-party data breach may occur and expose your sensitive data. Data breaches occur when your business partner or vendor’s computer system is compromised.
Ex-employees who leave your organization with data are a common source of data leaks. A report by Small Business Trends revealed that one in four ex-employees still has access to a former employer’s data. Such employees could maliciously leak data, especially if they are disgruntled about their exit.
Conclusion
Data leaks have adverse consequences on celebrities and can ruin their reputations and careers. Therefore, celebrities should safeguard their personal data and adopt robust data leakage prevention measures. These tips will help every celebrity avoid data leaks. Further, we recommend combining several measures rather than relying on a single one.