In my essay, I argue as to whether some Google services raise privacy and security concerns for some people. In our digital age, we rely more and more on technology companies to protect our privacy and security because there is so very little we can do as private citizens. Even people who refuse to use technology are being forced to enter the digital age because so much is becoming computerized, such as how we receive our bank statements to how we pay our bills.
Data breaches in the cloud systems of major companies such as Apple has led to people being a little more afraid of using online tools, which has led to security and privacy concerns involving Google. However, there have been no highly publicized data or service breaches involving Google. The only recorded breaches have been due to user mismanagement, such as users picking very easy-to-guess passwords. (Shabtai, 2010).
When an online tool or service holds a lot of your information, there is always a risk of hackers and crackers trying to gain access to that information. Some people do store personal information with Google, especially people who have their own website. However, unlike Facebook or Apple services, the Google services and tools do not require or demand large amounts of personal information. Google has very strong privacy and security protocols and safeguards in place. This means that hackers and online malcontents are forced to work very hard for what is actually very little saleable or usable information. This fact alone is one of the reasons why Google has not had a large or highly publicized data breach. (Wang, 2012).
Popularity is a big issue, and Google is one of the world’s most popular search engines. Google tools and services are also popular, and hackers tend to work on popular systems because there is more to gain. There are also more hackers working on popular systems and platforms, which mean hackers may share information more easily and gain access a little quicker. This is true of many online services that are popular, from Facebook when the Heart Bleed flaw was shared amongst hackers, and is true of the popular content management system WordPress when crackers quickly learned how to gain access to people’s websites. However, despite the fact that Google is very popular, it has some of the strongest and most difficult security features, and it is being updated on a weekly basis. This means that hackers have a hard time breaking in, and it means that sharing information is pointless because the information is soon out of date after the next update. (Reis, 2012).
People should have security and privacy concerns when dealing with Google because they should have such concerns at all times. Despite the fact that private citizens have little control over their online safety, such people do have a duty to keep themselves as safe as possible, and complacency is not an option in this case. Google tools and services are safe for users to work with, but they should remain vigilant and continue working to ensure they are safe. If people work to ensure they are safe and private online, then even if there is a security slip within Google services or tools, people will still remain comparatively safe. (Krutz, 2012).
Conclusion
Despite the fact that using Google does offer a security and privacy risk, it is far less risky than using other online tools and services. Google is in fact on of the safest and most secure online platforms to use because they have the best technology experts running their company. In addition, Google has a massive budget for online security and privacy to the point where they can out-think even the best hackers and crackers. Using Google is not risk free, but that is true for all online tools and services.
Bibliography
Krutz, Ronald L., and Russell Dean Vines. Cloud security: A comprehensive guide to secure cloud computing. Wiley Publishing, 2010.
Reis, Charles, Adam Barth, and Carlos Pizano. “Browser security: lessons from google chrome.” Queue 7.5 (2009): 3.
Shabtai, Asaf, et al. “Google android: A comprehensive security assessment.” IEEE Security & Privacy 8.2 (2010): 35-44.
Wang, Rui, Shuo Chen, and XiaoFeng Wang. “Signing me onto your accounts through facebook and google: A traffic-guided security study of commercially deployed single-sign-on web services.” Security and Privacy (SP), 2012 IEEE Symposium on. IEEE, 2012.
