George Orwell’s book 1984, which he wrote in 1948, depicts a dystopian future of mass surveillance and misinformation. Much of what he imagined is very true today.

Are we living in a data dystopia? Have we passed the point of no return in this brave new world of data? There is data on all of us whether we like it or not, and that data can be used against us much of the time. Our data is on the black market, whether it is relevant or not.

If you are working in IT, you may not be entirely concerned with how your users protect their personal data, but you should be. Many people use the same passwords for personal use that they use to log into their business networks. For instance, maybe one of your users is using the same password that they have used for their Yahoo account for the past 10 years. To them it is a matter of convenience; to you it is a matter of a serious security breach.