Data breach: Have you been pawned?

While companies are increasing their spends on cybersecurity, data breaches show that clearly this is not enough. One of the prominent names entangled in this scandal is WhatsApp. The company recently announced that it had certain accounts affected by Pegasus software. While this was going on since 2016, it was only in 2019 that WhatsApp found out and released a patch, indicating a serious lapse in cybersecurity. While Google has been the leader in bug bounty programmes—it has spent over $15 million in the last decade—Facebook, despite a larger base and a wider range of products, has spent $7 million. Not just tech giants, even companies such as Zomato and Dropbox have not done enough to protect their user data. To be sure, users are also to blame for this mishap, most keep the same passwords across apps allowing hackers to gain access to services. Here are a few apps and services that can help you keep a clean bill of health, especially while transacting online or over the phone.