No lying flat on personal data protection

The Ministry of Public Security recently announced 10 typical cases of crimes that infringe on citizens' personal information, including the stealing of personal information related to express deliveries, false recruitment, invading parking software, and criminals pretending to be medical insurance department staff to collect people's personal information.

The public security organs cracked more than 7,000 criminal cases that infringed on citizens' personal information last year. That reflects the severity of the problem.

In the digital age, personal information has become a "digital mineral" for some people. Criminal gangs can sell the personal information they illegally acquire for huge profits, and the amount involved in a single case can reach millions of yuan.

Some new trends in crimes that infringe on citizens' personal information are also due to regulatory loopholes. For example, the means of committing such crimes are becoming more and more technical. Criminal gangs can produce and release Trojan programs to control computers of the victims. The chains involved are also harder to trace, as the criminal gangs collude with express industry staff to steal the personal information provided with an order. These gray industry chains have become more developed with increasingly clear labor distribution within the criminal gangs in the upstream and downstream undertakings.

In response, the authorities should take advantage of technological means to counter the increasingly intelligent and organized illegal data mining activities related to personal information, especially those in the education, medical care, logistics and other key industries.

Meanwhile, as the parties that are responsible for the data security of the personal information they control, related companies, platforms and data operators must be made to establish and improve their data security management systems, technically defend against hacker attacks, and strictly prevent internal staff from leaking the personal information of customers.

Targeted publicity activities should also be carried out to enhance the public's awareness of information protection and raise their ability to identify and prevent fraud. Relevant authorities should improve the reward mechanism for reporting clues and encourage the public to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels.

The country needs to build a three-in-one protection network involving watchdog departments, companies and society to deal with personal information-related crimes in the digital age.

— Economic Daily