ESSAY INFORMATION:
Written by: Xuân Phi, 14/03/2021
Supported by: Ex-BC Examiner, 16/03/2021
Question: More people put their personal information online (address, telephone number…) for everyday activities such as socializing on social networks or banking purposes. Do you think it is a positive or negative development?
(IELTS Academic – 13/03/2021)
ANSWER:
Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly common for people to provide their personal details online. Although this practice might facilitate a better user experience, I believe the trend is negative as people will likely be vulnerable to cyber-crimes.
On the one hand, updating personal information online facilitates a superior experience for online shoppers. By associating personal details with exclusive accounts, consumers can make more convenient online purchases. This is clearly exemplified when people shop on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or Facebook. Because their identity information has already been synchronized with their sign-in accounts during an initial by the first registration, customers can skip the time-consuming data entry and transfer immediately to the final step of making a transaction. Thus, the buying process is expedited, fostering an overall convenient customer experience.
On the other hand, posting personal data on the Internet makes users potentially susceptible to criminal activities. The private information shared online including one’s names, addresses or social security numbers can be exploited for illicit purposes such as financial fraud. For instance, a hacker known as “Hieu PC’ in Vietnam ran one of the Internet’s most profitable and popular services for selling stolen identity records. He utilized his social engineering degree to exploit a wealth of vulnerable consumer data, stealing thousands a sheer volume of social security numbers and reselling them on an anonymous broker’s online platform. This led to a large number of retired workers in the United States losing million-dollar pensions to a sophisticated online hacking scheme.
In conclusion, in spite of some relatively minor conveniences, registering personal details online is a negative development considering the risk of online fraud. In my opinion, governments should establish additional privacy regulations for online shopping firms so as to mitigate security risks and better secure personal identity information.
WORD LIST:
ENGLISH |
TIẾNG VIỆT |
| Illicit purposes | Những mục đích phi pháp |
| Sophisticated online hacking scheme | Âm mưu chiếm đoạt tài sản trực tuyến một cách tinh vi |
| Be vulnerable to cyber-crimes = Be susceptible to criminal activities | Dễ trở thành nạn nhân của tội phạm (trên mạng) |
| Associate personal details with particular accounts | Liên kết thông tin cá nhân với các tài khoản của mình |
| Identity records | Hồ sơ nhận dạng |
| Buying process is expedited | Quá trình mua sắm nhanh chóng dễ dàng hơn |
| Sell stolen identity records | Bán những hồ sơ nhận dạng bị lấy cắp |
| Exploit a wealth of vulnerable consumer data | Khai thác kho tàng dữ liệu người tiêu dùng |
| Financial fraud | Gian lận tài chính |
| Mitigate security risks and better secure personal identity information | Giảm thiểu rủi ro bảo mật và bảo vệ danh tính cá nhân |
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