Big Tech Giant office opening in Munich marked by a stunt highlighting data protection concerns

MUNICH, GERMANY, October 17, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — In light of recent discussions about online privacy, a protest installation emerged outside the Big Tech Giant’s new office in Munich during its grand opening on Friday, October 13. A pink pipe, standing 2.5 meters tall, displayed the message: “Your data is leaking.” The stunt was aimed at drawing attention to the critical need for individuals to take control of their personal data and protect their online privacy.

A video recording is available here.
Photos and the video recording can be downloaded here.

The organization that set up the display outside Big Tech Giant’s Munich office stressed that leading tech corporations have collected vast amounts of user data and consistently face challenges in protecting it. Many of these companies suffered significant data breaches in recent years and received the largest GDPR fines to date for improper handling of their users’ personal data.

Data from the cybersecurity company Surfshark illustrates the depth of the problem. Since 2004, about 16.5 billion global accounts have been compromised (including but not limited to data breaches experienced by Big Tech Giants). Alarmingly, the number of breached accounts in Q2 2023 nearly tripled compared to the previous quarter.

Tautvydas Jašinskas, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark, comments: “Data protection is a fundamental right. To be able to secure this right, people should have full control of their digital lives. The amount of personal data that Big Tech Giants are collecting and the way they are treating it raise not only ethical but also security concerns. Sharp rise in data breaches underlines a concerning trend, indicating that existing data protection measures are inadequate, making sensitive data more and more exposed.”

NOTES TO EDITORS
Surfshark is a cybersecurity company focused on developing humanized privacy and security solutions. The Surfshark One suite includes one of the very few VPNs audited by independent security experts, an officially certified antivirus, a private search tool, and a data leak alert system. The company also recently introduced an ‘Alternative ID’ tool, which generates a unique online persona and associated email for users. Surfshark is recognized as the Independent’s Editor’s Choice for Best Value VPN 2023. Visit our research hub at: surfshark.com/research

Lina Survila
Surfshark
media@surfshark.com