Information and Communications Technology Threats: Personal Data and User Behaviour

This article analyses the threats which Information and Communications Technologies currently pose to individual liberties. Indeed, the information which is collected on individuals is becoming more and more complex: via RFID chips inserted into different cards (including transport, bank and customer loyalty cards), via visits to internet sites, over surveillance cameras posted in various places (work and public spaces), each of us is leaving « traces » which make up just as much collected data, most often treated and transmitted without our knowledge, and integrated into files, the mastery of which eludes us. We wished to carry out a study in order to evaluate the use of information and communications technologies and the awareness of users to the inherent risks. We also sought to determine if there exists a significant gap between the awareness of a threat and the safety measures associated in order to reduce the vulnerability of a system.