Pokémon Go is an online fantasy game that transportsthe player between the virtual world and the real world throughtheir smartphones.

Players search far and wide in the real world to capture as manyPokémon as they can. Upon encountering a Pokémon, your smartphonewill vibrate to let you know you're near a Pokémon. Hurl a PokéBall to catch more than a hundred species of Pokémon. Thegame takes you to real-world locations such as historicalmarkers in the Hokkaido and Kanto regions of Japan, and public artinstallations in New York, and Paris.

Access to personal data

In order to play you need to log in with your Gmail account.Pokémon Go is location-based, so data about you is crucial to thegaming experience. The Pokémon Go app grantsfull access to all of your personal data. How much accessand risk are we exposing ourselves and our children to? Whatpersonal information is Pokémon Go collecting?

Full access to your personal data is problematic. No one shouldever have "Full account access" privilege to any of your data.Never expose yourself or your family to unnecessary risk. Mostsmartphone users fail to understand the consequences of grantingthird-party access to their personal data.   

Clicking accept on an app frequently grants the developeraccess to a wide range of information on your mobile device and thecontacts in your address book. (Photo: iStock)

Don't turn over the keys

Identity theft is now one of life'scertainties, right behind death and taxes. Your personal data isthe key to accessing finances and your health care information —and the damage can be devastating. Well over one billion recordscontaining personally identifiable information is exposed annuallyaccording to IBM.

Breaches are now commonplace, and it's not going to get anybetter. An identity thief only needs a few data points to seizeyour data, we all need to stop carelessly permitting third-partyapps to have full access to our data.

The Ponemon Institute, a leading research firm onprivacy, data protection and information security policy reportsthat 43 percent of companies have experienced a data breach in thepast year. Most people don't know how to qualify or quantify theimpact a breach can have. The financial burden could cripple anindividual or business, if not shut it down all together.

According to the FBI, hackers employ email phishing campaignstargeting 50,000,000 people at a time. The odds are good that a fewindividuals will click through a link that acquires an onlinepassword, triggering a malware virus that instantly beginscollecting names, dates of birth, social security numbers, bankaccounts, credit cards and health-related information.

A security breach may result in harm to a person or company.Businesses have a legal obligation to notify state and federalagencies of a data breach. Every state has mandated time guidelinesas to how soon individuals must be notified that their personallyidentifiable information has been compromised. There are costlypenalties for any business that does not comply with theregulations.

The likelihood of being breached is more likely than ever, so itis wise to take steps to ensure you are covered. Comprehensive cyber security insurance offsetsmost of the risk from a breach. Currently, there is $2 billion inwritten cyber security insurance premiums and it is estimated thatby 2020, the cyber security insurance industry will total over $4billion dollars.

Istanbul, Turkey – July 20, 2016: Close-up image of pokemongo game app icon in the Apple App Store on an iPhone 6s. Pokemon Gois a popular virtual reality game. (Photo: iStock)

Take sensible precautions

When playing Pokémon GO or downloading any mobile application,verify the authenticity of downloaded applications. Also:

• Enable two-factor authentication for sensitivetransactions such as mobile banking or conducting financialtransactions to provide a higher level of security than traditionalpasswords. Your mobile device can generate pass codes sent via atext message to the phone.
• Install antimalware to protect againstmalicious applications, viruses, spyware and malware-based attacks.Protect against unwanted (spam) voice messages, text messages ande-mail attachments.
• Install a firewall and security updates toprotect against unauthorized connections by intercepting bothincoming and outgoing connection attempts and blocking orpermitting them based on a list of rules.
• And remotely disable lost or stolen devices sothat your personal data remains secure.

Gaming is fun, let's make sure it is safe for our kids. Don'tpermit access to your personal data and privacy. Grant third-partyapplications limited access to your data and take precautions toprotect your family from the possibility of being hacked. 

Marc Schein is executive director of commercial insurancefor Farmingdale, New York-based IntegratedCoverage Group. Contact him at [email protected].