Political data gathered on more than 198 million US citizens was exposed earlier this month after a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee stored internal documents on a publicly accessible Amazon server and was available for 12 days for anyone with the URL.

There has never been a data breach this big. The information includes birth dates, home addresses, telephone numbers, political views, suspected religious affiliations, ethnicities, where they stood on topics like gun control, the right to abortion and stem cell research.

This type of data can easily be used for nefarious purposes, from identity fraud to harassment or intimidation of people who hold an opposing political view. Worst of all, if bad guys have gotten hold of this data, they can send highly personalized phishing attacks to you, looking like something totally legitimate.

At this point, from here on out, treat any email you get at the house or the office with a healthy dose of suspicion and ask yourself if it could be a scam. Do not click on links in emails and do not open attachments you did not ask for. Tech Networks of Boston now offers social engineering training for instances such as this, and can help your employees make the right decisions before falling for a phishing attack.

Remember, Think Before You Click!