Am I being more than, less than, or equally as careful when I use the internet browser on my phone in comparison to when I use a computer?
What is smishing?
How safe are the apps I download?
How much of my personal information is stored on my phone?
Consider these questions as you review the examples below. Try the quiz from the left menu: What Have You Learned? after you’ve spent some time with this section.
More and more, we use our phones to do just about everything our computers can do from the palms of our hands. But just because our mobile phones are smaller in size than our computers does not mean the risks associated with them are any less sizable.
Watch the following video to learn more about “smishing” and identity scams from Robert Siciliano. Then review the Think Before You Ink section before checking your understanding at the bottom of the page.
USA Today cites a Cloudmark survey that concluded “nearly one in five mobile phone users have experienced some type of security threat with their device.” And according to security company F-Secure’s 2012 Mobile Threat Report, 3069 malicious Android application package files have been detected in the first 3 month period of 2012. The same period in 2011 recorded just 139 malicious apps.
All my privacy settings are in place–how is spam still making it’s way onto my Facebook?
Are all the links posted by my friends to my Facebook newsfeed trustworthy?
Do I think before I click?
How do I know if I’m being clickjacked?
Consider these questions as you review the examples below. Try the quiz from the left menu: What Have You Learned? after you’ve spent some time with this section.
Clickjacking attacks, from the term “click hijacking,” are more common than you think. Watch the video to learn more about it. Reflect on the questions above as you watch. Then review the Think Before You Ink section before checking your understanding at the bottom of the page.
Facebook is full of people actively sharing ideas and connecting with each other. Though brimming with discussion and thought, networks of this much connectivity also involve people who see an opportunity to capitalize on people who are quick to share with others.
Be wary of enticing messages, even if they seem to come from the profiles of your friends.
Anything that asks you to install or fill out something additional is likely a scam.
Use updated versions of your Internet browser and its plugins (eg. Flash) — older versions will not contain the most recent security updates and are more susceptible to clickjacking attacks.
In a recent TEDx presentation, the Canadian blogger and science fiction author, Cory Doctorow, proposes a new type of “network education” for kids online. His views stand in contrast to those suggesting that filtering internet content in an effort to keep kids safe is the way to go. Rather, he argues that filtering content prevents kids from understanding networks and privacy tools on their own – kind of like how feeding ducks in a pond leaves them unprepared to fend for themselves come winter.
Instead, here’s how Doctorow envisions privacy education for kids:
Turn to libraries, schools and other institutions to be “islands of networked privacy best practices”
Teach kids to encrypt everything they do on the internet
Teach them to jailbreak every device that they handle
Teach kids to choose the best products for their privacy
Teach them to bust every sensor wall that harvests a record of what they look at
Teach them to spoof every form they’re asked to fill in
Block the RFID tags they carry around with them
Figure out how to move through their cities and towns without their locations being recorded by CCTV cameras
Who should be responsible – parents or teachers – for teaching kids about their digital footprints and how should it be done, are important questions. Perhaps, now it’s not a question of who should be responsible but who is willing to take responsibility.
Big news in Facebook security settings. And it’s positive!
Last week, Facebook announced they will offer users a more secure connection – encrypted HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP protocol. Similar to the type of secure connection you have when you do online banking, this protocol prevents others from capturing your “cookie” and accessing your account when you use an open wireless network at a coffeeshop, library or other public place. Here’s what it looks like:
It’s a good idea to enable this secure connection – especially if you are using an unsecured wifi network when you log on to Facebook. To select this option, go to “Account Settings”, select “Account Security”, then check the box for “Secure Browsing”. Facebook will be rolling this feature out to all users over the next few weeks. If you don’t see it available now, check back soon.
Facebook vandal, Colm Coss, 38, was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison in the UK for posting abusive comments on commemorative webpages. The BBC reports that his comments were prosecuted according to a legal interpretation known as “malicious communications.” Read the story here.
Anyone who posts perverse comments is bound to end up with a poor internet reputation, but it might be news to some that internet vandalism could also land a person in jail.
Trolling is the practice of setting up fake internet social identities and then using that identity to harass, provoke, insult and abuse an on-line community or group. For more information check out communitiesonline.homestead.com and the Journal of Politeness Research.
For the past year, Adobe Flash has been reinstalling cookies that have been deleted by users through its popular viewing application. Known as ‘Zombie Cookies,’ these are secret cookies that, without consent, are re-activated after users have disabled them.
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Cookies are used to track unique web searches and store bits of information that allow websites to personalize viewing data based on the sites a users has visited in the past. Concerned internet users can disable cookies on their computers (though this often affects the ability of sites to operate as intended) and many do. A class action law suit has recently been launched in the Untied States against sites using the application without informing their users of Zombies. Defendants include MTV, ESPN, ABC, NBC and MySpace.
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Visit the Protect module of the Digital Tattoo website to figure out how you can control your cookies and protect yourself.
Along with a whole slew of simplified privacy settings, Facebook has added another safety-made-simple feature: the panic button. The button is an application that is available to those whose age on their FB profile says they are a minor.
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The button links youth directly to a reporting and resource agency where they can enquire about bullying, luring, or abuse, and if they so choose, report infractions. Currently the button is only used in the UK, after a recent high-profile killing of a youth there who was lured by an adult on Facebook.
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The button is a step in the right direction for on-line safety, but by no means is it a cure-all remedy for web deception. As always, there is no replacement for supervision and education when it comes to net safety.
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Critics of the Panic Button say that the app can be used too easily to falsely accuse honest social networking users, or even worse, used as tool to bully by purposely false reporting. Read the latest developments here. Tell us your thoughts.
Hold that thought. No really. Hold that thought. We all have opinions. At the water cooler an opinion is between you, the person beside you, and the hearsay network of the person who cares enough to repeat your ranting. Twitter, however, is not a person, it is a broadcast network, something people often forget when looking at the harmless looking Tweet button on their digital gadgets.
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CNN senior Middle East reporter, Octavia Nasr, was recently fired for her Tweet about a deceased Lebanese political leader, proving once again that Twitter is not the best place to get too personal or political. This example does not mean that we all need to start fearing Twitter, it is just a friendly reminder to think before you ink.
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Check out this list of nine other ways social media can get you fired.
Google has been up in arms in recent months over unscrupulous monitoring and hacking of its search engine by the Mainland Chinese government. Today, however, Google finds itself at the other end of the finger pointing, accused by Internet watchdogs of infringing on privacy. The saga gas been going on for weeks, and today the BBC reported that Google could face prosecution in Germany.
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The privacy breach is in relation to Google’s Street View program and the collecting of non-visual data from unencrypted Wifi connections. Privacy International, an Internet advocacy group, has said Google’s coincidental collection of data is the net equivalent of wire tapping without consent.
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German authorities have asked Google repeatedly to hand over alleged hard drives containing illegally collected data. Google has yet to comply. Australia has made a similar request, and New Zealand is the most recent state to make official inquires.
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Google has faced legal challenges in the past over its Street View program, and has come out on the winning side in most cases. Those legalities of the past, however, had to do with images of people and property caught on Street View, not Wifi data. If Google is taken to court, their prosecution could set the privacy precedents of the near future.
