As Americans we value our right to privacy however, in this new digital age privacy doesn’t exist. In the past, before technology, it was much easier to establish your privacy. As we have modernized our society it has become much harder to secure simple things such as our financial information or even our day to day activities. In order to retain your right to privacy in this new digital era it is required that an individual take a more proactive approach including, but not limited to self education.
In our modern era we have been given a false sense of security. As we use social platforms we are not thinking about what we share because we have a false sense of security. Most people sign up for an account and forget that everything is turned on when it comes to sharing, so when you share private information about your life it is available for all to see. Most people are unaware that there are settings within your social account that can make you less discoverable and also prevent those who stumble across your account from seeing everything you post.
Not only have social platforms made our everyday lives open for all to see, but we also have to worry about those who wish to steal our information. In the past we only had to worry about thieves searching through our trash, now we have to worry about security vulnerabilities in basic institutions. Did you know that a very common attack called “site mirroring” happens every day? This type of attack is where a digital thief makes a copy of your banks website, redirects traffic to their fake site and acts as a middle man by relaying to your bank the information you entered and then storing it for later use to steal your money or other information such as your identity.
Even if you are educated when it comes to matters of security and digital privacy your information still isn’t as private as you may hope or think. Even if you avoid logging into your bank account online your data is still not secure or private. The financial institution or other institutions are still digitizing your information. Some of these institutions may choose to sell or market your information as a way to generate revenue by offering it to the highest bidder for marketing purposes. Even though they have an IT staff that works to keep the information secure there will always be those who want to steal that information. Because these institutions keep digital records of everything they can, and the more they store the more vulnerable they become, those that are highly skilled will always be looking for a way in to steal that information.
So, again as I’ve already stated, do we really have privacy and security? The answer is no, everything you do is being logged by someone or something. So, how do we secure our information to retain privacy and security because both go hand in hand. There are a few simple things that one can do to protect themselves, but it requires one to educate themselves on these matters.
One of the primary things an individual can do is share less in the public using public spaces such as social platforms. If you go into settings on each of these platforms you can change the settings to share less about yourself by requiring that only those you know can see your feed. You can also not share your every thought or media that someone could use to locate you or social engineer to gain access to your information.
Another thing you can do is choose browsers and operating systems that give you more control over your data such as Linux and Vivaldi. Linux allows you to customize your computer so that you can prevent malware from being installed on your machine, but this also requires a secure browser that doesn’t store your information either. Although you can’t prevent everything, you can make it harder for those who wish to steal your information to get access to it. One of the most important things you can do on a local machine level is to configure your firewall because that is your first line of defense even before your browser security.
Lastly, be careful what you say in public and online. You can lock down your operating system, change your passwords regularly, make complex passwords, do less business online and configure your security settings on social platforms, but there are always ways to social engineer your data. If you are in a public place like a coffee shop or grocery store people have ears and they may have malicious intentions. If you are sharing identifiable information such as stories about your kids or family this can be a way to social engineer. Through social engineering an individual who wants to steal your information can gather enough information to enter your social circle making everyone you know vulnerable. A great example of this is a Will Smith movie called “Six degrees of separation” where he uses the information gained from a child to get access to the parents for a place to stay and whatever else he can obtain.
In this new digital era we can expect everything we do and say to be used against us as a way to gain access to information which is why your right to privacy requires more vigilance than ever before. If you are not spending the time to educate yourself to realize the many ways your data and information can be harvested for malicious intent then you are allowing yourself and all those you care about to be vulnerable. A saying within the military is “loose lips sink ships” and as civilians our loose lips could cost us everything we work for. So, will you make the necessary changes to your everyday life or will you continue doing the same thing because you don’t think you’re important enough for anyone to take what you and those you care about have?
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