Internet Safety

Here’s a bad piece of news. Our cell phone numbers becoming a lot like Social Security numbers: they are the gateway to our identities, providing an entrance to personal data – your email address, physical address, even physical whereabouts—and all the personal information that is kept about you by nearly all corporations, financial institutions, and social media networks. Yet when we are asked for our cell numbers for whatever reason, we often give them out without even a second thought.  What can you do? Take a look at these tips and use common sense. If you are asked for your phone number, it never hurts to ask why.

Teaching kids about the security vulnerabilities with Internet of Things (IoT) devices can help them avoid falling prey to hackers, writes Jacob Batchelor in an article entitled You've Been Hacked! Explaining Cybersecurity to Students in an Interconnected Era. Batchelor explains ways to introduce the problem of hacking to kids, help them recognize the problem of IoT hacks, and show them what they can do to protect their privacy. Experts predict that in just a few years, interconnected devices such as refrigerators, baby monitors, toys, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home, will number in the billions.

A recent survey administered by Carbon Black looks at consumers’ responses to ransomware, and you may find the results surprising. The study found that if hacked, 52% of consumers would shell out a ransom for their data, and 12% would pay $500 or more. It was also found that consumers are less trusting of retailers with their data than they are of banks and health care providers. Furthermore, the majority of consumers believe the responsibility is on the individual businesses to keep their data safe, ahead of cybersecurity companies/cybersecurity software vendors, software providers (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc.), and government organizations (FBI, NSA, CIA, etc.).

A report from Kaspersky Lab has revealed that mobile ransomware attacks increased globally during the first quarter of 2017 by 253%, evidenced by the recent WannaCry attack, and with the US being hit the hardest. Four ways users can better protect themselves are outlined in an article on the TechRepublic site, and includes advice such as doing regular scans on devices to check for infection and never entering personal information into a website that seems at all suspicious. Additional tips for protecting yourself were also recently discussed in an article in the Tech Section of The New York Times entitled How to Protect Yourself From Ransomware Attacks.

A recent hack of the educational platform Edmodo compromised tens of millions' user records and led to the revelation that the company was not only using ad trackers to monitor student and teacher behavior, but then forwarding the data to data brokers. The company issued a statement saying it is investigating the security breach and it has removed the "problematic" ad-tracking code from its platform. Edmodo is a platform that 78 million teachers, students and parents use to communicate about homework and lesson plans, and more.

Most kids do not grow up dreaming of becoming a hacker, but that may be exactly what the US needs according to David Brumley, a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Brumly promotes the idea of a nationwide cybersecurity education program to bolster cybersecurity and protect the nation from attacks, and writes that we need to recognize that the hacking mindset - learning to think differently, being curious, and always experimenting - is very valuable and may be the only way to keep this country safe in the future.

WikiLeaks recently published a trove of documents that appears to detail how the Central Intelligence Agency successfully hacked a wide variety of tech products, including iPhones, Android devices, WiFi routers and Samsung televisions. That’s just about every major category of consumer electronics. So what does that mean for you if you own one — or several — of these gadgets?

For many people, it may mean nothing at all. The thousands of pages of documents refer to programs that attacked outdated versions of the software systems running on devices, and many security vulnerabilities have since been patched. On the other hand, many people may still use outdated software on their devices. And although the C.I.A. designed these tools to spy on terrorists in the interest of national security, the hacking tools may have ended up in the hands of a whole range of entities. So even if you aren’t worried about what WikiLeaks revealed about the C.I.A. right now for yourself, this article from USA Today entitled 9 cybersecurity tips for the mildly paranoid (plus 4 for the truly anxious) with tips for protecting your cellphones and other digital tools is a good thing to look at just to remind yourself to be more careful. Bottom line: Remember to update, update, update!

How would you feel about a sound activated, WiFi speaker that is being touted as a device to help take care of your kids? Toymaker Mattel recently announced Aristotle by Nabi, a smart baby monitor device that has interactive capabilities. Aristotle is designed similar to an Amazon Echo or a Google Home, but programmed for children. Put another way, the hub is “an AI (artificial intelligence) to help raise your child,” as Fast Company described it. Mattel said that Aristotle could do everything from playing a lullaby for a crying baby to ordering diapers. It sounds like a device from the future and might make some people question how much is too much technology in our lives?

According to a new survey done by the Future of Privacy Forum entitled "Beyond One Classroom: Parental Support for Technology and Data Use in Schools," parents are still mostly clueless about the laws regulating the use of student data, and they don't buy into the idea that more laws will somehow provide the answers they want. Only one in five parents knew that there were federal laws restricting what companies can do with information collected from children online. Another 24 percent knew there were laws but didn't know the details. The remainder knew nothing about federal laws in particular. That contrasts with the 94 percent who responded that they felt they should be informed when their child's record was being shared so they would know with whom it was being shared and why. Do you know what data is being collected from your child and how is it is being shared and protected?

About 98% of students want colleges and universities to use their personal data to improve the college experience, according to a recent survey by Wakefield Research. Students suggest they would like their data used to help them with things such as keeing track of graduation requirements and choosing courses. Of course, some of that data, including health information, may be pose a privacy risk but students seem to feel the benefits outweigh the risks.