The day and age of technology that we live in can be quite concerning most days. There is no impact that you can make on social media without the potential of a consequence occurring. Your “footprint” is left on the internet in text messages, emails, and even search history. There is a huge risk with being heavily involved in the realm of technology and it is something that we, as a whole society, need to be more conscious of.
Personally, I have never had anyone steal my identity or try and corrupt any of my social media pages. However, it has happened to my dad quite recently. He was able to catch the suspicious activity with our banking system early on and get it taken care of. But just because he got it taken care of, does not meant that the situation is completely handled.
I liked how Juan Enriquez compared our online lives to a permanent tattoo permanent tattoo rather than viewing our searches and posts as one moment in time, those actions are permanently out in the world forever. He states that our “electronic tattoos will last a lot longer than our earthly bodies will”. This means that just because we move on, delete the account, or get a new browser, doesn’t mean that our electric actions will go away forever.
In Christopher Soghoian’s TED talk, he addresses the exact reason in which we should always be on guard and be protecting our digital lives. And that reason is because “our telephones were first and foremost wired for surveillance." I know the majority of our society has phones, and probably 90% percent of those phones are smart phones. This is the first location that we need to be on guard with privacy. Keeping passwords random and confidential, using different browsers for researching, and not putting secure information into your phone are three practical ways to avoid security breaches happening right at your fingertips.
Personally, I don’t know that there is anything that the government can, or should, be doing to help the technological security of individuals. I think that there needs to be more collaboration in a social contract between the government and the private sector. Implementing social contracts that lay out individual responsibilities between both parties is a necessary to achieve a secure cyberspace environment. At the basis of all of these changes and policies, needs to be trust. Which quite honestly, I do not think the realms of our world have a lot of today.
I have taken many safety measures on multiple accounts to prevent, but not ensure, that any sketchy behavior happens on my side of the technological world. I am very cautious and wary of the people and resources around me. Though I may not be able to control what the rest of the world does on the internet, I can control what I do and that is what matters most.
As a tidbit of advice, I have attached 12 practical concepts
to be more secure in your online endeavors! One of my personal favorites that carries through each of these methods is just being aware of the severity of what you are dealing with. Having the intentionality to know that your personal information can be taken advantage of with one wrong move is key. Be smart, work harder, and be persistent in being smart and safe online!
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