If you have been online for any time in the last decade, you have undoubtedly realized just how much information is being gathered about you. Everything from your full name, to phone numbers and home addresses seems to be something that more and more websites get from you. And this is just mentioning the things that we give away knowingly. Are you aware of just how much data is being gathered via the use of cookies and other trackers?
All this data can, and is, used to sell you things, to try and impersonate you, or to scam you or your loved ones. It seems the prevalence of scammers contacting people with personal information, data breaches and a large number of other horrifying things seems to be getting more and more common online, and, as a result, in real life.
If you, like me, enjoy watching Youtube, you are most likely already familiar with the company names of NordVPN and Mypseudo. Many youtubers are doing ad reads for these, and many similar products. These products, and those like them, are providing a number of services to keep you safe online, be that from hackers, to keep your data safe, or to protect you from identity theft.
I do not wish to question the validity or usefulness of these products in this essay, nor will I condemn them as useless. What I wish to discuss in this text is instead, the concept of safety and security, and what these things mean in a more and more digital society.
What does it mean to be safe online? The answer most will probably give, is the freedom from having to worry about viruses and trojans and other malicious programs. Another common answer is to make sure that you are safe from scammers and identity theft. In other words, to protect one’s hardware and software, as well as to protect one’s identity, and as a result one’s finances from harm.
The two primary ways of keeping safe online I am going to discuss in this essay are, information and tools. Tools are firewalls, virus protection and the numerous other tools and services that I mentioned earlier. You pay a company, to keep safe, to buy peace of mind and security. The other way of keeping safe is information.
This ranges from technical knowhow, to information searching competency, the ability to recognise scams, as well as the ability to keep up with current news. While often, but not always free, the acquisition and application of knowledge is fully up to you as the end user. Note that both approaches are sadly vital to keep safe online today, and both of these approaches do interlock often.
Tools
It is only natural that as more threats are invented and arrive online, so do the tools to combat them. As lockpicks became better, so did locks. As robbers became better at circumventing alarms, the alarm systems became more sophisticated, this is true, at least in theory for online technology as well. As viruses get smarter, so must antivirus companies advance, as online scammers become more competent, and finding new loopholes, new tools must be adapted and created to stop it.
Just as with physical alarms or locks, are these solutions not free, and as more kinds of threats become apparent, a more extensive and complex systems of alarms, blockers and recovery measures seems to be needed. As identity theft becomes more common, a way to safekeep your security is needed. As more malicious ads appear, ways to shut off these scams and prevent accidental clicks are needed. When viruses and trojans advance, so must your antivirus software.
There are today solutions that claim to do all, or at least most of what you need to keep safe online. How do you as a consumer make sure that you get the protection that you truly need? What kind of services are reliable, and what do they do? What level of security do you personally need?
These questions, combined with a more and more advanced network of real life and digital connections are making it more and more vital to be digitally literate. It is also vital to keep this information and knowledge up to date. This leads me on to my next point, the importance of information to stay safe online.
Information
The digital divide is sadly still widening in much of the world, and it is not, as many assume, across age gaps. I have personally experienced patrons coming to the library that are considerably younger than me, that lack all of the most rudimental technological and digital knowledge. Things like how to log in to their internet bank, their email or how to download pdf files were unknown to a disturbingly large number of my patrons, independent of age.
When even this rudimentary knowledge is missing, how can these individuals be expected to be able to parse the difference between VPN providers, and what sort of encryption set and level of firewall protection is needed for them? How are these individuals even supposed to know that things like man in the middle attacks and keyloggers and DDos attacks exist, even less how to combat them.
A simple answer would be to rely on the tech professionals, to pay for the security that sounds best, be that Norton or NordVPN or any of the tens of other well known brands of digital protection. Just as with physical alarms and locks, it would be easy to hand everything over to a security firm that specialties in the forms of protection you would need. An apartment would after all have completely different needs then a large freestanding townhouse in the countryside. This would be in essence the same as buying a service or a tool mentioned above, where you buy peace of mind
But where would you start? Do you have a home PC, what do you do on it, what kind of security would it need, what about your smartphone, or your printer, or your smart fridge? Any machine in your home that is capable of connecting to the internet is a possible access point for malicious attacks after all. How would you know that you get all the protection you need, or for that matter pay for more protection than is needed for you?
While base protection is always good to have, just as a lock on your front door, as well as a home insurance, I would like to argue that learning about the dangers and pitfalls of internet use is sadly the most efficient and profitable way to stay safe online. This has to be a collective effort and one that everyone has to take part in. The saying “Don’t press an unknown link” needs to be as common as “Never talk to strangers”. The more common these rules are, the safer everyone will be.
At the end of the day, there are many dangers online that tools can not protect you from. These can be websites masquerading as legitimate companies, emails sent from people you know with compromised email addresses. Scams and misleading content is sadly everywhere online today, and the only true way to keep safe is to arm yourself with a good antivirus, and a solid understanding of what to look out for, as well as how to be able to recover if something goes wrong.
Information sharing and support
We are already in a world of haves and have nots when it comes to safe access to the internet. Be that by hardware or information. There are many that can not afford the prices to keep safe using the technological solutions, or are able to afford to spend the time to learn how to acquire these tools in the first place.
Likewise is the acquisition of information on how to stay safe online poorly distributed outside of specialist or enthusiast circles, and much does never reach the general public. And even when it does, it is often too little too late, and may in some cases already be outdated. The dangers of online activities come in a number of forms, and many of them can not be solved with a simple antivirus program. A VPN can not protect you against the lies of scammers, false websites or fraudulent links, but they can give you an edge.
I would like to take up the need for heightened pressure on public providers of the internet to make sure that their patrons are safe. Using a public network today is a bit of a coin flip if it will be safe or not. This is true for your local cafe as well as the nearby public library, though the safest thing to do is to assume that all public networks are unsecured and unprotected.
It is in places like this, that the inequality in internet security truly becomes apparent. Many low income households and individuals use places like this to get access to reliable internet, and it is often these groups that do not have access to things like VPNs and other forms of encryption and online protection tools. Knowledge of things like two step authentication, suspicious links and virus filled downloaded files are especially vital when using these public internet connections.
Final thoughts
The way to heighten security online I would argue primarily comes in two ways, the technical infrastructure of the internet safely must be expanded, things like VPNs must be made available to more people and easier. Public internet providers need to take greater care to ensure that the internet connections that they provide are as safe as they can be.
The second way is to increase public awareness of internet dangers and frauds, there is no longer a reason why these topics should be limited to tech experts and security professionals. Here schools and libraries and other public institutions can be of great help, especially when it comes to educating younger generations of threats that they would not have come into contact with personally yet. But more than that, the topic of internet safety must become a topic of general discussion, just as health and personal safety is. We need to start sharing what we know and what we have learned about our internet safety victories and losses. Only together can we help keep everyone safe.
This essay is a way to start such a discussion, and I will link a list of resources that has helped me expand my knowledge around internet safety, I will expand this list as I find more:
Kitboga, a youtuber that specializes in counter scamming telecom and internet scammers:
https://www.youtube.com/@KitbogaShow
Jim Borwning, another youtuber that focus on internet security, trough scam counteraction:
https://www.youtube.com/@JimBrowning
National Cyber security center, a British governmental organization dedicated to internet security, below is a list of good tips everyone should know.
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online