Cybersecurity is a concept that has made it into the public domain, and for good reason. No longer a specialized technical knowledge known only to network technicians or IT professionals, cybersecurity has been massively popularized and awareness of it has trickled down to the masses. This is taking place because there is a risk on the internet, and the possibility of cyberwar could be drawing nearer by the day. We as a society do need the best cybersecurity tools and knowledge possible in these times when the internet is at so much risk. It isn’t the only risk, awareness is also needed due to the instability of the entire cybersecurity milieu.
The fact that we as a global community rely so much on our dealings with the internet is all the more reason to pay maximum attention to security, and more importantly, take a collective proactive stance on the matter. This is not solely about cybercrime and direct danger from cybercriminals per se, but also about our rights to internet privacy and the fact that entrusting personal data to tech companies, and mass monitoring by organizations is problematic. So, we’ll be looking at some readily available tools that will improve internet privacy (and as a bonus security too) for everyone. A key tool available today to everyone for this exact purpose is Virtual Private Network software (VPN), for example.
We now know that the internet is crucial for society. The founder of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee and World Wide Web Foundation Co-founder Rosemary Leith reflected on the state of the internet in an article posted on the World Wide Web Foundation. They stated that the internet (WWW) has now turned 32 years old and that this web is “a lifeline that allows us to adapt and carry on”, however, “When young people do get online, too often they are confronted with abuse, misinformation, and other dangerous content, which threatens their participation and can force them from platforms altogether”. A key takeaway from this article is the following; “As we did with electricity last century, we must recognize internet access as a basic right and we must work to make sure all young people can connect to a web that gives them the power to shape their world”. The fact that the internet is constantly expanding every second in terms of users online, created websites, emails sent, Google searches, etc. is even more proof that cybersecurity (for safety and privacy reasons both) is paramount today. While this is especially important for the youth, it is certainly applicable for all current generations.
What does Cybersecurity Mean?
Cybersecurity is simply put internet security. ‘Cybersecurity’ basically defines anything that helps defend and protect internet users against malicious attacks, general data safety, and data privacy e.g. this means the software, training, skills, and awareness associated with those issues.
What is Internet Privacy?
Internet privacy is a sort of self-explanatory concept but requires a wider context to be understood. What this means is that, yes the concept concerns privacy on the internet, but it is important to explain why this is a growing issue and why it needs to be taken into account. According to a generic internet definition of privacy, “Internet privacy refers to the vast range of technologies, protocols, and concepts related to giving individual users or other parties more privacy protections in their use of the global internet”. Internet privacy consists of “privacy statements on websites, data sharing controls, data transparency initiatives and more”. Let’s think about the data privacy scandals of this decade (the Snowden Effect and Wikileaks to name the big ones). Also, in the post 9/11 era (after big dilemmas surrounding surveillance) people are much more aware and cautious of their data privacy online. Before the data privacy leaks, there was early privacy legislation such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA, 1998). However, this was only general safety legislation. Proper legislation examples of course came after the realization that we are vulnerable online, such as the USA Freedom Act in 2015 -the world had to react to protect data privacy as soon as possible. Today, we have the very strict GDPR and CCPA regulations instituted which were put in place to ‘protect’ digital citizens’ rights. These regulations were put into action by the EU and the state of California, respectively, and every year more countries are following suit.
Problems With Online Privacy
Privacy concerns are mainly with regards to how data is gathered from internet users. This became an issue in the 1990s when the internet saw a surge in usage, and the economy turned its eyes to profiting from digital marketing, data gathering, and online advertising. To quote an academic law text, “The last decade of the twentieth century presented profound new challenges for the protection of information privacy”, “Throughout the 1990s, the collection and use of personal information in computer databases rapidly accelerated. The decade saw the rise of an entire industry devoted to aggregating personal information for use by marketers -the database industry. Hundreds of companies gather personal data and create massive databases, which they then rent to marketers. The industry generates billions of dollars each year”.
Today, the biggest privacy issues lie with everyone’s device; whether that be a smartphone, tablet or computer. Any device with an operating system that can access the internet is at risk of a data privacy breach. An internet browser can reveal a lot of information to marketers and third parties about your browsing and system. This information includes personal identifiers, which others can then use to track you. The following features are used to collect user information in a web browser;
- Web browser cookies
- Device fingerprinting
Device fingerprinting, for example, is when a website will profile the hardware of your system and the software you are using to access the internet. Even more, evidence that anyone’s data isn’t secure today is a simple visit to a website that will check if your email accounts’ passwords have been made available to the public due to data breaches. All of this again points to the fact that we are simply not safe on the internet anymore without cybersecurity solutions in place.
How Do You Protect Your Online Privacy?
Nowadays, conducting a simple check that you have done the following will improve your online privacy by leaps and bounds;
- A premium VPN installed
- A trusted privacy browser
- That you have opted out of ad targeting
- Changing your system time zone to another city with an identical time zone
There are several ‘anonymity’ and ‘privacy’ tests available online, which you should also run to determine if your level of privacy is satisfactory.
It is confusing that in this day and age, we have to take our digital privacy into our hands however that is, unfortunately, the reality we face. Referring to the law text above once again; Paul Schwartz observed that “personal information in the private sector is often unaccompanied by the presence of basic legal protections. Yet, private enterprises now control more powerful resources of information technology than ever before”. Armed with the proper cybersecurity tools and knowledge, we can be more private, and safer online.
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