Tag Archive for: safer

Britain can inspire the world to make the internet much safer for our children

/in


“Share your data if you’re looking for a wee stalker”. That is the response by a child from Edinburgh when asked about sharing too much personal information online.

Others see content that promotes self-harm and suicidal thoughts without searching for it. Another is sent inappropriate adverts when playing online games.

This is the backdrop to the introduction of our Children’s Code, a crucial piece of work to make sure that children can safely use online services.

The code came into force in the UK last year and it is already prompting tech companies to make changes to better protect children.

But we knew from the moment that we started drafting our code that its value in keeping children safe would depend on how the code was received internationally.

The digital world is borderless, and so many of the online services children access are based outside of the UK. That is one of the reasons why I’m heading to Washington this week for the biggest international gathering to help protect people’s personal information.

The more other countries require companies to protect children’s data, the more children in the UK are protected.

And the UK has an opportunity to influence real change based on the world-leading code that we have developed.

We’ve seen rapid changes in how British children are protected online following the expectations set in our code.

Targeted and personalised adverts are being blocked for children; children’s accounts set to private by default, plus location history turned off by default. Games and video streaming have geolocation unavailable or off by default. Social media platforms have security measures in place to reduce risks to children.

These are some of the types of changes we want to see on a global scale.

And there’s more to be done to assess the correct ages of children, give them privacy notices they understand, and to stop the creation of profiles using their personal data.

In Washington, the Information Commissioner’s Office will be talking to social media companies in scope of the code and building relationships with the regulators, civil society voices and lawmakers that collectively push for them to do better.

We’re calling…

Source…

Safer Internet Day 2022 – Keep Everyone Safe Online

/in


Safer Internet Day 2022 lands on February 8. Safer Internet Day began as an EU SafeBorders project in 2004. The baton was then passed to the Insafe network in 2005, and the event is now celebrated in roughly 200 countries and territories across the world.    

The event raises awareness for relevant emerging issues concerning social networking, digital identity, cyberbullying, and more. Here, we will explore the various concerns addressed at Safer Internet Day 2022 across the world and its difference. 

About Safer Internet Day  

Safer Internet Day Committees were introduced in 2009, and there are now more than 100 SID Committees working together for a better internet.  

Each of these committees has its areas of focus, and their plans can be viewed at the Safer Internet Day website. You can also access their websites and relevant links through the portal.

Safer Internet Day 2022

Image Source–Saferinternetday 

(Find out what initiatives are being implemented in your own country and across the world at the Safer Internet Day website.)  

The Safer Internet Day Coordination Team works together with the individual SID Committees and is located in Brussels, at the heart of the European Union. Their activity now extends well beyond the borders of Europe with Committees and other organizations and supporters. 

Issues Covered at Safer Internet Week 2022  

Each country has an area of focus based on relevant cultural issues. Here are some of the challenges that are being addressed across the world:  

  • Gaming addiction and relevant safety measures
  • Online safety and media literacy
  • How to handle misinformation
  • Illegal child abuse content
  • The educator’s role in the digital age
  • Online safety tips and safety guides

Why Safer Internet Week 2022?  

Raising awareness for a safer internet is a worthy cause. The statistics show us that, each year, cybersecurity concerns are only increasing, and that can put children, teens, educators, and organizations at risk. It can give way to many of the concerns already covered.  

Here are several relevant points:  

  •       PurpleSec reports that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime involving sophisticated phishing email schemes is up by…

Source…

How to Use a Free Password Manager—and Make Your Logins Safer

/in


Some of my old usernames and passwords are floating around the internet, and maybe yours are, too.

After repeated notices of data breaches at websites, some I haven’t visited in years, I decided to get serious and use a password manager to create unique, unguessable passwords for each of my accounts. They’re so complex I don’t know what most of them are.

To find out if your credentials are exposed, plug your email address into Haveibeenpwned.com, a website by security expert Troy Hunt, to reveal which breaches contained your data. It doesn’t ask for your passwords (and you shouldn’t give them out to random sites anyway!).

Hackers commonly employ an attack called “credential stuffing”: They take usernames and passwords leaked from one breach and enter them at other sites in the hope that people reused them.

This is why security experts always say don’t reuse passwords, especially those for important logins like your bank, your email and your work accounts. But it also means you’ll quickly end up with more passwords than you can remember.

A full-featured password manager is a good idea, but setting one up can be time-consuming, intimidating and sometimes costly. So, as someone who’s gone through the process for myself and several family members, I am recommending cybersecurity newbies start with the fast, free versions baked into the smartphones and browsers they already use.

The Best Password Manager for You

A good password manager:

• Creates strong passwords

• Stores login credentials

• Autofills usernames and passwords

• Protects your data

• Lets you export credentials if you want to switch managers

I generally recommend independent services such as Dashlane and 1Password, because those apps work better across different platforms and have more features. However, a good fit for less tech-savvy folks are

Apple’s


AAPL 0.51%

iCloud Keychain and

Google’s


GOOG 0.47%

Password Manager. They’re free, there’s nothing to download, and they are integrated with software people already use. Plus, they can generate new passwords and send…

Source…

The co-founder of WhatsApp becomes the director of Signal, its safer alternative – CVBJ

/in


Related news

The helm at the forefront of Signal changes hands. The application is not as popular as WhatsApp in Spain, but it is known to rival it in terms of security and privacy, even the European Union uses Signal. Precisely, the co-founder of WhatsApp is the one who assumes the position in place of Moxie marlinspike, the one who has been CEO of Signal until now.

This transfer is not entirely surprising, since Brian Acton, one of the creators of WhatsApp, has been on the board of directors of the Signal Foundation for years and has been very critical of the evolution of WhatsApp since leaving the company. Since 2018, Acton encourages on its social networks to delete Facebook (now Meta), current owner of WhatsApp.

However, from the statement issued by Signal it appears that Acton will not hold the position permanentlyRather, it will serve as a bridge until the company finds a more suitable candidate for this task. Moxie Marlinspike encourages interested parties to submit their applications for the position.

New Signal address

“I will continue to remain on the Signal board, committed to helping to manifest Signal’s mission from that role, and will transition as CEO over the next month to focus on finding candidates,” states Marlinspike on his website blog. by Signal.

Marlinspike has been a tireless advocate for internet security and privacy, flag that flies in Signal as the most secure messaging application against all types of attacks or espionage, whether from cybercrime groups or governments. It has even promoted where the company’s engineers have hacked a police tool used to enter mobiles in order to demonstrate that this technology was not reliable.

Now this task falls to Brian Acton, who in an interview for Forbes in 2018 showed sorry for selling WhatsApp to Facebook years agowith which he and his partner, Jan Koum, received millions of dollars. “I sold the privacy of my users (…) I made a choice and I compromised. I live with it every day,” he said at the time.

“Brian Acton, who is also on the board of the Signal Foundation, volunteered to serve as interim CEO during the search period,” Marlinspike says the transfer of…

Source…