Better safe than sorry

When it comes to the internet, we need to be extra cautious. The implications could be far reaching and at times disastrous

 

Many look upon privacy on the internet as an oxymoron. It is like passing folded ‘parchis’ around in a classroom, according to them. Nothing is really private. The danger of invasion is always clear and present. In the online world, you have to be your own locksmith. If Facebook chairman, chief executive, and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has shielded his friends list, events calendar and photos etc., shouldn’t you?

The internet is not place where privacy is respected. This has been proved time and again — often in our very households. So when it comes to the internet, especially social network sites — where most of us are constantly volunteering personal information, titbits about our lives as well as images — we need to be extra cautious. The implications could be far reaching and at times disastrous — to both our work and personal lives.

Facebooking

Since we started with FaceBook, let’s talk about it first. The first thing you need to do is go to setting > privacy and see how you want deal with the three basic questions there: “who can see my stuff?”, “who can look me up?” and “who can contact me?” Plus, of course, the subsections. As a general rule, avoid the public and everyone settings. And don’t accept Facebook’s default settings everywhere. Don’t add-on FB applications with wanton impunity. Once you allow an application in, it has access to your account/profile and this can always be misused by that company.

Go to settings > security and set login alerts to get an alert when anyone logs into your account from a new device or browser. Also run your eye over the timeline and tagging sections to vouchsafe what you want visible to the world. That is, unless you want Facebook to be an Openbook about your life. It is merely a matter of a few clicks but something that most of never bother about.

Password protoplasm

Always create strong and smart strong passwords. Y-a-w-n! You read that everywhere, don’t you. That’s because this rule can’t be emphasised enough. A strong password is your very first line of defence against intruders and hackers. Yet people persist in keeping lover/ spouse/ pet names as their passwords. Tell them to add a number and they will add their birthday date to it.

To make it really tough for a hacker to break your password you need to manufacture a catchword (or phrase) that is clever enough to be offbeat, yet sticky enough for you to recall without a problem. Size matters here, by the way. So the longer the better. It, of course, must incorporate capital letters, numbers and if possible special characters. And use more than six characters. You need to think of and treat your password as you do your toothbrush: you always pick a good one. You never share it. And you must change it every now and again.

On public terminals

If you often need to use cyber cafés and public internet terminals, remember you are opening yourself up for cyber attacks and possible invasions to privacy. To secure yourself, use a pen drive loaded with DemocraKey V3 (http://­sourceforge.net/ projects/democrakey/). The minimal version of this programme encompasses portable versions of an anonymous browser (Tor), antivirus (Clamwin), email programme (Thunderbird), and an encryption programme (TrueCrypt). The full edition also throws in a word processor (AbiWord) and an image editor (Gimp). So you can surf anonymously and securely, encrypt your files and email, and edit documents without fear of intrusion.

If you think that is excessive, at the very least carry a pen drive with Neo’s SafeKeys (www.aplin.com.au/) on it. This mouse-based keyboard programme stalls keyloggers by allowing for you to mouse-click your password on an on-screen keyboard instead of typing it out on keyboard — thereby preventing a keystroke trapper programme from recording your password. (Keyloggers are malicious spy programmes that capture a computer user’s keystrokes and send all the data to a third party via mail.) Your password with SafeKeys keyboard appears within a “******” mask. You simply select the “******” and drag-drop it onto the password box of your online login form. Nothing is stored in the Windows clipboard, even clipboard loggers can’t trap the password.

Public wifi safety

 

If you use public wifi networks, make it a habit to use HTTPS and SSL whenever possible. Turn sharing off — for files, printers, or even allow remote login. Learn to enable your firewall. And use a VPN. A virtual private network allows you route all your activity through a separate secure, private network. This brings you the net traffic encryption security of a private network even as you use a public one. This safety net utility prevents nefarious elements from infiltrating your connection to a public hotspot and spying on you. A VPN like Hotspot Shield for instance encrypts your data, escorts it to its secure servers and also converts all HTTP traffic to the far safer HTTPS mode. This protects you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. Such tools is browser-independent and appears a toggle-off/on system tray icon. They also detect and block known malware sites. Always remember, forewarned is forearmed. Don’t cry over spilled milk, by this time tomorrow it could be yogurt.

 

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