Have you ever stopped to think about the technology you use, or the online services you engage with on a regular basis ? Chances are you use some form of technology or internet service on a daily basis. If so, have you considered the increasing trust we are required to place in technology or companies to manage our daily interactions.
Whether it’s emails, holiday photos on social media, on-line shopping, internet banking or even health details; we are generating more personal data than ever before. This data collectively combines to create digital footprints which we leave littered all over the internet.
Sometimes our footprints are created unintentionally, for example when browsing a website, other times intentionally when we choose to submit information on a blog or post a comment on social media. Even liking a post on Facebook adds to our digital footprints, since the data is stored on servers out of our control. Therefore, no matter what you do online it’s important that you know what kind of trail you’re leaving, and what the possible effects can be.
One of the motivating factors for starting this blog is to explore these concepts in detail and encourage us all to be more intentional with our digital lives. To recognise that privacy matters. That our data is unique, highly valuable, and monetised by big tech companies on a continuous basis. To understand that hackers and cyber criminals will stop at nothing to obtain this personal information and engage in a variety of harmful activities.
I want to encourage you to think critically about the technology you use, and how to manage your online activity. To teach you how to better protect yourself against social engineering (profile extraction), phishing attempts (fake email) or malware infections (infected devices) targeting your devices and data.
I hope you choose to join me on this journey !