CyberSecurity for Friends and Families — Aspects of CyberSecurity
In the introduction to this series , we have defined the meaning of cybersecurity and also outlined what we will be discussing in the next 30 days. Today we will be discussing various types of cybersecurity. As this series targets the non-technical audience, you will not be bugged with the technical details. This article is only to give the general overview of the different types that exists in literature. The different aspects of cybersecurity that are currently being considered in literature include:
Information Security
Every and anything you do to protect your information from being accessed without your permission is called information security. For your computer and phones, you may need to set passwords and screen locks. Only allow people you trust to have these passwords. Even if you have a spouse or partner you trust but you have other confidential information belonging to the company you work for, be aware that even such trusted partner is not supposed to see those confidential information. Again, you could loose your phone or laptop. Ensure that there are at least some ways of ensuring that not just anyone has access to your phones or laptops.
Network Security
While chatting on the social media (Facebook, Whatsapp etc.) with friends, the information that you exchange pass through a network of computers. These computers are connected by wires or invisible electrical signals moving in the air. Network security tries to secure unauthorised access to these communication channels. For example, someone can use a software to collect other people’s information passing through his computer. If these information are not encrypted, the person can see secret information such as password which are being sent to a remote computer to enable you login to an application. This secret information could also be credit card information or ATM pin. You may not have much to contribute as an individual in protecting the entire internet but one thing you can try to do is to use password to secure your home Wifi and the hot spots you create using your phones.
Application Security
The applications you down from the internet and which you use to chat with friends could be harmful to your computer or phones or they could steal your secret data as well. This is why you should only use applications downloaded from verified sources. Example is playstore or App store. Later in this series we will discuss different names for harmful applications that run on the internet and which could be harmful to your phones, computer and data. To remain safe, be cautious of the applications you install and make sure they do not have bad intentions.
Disaster Recovery
To maintain peace, you must prepare for war. You could do your best to protect data, network and applications but you could make mistake and get infected or attacked. How do you survive these impact? Do you back up your data to other sources such as dropbox or google drive? Do you register your phones with vendors so that they could help you track the phone? Are you aware of applications that could help fight viruses and intruders into your system? Do you set password recovery questions and answers? Just know that you cannot be too careful and something may go wrong. You need to prepare for eventualities.
End-User Education
It happens that end-user education is the main part that this series is related to. Without adequate education for end-users, the technologies and features built into Information, network and application security cannot be adequately implemented or utilised. Users, especially the non-techies, are generally not aware of the security features in their computers, phones and the applications. For example, most family and friends do not know about two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication. Some don’t know that their phone can use fingerprint, voice, iris or face recognition for login. Some also do not know that default passwords in routers and other house hold smart devices are not meant to be kept past the first day of purchase.
Lack of end-user education has led to so many attacks and account hacking that happen when friends and families use devices that are part of the cyber space.
In this piece, we have highlighted the various aspects of cybersecurity. We will be focusing on user education and introducing specific terms that our friends and families should know when they are using devices and applications that exist in the connected space of computers and devices.