Digital Identity in the Age of Coronavirus

The coronavirus threatens not only our physical state but also our digital identity

Coronavirus impacted us all as we are confined to our houses, many of us losing our jobs, struggling to save our businesses or in more extreme cases, be affected by the virus directly. The global pandemic impacted not only our economic situation, but also our mental health. We were forced to abandon our habits and discover new ways to communicate, work and basically, live. In this time of crisis we tend to behave differently, and the new means of communication we found are not always safe.

Social media in a time of crisis

Social media spike

According to the Statista report, in March alone X generation and millennials spent over 24% more time on social media while overall time in social media increased among all generations. A new report by GlobalWebIndex highlights that 10% of social media users create and upload videos. We expose ourselves more in social media leaving more digital footprints.

Social behavior change

The main problem we’re facing, is not the fact that we expose more but HOW we do it and WHAT we actually share in social media.

As you may notice scrolling your Facebook feed, the temperature of comments and posts are extremely high. As Joel Golby noticed in his article in The Guardian: “coronavirus has infected our culture, and the discourse is mutating around us, and the language and intensity of discussion will be permanently disfigured by this once-in-a-lifetime event.” We are angry with people who do not stay home, we are boiling about lack of governmental support for our businesses, we are loudly complaining about the intolerable situation we are in. And social media count it all and save it all in the traces we leave on the Internet.

The crisis will end but all the digital footprints we left will remain in the depth of social networks. Will we remember what we posted? Will we REGRET what we posted? How did our digital identity, available for anyone who knows how to google, change during that time?

Rise of impersonators

Now imagine you control yourself, stay calm and do not post aggressive or misleading content. But can you be sure that these content will not appear in social media signed by your name?

Fake news about coronavirus flood social media. If you are a doctor, government employee, policeman or any other representative who,at least slightly, can influence your small or large community, you are the best target for impersonators. Taking your name, photo and highlighting your occupation, these people can spread fake facts about the virus, promote fake coronavirus cures etc. Impersonators will get money for their “cures” and you might be approached by police.

If you are not an influencer at all, you still might be the target of impersonators. Your relatives or friends may get a message from “you” saying that you have coronavirus and now desperately need money to receive treatment. Not real you, just someone who stole your identity but how much money your friends and relatives will lose before getting to know the truth? This type of scam was quite popular in the past, now the virus gives it all the cards.

Videoconferences

To stay connected we all dive into videoconferencing routine. The most popular video tool Zoom added 2.22 million monthly active users in 2020 so far, compared to 1.99 million in all of 2019 and hosts more than 200 million daily meeting participants in March alone. And hackers are happy to use this opportunity. According to Check Point researchers, a significant number of malicious domains registered in March that are tied to Zoom and other video-conferencing platforms. Moreover, a report from Motherboard found out that Zoom sends data from users of its iOS app to Facebook for advertising purposes, even if the user does not have a Facebook account: “Upon installing or upon each opening of the Zoom App, Zoom collects the personal information of its users and discloses, without adequate notice or authorization, this personal information to third parties, including Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”), invading the privacy of millions of users”.

New digital applications and tools, new sing-ups bring new dangers. We cannot be 100% sure we know how our personal data is used by these tools or if we are not targeted by hackers right now via these applications and sites.

How to keep you digital identity healthy?

All the problems above bring an idea that we should start caring about our digital identity as a part of our body. We need to protect it from harmful external influence and take care not to damage it ourselves. Here are several tips on how to do it.

1. Mind your tone and words while posting on social networks
2. If you are an influencer, put a disclaimer opened for all users of a social network saying what you will never do: sell pills, discuss methods of coronavirus treatment without reference to the Ministry of Health site etc. Try to envisage how your name and influence can be used and include this in the disclaimer.
3. If your are not an influencer, you can make the same disclaimer trick or to approach your friends and relatives directly warning them not to believe if somebody under your name starts begging for money.
4. From time to time, google your name for social media accounts created with your name or photo. You might be surprised.
5. Use antivirus software to protect your devices
6. Create alerts from cyber security news sites to stay aware of recent data leaks and react fast if affected.
7. Check out dip — a special security software that performs all of the tracking for you so you’re notified about recent breaches of your accounts, your personal data exposure, accounts created under your name, etc.

Take care about your digital identity and stay safe!