Before being informed on digital security, I never took extra precautions to securing my information. I just figured that the government, companies, websites, etc. tracking our information was normal, and something we simply had to deal with. I now feel differently about this approach.
I began to develop an eerie feeling when we had to search viable audience segments for my Digital Audience course. There are many websites where people can track what their target audience are interested in and the one we used was none other than Facebook. We plugged in the content we wanted to research and it provided us with information like: advertisements people were most likely to click on, their age, gender, relationship status, education and other demographics. They even told us what device they were more likely to do it on! I could just imagine the many ways Facebook gathered all this information from all those individuals.
This course, as well as my Digital Media Literacy course, have now opened my eyes to how important ones digital security is. There are many things I plan to work on from now on. One thing I have always been good at is that I make it an effort to change my passwords frequently. Although, I think another thing I should start practicing is creating stronger passwords. As for password managers, I am interested and I should probably look into getting one.
The only thing that is holding me back is that I am very old school and still like creating my own passwords. I also feel like I would forget the super secure password, especially if it will autofill on my personal devices. What if I want to log into a different device and can’t because I forgot my super complicated password? There are probably many people that would argue against this and I will probably give in sooner or later.
Another thing that was brought to my attention was that I should be changing my passcode lock on my phone more often. This is the one password that I have used for a very long time, but now plan on creating a longer, more difficult one. I found this article on most popular passwords shocking, because as a teenager, I probably have used some of these at some point and many people would also agree. While watching Mr. Robot, I saw how easy it was for the main character to retrieve personal information directly from people and how simple their passwords were, because they were either birthdates or pet names. I am definitely getting closer to getting LastPass.
I also plan on updating my software as soon as I get an update notification -which is ironic because I just snoozed an update that I have been avoiding for a week. I promised myself I would get it done as soon as I am done with finals! Although, I think I have gotten much better at it. I used to be one of those people that would stall to update my phone because people would complain about new issues with their screen, glitches or just did not like how the new software changed the display or layout of their phone. This article by our professor really made me think otherwise. If the company went through the trouble of updating its system, it is most likely for security reasons and should not be taken for granted.
After reading the criteria for this lecture, it is so alarming to learn how many factors play into digital security. It amazes me how far one has to go to avoid being tracked and even then, it might not be enough.
