I’m not going to lie; this module really opened my eyes to just how little information I know about cyber security. Thankfully, I have been provided with numerous articles and sources to increase my knowledge over the subject and I have ideas in place on how to change the way I use the internet and my data.
Cyber security is something that has always intrigued me, but not enough to make me feel worried or paranoid about my data and how I use it. A popular series on Netflix, Black Mirror, is a fictional show that is based around the danger of cyber security and shows extreme consequences to our actions on the internet. While I know that it is a made-up show, there are instances that really made me think “wow, what if that really happens sometime in the future?”. Then comes this module, and all of the reading I have done made me realize that I am naïve to what I already know (or think I know). This has been a wake-up call that I need to better protect myself from the dangers that lay out there.
The first step I plan on taking is learning more about how to secure my network and data. From what I have read so far, I do not want to go into this process blind, I need some sort of background before I make any significant changes. I first started with reading over encryption, as it was stated in lecture how important it is. The reading provided was helpful, especially this article, “Different types of encryption” by the Security Education Companion. Learning about the differences between end-to-end encryption and transport-layer encryption is crucial, especially because this is a form of communication between our private information stored on a device. I will be taking the needed steps to encrypt my PC as well. I will be doing this as I travel with my laptop quite a bit, and on the off chance I leave it or lose it, I want to make sure my information is stored securely and that nobody will be able to get into it. One key here I learned is to protect this information with a long and varied alphanumeric password. So, while I encrypt all of my data, I will also be upgrading my passwords to something stronger.
When doing a random google search of myself I came up empty handed, except for my LinkedIn profile which I am okay with. I did not find any hits for my Facebook account, Twitter, Instagram, or even Pinterest. I am private on all of those sites except for Twitter. I am not sure how much it matters but I do not include my last name on those sites, except Facebook. Maybe it is because of my insecurity but I would rather keep a more laid back “you-only-know-me-if you-know-me” stance on social media until I am ready to branch out. So, for the most part I will keep my social media as is, but I will be using two factor authentication, while also brushing up on each sites privacy policies in the future.
From what I have learned this last week, I plan on taking things slow with my changes, as to now overwhelm myself. There, I will begin to change the way I use the internet, from using private browsers, encrypting my PC, and changing any insecure passwords. I know I have a lot more learning to do, and with the help from the knowledge I have learned over media literacy I can now confidently go out and identify reliable sources for my information.
