Throughout one’s daily life, one may send personal and private information through apps such as Facebook, iMessage, or even through email. While all these platforms provide instant messaging, there is a chance that it can be intercepted and someone you may not even know will have access to all the information sent through these platforms. To dive further in this idea, the video “Inside Hacking Team” from https://myshadow.org/resources/inside-hacking-team?locale=en, touched on the security of one’s email and how hackers have the ability to seize the metadata within a matter of seconds. This raises the question of how much more secure we have to be when considering the type of information that is being sent through the internet cloud. Personally, I tend to share my personal information over voice rather than digital text since it won’t remain in the cloud forever but will only be one instance that only the person on the other end of the call will be able to retrieve.
Furthermore, I looked into how to control my own data through the Chrome browser. Majority of internet users are roaming via Google Chrome since it is the leading internet browser at the moment. One of Chrome’s features is “Incognito Mode” which allows the user to have their cookies, download histories, passwords, and temporary files automatically cleared without issue. Although this doesn’t hide you from your Internet Service Provider, it does allow for more control as to who will be able to see the data you put out there. Additionally, Chrome provides users with the option to customize their browsing experience with settings of how you want to browse the web. In the advanced settings, users can block certain third party websites from allowing cookies or block websites from running Javascript. The settings also gives the user the ability to add certain add-ons that can provide a more private way of browsing the web.
As many people, including myself, are starting to use more social media platforms, it is important that we all know how to use it properly while maintaining our personal information. Before one creates a social media platform, I feel as though it is necessary for them to know exactly what they’re putting out into the internet cloud and how to make sure it will all be secured. Lastly, majority of all social media platforms have 2-Step verification which allows the user to have an encrypted key in order to login to the platform. This will definitely make it harder for hackers to infiltrate into user’s information if it is set up correctly.
