Category: online security

Posted in 21st Century parenting, digital habits, online security, parents and technology, personal data security, personal information

Check Out this Security Quiz From Kim Komando

Posted on by Marti Weston

 

Komando quiz
Click to take Kim Komando’s quiz.

Do you know how to check out a suspicious link? What does HTTPS mean? How can you distinguish a message with real information from one that is fake or, worse, a phishing scam that can cause real damage to your digital life?

 

Amazingly, most people think they are going about their 21st Century digital lives in a secure way, however, there are plenty of security loopholes and many ways that people unintentionally share their personal information — information that they do not intend to share. That there is lots of informatio that people do not apply as they go about their daily digital diversions.

Kim Komando’s website features a terrific security education feature — including some quizzes so check out her site. Komando’s information is useful for adults and kids.  Better yet, explore this site together. We all learn more when we work collaboratively!

Check out this quiz. You will be uncomfortably surprised about how much you do not know.

Posted in creating secure passwords, digital parenting, online security, parents and technology, password security, personal data security

Online Security and Passwords… Passwords… Passwords

Posted on by Marti Weston

WHDH television news in Boston reported on a United Kingdom survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The data were gathered via telephone polling, and the overall aim was to learn more about how people in Great Britain think about online security, what they worry about, how they learn more, and how they maintain personal security online. Check out the results depicted in a set of amazing charts and graphs.

My guess is that the results would be somewhat similar in the United States.

Also described in the WHDH article was another part of the study in which NCSC researchers conducted password “breach analysis” using information gathered from the website Have I Been Pwned? This website allows individuals from all over the world to type in their email addresses and receive immediate feedback about whether any of their accounts were hacked (or breached). Because the site keeps track of huge data incursions from around the world, it has accumulated massive password data. Note: I have used the site twice and discovered a violated account resulting from a corporate data breach, something that exposed the credit information of millions of people.    Continue reading “Online Security and Passwords… Passwords… Passwords” →

Posted in 21st Century Learning, 21st Century life, 21st Century parenting, 21st Century teaching, online communication, online security, parents and technology, privacy, public vs private comments, teachers, teaching digital kids

Digital Communication Disrupts the Rules of Civility, Privacy, & Integrity

Posted on by Marti Weston
Click to read the article.
Click to read the Washington Post article.

After spending years teaching digital citizenship and civility in the K-12 world, I’ve now come to the conclusion that we parents and teachers should, in the midst of teaching children, stress that there is never privacy online. Yes, I know that we already teach this — or try to — in most schools and homes, but election 2016, accompanied by the theft and sharing of emails and other connected world materials, is scary. It has proven that everyone can be hurt by what they say online — even when what is said is not intended to generate hurtfulness.

To learn much more about the lack of privacy in private communication read Deborah Tannen’s October 28, 2016 Washington Post column, Why What You Say In Private Looks Bad in Public, Even if It Isn’t. Tannen is a professor at Georgetown University and the author of the bestseller, You Just Don’t Understand.

Our confidential comments may differ from what we say in public. When our candid thoughts become widely available — yes, through hacking, but with kids, it’s through intentional sharing, gossip, or the unintentional mistakes that kids make — words can often be interpreted negatively. Moreover, at least for the time being, we live in a world where stealing a public figure’s private communications and making them public appears to be OK.

Good Quotes from Deborah Tannen’s Article  (Read the entire article for much more)           Continue reading “Digital Communication Disrupts the Rules of Civility, Privacy, & Integrity” →

Posted in 21st Century life, 21st Century parenting, online security, parents and technology, privacy

So I Just Won’t Use the Cloud! Really?

Posted on by Marti Weston
cloud storage
Just a few of the sites where people I know store data and photos.

Over the past several days I’ve heard more people say that they will stop using the cloud — a reaction to the stolen pictures, possibly taken from iCloud, of movie stars and celebrities (September 2014).

Hmmm…  How about being a bit more realistic?

This is a great teaching moment for 21st Century parents, kids, and anyone who works with children. We need to remind ourselves that, no matter what a website tells us, our security depends on the many steps that each of us takes to protect and reinforce our information — passwords, privacy settings, 2-step verifications. Most of use the cloud, and often we don’t even think about it or take our privacy that seriously until something goes wrong.

Continue reading “So I Just Won’t Use the Cloud! Really?” →

Posted in digital footprints, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, online security, online tracking, privacy

Stop Tracking Kids: Protect Their Privacy on the Web

Posted on by Marti Weston
Image made with WordFoto with a picture taken at the Library of Congress.

While people worry a lot about kids and their digital access, the most critical aspect to me — and the most likely to cause an eventual problem for a child — is the degree to which information can be tracked and collected while children work and play in the web.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

For more information, read Tell the FTC to Stand Up for Children’s Privacy at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood website.

Posted in digital learning, digital parenting, online safety, online security, parents and technology, scams and fraud

That Nasty Spam Won’t Affect Me … but It Did!

Posted on by Marti Weston

I know a lot about technology. I’ve taught people from preschool to aging seniors. I write blogs, participate in social media sites, and love my e-mail. I know enough to keep my digital accounts out of danger, until now, that is …

On Thursday early evening, I came home, terribly tired — maybe too tired to work on technology tasks. With a cup of tea, I sat down to look over my blogs and Twitter account where I discovered a funny message, from someone I know and respect. That Tweet reported on a not-so-nice Tweet about me, and I only needed to click on the link to check it out.

Now I have been teaching digital common sense and responsibility for nearly 20 years. I have made presentations to kids, parents, teachers, church members, seniors, and even newly arrived  immigrants about taking care, not opening attachments, and not clicking on links. But in this case, I did not even think about it. I clicked, and the naughty link did its work, sending out copies of the message to every one of my followers.

Continue reading “That Nasty Spam Won’t Affect Me … but It Did!” →