Internet Security and Exploitation Prevention

 

Blog Post #7

In an era of technology such as ours' today, it should come as no surprise that security and privacy are of the absolute utmost importance.  Internet security is one of the most talked about and advertised services available, with VPN networks and private Wi-Fi networks offering some semblance of security.  With all of this considered, one might wonder how exactly it could change anyone's life, and how it affects the world as a whole.

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Most majorly, almost every social media platform could be subject to a major hacking or victim to some cyber crime.  One example that I've personally noticed lately is the surprising large upswing in Instagram account hacks.  This was reported on by Metro in 2021, when a dangerous Instagram message could allow a hacker to gain access to your account if you accessed it.

The leaking of information and images is an incredibly dangerous issue, as stated by Darieth Chisolm in her TED Talk.  The nature in which she was exploited out of revenge is something that can affect anyone, and with social messaging apps as easily hackable as they are today, images can be found and leaked more easily than ever.  One major issue brought up during this TED Talk was the fact that the government has very few policies in place to illegalize these kinds of actions online.

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In many cases the government cannot discipline perpetrators for their exact crime due to the lacking specificity in modern laws.  Much of today's law makers' still don't quite understand internet crimes as clearly as they should, and due to this fact the lack of laws allows for many perps to get off with dramatically shorter sentences than they almost always deserve.  A fairly uncomplicated way to go about making new laws to prevent these kinds of crimes would be to analyze cases like Chisolm's so that governments might be able to further understand how these crimes typically happen and how the perpetrators go about taking advantage of the victims.  Putting strict laws in place specifically declaring things like blackmail, revenge porn, and other forms of online extortion or harassment illegal would greatly reduce the likelihood of these kinds of crimes.

To further this, as stated by Christopher Soghoian in his TED Talk, people should use safer services for their online communication.  Many of the popular services and social media apps that we use daily are far more dangerous than one might think.  Almost every social media app is prone to being hacked, this has been seen in Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.  The one most important thing proposed by Soghoian was to use safer apps like Apple's messaging and FaceTime apps or WhatsApp.  Tips like these can help you stay safer, and employing laws to keep people safer from hacks and online exploitation would be greatly beneficial for the future of our modern country.