Spied even in our thoughts, violated in our privacy, scanned in our possessions, sold to the merchants of personal tastes, bombarded with targeted offers and packaged according to all this. Often deceived, even robbed. The seductive world of the web-cell phone-computer in addition to giving us digital prostheses that we can no longer give up will manage to leave us a little in peace by avoiding the perpetual invasion of our deepest flesh?
Let's be clear: anyone who knows the subject well knows very well that the "phenomena" of abusive collection of personal data and dossiers that fill the news these days are nothing other than the tip of the iceberg gigantic, sneaky, insidious. The almost casual evidence of a practice, or rather an abuse, much larger, gigantic, widespread, omnipresent. Let's make peace with it, in the sense that we must be aware. Let's fight and confront it, in the sense that we must and can do a lot to stem all this.
FIRSTonline has dedicated a long sequence of tutorial to the themes of the telematic invasion, to its dangers too often underestimated, to the methods used by cheaters and hackers, to the means and tricks to face them. To do the best you really have to commit yourself in a meticulous, even obsessive, certainly complicated way. Also because the pitfalls multiply, are renewed. It is then worth updating the techniques for a truly active resistance. Making the first strategy to be implemented easier. We will call it “first level of defense”.
Let's summarize the fundamental acts of what is best to do. And then, if we want to delve deeper into the details of the pitfalls, let's take a look at the sector tutorials that we have already published and that we propose again in this order: a, two, three:, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, undici, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sedici.
Credentials and passwords: let's protect them always and in any case
It's hard to believe, but the most common mistakes remain omnipresent. So let's say no to the same password for multiple accounts, credits, services, bills, banks. A violation can easily multiply and we could be (let's not exaggerate) ruined. Or at least engaged in a deadly obstacle course to change our codes in rapid succession. Let's face it: we must have many passwords and many usernames, all different. We keep this labyrinth of words in a carefully hidden paper copy. Or, much better, in an encrypted file with one of the many software, even free but still effective, that a more experienced friend can recommend. We don't want to struggle with encrypted files? We keep the list in the cloud: total security is not guaranteed but leaving it "in the clear" on our PC or smartphone is certainly riskier.
Two-Factor Authentication: An Indispensable Complication
The disposable code that arrives on our cell phone every time we need to access a bank, certified email (its “European” version requires it obligatorily) or a somewhat dedicated service? It is certainly inconvenient to use and lengthens the procedures. But today there is no nothing more certain. It is therefore mandatory to prevent our accesses from being dangerously “hacked”. It is also called two-step verification, or double verification. Let's always activate it when available, even when it is not mandatory. It is well designed, linked as it is not only to our mobile number but also to the individual smartphone, which is registered through its serial number, independent of the SIM. No phone and the data thief can do nothing. Let's always remember this.
Let's deny the consents but let's never trust them anyway
Consents, cookies, biscuits. Call them what you want. They are the corollary of consents requested when we open a website. We can refuse them, sometimes with some limitation of navigation. If we accept them we are invariably tracked, examined, profiled. For the use of those who provide us with the service but also (often beyond what is assured) who knows who. And the first window opened, which is often imposed on us with dubious legitimacy. A profiling useful to those who come into possession of it more or less fraudulently, sometimes to decide who and how to attack and defraud.
Data and profiles may circulate beyond the will of those who collect them. Let's therefore try to limit consents as much as possible when they are requested. And let's try to "clean" our Internet browser with a certain frequency with the appropriate functions for deleting browsing data. Or maybe we directly use the anonymous browsing mode provided by the best browsers, which however makes us anonymous only partially.
Beware of viruses and spyware but not only
It is worth remembering once again, even if it seems rhetorical given the bombardment not only of ours of messages of this kind, the precautions to adopt to avoid infesting our PC or smartphone with viruses, trojans or spyware which are more or less the same thing: abusive software that overlaps with everything else to allow web thieves to insinuate themselves in everything we do, stealing what is delicate in our devices. Therefore, be careful with everything we download. Never install software of dubious origin. We use a good antivirus on both the PC and the smartphone. We frequently take a look at all the software that appears and if there is something that does not add up, we check carefully.
Then there is the huge and growing chapter of new techniques and new fraud technologies. The trap emails under the banner of so-called phishing and vishing (see our tutorials) and above all of caller id spoofing, or gods masked phone numbers or counterfeits that on our display appear to be those of our bank but are not. The principle remains one: when someone calls us on the phone, false pretenses are very frequent and therefore very dangerous. Always call the person you are talking to, our bank, our service provider. To be sure that the number is “real”, we must dial it ourselves. And if possible, ask to speak to a person with whom we have already had contact.
We monitor the smartphone, a door always open
Woe betide anyone who leaves their PC and especially their smartphone unattended even for a short time. Someone could insert spyware directly in just a few seconds, with a small and rapid manipulation.
In the meantime we can confirm many rumors that are circulating, and dispel some false myths. phone is listening to us even when we don't want them to? It's true, very true, and in many cases this also applies to the PC. Voice assistants and related apps, but also webcams, should be considered suspect in their functions, in the little lights that turn on when they should be off, in the sudden and often random responses that occasionally surprise us and inevitably worry us.
What to do? The most pragmatic and resigned should still be careful. The most suspicious and willing can try to slalom between activating and deactivating a bunch of things when we don't have to use them: webcams, microphones, GPS (very important). The most apprehensive and prudent can adopt a drastic solution: two cell phones. A “basic” one without a smartphone operating system, just for talking. And then a smartphone with another sim to use only for telematics functions, maybe turned off when not necessary. Is it a solution for pathologically anxious people? Not really.
