Personal
Electronic Privacy Improvements with Encryption
Author: Darryl F. Jackson, dfjackson_2000@Yahoo.com
Author: Darryl F. Jackson, dfjackson_2000@Yahoo.com
Because Americans are increasingly
fearful about their identity, personal information and overall security,
privacy issues are becoming more and more popular regarding possible compromises
through internet use. There are,
however, various ways to help minimize unnecessary vulnerability areas.
You can first perform simple tasks such
as setting your browser to block web
sites you frequent often. This can prevent
nasty marketing and other uninvited entities from tracking you for whatever
reason. Some information and marketing
companies save your search engine logs for 9 months and cookies after 18 months
before anonymizing them. You can also delete
or edit past internet activities. For example you can:
·
Click “Web History” on the top right
corner of your search results page. A new page will open.
·
Click “Disable customizations based
on search activity.” Remember, this disabling will be in place for anybody who
uses the same browser and computer as you.
·
Normally, you may have to disable
these customizations again after you clear out your browser cookies, since
clearing your search engine cookies automatically turns on these types of
customizations.
Of
course, there are other variations to delete and edit your browser history to
erase your personal electronic footprints when proprietary websites and search
engines are involved.
You can also include browser extensions
to rid yourself of many privacy invasions.
These extensions would include:
1)add-ons that prevent third parties from tracking your movements, 2) add-ons that block ads and scripts, and 3)
passive security tools that enforce good habits. Such blockers
can block ads regarding the electronic sites you visit and stops 3rd
party scripts and widgets responsible for rebroadcasting your personal data
over various non-secured sites.
Rejecting
unnecessary cookies should be a daily or, at least, weekly activity. Some say weekly clearing or deletion might
not be as effective as checking your computer settings to automatically delete
cookie and browsing history daily (or when you turn off your computer). Cookies
allow web sites to save your personal visitation information on your computer
hard drive. Cookies are electronic in nature
and provide your search information to various web sites for their targeted
manipulation of such information whenever needed.
For instances, such web sites use
these “personalized” search engine to target back to the end user news and
marketing topics that it has been determined
the user to have visited. If you
have ever watched the movie, Minority Report, with Tom Cruise, there is a
virtual personalized version of this as Tom walks through a building terminal. In addition, cookies can track your online
activity and create an electronic profile of you (without you knowing about
it). If you run a search on your
computer for the term “cookie” or “magiccookie”, this can reveal the
various electronic cookies attached to it.
If you have a good anti-viral, anti-malware
software program, you can also run a search this way too. A good software product should automatically
perform such searches and rid your computer of most known cookies if the
program is up to date. If you are
running newer browsers, you can simply adjust your cookie settings in the Advanced screen of your Preferences settings.
“The hackers who attacked Target Corp
(TGT) and compromised up to 40 million credit cards and debit cards also
managed to steal encrypted personal identification numbers (PINs), according to
a senior payments executive familiar with the situation.”……… ”While the use of encryption codes may
prevent amateur hackers from obtaining the digital keys to customer bank
deposits, the concern is the coding cannot stop the kind of sophisticated cyber
criminal who was able to infiltrate Target for three weeks.”BOSTON/NEW
YORK (Reuters), Dec. 24, 2013
In the mist of such a recent Target
Stores hacker-heist within their customer electronic data security protocols
regarding encryption, it is important to get a clarification of what encryption
can do for personal privacy. To put
Targets heist in context, the largest breach against a U.S. retailer, uncovered
in 2007 at TJX Cos Inc., led to the theft of data from more than 90 million
credit cards over about 18 months. So
even though Target’s stolen credit (or debit) cards were less than half of the
largest U.S. credit card data theft, it was very significant and damaged
company security, protocols and customer privacy. This, of course leads to millions of lost
dollars by the company and possibly its customers if un-encryption is
successful.
“Encryption is
the process of obscuring information, often through the use of a cryptographic
scheme, to make the data unreadable without special knowledge (e.g., the use of
code keys).” Foundations of Information
Privacy and Data Protection, (IAPP)
Email is not the most secure form of
communications by any means. Electronic
engravements (electronic ghost or shadows) are left on your computer’s
hard-drive regarding your activity as well as emails specifically being
rerouted or eaves-dropped by third parties.
Here, encryption can be used to, at least, significantly reduced the
ability of unwanted parties to obtain your information. Programs such as Internet Explorer Outlook
and Netscape have encryption abilities.
If you don’t use these programs, there is a free, non-commercially
available encryption software called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). Also, the use of Tor (for Windows/Mac and
Linux) can be used to encrypt your email or web activity through various other
computers called relays. This occurs by
bouncing your data and activity among the various relays, which will ultimately
keep your activity and position private.
If the encryption is very advanced,
hopefully the likes of Target’s loss may not be compromised. Thankfully, many companies and non-profits
use encryption for those paying bills online or contributing to charitable
causes. For individuals, encryption is
still yields added layers of security, helping to significantly reduce one’s
everyday computer privacy.
Todd
Lindemann, A nation conflicted about watchful eyes,
Washington Post, Dec 22, 2013, at A8.
Alan Henry
on Lifehacker
security
4/24/13
http://lifehacker.com/the-best-browser-extensions-that-protect-your-privacy-479408034
Personal Privacy for Computer Users, PestPatrol. March 27, 2013 http://www.spyany.com/program/article_pestpatrol_pp.html
“Personalized Search: Turning off
search history personalization.”
Google.com/support. Retrieved on January 31, 2011.
Swire,
Peter P. and Ahmad, Kenesa and McQuay, Terry; Foundations of Information Privacy and Data
Protection: A Survey of Global Concepts, Laws and Practices. International
Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) (2012).
Jim
Finkle and David Henry:
Target hackers stole encrypted bank PINs, Yahoo Finance, Dec 24,
2013. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-target-hackers-stole-encrypted-203852085.html?soc_src=copy
Waqar
Hassan, The Advantages of a Virtual Private Network,
May 26, 2013
http://thednetworks.com/2013/05/26/the-advantages-of-a-virtual-private-network/
This subject matter deals with today's electronic security surrounding personal electronic privacy in everyday personal and professional computer uses as well as contemporary ways to keep intended messages and stored data to be maintained as private. Author: Darryl F. Jackson, dfjackson_2000@Yahoo.com
This subject matter deals with today's electronic security surrounding personal electronic privacy in everyday personal and professional computer uses as well as contemporary ways to keep intended messages and stored data to be maintained as private. Author: Darryl F. Jackson, dfjackson_2000@Yahoo.com
