Cyber Security:

To TRUST or not to TRUST

- that is the question!

You need to identify your enemies to stay safe online - those who intend to exploit you or cause you harm in any way. You also need to know who you can trust, so that you can confidently have a successful, safe 'cyber-life'. Much of life today is conducted online - from shopping to banking, working and playing and finding out what is going on and communicating with friends. You need to think very carefully about, and constantly evaluate who, and what you trust, and to what degree you trust them.

Online contacts and 'go to' sites

For each of your trusted contacts or sources you need to evaluate the degree to which you trust them.

Why do you need to have contact with them?

What is their level of expertise at keeping 'cyber-safe'?

And to what degree do you trust them not to share your information with others?

Obtaining information online

If you obtain information from an online source, you need to be very careful.

Even when you have checked to see that the information is from a reputable source that you trust, you need to remember that:

mistakes can be made - even in the best organisations,

reputable companies can be hacked and made to send out incorrect information,

the company itself may well have obtained the information from another source before publishing it - eroneously thinking it to be genuine.

It is always a good idea to search any topic widely and compare information you obtain from various sources. Sometimes you will find that all of the sources are to some degree simply copying one from the other. That makes it very difficult to find out where the information originally came from.

Just because something is 'everywhere' on the web does not make it true - in fact it often means it is sensationalist or scandalous.

You need to amass a list of sources that you have come to really trust.

Such sites need to have the expertise to know what they are talking about, and the integrity to independently evaulate the information you are interested in. 

But even then - you need to 'keep a weather eye on the horizon' for 'takeovers'. Sometimes site domains are sold - fetching a decent price if they have many users. Buyers are not keen on the site - just the following. Any change in the tone of a site should be investigated carefully. And even on your most trusted sites do be vigilent when 'clicking links'.

Sharing information about yourself

You may share information about yourself with people and organisations that you trust - but even then you need to carefully evaluate what information they actually need to have, giving them no more than necessary.

For example you trust your bank because it has branches on many high streets, it is recognised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and your money is protected by laws in the UK when it is kept in a regulated bank. Based on this trust you may use the bank's website, or an app provided by that bank - but be careful to follow the safeguards the bank recommends for your secuity.

However, if you post information about yourself on sites such as Facebook, that information is available to any one who might come across it.

You may restrict your photos and posts to friends - but they may well copy and distribute them via their friends (and so on and on and on).... that is how a post 'goes viral'.

Once 'out there' in cyberspace a photo, video or 'quote' cannot be taken back - even after being deleted from the site you placed it on, a copy may well be circulating decades later.

So think carefully before placing any information online - it may be used by someone who intends to:

pretend they are you for a fraudulant purpose, or

burgle you as they know when your property is unoccupied (from photos that show you are out for the day or on holiday - or even out at work)

steal purchases you have made recently (and showed off online!) and the valuables you have in your house (photos are great to see those!) - also your personal valuables like jewellery can be gleaned from photographs (engagement rings for example are often shown in great detail on the web).

So, not only do they know when your house is vacant, but they also know what to look for when they burgle you.

Online Quizzes

Also think carefully about doing 'fun quizzes' that glean information about you: maiden name, pet names, favourite colours, football teams, information that might be included in web pages, photos or videos posted online and available to many strangers. Such 'fun quizzes' are a popular form of 'phishing'.

Here are a couple of examples of information you shouldn’t trust:

Profiles on dating websites: there may be a genuine person behind that profile, but on the other hand it might be a criminal or scammer.

Scammers may continue to exchange information for a year or more, drawing you in, using fake information and images from someone else's blog, even exchanging intimate pictures, until there is a very plausible request for money for the plane fare to visit you, or blackmail you over your intimate pictures.

You have no basis for trust! Only what they have told you.

An advert for anti-malware software at a bargain price: the link takes you to a website that claims it is totally brilliant, with lots of reviews on that site saying how good it is. It may also claim that it has been ranked number 1 by various other sites.

But note that you have no basis for trust.

A criminal can easily create such a website with that information, a shopping cart payment system to take your money and provide software for you to download. At best the software may be useless. At worst it will install malware on your computer and attempt to take repeated payments from your account.

When searching for information on how to keep yourself secure you need to evaluate your trust in the sources of information, and you should start from our highly trusted sources.