digitalsecurity – Computer Science & Security News

Ignoring our online privacy, is it life threatening?

Do you know who has access …

… to your Digital ID?
… to your Digital Health?
… to your Digital Shopping?
… to your Travel Restrictions?
… to your Central Bank Digital Currency?

Chances are, the answer is
‘Don’t know!’

But there is something that can be done to secure your online privacy in our digital age.

In our increasingly connected digital world, protecting personal information has become a matter of utmost importance. Neglecting online privacy can have severe consequences, including identity theft, financial fraud, and cybercrime. In a world where technology and the internet play a central role in our daily lives, it is imperative that we take steps to secure our digital footprint and protect our personal information from exploitation by governments, corporations, and cybercriminals.

The collection and use of personal information by governments and corporations is a significant threat to online privacy. Governments can gather data through various sources, such as databases, surveillance programs, and data retention laws. This information can range from basic personal details to online behavior, purchasing habits, social media contributions, and even health records. The use of this information for national security or to monitor citizens’ activities often happens without their consent or knowledge.

Corporations collect personal information through tracking technologies, such as cookies and browser fingerprinting, and data-sharing agreements. This information is used for marketing and advertising purposes, such as targeted advertisements and personalization, without individuals’ consent or knowledge, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and privacy violations.

The collection and use of personal information can compromise an individual’s online and physical security. As former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden famously said:

“We kill people based on metadata.” *

* What is metadata?
Metadata describes other data, often secret data, for instance, telephone numbers, to whom you spoke, how long you spoke, which country you called …

This highlights the importance of understanding the dangers of metadata and the need to protect our personal information.

We all experienced this nightmare since years, but more so from 2020 until today, and it still continues in certain countries! We just opened the Pandora box!

Open-source software is a type of software that can be freely accessed and modified by anyone. This makes it more secure and transparent compared to proprietary software. In the context of online privacy, open-source software can offer secure and anonymous ways to access the internet by encrypting the user’s data and hiding their IP address (a unique numerical label assigned to every device connected to the internet, used to identify and communicate with it). This helps to protect the user’s online privacy and personal information from being collected and used by governments and corporations. These last two identities use this type of software to protect themselves.

In addition to the use of secure e-mail providers and encrypted browsers, there are several other steps that individuals can take to protect their online privacy:

Use strong and unique passwords: Strong passwords are essential for protecting your online accounts from cyberattacks. Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, and make sure that each password is unique to each of your accounts.

Enable two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication is a security measure that requires a second factor, typically a code sent to / given by your phone, in addition to a password to access an online account, providing an extra layer of protection against unauthorized access.
Be cautious with personal information: Be careful about the personal information that you share online and documents that you throw away in the garbage or dust bin. Think twice before posting sensitive information, such as your home address or financial information, on social media.

Use a virtual private network (VPN): A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and protects your online activities from prying eyes. A local VPN can save you a lot of money too.
Keep software and systems up-to-date: Software updates often contain security patches that protect against new threats, so make sure that your software and systems are always up-to-date (Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, iOS, …).
Be aware of phishing scams: Phishing scams are a common way for cyber-criminals to steal personal information. Be cautious of e-mails, SMS or messages that ask for sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers, and always verify the source before providing any information. Even in the dating world (see my previous article).
Review privacy settings: Regularly review the privacy settings of your social media accounts and other online services to ensure that you are comfortable with the information that is being shared – they changed these settings often without telling anything.

In conclusion, protecting our online privacy has become increasingly important in our digital age, more so after 2020. The collection and use of personal information by governments and corporations, as well as the rise of cyberthreats, have made it imperative for individuals to take steps to protect their personal information and online security. From using strong passwords and two-factor authentication to utilizing privacy-focused software and VPNs, there are several measures we can take to safeguard our online privacy. It’s important to note that the risks to our personal information and security are real and ongoing, and that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to protect it. By being mindful of the threats and taking proactive steps to secure our online presence, we can ensure that our personal information remains protected and our privacy remains intact.

Are you looking for ways to ensure the privacy and security of yourself, your family, and your business?

Our training courses may be just what you need. Do not wait until it is too late. Our courses adopt a hands-on approach, prioritizing practical application over theory.

Get in touch with us at info [at] digitaltran.eu

After considering your application, we will share a link with you where we can in all security do our training. Groups remain small so that everybody can follow.

Here are just some examples where governments want to control everything with the help of social media (corporations):

“Justin Trudeau Hijacks Canada’s Healthcare ...”
(link to the ‘Gateway Pundit’ with officials’ videos)

Here is a video about the internet censorship – is it coming?

Do you know what … ?

A dialog between friends.
Can one of them answer the questions on the picture?

“I know what she bought!”

“How do you know that? You can’t see through the paper bags, can you?”

“Let me do a list for you:

organic whole-grain bread
organic butter
organic tomatoes
lingerie
two intimate massage toys
a bride’s magazine
ironically also the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)” from George Orwell

That’s it. If you want, even I can pinpoint the exact location where these items were bought.”

“But some things are too personal to be known, as the massage toys and maybe also the lingerie. How do you know all of that? Were you behind her? Spying on her? Do you know her name?”

“No, I don’t know her name, she is known as ft-4552-7854-9654, but if you want I can have her name. I was not behind her, spying on her! I was sitting at my desk.

The secret is … ”

What is data collection?

Before revealing the secret, let’s have a look at what ‘data collection’ is:

‘Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on targeted variables in an established system, which then enables one to answer relevant questions and evaluate outcomes. Data collection is a research component in all study fields, including physical and social sciences, humanities, and business’ (Wikipedia: data collection).

How on Earth can someone collect data about the items that we buy?

Did you hear about ‘GPS’, ‘social media’, ‘credit cards’, ‘camera pictures/videos’, among other things. All these so-called technologies are connected to the Internet.

Who are those who collect our data?

The biggest collectors are Facebook (Meta), Google (Alphabet) and Amazon, or other contractors. These data is sold in data auctions, where governments participate actively to get a copy.

It does not matter, rich or poor, you are traced constantly (24/24 and 7/7) with your mobile apps.

You want free services, you have to SELL YOURSELF to these social media.

The Apps know everything about you:

all your contacts, even those secret ones
your exact name and those of your contacts
where do you exactly live
your health status
your debts
who you date
who you see in secret
in which hotel you sleep
when you get up
when you take your shower
what you eat for breakfast, lunch and evening meal
even your intimate conversations they know
your browser history
your search history

*Source: https://twitter.com/session_app/status/1558688114633211904?s=20&t=amlMkZK6ba2rhnpaTR5kWw*

Only by collecting this data, they can target you with ads (see Facebook and Whatsapp).

Is it legal?

Of course it is, since you signed their contracts by clicking ‘Accept’ or ‘OK’ (BTW, these contracts are too complex and almost nobody reads them). Here is an example:

What is this secret?

To continue our dialog from above:

“… The secret is their mobile phones and the pre-installed or installed apps, coupled with the credit card payments and of course the GPS and/or Wi-Fi coordinates, and sometimes the GSM coordinates too.

So we might say that we spy their individual activities legally.”

Want to know how to protect yourself and/or your intellectual property?

Please take contact with us at:
” info [at] digitaltran [dot] eu ”
or through our contact form on
https://digitaltran.eu.

Everyone has something to hide!

Author: Vasco Gonçalves
Date: April 19, 2022

*Secure your data (composed by Vasco Gonçalves / images source: PixaBay)*

Let’s start with a real-life story where some of you might identify yourselves:

A CEO, let’s call her Joanna, lost her job for being trolled on social media.

What happened?

Joanna worked very hard to attain her position. She was relatively young, ambitious, and very successful. One morning, as usual, she arrived at the office and found her employees whispering and acting strangely.

She called her executive assistant and asked if she knew what was going on. Reluctantly, the assistant explained:

“Someone posted some photos of you and a man kissing, along with some nasty comments and other stuff.” The “other stuff” included partially masked nude photos of Joanna and a man, avoiding Twitter’s bans.

She asked to see the posts.

“Oh my God! These photos are of my husband and me! How did they get these photos? They were in my encrypted Cloud! Nobody could have accessed them! These photos are private!”

In that instant, she knew her career had come to an end and felt overwhelming shame. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She ran out of the office and went home, never to return.

Joanna had a virtual conference with the Board of Directors to announce her resignation. She handed in her written resignation the next day via postal mail. Although the Board opposed her resignation, Joanna could no longer work with her colleagues.

What happened to Joanna? Where does she live now? Does she still work?

Keep reading, the answers will be given.

Consequences

Have you ever faced a situation so overwhelming you felt like retreating from the world?

Maybe due to compromised photos like Joanna, or perhaps some confidential documents or patents are circulating on the Internet.

Gossip starts to mushroom everywhere, from your family to unknown people. You are trolled on social media. Many move away to unknown places, permanently or until the dust settles, as Joanna did. Some people lose jobs they cared about and receive no financial compensation. Though rare, some even commit suicide.

As a business owner or CEO, it is very difficult to hire someone who is or was trolled on social media or in gossip columns, even if the news is fake and they are innocent.

Others will say, “I have nothing to hide!“

Joanna was a respected professional and active member of her community, balancing family and career with dedication, but in an instant, she lost everything!

Maybe you are young and free-spirited. But one day, you might make mistakes, knowingly or unknowingly. That’s when you’ll wish the ground to swallow you whole!

One thing we should never forget:

“The Internet NEVER FORGETS anything!”

Once comments, photos, videos… are published, they remain somewhere in the world forever. Just search your favorite search engine, and you will see that some photos pop up even if they are no longer available on certain websites.

Are you in such a situation? Maybe, or maybe not yet!
Are you a celebrity?
An actress or an actor, a social media magnate, a business leader,
a politician …
Do you have innovations, patents… to secure and hide?
Do you have professional or private pictures or videos to secure and hide?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are certainly a candidate to secure and hide professional or private data or information, especially if it could be embarrassing to the public!

“I already have my data in a secure online cloud.”

Can you trust such online clouds? Joanna thought her data was secure in the Cloud. She paid a hefty fee for the provider to secure her phone and cloud.

If you ‘secure’ your data on the cloud, you become a perfect target for hackers, paparazzi, corporations, and rogue governments. With today’s circumstances, everyone is in need of money, and this could likely intensify over the next 5 to 10 years!

Despite their best efforts, clouds from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others are serious hacking targets. Here is a simple example:

“iCloud hacker stole intimate photos from hundreds of Apple customers” (techradar.pro – https://www.techradar.com/news/icloud-hacker-stole-intimate-photos-from-hundreds-of-apple-customers)

How many accounts have been compromised (publicly known and undisclosed)?

You just need to look on Twitter, at hacker sites, and anonymous forums. Many brag about their exploits and sometimes post a nude picture of a celebrity or publish a few lines of a top-secret document as proof. They want to monetize these documents and photos or sell them back to you for a huge amount of money.

What is the guarantee that the malicious hackers will not retain a copy for future financial demands (again and again)? Many companies are in such a position and pay regularly – as an insurance policy – without being assured of the data’s destruction!

What can be done? What is the best option?

The best storage is a Secure Local Open Source Personal Cloud (SLOSPC). Think of SLOSPC as a personal vault in your home, fortified with cutting-edge security.

What is that?

Simply said, SLOSPC is a highly secure computer in your house or premises. Not any kind of security, but the highest form of security that exists for now – all the software opensource and free**.

How does it work? Simply said:

We install it with all the securities (Linux-based).
We test it.
We let it be tested by an independent ethical hacker.
We arrange for a non-published domain name (difficult to guess) if you need to access documents via the Internet.
We train the user(s) in security matters.
If you wish, we intervene only in urgent matters and perform annual maintenance (we never see your private documents since they are encrypted under your name).

I hope you understand the implications of ‘everyone has something to hide’ and the vulnerabilities of online cloud systems.

So, what happened to Joanna?
Where does she live now?
What does she do for a living?

Joanna and her new life

She relocated with her family to a quieter location to start afresh. After a year, she applied for a business permit and now does local marketing for small companies – keeping it local.

She asked me for a solution to her problem, and I proposed the above solution, a SLOSPC.

How to get the SLOSPC or more information?

If you wish for more information, send us a simple message through our website: https://digitaltran.eu/#contact.

Thereafter, we will contact you more privately.

* Some news about photoshoots, new collection designs, innovations, officially non-published patents, private photos, private documents, accounts and passwords (sensitive people may abstain from viewing some websites):

https://firewalltimes.com/amazon-web-services-data-breach-timeline/

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/github-says-hackers-breach-dozens-of.html?m=1

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/23/tech/microsoft-lapsus/index.html

https://nypost.com/2021/12/08/google-warns-over-1m-devices-have-been-infected-in-russian-hack/

https://thehackernews.com/2021/11/hackers-using-compromised-google-cloud.html

https://abc7.com/jennifer-lawrence-nude-photos-hacker-ariana-grande-victoria-justice/288987/

http://myunique.info/vintage/icloud-hacked-celebrity-photos.php

https://celebrityrevealer.com/

** You may contribute financially to the opensource community so they can continue to perfect their free products, which we can enjoy. More and more companies and private individuals are turning to open-source and contributing heavily so developers can continue developing and controlling any code available full-time.

Disclaimer

The story presented in this article, while inspired by real events, includes fictional elements and altered facts to protect the privacy and safety of individuals involved. The individual referred to as “Joanna” is not based on any one person, and details have been intentionally modified to prevent identification.

As the author, I acknowledge being an acquaintance of a family whose experiences loosely inspired this narrative. However, the fictionalization ensures that no harm or harassment can be traced back to anyone connected to the events. This article aims to educate readers about digital security and privacy, not to disclose or speculate on any individual’s personal life.

Cyberattacks on Linux? Can it be prevented?

How common are cyberattacks on Linux?
Can we do something about it?

More common than you think. Do not get fooled by the hype:

“Linux is secure, stable, and flexible. It’s the most secure OS in the world!”

Sadly, nowadays it became a marketing tool and does not correspond to the reality. It is still true that is better than Microsoft Windows regarding stability and flexibility, but Linux has more or less the same security issues as a Windows system.

An Operating System is as secure as the developer and user take care about their own clean security habits.

Let’s dive in and see how to counteract cyberattacks, just by taking some steps.

By doing some simple actions you may avert a serious disaster – public shame, getting fired, even go to court to explain ‘Why was I careless?’ where thereafter it is very difficult to get a new job.

First some small simple stats*. Areas used:

Web services: 96% of the top 1 million servers are run by a Linux system
Smartwatches
Aerospace industry
More and more workstations and file servers
Cloud services are run mostly by a Linux system

Major countries which are exposed to attacks are*:

USA
Germany
China
France
Hong Kong (not a country as per decree, belongs to China)

Now with the war, these stats could have changed. It was noticed an active increase in attacks.

It seems that non-ethical hackers have the upper-hand and get rich. Did I miss my vocation? Just kidding!

NEVER go that route because either you land in a grave, 6-feet under, or land in jail for a very long time!

What can be done?

1.During the installation process use strong passwords.
Many users, privately or at work, still use weak passwords as (cracked in less than a second):

“ I love you ”
“ 123456 ”
“ qwerty ”

Use a password manager (very easy to use). Personally I use one where in most web subscriptions I use over 700-bits passwords (an overkill but easy to setup and to use) – copy and paste!

Or use a long passphrase:
“Yesterday, I went in the evening @19:15 for a swim!”
Almost 190-bit password (takes decades to decode it). Of course do not use this passphrase. Use something that happened in your life, secret to you – easy to use and you will never forget.

A password or passphrase is a PERSONAL item and not to be given to anyone, including your boss!!! She/He wants it, ask for a Liability Release Form!**

In case you give it freely to your boss, it is the same you sign your resignation or she/he will put the blame on you for any mishap. Do not be afraid, she/he has access to your files you working on but with her/his own password. So it is traceable.

2. When you install a Linux or a Windows system the first thing to be done is ALWAYS – update your system:

– Graphical way:

     ‘Software’ → click Updates

– Through the ‘Terminal’:

Debian and Debian-based systems, for instance Ubuntu:

      sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Fedora system:

      sudo dnf update -y

openSuse system:

      sudo zypper update -y

DO NOT FORGET to restart your system! Sometimes it is not required, but I always do it even for minor updates.

3. NEVER open an e-mail attachment if you do not know its origin!

By taking these three steps, you are protected about 95% of the time.

Still want to increase your chances of not getting hacked?

In most Linux systems, by default, the root account is locked. If someone has access to root, she/he can do everything in your system – the ‘god’ of all users!

During the installation create a normal account with administration privileges, hence the command word ‘sudo …’ + password to give access to root privileges – no activity, logged out automatically after a few minutes.

Generally every Linux system has an active firewall – that’s fine.

Another way to trap hackers, install ‘fail2ban’:

      sudo apt install fail2ban -y

      sudo dnf install fail2ban -y

On openSuse, just click https://software.opensuse.org/package/fail2ban, download and install it.

Restart your system!!!

Voilà, your got a protection of 99%. If hacked it has nothing to do with you but with the vendor.

In case you need more information or need some help in doing all these steps or even to further secure your server or workstation, do not hesitate in taking contact:

https://digitaltran.eu/#contact

* You may read in detail this article – very informative.

** More info, read this article.