Digital Privacy Workshop 101

1. Digital Privacy Workshop 101 Basic digital security, how to stop surveillance, and how to increase your privacy online. 

2. Assessing Your Risks • There is no single solution for keeping yourself safe online. • Digital security isn’t about which tools you use: it’s about understanding the threats you face and how you can counter those threats.

3. There are Five Questions you Should Ask Yourself: • What do you want to protect? • Who do you want to protect it from? • How likely is it that you will need to protect it? • How bad are the consequences if you fail? • How much trouble are you willing to go through in order to try to prevent those?

4. What online privacy concerns affect most people? • Viruses and Malware • Data-mining and analytics • Stolen passwords and login information • Tracing history and location of users • Profiling and information leaks to businesses and government

5. How do we secure online and retain digital privacy? • Know your rights • Use appropriate online tools and programs • Use secure networks • Disable options that easily allow organizations to track and collection your information

6. Personal Information Protection & Electronic Documents Act • PIPEDA requires private-sector organizations to collect, use or disclose your personal information by fair and lawful means, only with your consent. • You have the option of lodging a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner.

7. PIPEDA: Personally Identifiable Information • Sensitive or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is protected under the law: • Age, name, ID numbers, income, ethnic origin, or blood type • Opinions, evaluations, comments, social status, or disciplinary actions • Employee files, credit records, loan records, medical records, etc.

8. Is it Illegal for Companies to Collect Your Information? • …sort of, but not really. • You must consent to have your information shared and companies must disclose that your personal information will be shared. • However, government agencies are entitled to ask for and collect information.

9. Read User Agreements • User agreements for online services, email providers, social media platforms, and apps will include language about collecting and sharing your personal information. • You don’t need to sign anything for a company to collect your information: by publically posting users agreements online, sites like Google are legally able to collection and share your information.

10. Who Is Sharing Your Information? • A 2015 study by Global Privacy Enforcement Network found: • 67% of websites and apps collected personal information such as names, photos, addresses and phone numbers. • 51% indicated they may disclose personal information to a third party. • 71% had no simple way to delete account information. • 58% sometimes directed children to other sites, often via contests or ads, including some that were inappropriate for children.

11. Safe Web Browsing: TOR • Tor is free software that enables anonymous communication. • Tor directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network to conceal a user's location and usage from surveillance or traffic analysis. • Using Tor makes it more difficult for Internet activity to be traced back to the user. • Tor's use is intended to protect the personal privacy of users, as well as their freedom and ability to conduct confidential communication. • Download TOR: [https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en]

12. Safe Web Browsing: DUCKDUCKGO • Duckduckgo is a search engine which does not retain information, trace searches to IP addresses, nor collects unsolicited data. • A great alternative search engine to Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

13. Safe Web Browsing: Secure HTTPS • HTTPS: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. It means all communications between the browser and the website are encrypted. • HTTPS Everywhere allows you to encrypt your communications with many major websites. For Firefox, Chrome, and Opera: https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

14. BEHAVIORAL ANALYTICS • Behavioral analytics reveal the behavior of consumers online. • It enables marketers to make the offers to the consumer segments based on past spending. • The following services prevent businesses from collecting analytic date based on your browsing habits.

15. AVOID BEING THE TARGET OF BEHAVIORAL ANALYTICS • NoScript:http://noscript.net/ • Privacy Badger: https://www.eff.org/privacybadger • uBlockOrigin

16. Passwords • Obvious passwords or logins based off of personal information (e.g., date of birth, hometown, name of a child, etc.) are easy for people to guess and discover. • Don’t make your passwords obvious or write them down. • Generate most secure passwords with: • LastPass: https://www.lastpass.com/ • EFF’s wordlist: https://www.eff.org/files/2016/07/18/eff_large_wordlist.txt

17. Email and Scams • The most common security risks people encounter are through email. • Email scams (e.g., sending money or personal information to unknown individuals) • Phishing (emails crafted to look as if they’ve been sent from a legitimate organization) • Bogus business opportunities • Diet and health scams • Discount software offers

18. How to Avoid Fraud by Email? • Don’t trust emails from unfamiliar sources. • Treat email attachments with caution. If you don’t know what it is, don’t open it. • Don’t click links in email messages. • Install antivirus software and keep it up to date. • Configure your email client for security. • Learn to tell legitimate emails from phishing.

20. The Dreaded Malware • Malware is short for malicious software. Refers to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software including computer viruses, ransomware, spyware, and other malicious programs.  • Can prevent access, corrupt, or delete information on your device. • Can transfer personal information from your device to another source.

21. How to Avoid Malware • ClamAV: http://www.clamav.net/index.html • Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/ • Be careful! Don’t click on suspicious looking links or ads. If you are not sure the link is legit, then just don’t click. • Avoid downloading pirated material. Streaming and downloading movies and music from fraudulent sites is a common way to download malware.

22. MOBILE SECURITY • Mobile devices are just as much at risk as laptops and desktops. Smartphone and tablet owners must use caution! • Phones are able to be monitored, communications recorded, and personal data intercepted.

23. Mobile Settings • iOS settings:Settings → Touch ID & PasscodeSettings → Spotlight Search (off)Settings → Keyboard → Predictive Text (off)Settings → Keyboard → Enable Dictation (off)Settings → Privacy → Location ServicesOnly give access where necessarySettings → Privacy → application data requests (review)Settings → Privacy → Diagnostics & Usage (don’t send)Settings → Privacy → Advertising → Limit Ad Tracking • Android settings:Settings → Connections → turn off allSettings → location (off)Settings→ more → SecurityPasswordEncrypt deviceDevice administratorsUnknown sources (uncheck)Verify apps (check)

24. Avoid Mobile Tracking • Disconnect mobile (iOS and Android): https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-malvertising • Change default search engine to DuckDuckGo:Firefox for Android: Firefox → settings → customize search → DuckDuckGo • iOS: Settings → choose browser → search engine → DuckDuckGo • Setting up a DuckDuckGo widget on Android: https://duck.co/help/mobile/android

25. Why Security and Privacy Matters • All citizens are entitled to private and secure information. • Prevention of personal information theft • Equitable access to information and communication.