David Gardiner - Internet Safety

You're in control. Farewell 2020

2020-12-31T16:30:00.000+10:30

It's New Year's Eve 2020. This year (and what a year) is almost done. Tomorrow we start over with the start of 2021!

One thing I wanted to talk about as we finish up 2020 is 'taking control', specifically with social media.

It is easy to coast, to be just a passive consumer. I know I often find myself doing it. But I think that can be risky. One day you discover you're completely swamped, maybe even drowning with all this stuff. That's not good!

Social media is a tool. It can be great - keeping in touch with friends and conversing with people you might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet in real life. But it can also be misused and be a negative, destructive influence. Not to mention the agendas and commercial of the social media platforms themselves. Remember nothing is free. There's always a cost. Someone always ends up paying.

Be deliberate

Be intentional about what you're sharing and what you're consuming. I know it's easy to just post whatever comes to mind. Maybe before you hit Post, take 5 minutes, then come back and review it with fresh eyes. Do I really need to post this? Is this constructive, helpful, building people up? Great! No? Maybe there's a better way to express yourself. Are you (or your current/future employer) going to be comfortable re-reading this in a few months or years?

Be careful

Do you really want to share your location/GPS coordinates? Most platforms do a good job of stripping these from photo uploads, but I know with my own blog I need to do that manually.

Are friends ok with being tagged or shared in a photo?

Delete

Is a particular social platform causing you stress? Deleting your profile (or even just taking a break for a few days) might be helpful. If you do choose to delete, it might be worth downloading all your data first.

Remember, this is social media - not real life! Real friendship exists beyond any particular technology platform.

Block

Sometimes you follow or friend someone who turns out to be a bit of a 'froot loop'. There's no rule to say you have to keep following or stay connected. Delete the connection. If they're pestering you, block them.

Mute

Maybe they're not a complete froot loop, but going through an odd phase. Many social platforms allow you to mute someone. You can still stay connected, but you won't see their posts.

Filter

Some platforms allow you to define keywords that you want to exclude from your news feed. If there's words you find offensive or topics you don't care about, use this feature.

Take control. Make healthy choices. Stay safe. Happy New Year and all the best for 2021!🙂🎆🧨🎇

Someone has created a Facebook profile using your name and photo

2017-04-16T17:34:00.001+09:30

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

First off, don’t panic! Unless you have a really poor password, it’s unlikely that you have been hacked. Instead an annoying person has just created a new Facebook account, copied your profile picture and name, and is presumably now going through your friend list asking to become friends, and confusing all your friends who thought you were already their friend.

What can you do?

Use the Facebook “Report” function to ask Facebook to delete the fake account.

Open the fake profile page (Just click on the name)
Click on the ‘…’ button (to the right of the Message button), then click Report.
Select Report this profile and click Continue
Select They're pretending to be me or someone I know and click Continue
Select Me and click Continue
Select Submit to Facebook for Review
Usually within a matter of hours, someone at Facebook will review the details and shut down the offending account.

How can you reduce the risk of this happening?

Review your Facebook privacy and sharing settings to stop non-friends from seeing your friends list and your profile photo.

Enable Two Factor Authentication to reduce the risk of your actual Facebook account being really compromised.

Setting your Facebook privacy and sharing

2017-04-16T15:54:00.000+09:30

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

If you use Facebook, you should take the time to review your privacy settings and be deliberate about what details you share with the public (as distinct from just your friends). Setting this appropriately can help prevent annoying people from creating fake Facebook accounts that have the same profile photo and name as you, and that then try to trick all your Facebook contacts into become friends with them.

There’s no one answer to setting privacy settings. Some people might be quite happy to share everything with everyone whereas others will prefer to keep things strictly between friends. The important thing is that you understand and are comfortable with what you’re sharing to whom.

To review your general privacy settings

Click on the drop-down menu on the top right in Facebook in your web browser
Click Settings
On the left, click Privacy
Review the settings and change to your preference if necessary.

To restrict who can see your profile picture

Go to your Facebook profile (click on your name in the top menu bar in Facebook in your web browser)
Click on your profile photo
To the right of the photo, click on the icon next to the date
Review the current setting and change to your preference if necessary. Choosing a non-public option will reduce the risk of someone copying your profile photo. On the other hand it will make it harder for potential friends to find you.

To restrict who can see your friends

Go to your Facebook profile
Click on Friends
Click on the ‘Pencil’ icon (Manage)
Click Edit Privacy
Review the current settings. Choosing a non-public option will reduce the risk of someone pretending to be you trying to contact all your friends.

Don’t just accept the defaults, be deliberate and intentional about exactly how much and to who you are sharing your Facebook information with.

Securing your Facebook account with Two Factor authentication

2017-04-16T15:52:00.000+09:30

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

You should consider enabling Two Factor Authentication (often shortened to 2FA) for logging in to Facebook. This means in addition to having a unique password for Facebook (that you don’t use for any other online services), you also have to enter a (usually) 6 digit code (or receive a SMS text message) to confirm that it really is you signing in.

The two factors in “two factor” are 1) your password and 2) the 6 digit code.

The clever thing is that the 6 digit code changes every 30 seconds, so it’s no good writing it down as it will be out of date very quickly.

If you have a smart phone or tablet

Install an authenticator app on your device. I recommend (and use) the Microsoft Authenticator app (which is available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone), but there’s other options including Google Authenticator and Authy.
Open Facebook in your web browser (preferably on a different device to your smartphone)
Go to Settings, then Security and then Login Approvals
In the Code Generator section, click on third-party app.
A QR Code (like a barcode) appears.
On your smartphone, open the Microsoft Authenticator app
Click on ‘+’ to add a new account
Choose Other
Hold your smartphone in front of your computer’s web browser so that the phone’s camera can scan the QR Code.
It should automatically scan the code and add a new account entry for Facebook. eg.
Note the 6 digit number now being displayed on your phone.
Also notice there’s a countdown timer displayed next to this number. When this timer reaches zero, the number will expire and a new number will be displayed.
Switch back to your web browser and enter this number in the confirmation field and press Confirm
Click Enable to allow Login Approvals.
Click on Get Codes
Enter your password
Print out these codes and keep them in a safe place. You can use these codes as a last resort if you lose access to the Authenticator app (eg. your phone drops in the toilet)
It is also a good idea to provide your mobile phone number as a fall back in case you lose access to the Authenticator app (eg. you accidentally deleted it).

From now on, each time you log in to Facebook from a new device you will need to provide the current 6 digits from the Authenticator app as additional proof of identity. If you use some devices regularly, you can then choose not to require two factor authentication in the future.

If you use the Facebook App on your device, that can also function as an authenticator app. The downside to using this is that it only works for Facebook, whereas an app like Microsoft Authenticator can work with many online services.

These include Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, GitHub, Google accounts, Microsoft Accounts, Mailchimp, Twitter and others. Always choose to enable 2FA for any online services you use. Many banks and financial institutions are also using similar systems.

If you have a mobile phone

Open Facebook in your web browser (preferably on a different device to your smartphone)
Go to Settings, then Security and then Login Approvals
In the Text message (SMS) section, if there is no number listed click on Add phone number
Follow through confirming the phone number

From now on, when you log in to Facebook you’ll receive a SMS text message with a code. You’ll then need to provide that code in addition to your password. If you use a device regularly, you can tell Facebook not to prompt for 2FA again.

Using 2FA with text messages is much better than not using 2FA at all, but it isn’t quite as secure as using an authenticator app. If you can’t use an app then do enable 2FA using SMS. Some services even support non-mobile numbers by reading out the code instead of as a text message.

You just received a friend request on Facebook from someone who’s already a friend

2017-04-16T15:51:00.000+09:30

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

First off, don’t panic! Almost certainly your friend has not “been hacked”. Instead an annoying person has just created a new Facebook account and copied your friend’s profile picture and name, and is presumably now going through their friend list asking to become friends.

What can you do?

Use the Facebook “Report” function to let your friend know.

Open the fake profile page (Just click on the name. Don’t click on Confirm Request!)
Click on the ‘…’ button (to the right of the Message button), then click Report.
Select Report this profile and click Continue
Select They're pretending to be me or someone I know and click Continue
Select Someone I know and click Continue
Select Message your friend
Type in your friend’s name. Your friend’s existing Facebook profile should be listed.
Click Send.
You friend will receive a Facebook message with a link to the offending profile and they can follow it up by reporting it to Facebook.

If you’re particularly concerned, at step 6 you can also choose Submit to Facebook for Review. You will then be asked to select your friend’s real Facebook profile and send it off to Facebook.

Facebook security and privacy

2017-04-16T15:49:00.001+09:30

I’ve had a number of friends on Facebook suffer the annoyance of having ‘fake’ accounts using the same name and profile picture to impersonate them and contacting all their friends asking to be friends.

It’s frustrating and annoying for everyone concerned. The victim who is being impersonated often also wonders if their Facebook account “has been hacked!”. Usually this is not the case, but I thought it would be helpful to write down some suggestions to help reduce the risk and help you feel more safe using Facebook.

Topics in this series:

Let me know in the comments if there’s anything else I should cover.

Expert profile: Mr David Gardiner

2007-07-05T10:18:00.001+09:30

The University of South Australia participates in publishing it's staff expertise on ExpertGuide.com.au. It's a site that aggregates expertise from academic and professionals, and is obviously a great resource for journalists.

Because I'd presented some talks on Internet Safety for Children, I'd added this as an area of expertise, not really thinking about how this might be interpreted by other users of the site (eg. journalists).

I've realised now that this explains the phone call earlier this week, and again today from from a Sunday Mail journalist.

Consequently, I've updated my profile to more accurately reflect what I am an expert in.

Internet Safety for Children is an interest and a concern of mine, but I'm not an expert in that field.

Almost famous

2007-07-02T16:30:00.001+09:30

This morning I had a phone call from an ABC TV journalist.

I gather he was doing a follow-up story on the Adelaide woman who has been arrested in the US allegedly trying to meet up with a 16 year old.

I'm not exactly sure how he contacted me, but I'm guessing it is related to the fact that I've done some presentations on Internet Safety for Children and that I work here at the University of South Australia.

Anyway, he rang back later and I got the impression he really wanted someone who was an 'expert in the field' - eg. had the IT experience but also direct Internet Safety experience with children too. I'm happy to be an IT expert, but internet safety isn't part of my day-to-day job, so I'm not willing to call myself an 'expert' for that.

Anyway, I'll try and watch the news tonight to see how the story ended up.

Internet safety for kids - Online resources

2006-09-04T09:35:00.000+09:30

Here are some of the resources mentioned in the "Internet Safety for Kids" talk:

www.perverted-justice.com - monitor chat rooms and work with police
Advanced Research and Intelligence presentation - Data mining training course (unsure if this is still publicly available)
www.google.com
www.myfamily.com
www.zoominfo.com
www.alltheweb.com
www.livewwwires.com - Make the MISSING game
www.netSmartz.org - Videos of victims and their experiences, also "Tracking Teresa"
www.netalert.net.au - Australian resources for parents and teachers, including family contract
www.cybersmartkids.com.au - Australian site for kids, teens/young people
www.packet-level.com/kids - the original presentation, audio and printed versions.

"Internet safety for kids" presentation for parents

2006-09-04T00:04:00.000+09:30

I'm presenting a talk on Internet Safety for Kids on behalf of UCount Support Services at the Aberfoyle Uniting Church (42 Sunnymeade Dr, Aberfoyle Park) at 8pm on Monday, 4th September.

I've posted a separate list of links to online resources. I'll try to keep that list updated as required.