Digital Security Introduction

On a public computer: sign out and delete your history

Ideas Box computers and tablets are shared terminals used by several people. Others will therefore use the tablet or computer after you. You may have, for example, checked your emails or called your family via Skype. Ensure that you do not leave any history once you have finished your session:

  • If you have opened Skype, or viewed your email, Facebook or Twitter accounts, remember to sign out.
  • Delete your browsing history. This contains a lot of data and an expert could use this to access some of your on-line accounts.
  • On a public computer, never save your password in the browser. If you have done this by accident, remember to delete the browsing history when you have finished.
  • Delete form fields.
  • Delete cookies.

The procedure to delete data is different for different browsers. A good way of avoiding mistakes is by using the private browsing feature in Firefox or incognito mode in Chrome.

Be careful where you click!

While it is important that you install an antivirus on your computer, it is even more important to use common sense if you receive a link or attachment by email, Twitter, Facebook or Skype. Social networks and communication tools are the main routes of transmitting viruses.

Today, malware exists that is developed by specialist companies that antivirus programs cannot detect. Therefore, the only effective method is to think ahead, before any malware infects your computer or Smartphone.

  • Do not download files or click on links sent to you by unknown senders.
  • Carefully check the email address or Twitter account of those sharing the link with you. If in doubt, check the sender’s identity with other contacts or by using a search engine.
  • If the file and the sender seem suspicious, contact experts who will be able to help you. Citizen Lab is a laboratory which analyses viruses sent by dissidents or activists and offers assistance for more effective protection.

Control your presence on social networks

Facebook and Twitter are highly effective communication tools. However, you must ensure that you control the data you make public. These tutorials and online services will help you to control your presence on-line more effectively:

Check your Internet presence with namechecker

Protect access to your data

Most on-line services (Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, Skype, etc.) allow you to recover a lost password by sending a password to your email account. It is therefore essential that you protect your email account as much as possible. If it is compromised, your digital identity is very often compromised with it.

Google’s mail service, Gmail, enables you to implement additional security: "Add 2-step verification". This service is used to protect your email account with:

  • a user name
  • a password
  • a code that you receive on your mobile phone each time you sign into your inbox. Without your mobile telephone, it is impossible to access your emails.

When you sign into your Gmail account, click on the “details” link, at the bottom of the page. This opens a window displaying all recent connections to your inbox. You are then able to identify any suspicious activity.

Twitter and Facebook also provide the equivalent of this type of service and allow you to view all the applications and websites authorised to access your account.

Use passphrases and not passwords

Most of your on-line services (email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Instagram, WhatsApp accounts) are protected by passwords. It is therefore essential that you choose strong, difficult and reliable passwords. The length of a password is the main factor when creating a strong password able to resist a brute-force attack. Using a mixture of numbers, special characters and upper- and lower-case letters often results in a weak password that is difficult to remember. Yet if instead of a password, you use passphrases, you will obtain a chain of characters that are easy to remember and that are much longer than your former passwords.

  • Th$jHTo%46: short and difficult to remember
  • I hear the sound of bells across the verdant pastures: easy to remember and very difficult to guess for an attacker

The site xkcd explains why passphrases should be used instead of passwords.

Use a different passphrase for each service

It is no good having a long passphrase if you use the same one to protect all your on-line services. If one of your services is compromised, which sometimes occurs, all of your on-line accounts will be. It is therefore crucial that you use a different passphrase for each service.

Use a passphrase manager

Using a different passphrase for each service could be a problem for those of us with a poor memory. Don’t worry, there are reliable and secure tools in which you can save all your passwords.

LastPass is a password manager. Available as an extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari, LastPass is used to save all your passwords. The access to your LastPass vault is protected by a single passphrase. You simply have to remember this single phrase to access all your services on-line. As with Gmail, Google’s email service, LastPass gives you the option of implementing 2-step verification. If you use LastPass, it is highly recommended that you select a long passphrase and configure 2-step verification.