Some Aspects of Information Security in a Digitalized World

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February 24, 2022 Business

In this modern age, too many tools are used to control the average citizen. Terrorist threats, shaky government, and monitoring of asocial elements lead to many people being monitored. Be that as it may, communication is no longer private. If the intelligence services aren’t interested in you, personalities of a more dubious nature are sure to welcome personal correspondence. Ensuring information security is possible but difficult. This article will help you with that.

Switching Standards

Let’s start with the most radical step: changing the communication standard. Most modern cell phones work with the GSM standard, which is easy to intercept if you know how to do it. But the CDMA standard still lives. It is quite old, and the phones working with it are 1.5 times more expensive than the market average. They are almost always regular dialers, sometimes even without J2ME.

However, the reliability of this standard is obvious. Those in the know, business people, and those who consider security more important than bragging rights steadily support it financially. Switching to this standard also involves a simple change from a smartphone to a regular phone. Regular phones are less flashy, but you’ll protect yourself from viruses, which can, say, intercept text messages.

Wiretap

The next step is to check for a wiretap. If you have a smartphone, the signs that your conversations are not confidential are as follows:

the battery runs down very quickly even if you do nothing;
during the conversation, you can hear other people’s voices;
the smartphone is very hot;
when you move the smartphone to speakers, you hear a background sound.

These signs are not one hundred percent reliable, but you have reason to worry a little if you have noticed them. You can use a SIP trunk or record a conversation and then double-check if everything is in order.

Since you can’t reliably protect yourself from wiretapping via mobile networks, you can try the Internet. Skype or Discord can protect your confidential conversations because the data is transmitted a little differently than during a conversation over the phone. However, the World Wide Web has its dangers, too.

SMS Interception

You should follow two main rules in this regard. First, don’t give your smartphone to anyone. Don’t forget to set a guest mode or password to access your data if you do. People are curious by nature.

As for texting directly, one of the most effective options is encryption. For Android, the best app to use is Secret Message, while for iOS, iCrypter will do well. Of course, there are other alternatives to these applications, but the final choice is up to you. In addition, you can reduce texting to a minimum if you use social networks or, even more reliably, meet with people in person more often.

Location Tracking

It’s quite simple, really. Your location is fairly easy to trace through the GPS receiver on your smartphone and a little more difficult through your operator and SIM card. What’s more, even if your phone is turned off, your location can still be traced with satisfactory accuracy. The solution is obvious: if your privacy is so important to you, take the SIM card out of your phone when you want no one to find you.

However, there is another solution for that — wrong coordinates. Some special applications emulate your location anywhere: in Rome, Paris, or wherever you need. For Android, the app to use is Fake GPS, while for iOS, Fake-A-Location is a good choice.

Internet

If everything is more or less clear with smartphones, the situation is much worse on the Internet. Stealing passwords, hacking accounts, intercepting messages — these illegal activities are ubiquitous. They are a potential threat to you, especially if the Internet is like home for you, and it’s where almost all of your business happens. So, a couple of tips to keep yourself and your passwords safe are in order.

First, don’t limit yourself to passwords as the only means of protection. Instant SMS verification and other types of multi-factor authentication have long been supported by giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. Don’t worry — they won’t send you spam. Second, you can use proxies to surf the Internet. The apps to use for that are Tor and Orbot for Android and Red Onion for iOS.

However, it is worth remembering that no protection in the world is one hundred percent reliable. Whatever you do, there is always a chance someone will gain access to your data. But if you follow the simple tips discussed above, learn the rules of proxies, encrypt text messages, and so on, only very serious organizations will be able to extract your personal information. Everyone else will be left with nothing.

Is Absolute Safety Possible?

All of the above may lead to the idea that the Internet is an abyss of hopelessness as far as safety is concerned. However, it is possible to hide from prying eyes completely. It will require titanic efforts, asceticism, and, in some respects, isolation to such a degree that it’s probably not worth it. The other extreme is complete carelessness. The most reasonable way to go between this Scilla and this Harybda is careful watchfulness.

Some applications can provide partial protection that allows you to erase unnecessary data. If you use them, the curious won’t know more than they are supposed to. However, under the conditions dictated by the regulator, the problem of preserving anonymity remains.

Many attribute its solution to a new distributed ledger technology — blockchain. Although it is most often associated with cryptocurrency, it is relevant to safety in two respects. First, blockchain can help provide protection and controlled anonymity of your presence in the network. Second, it can help maintain full manageability and controllability.

Experts predict that blockchain will completely change the Internet in the next few years. How it will affect us, no one knows. But one thing is certain — we will know soon enough.