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

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.

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.htm l.en]

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.

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

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.

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

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_wo rdlist.txt

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mobile Settings iOS settings: Settings → Touch ID & Passcode Settings → Spotlight Search (off) Settings → Keyboard → Predictive Text (off) Settings → Keyboard → Enable Dictation (off) Settings → Privacy → Location Services Only give access where necessary Settings → Privacy → application data requests (review) Settings → Privacy → Diagnostics & Usage (don’t send) Settings → Privacy → Advertising → Limit Ad Tracking Android settings: Settings → Connections → turn off all Settings → location (off) Settings→ more → Security Password Encrypt device Device administrators Unknown sources (uncheck) Verify apps (check)

Avoid Mobile Tracking Disconnect mobile (iOS and Android): https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconn ect-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

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.