Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Cyber security


As someone who spent about a third of his life working one way or another in I.T. (information technology) the subject of cyber security is quite close to my heart; it should be important to everyone and anyone who owns any device that connects to The Internet.

Sadly, over the years, I have come into contact (through my work as a Computer Consultant) with many, often, but not always, elderly and vulnerable (sometimes gullible) 'victims' of computer and phone scams. I have been called out to sort out the 'damage' and sometimes give advice.

I am 'triggered' to writing this particular blog (as usual at 3/4 a.m. owing to pain that wakes me - see other blogs) because there is something on my mind about cyber security. I have joined an about to start Open University course on Creative Writing and obviously I had to register and set-up a few online aspects of this (partly free) course. Already, even before the course starts I have a "follower" apparently based in Nigeria. I don't carry any colour or Nationality prejudice but it is a known fact that a lot of computer scammers reside in Nigeria and one has to ask - why would anyone at this early stage wish to follow me?

Thus I am a little nervous as I have a lot of material on the blog that with some skill and 'private eye' type efforts - one could gain an insight into my life (which in turn is handy for I.D. theft).

For those who know little or nothing of computer scams:

  • Information is power.
  • Knowledge of family connections is power.
  • Gleaning data information - like email addresses and so on is power.
  • Just addresses, whether home or email can be useful to scammers and I.D. theft 'merchants'.
  • People that are open and transparent as a matter of principle are great news for scammers.
  • The objective with I.D. theft is often as simple as opening accounts (loans etc.) in the name of the victim but with access by the scammer.
  • Scammers are far more imaginative with their criminal activities than 'the man or woman in the street' could ever be and new scams appear hourly.
So this present worry of mine about the potential for I.D. theft creates a dilemma for me as I might well have planned to use this (my blog) as a focal point for my OU Creative Writing course in terms of posts about writing etc. Note I have done an earlier CW course with the OU. I did not really want to have a blog that was restricted in access but that is something I am going to have to consider.

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