Are You Safe Online?

Figure 1: Facebook "like" button

     Do you have a Twitter? Instagram? Facebook?(Figure 1)If you answered yes to any of these, you are at risk of being hacked. Hacking is "any technical effort to manipulate the normal behavior of network connections and connected systems" (Mitchell, 2016). In simpler terms, hacking is breaking into someone's information and either showing it to people it is not supposed to be showed to or using it against the person being hacked.

We all believe that no one can guess our six-digit password because who would know our old dogs name or favorite sports team? But, hackers are extremely intelligent people and just by looking at someone, they can guess a lot.

It only takes 10 minutes to crack a lowercase password that is six characters long.

I know what you are thinking... Why would someone hack me? 

Many people have hacked accounts for the shits and giggles. They post embarrassing pictures or inappropriate text post that make it seem like that person has gone a little "off their rocker." (Figure 2)

Figure 2: Fox news account was hacked on twitter

     Several years ago, my cousin, 29 at the time and had just got a great PR job working with Urban Outfitters. One day, after a night of drinking and dancing, a couple of her friends thought it would be a funny idea to hack her Facebook profile while she was dead asleep on the sofa. They posted as her Facebook status, "beer farts," which was known as getting gassy after a few cold brews. They post remained on her Facebook wall all day. The next day, she was called into her boss's office and next thing you know, she as getting lectured about what was appropriate and inappropriate to post to Facebook. She was not even friends with her boss on Facebook but the internet is a large place and word got to her boss before her. To this day she is still called "beer farts" by her co-workers and friends. 

So, for the people who think what they post of Facebook is private and can only be seen by their friends, think again. This also goes to all Instagram and Twitter users. 

Several years after my cousins Facebook incident, a friend of mine had been hacked on Twitter. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend and he was out for revenge. He hacked her twitter, after guessing her password which was several of her favorite numbers and her dogs name. He posted six inappropriate images she had sent him over the years of them dating and wrote "I am proud of my body and I deserve to show it off. The post was shared and seen by at least a hundred people that day before she was able to delete it. A few years later, after being offered a job working with little children at a daycare, her employer came across the photos and asked her to leave the job.  Incidents like the ones my friend and cousin experience were not expected. Things like those can happen to anyone, at any time. There are ways we can try to prevent them from ever happening to us. 

TIPS FOR BEING SAFE ONLINE (Monteith, 2016)

• Make sure your passwords are not something obvious! (change them often)
• Never allow a computer to save your passwords
• Make sure you ALWAYS LOG OUT of everything before getting off a system
• Install anti-virus & anti-malware software to your personal devices
• Never click on links or open e-mails from people or sources you do not know
• Do not download software unless you are absolutely sure it does not contain viruses.

Anti-Virus Software Program 

http://buy-static.norton.com/norton/ps/bb/ushard/3up_ns1_ns_nsbu_us_en_notw_brnf_nort.html?om_sem_cid=hho_sem_sy:us:ggl:en:e%7Ckw0000008197%7C93934396156%7Cc&country=US&gclid=CjwKEAjwiYG9BRCkgK-G45S323oSJABnykKACzYl5zJxgg_yci6Hv3xMez9_dnF8pFr_ZoDfofsSmBoChVXw_wcB

References
Mitchel, B. (2016). What is hacking?. About tech. Retrieved from http://compnetworking.about.com/od/networksecurityprivacy/f/what-is-hacking.htm

Monteith, B. b. (2016). Hacking for Good and Bad, and How to Protect Yourself against Hacks!. Knowledge Quest, 44(4), 60-64.