Cybersecurity also known as cyber security, covers some fields, such as: supervise and govern, research, operation and maintenance, protect and defend, among others. "Protect and defend" is the field that addresses the protection of life, property protection and information security (Astorga and Schmidt, 2019). In our context, cybersecurity would be the concrete actions we take to protect our privacy and personal data when using the Internet and social networks.
It is important to talk about this topic because we see every day how there are people who have suffered hacks and theft of their personal information. A hacking is when a person with knowledge in computer science by means of a malicious program looks for vulnerabilities of a computer system and accesses in an illegal way to equipment, accounts or user profiles that do not belong to him and manipulates them or extracts data without consent.
On the other hand, older adults have been increasingly incorporated into the use of the internet and it is important that they know how they can use it safely without putting their information at risk. While there are many recommendations in this regard, we share with you some suggestions adapted from the publication: Online safety for seniors (2018) :
1. Do not open "suspicious" links or provide sensitive information.
When using the Internet, beware of suspicious and informal links that are shared with us. These can come from both unknown and known people. If a link seems strange to us or we consider that our acquaintance does not usually send such messages, it is important to be suspicious and not to open it, since it could be a scam or even a computer virus.
In addition, no formal entity such as a bank will ever request private information from anyone. Therefore, seniors should be extremely careful with the information they provide.
2. Visiting secure web pages
In the top bar of the browser, specifically where we enter the web addresses, it usually indicates whether the site we are visiting is secure. It is important that we avoid addresses that are not.
3. Do not make payments or purchases online if you are connected to a public network.
A public Internet network is one that we connect to in a public space, for example, a restaurant, a park, a shopping mall, etc. However, it is not entirely safe to perform sensitive transactions when connected to one of them. It is recommended to do so only when using our home Internet network.
4. Safeguarding privacy in social networks
The information and content we post on social networks can be seen and manipulated by many people. It is necessary for older adults to review their privacy settings so that their data is only seen by close friends and family members.
Bibliographic references:
Astorga, C. and Schmidt, I. (2019). Dangers of social networks: How to educate our sons and daughters in cybersecurity. Educare Electronic Journal, 23 (3), 339-362. Epub October 30, 2019. https://dx.doi.org/10.15359/ree.23-3.17
Online safety for seniors (2018). Care for seniors. Retrieved from: https://atencionmayores.org/
