CLOUDY podcast | #24 How not to fall into the trap of the Internet?

Fake SMS, WhatsApp messages, fake emails or other traps that lurk for us every day, I assume that absolutely everyone has encountered them... do we have a basic definition of what can happen to us on the Internet?

In my opinion, defining it is very difficult, because the range is incredibly wide. But I would say that people, machines, and risks lurk for us there.

For example, what lurks for children on the Internet? What should we be most careful about?

It also depends on what we allow them to do, how we teach them and train them to move and behave in that space.

I would perhaps generalize it a little, that it is not entirely different within the target groups (children, adults, seniors) as to what is lurking there for them. Rather, it is perhaps a slightly different perception of what that group may be sensitive to.

Children today absolutely do not perceive the difference between the online and offline world. As a result, it is perhaps more difficult for them to discern what they should be careful about unless an adult explains it to them, and the adult must also know it. Nowadays, those children are often even before their parents.

How can a parent best learn about those threats?

In my opinion, it is about mutual learning. So when our child comes to us and says, "I found a beautiful app here, I want it, please access it," and if I, as a parent, don't know it, I probably have a hard time evaluating whether it's OK or not. So for me, it's appropriate to tell the child, "I don't know it, I don't know, give me time, I'll look at it, study it, and then we'll have fun about it."

So from your point of view, is it better for an adult to see the app, game, or anything else first?

It depends on the age of the child, the parent has to consider that. But with younger children, it certainly does. I'll put it this way: When you're teaching a child to walk outside and you're walking with them across the street, you probably also first take their hand and don't let the child go alone.

The issue of trust and the level of communication is also very sensitive, how we communicate with the child and talk about what they do on the Internet, what sites they visit, what games they play, who they communicate with and where, whether they are a real person or an online friend, etc.

Children are very clever, very wise, you need to communicate with them and go through examples, not through authority and prohibitions. Try a conversation, natural, ordinary, like you talk every day about how the child had a day, what they did at school, what was on TikTok today, what their friend Fero wrote, what happened... just have it as a normal part of the conversation. Because then, when the child notices that something doesn't seem right or something happened, they will tell you sooner and you can deal with it. There are also various parental locks and parental control, where you can set time limits for access to the Internet, social networks, games, adding to contacts, etc.

Seniors are also a particularly vulnerable group. How to work with seniors?

Paradoxically, sometimes it's great through the children. Parents sometimes have a harder time accepting criticism or instructions from their adult children on how to do things differently, but when a grandchild comes along and says: "Grandma, we could change this on this router like this or you could do this like this", the grandma or grandpa usually accepts it with great enthusiasm.

It's not just the internet, but threats also lurk in fraudulent text messages or phone calls. How do we guard against this and explain to those people that they should be careful, it's a scam?

In very simple terms, I can say that when something like this comes to us, whether in an email or WhatsApp, an SMS, any message, or someone calls us saying that you need to save someone immediately, right now. That's the main sign, the urgency.

Because most of the time these are social engineering methods that are not so technically sophisticated. Rather, they are betting on targeting a given person, they need to find out where their sensitive spot is, what kind of communication will work on them. Is it emotional, that the person will want to help someone, save someone, or is there a risk of financial loss or some other harm.

Example

You always need to think first, is this normal behavior, is this normal activity? Is my bank calling me from such a number that something is happening with my account and should I immediately dictate my payment card number, including all the data? No, you need to think and first of all, stay calm.

Now there are frequent messages like: "Mom, I lost my phone, I'm writing from a friend, let's not call because I can't right now, but send me money for the bus" etc. Wouldn't you first try to really call the child, or call their mobile phone, to see if anyone has found them? Or you can try to write to that number: "Is that you Jožko?" And they answer "Yes, it's me". Well, but if your child's name is not Jožko, you have it confirmed right away that it is a scam.

Dangers also lurk for adults. What is the biggest pitfall for an adult? What can adults trust the most?

Basically, about anything. Human nature manifests itself, whether in that gullibility or inattention, because in the rush of a normal day, when you have a lot to do, sometimes you click on something by mistake. So we need to put those protective walls and barriers there and set those devices, set those permissions so that we are somehow protected.

For example, when making payments - banks currently allow you not to always use your fixed, credit or debit card that you have linked to your account. But you can either use disposable payment cards that you generate within internet banking or there are banks that offer a payment card specifically for online purchases. Here you can set a financial limit, say €200, and you will only use this card for such purchases in the online space. So if someone gets access to the card, they will get the maximum amount that you have set there and not access to all financial resources.

What should I do if I have already taken a step that cannot be undone and I realize that I have made a mistake? Is there a handbrake?

Ideally, in the first round, isolate the threat, i.e. disconnect from the internet, depending on what device you have, pull out the cable or disconnect from Wi-Fi.

Everything we connect to the internet is already in that space and is no longer completely under our control unless we are careful. So we need to create a secure environment and if we have smart devices at home, we usually have them connected to some home Wi-Fi network. So we can "infect" the entire household with one device.

If it is about some financial matters, you have entered some payment details, you should definitely contact the bank. They already have tools to prevent this and help you with protection or minimizing damage.

If you clicked on your phone, on some link, you don't know what you downloaded, it could have installed something on your phone, some malicious code and so on. Here it is good to check the phone, whether an application is not taking too much battery, whether it is not overheating... We should also check the permissions when downloading apps as a precaution, what the application requires. If it is an application for processing photos, for example, does it really need to have access to contacts, messages, the microphone?

Prevention is therefore fundamental - we need to think about what application I actually want, whether I need it, where I am downloading it from. Is it a verified source like the Google Store, the App Store, i.e. platforms that already have some basic level of control?

It goes without saying that we should not use one password for everything, but ideally one password for one service, structured passwords, or use password managers, where we only need to remember one complex password, then set up two-factor authentication, update our devices, and continuously back up our data.

Now we may spend those 10-15 minutes on it, but when someone hacks into my device or I lose it, I spend a lot more time, money and nerves afterwards.

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