The Human Factor in Internet Security

We live in a rapidly developing world where electronic technologies are no longer a surprise. Tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches have become everyday items, and mobile operators have worked hard to provide users with internet access from anywhere in the world. Each year, more powerful chips are created, surpassing their predecessors in computing and performance, and their compact size is no longer questioned. However, scientific and technological progress can be used in different ways—everything has its pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes we fail to see the bigger picture. The main reason for this is our lack of information about the technologies we use. Sometimes this is due to shortcomings by manufacturers and developers, and sometimes it’s our own carelessness. But let’s not get sidetracked—let’s focus on the topic at hand.

When we want to find something on the “World Wide Web” or download a movie for a cozy evening, we turn to search engines like Google or Yandex. After browsing a few sites, we find the resource we need. If the site is illegal, we’ll likely see a message that it’s blocked due to being on a government blacklist. It all seems simple, and we feel we have free access to the internet. But what’s really behind the curtain called the “internet”? And the main question—how safe is it to use?

Information Protection Online

First, it’s important to note that what we commonly call the “internet” is actually just a small part of it. The majority is the so-called “Deep or Hidden Web,” which isn’t accessible through regular means—but that’s a topic for another time. Let’s focus on a more pressing question: are people and their information truly protected today?

Information online is protected in many ways, but the two main methods are: encrypting and encoding the information itself, and protecting the transmission channel from theft, reading, or tampering. Any protection can be bypassed if the right method is found. The main channel for information leaks is the users themselves! That’s why today, I want to look at online security from the user’s perspective—in other words, from our own.

We go online constantly—some for movies or music, but most of our time is spent communicating on social networks. Many people relax online, feeling completely safe, and don’t always think about what they’re actually doing. In reality, every action we take online leaves a trace, and those traces remain on the internet forever. Search engines like Google record all our activity and search queries, and special modules on websites track what we open, read, search for, and view. All this information is recorded, analyzed, and stored—and later, sold. For example, if you search for vacation packages, you’ll soon see targeted ads for trips to Turkey or Montenegro. This is a simple example, but information about your preferences is collected from everywhere, and you might see ads for things you never even searched for!

“Everything That Gets on the Internet…”

There’s a saying that perfectly describes a key feature of the internet, which most people ignore: “Everything that gets on the internet stays (and spreads) there forever.” You’re not protected, even if you immediately delete your social media profiles, email, all your accounts, and unplug your Wi-Fi router. It’s too late—everything you’ve done online is there forever. All your accounts and messages can be restored, and your entire online activity history can be seen and studied. Antivirus software, your provider, and website security can protect you, but nothing can protect you from yourself—from human carelessness or from the ingenuity of hackers and scammers. Progress gives us new protection methods as quickly as it gives new ways to break them. There is no electronic place or document in the world that can’t be hacked or decrypted.

Hacking and Scammers

Getting personal information online has become much easier than in the real world. For example, to get your credit card number and password in real life, criminals would need to install hidden equipment in ATMs and use other risky and expensive methods. Online, a criminal can get this data much more easily and often with minimal risk to themselves.

Modern technology makes it easy for someone to email or call you pretending to be your accountant, employer, or bank, using a legitimate email address or phone number. It’s extremely difficult to distinguish a fake message from a real one. And this is just a small part of what today’s IT innovations allow. People often don’t realize all the vulnerabilities they’re exposed to with every action they take. For example, an innocent photo of your new desk at home, a view from your window, or even your breakfast can reveal a lot about you. Most modern devices embed GPS coordinates in photos, revealing your location. Careful analysis of your photos using various techniques—cold reading, psychological profiling, or simple logic—can reveal a lot of personal information, including who you communicate with, work with, or study with. Through these people, even more information about you can be gathered. There are countless ways to collect information you may not even suspect.

It’s a fact: information about you can be collected. The amount depends only on the skill and knowledge of the person collecting it. I’ve seen people with little technical knowledge determine someone’s approximate address down to the floor and apartment, based only on a photo from a window or balcony. The internet is constantly evolving, as are the methods for obtaining information. There are various techniques and special services that can reveal your phone number, contact and personal data, and everything you’ve ever posted on social networks and websites—even things you deleted long ago.

Everything that gets on the internet stays there, regardless of your wishes, and there’s nothing you can do about it. All you can do is think about your own digital security and whether it’s worth posting that photo with your new sports car or a picture of who you had lunch with or shook hands with.

What Could the Consequences Be?

Sometimes, in response to all this, I hear things like, “So what? Let them! What’s the big deal?” or “I have nothing to hide!” This attitude shows a lack of understanding of the issue. What’s the harm if someone far away creates a profile on you or finds out your personal email? The problem is, that “someone” may not be as far away as you think. Yes, there are bots constantly crawling the internet, collecting information and statistics, and they don’t care whose data they collect.

But there are also people who are specifically interested in you. I guarantee that if you’ve ever contacted a fortune teller or psychic, all your social profiles were studied in detail. The reverse is also true—by studying social media pages, scammers can find people most vulnerable to suggestion and manipulation. Then, “by chance,” you might meet a fortune teller on the street who magically knows your past, your family secrets, and a curse that’s been haunting you. But this kind woman is willing to remove the curse—for your sports car and a few thousand dollars.

This example may seem exaggerated, but unfortunately, it’s not far from reality. The art of fraud and scams is constantly evolving, taking on new forms. These methods are used not only by scammers—information gathering can also be harmless, such as when hiring for an important position, interviewing, catching criminals, increasing sales, or collecting anonymous statistics.

It’s also important to be aware of cybercriminals and vulnerabilities in systems, websites, and software. Developers can overlook elements in their products, putting your data at risk or even exposing it publicly. Not long ago, a bug in a Skype update for mobile platforms allowed anyone to call any device without the owner’s knowledge. Fortunately, this was quickly fixed.

Conclusion and Recommendations

So what should you do to protect yourself from online vulnerabilities? Here are some tips:

• Never share your passwords or bank card numbers with third parties, and never post them publicly. If you need to share such information with a friend or relative, do it in person or split it up and send it through different channels.
• Use a strong password—at least 10-15 characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols in different cases. It may sound cliché, but it can protect you from brute-force attacks, though not from direct theft.
• If you don’t need to use your webcam or microphone, turn them off or cover them with a sticker.
• Install a good antivirus program with web protection features.
• Install browser extensions (like Adblock) to remove intrusive ads and block tracking of your activity and history.
• If necessary, use proxy servers or VPN browser extensions to hide your IP address.
• Avoid giving out your mobile phone number unless absolutely necessary. For filling out forms, use a disposable SIM card and discard it after use to avoid spam and unwanted calls. Alternatively, use virtual SIM cards.
• Always remember that any system can have loopholes, and sometimes they’re left intentionally.

The most important thing I want readers to take away from this article is: before you post anything online—a new photo, status, or anything else—think about whether there’s any guarantee that this information won’t be used against you. And is it worth it?

In conclusion, I want to note that this article covers only a small fraction of the techniques, tools, and facts behind the familiar internet. Much remains unknown not only to advanced users but even to professional experts in electronic, network, and personal security.