@strandednomore
Hi Misha
Thanks for doing this webchat. I wonder what you think about sites such as Facebook, Linked In etc (and even sometimes Mumsnet) where people often inadvertently leave a lot of personal details, which could lead to you being hacked or cloned (is that the right terminology?). My husband works for a law enforcement agency and is very anti Facebook (he doesn't even like me pasting pictures of our daughters on it), do you think he is right to be so paranoid? What do you think we could we do to protect ourselves and our children on these sites?
Thanks.
Facebook is a difficult one and I have real sympathy with your husband?s position. There are two different problems ? the first relates to what we can best call Online Child Protection. There is no doubt that grooming happens on the web and for those who are victims, it is unbelievably distressing. And Facebook is now the primary vehicle for grooming because it is so easy for a potential sex offender to develop a virtual relationship with an unsuspecting child by using the techniques of social engineering, i.e. pretending to be somebody that he isn?t.
At the same time, we have to recognise that Facebook is not going to go away and for many young people, it is now the preferred (and adored) means of communication with their peers and sometimes with their family. In my case, my children refuse point blank to allow me any access to their Facebook pages, although with my experience in writing DarkMarket, I have found it easy to establish an espionage network if I need to find out what they are up to (in the case of my daughter who went missing for a few hours, this turned out to be incredibly useful ? usually I am not interested in their frequently inconsequential musings).
But the exploitable information, as Gincognito describes in the next question, is really critical. Children and teenagers simply do not get how easily information can be exploited in a way that can seriously harm their prospects. It exposes their weaknesses, parts of their character that potential employers or university admissions tutors find off-putting ? and, believe me, Facebook pages are being checked regularly (especially by employers) for a character read-out. Any mention of drugs can jeopardise a child?s chances later on as does excessive amounts of drinking and even the habitual use of bad language.
Furthermore, social networking sites (especially Facebook) are now a favoured ?vector?, as they are known, for cyber attacks by organised criminal groups. One of the most successful in recent years, called Koobface, a virus which was rapidly transmitted across the world via Facebook and which could cull login information ? it led to the emergence of huge botnets ? this is when a virus places thousands, tens or even hundreds of thousands of so-called zombie computers across the world under the influence of a Command and Control computer. The infected computers then do the bidding of the C&C without its owner actually realising it.
I also think Gincognito?s suggestion that this subject be covered in PSHE is an excellent one. It is VITAL that computer users learn about security as it will increasingly affect all of us. But unfortunately it is usually discussed in arcane language amongst techies who are not always the best communicators.
Remember, one can easily protect oneself from at least 80% of criminality on the web by just following sensible practises like keeping your anti-virus software up to date.