Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr
The Internet will shut down for 24 hours to enable its total overhaul or forward this email from Microsoft founder to earn a certain amount of money. If this does not sound familiar, what about phrases like, “What people do on the Internet cannot be regulated”, or, “International laws do not apply on the Internet”.
These sounds familiar, right? They are just tiny fractions of the many Internet myths that some people have come to believe to be true over the years.
The question here is what is it about the Internet that makes it quite easy for people to believe every subject matter that surrounds it?
Probably because the Internet has had so much to offer in terms of life-changing experiences, even when an average user is clueless as to how the Internet works. Psychologically, myths are attractive, appearing to be intuitive and in most cases, it appears to have helped to simplify complex situations. Some people have, therefore, been caught in the web of being taken over by the many distractions and “immunity” that the Internet has to offer.
Feeling a sense of safety in what they do and from what they execute from the Internet thinking that after all, the Internet is not wholly regulated, nobody can hold them responsible for what they execute on the Internet, or, maybe the Internet is so safe for them to use they are well protected.
Sorry to burst your bubble! All these thoughts appear to be the truth, to an average user but in reality, they are myths that you have to quickly get rid of from your mind.
In this edition, I have come up,with three Internet myths common to our clime:
Only criminals want anonymity online
Communication via the Internet has greatly increased the anonymous way of conveying messages.
This method appears to have made people irresponsible and unaccountable, for their actions. Making people breach societal trust, therefore, causing detrimental effects, on public discussion.
The assumption here is that the rise of Internet communication has turned the world into an anonymous global village.
While this appears to be true because Internet communication, works in a likely pseudonymous way where it is possible for users to conceal their identity, the ability of the state and corporate society to track and identify users is fast gaining ground. Internet communication can be analysed such that the possibilities to pick out persons have significantly increased. This, in return, proves damaging to basic human rights.
Anonymity does not come as a benefit to criminals only; it is also very important to groups and individuals in the society. For instance, political activists require secure space to form their identity and to position themselves towards a much better society.
Anonymity allows citizens to change opinion and speak their mind, for good reasons of privacy and democracy. Does anonymity trigger reckless behaviour? Empirical studies indicate that no clear case exists to prove that users, who perform anonymous Internet communication have the worst behavioural attitudes than those who can be identified.
The reality concerning this is that it is not just enough to embrace online pseudonyms, but also to ensure that certain anonymous concepts are secured legally.
A good cyber offense is the best defense
The offensive application of cyber might, as a due response, to cyber-attacks, tends to stop criminals, thus, increasing cyber security for the government, citizens and businesses at large.
Many countries tend to conduct cyber operations, on the offensive, with the aim of deterring enemies. Asides economic, political and financial sanctions, offensive cyber capabilities, appear to be the biggest option, in giving response to cyber operations.
If this form of offensive method works, a country like the United States should have seen a reasonable reduction, in the number of cyber-attacks, against it. This indication shows that the method of offensive cyber operations, does not work as the United States has carried it out more than any country.
What strategy, then, should be followed? Rather than the approach, a cyber-approach can, therefore, be conducted to preempt cyber-attacks even,before it gets to occur.
There is no proof that backs it up that carrying out an offensive cyber- defense works.
The reality, for this myth is that, using preemptive cyber capabilities, will not deter cyber-attacks. The best of IT security may, may not, even deter them as well, however, it will likely decrease their success rate.
End-to-end encrypted messaging ensures protected privacy
Nowadays, the issue of privacy is under constant threat and people depend on the end-to-end encrypted forms of communication.
Services, such as Telegram and WhatsApp, promise users protection and assures that interactions between users are fully secured.
Let me state here that end-to-end encryption only gives false hope of privacy to the parties concerned. Though, there is no doubt that this encryption is a good security standard, however, users are not aware that the transmission of encrypted messages is just one small bit of the whole privacy narrative.
Do not also forget that the issue of privacy is further undermined by heedless user behaviour (unprotected devices and storing of decrypted messages).
Let us consider this for those that have used WhatsApp to share an online news article.
Have you wondered about the preview of what your intended shared content would look like? Maybe you will see the title, URL and probably a thumbnail. What you have done is that your messaging app has fetched content from a remote server through a third-party app. The link preview usually reveals your public IP address to a third-party agent.
You might not bother yourself a lot if you hardly visit sites to share their content via WhatsApp, however, if you are somewhat of a journalist who is a target for a phishing campaign, it is safe to conclude that your supposed protected privacy has been breached thus, putting your end-to-end encrypted messaging app at risk.
The reality concerning this is that the link preview feature in, for instance, WhatsApp, discloses you to a third-party agent. This is even a much bigger challenge for messaging apps like Instagram, with no end-to-end encryption.
CFA is the founder of CFAmedia.ng, a business and innovation platform
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