Cybersecurity expert shares growing online dangers this Safer Internet Day
How well do you know about navigating the internet safely?
Even though we use it for a majority of the day, every day, you might not be aware of the dangers.
Bhanukiran Gurijala, a UTEP professor in computer science and information systems, says the internet is evolving quickly, and that means more of your information is out there.
Kids are easy targets and have a lot of access online — especially to strangers — becoming vulnerable to sextortion, exploiting children from their own device.
Now with artificial intelligence, more problems rise with deepfakes circulating, hacking becoming easier, and more people fall into fraud schemes with AI-generated images and audio.
"It's very important for us, to ensure that we understand what is real, what is not real," says Gurijala. "So any thoughts that we see online now, especially for the children, teenagers or even adults, it's important to know that everything that you see cannot be trusted."
Parents should have open conversations with their children on navigating the internet safely, and monitor what apps they use and who they're talking to.
The professor emphasized the importance of continuing to add regulations to prevent online harm.
"My main concern is as quickly the technologies evolve, the safety guardrails or the guidelines to see if we use this evolving technology are kind of a step behind or they are not keeping pace with the speed with which the technology is improving," says Gurijala.
Your passwords and bank accounts can be compromised also, especially if you use the same password for all or click on a phishing link.
Gurijala recommends you create a unique one for each account, and use easy things to remember like your pet's name or an anniversary date.
Password managers on your phone or Google Chrome can help store different passwords in case you forget them.
He also recommends using an two-factor authenticator app to ensure no one else is logging into your accounts.
