There is this misconception that the person who created pirated software did it with you in mind and the liberty of software. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. The creator of the software took a lot of time and imagination to create something in order to sell it. Even the person who took the time to break it so that you can use it took a lot of time to do it. One thing is for sure. No one did it for free. So, before you go and grab a copy of a cracked software, think about the initiative of the cracker. He definitely added extra functionality and he is using the “free” version of the software as bate to control your device and one thing is certain; he will not control it for a good cause. He will use it as a medium to hack you and other systems.

Everything we do on the internet leaves a signature stamp of us. That signatures stamp are details about our location, our operating system and software used and more. This are called metadata and can give away a lot of information about you and your vulnerabilities. There are tools you can use intentionally before posting anything online in order to remove this information.

Whether you like it or not even your night sleep habits are recorded if you phone is in bed with you all night. Whether behind the mobile phone screen is a hacker examining your behaviors in order to attack you or an automated profiling system which examines your behaviors to market products on how to cure your spouse snoring the result is the same  and you should be aware off because online marketing is prioritized from security and there are no ethical values as to what data companies sell about you and no interest on how this data will be used. One is certain though; mostly against you, not to your benefit. And for those who will think of GDPR it does not count for services and apps you just clicked yes on everything without checking what they collect about you, neither it counts if by using a service you are forced to accept all of their “device monitoring” and collection of data requests.

We are used to have access to everything everywhere and all the time. I understand that makes people feel great power and this connectivity is a great tool but only as long as it remains a tool. When you start losing control and suddenly you realize that the whole day has gone by scrolling on Instagram or liking photos on Facebook it is time to put an end to it. According to psychological studies spending more than one hour per day on social media channels makes you depressed. And even if you do not care about your emotional status here is another reason to consider and amend to lower the time you spend online more seriously. The more time you spend online the higher you are exposed to danger and the higher the amount of information you provide the cyber-criminals with. Simply because more time means more exposed habits, more digital footprint left online and more vulnerabilities systems examination allowance.

 It can happen when you are driving into a new location and you need some direction in order to not get lost to enable your location for google maps to assist you arrive to your destination. But, and it is a big but do you really need to have your device location on all the time and what apps do they actually need to see your location? Most importantly think: What apps do you need to have access to your location, when and for how long. When you are at home why would anyone need to know your location?

You don’t know what lousy online habits they might have. I know this sounds weird, but it is not. Especially if you do not protect your devices a compromised device to a shared network can infect all other devices on the same network. Even If you have an antivirus do not forget there are attacks an the lose that are undetectable. Better be safe than nice. Protection needs to be taken seriously.

Let’s finish this episode with a tweetable:

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That is all for today. Let me hear your thoughts. Which one of the aforementioned ways resonates with you and you will apply immediately?

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