LACNIC’s Warning Advice and Reporting Point has issued a series of recommendations regarding security and privacy when using social networks.
\nMany children, teens and even adults are unaware of the risks they face when they log on to a social network.
\nFor this reason, LACNIC’s security center recommends taking into account certain considerations so as not to misuse the valuable tool that is the Internet.
\nGraciela Martinez, head of LACNIC WARP, notes that social networks may pose certain risks if users are not careful.
\n\u201cWe share everything on social networks: our family, what we like, our feelings, our friends, friends of our friends. So we must be extremely careful,\u201d warns Martinez.
\nThe first recommendation is to be careful when configuring a profile. Social networks provide tools that allow doing this properly. \u201cWe must be as restrictive as possible and try to answer the following question: Would I post my picture along with my address and telephone number on the street? Surely we wouldn’t,\u201d says the expert.
\nOne of the biggest difficulties is that users aren’t truly aware of the extent to which they \u201cbare all\u201d on a social network.
\nLACNIC WARP also recommends not accepting invitations from people we don\u2019t know. \u201cIs being a friend of a friend enough? Let’s not interpret our number of friends a measure of our popularity. It’s a matter of choosing quality over quantity,\u201d adds Martinez.
\nIf we aren’t careful about the friends we accept, our privacy might be violated.
\nAccording to the head of LACNIC WARP, when choosing friends it’s important to be careful because there are fake profiles online \u201cused by pedophiles to approach those most vulnerable \u2014 children and teenagers.\u201d
\nHow should children be monitored? Martinez notes that parents shouldn’t allow their children to lie about their age on social networks and that they should monitor their profiles. In her words, \u201cChildren shouldn\u2019t create social network profiles and use them as if they were adults.\u201d
\nWebcams pose a risk to children due to their potential relationships with strangers. \u201cDialogue is the best tool for being informed,\u201d suggests Martinez.
\nIn addition, social networks are often used to spread viruses or malicious links. A virus can be downloaded unintentionally, so if a user is unsure of a link’s source they should not click on it. We also need to keep all our software up-to-date and install anti-virus software,
\nWhat other risks are we exposed to? Identity theft. There have been many cases where users create profiles using someone else’s photos. Each social network has procedures for reporting this.
\nUsers who feel their privacy or identity may have been violated or who have suffered computer security incidents on social networks should report these to the network itself. In addition, they can take their case to the local Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) in their own country or to LACNIC WARP.<\/p>\n
LACNIC WARP is a team that coordinates and facilitates computer security incident handling, working together with organizations fighting against cybercrime and other CSIRTS to manage the problems faced by members of the regional community.<\/p>\n
Martinez noted that, in these cases, WARP may eventually broker between the affected user and the social network where the incident took place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LACNIC’s Warning Advice and Reporting Point has issued a series of recommendations regarding security and privacy when using social networks. Many children, teens and even adults are unaware of the risks they face when they log on to a social network. For this reason, LACNIC’s security center recommends taking into account certain considerations so as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[499],"tags":[1271,471],"archivo":[739,1345],"taxonomy-authors":[],"tipo_autor":[],"class_list":["post-4909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cibersecurity","tag-warp-en","archivo-december-2015-edition","archivo-editions"],"acf":{"author":"","related_notes":""},"yoast_head":"\n