UNIT 7 CRYPTOLOGY in the COMPUTER ERA

A Discussion Starter

Have a look at some modern trends of cryptography given below.

Match each concept (1-8) with its image (A-H). Then, indicate the meaning of depicted
concepts.

1. Cyber Crime Security 5. Access Key Security

2. Binary Security Lock 6. Digital Data Security
3. Cyber Theft 7. Scan Cyber Eye for Security
4. Cyber Security Leak 8. Hacker Attack

A B

C D

E
F

G
H
Comment on the pictures given above and say what you know about information security
breach.
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 B Before You Read

Read the title from the article below. What do you think the text is going to be about?
What are some possible dangers of surfing the Internet?
How, in your opinion, can people protect themselves from these hazards?

C Read the Article

Privacy and Computers

by Robert Erani

In an era of online social media, people can announce any event to

their virtual network of friends, family, and acquaintances within
moments. From birthday celebrations to baby pictures, friends get
news about each other from texts, tweets, or social networks. In
addition, many people use credit cards to purchase products and
complete numerous online forms with personal information for a
variety of purposes.
As a result, personal information is ending up in the hands of other
people. There are critics who are concerned by the lack of privacy. Despite such concerns, by
following a few common-sense measures, people can use the Internet enjoyably and safely.
In our fast-paced world, social networking sites are, for many people, an important way to keep up
with friends and family. The issue now is how open one should be with sharing private information
since the information could be stolen by criminals. For example, some people have had their homes
broken into because they had posted the details of their vacation online. If they had not posted those
details, the thieves would not have known that they had gone away.
One way to reduce the risk of this happening is to activate the privacy controls on social networking
sites and smartphones. In other words, think about who will see your information and consider how
they might use it.
Another important step is to shop only on secure websites so that one’s accounts, passwords, and
financial records are protected. Some experts recommend that people should treat their online
information like they would treat the contents of their wallets. For example, a man bought
merchandise on a website that did not have a security padlock, and as a result of this transaction, his
bank accounts were emptied. If he had paid attention to the security on the site, he would not have
lost his money.
However, it appears that people are becoming more aware of the risks of fraud and taking steps to
avoid them since the total percentage of incidences of fraud remained steady in the past years. It
may be that people who have grown up using the Internet understand its risks as well as its
strengths.
The Washington Post recently carried out a poll to study the extent to which people were concerned
about their online privacy and security. The poll, titled ‘Surveillance in America’, discovered how
corporate and government surveillance affected people’s online behaviours. It also investigated
whether people made use of tracking and anti-tracking technologies for their own uses.
The first set of questions sought to determine people’s concern about collection of personal
information by social networks, cell phone providers, websites, National Security Agency (NSA)
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and retailers (Amazon, Target etc.). The overall result of the question set reveals that over 66% of
people are more concerned about handing over such information to such bodies or organizations.
The next set of questions was to investigate the bright side of surveillance, the one which helped
government and businesses to fight/control crime. Although a clear 84% of poll participants thought
it was right or ‘about right’, 16% still found it inappropriate or thought such surveillance
compromised their privacy.
Another set of questions was to find the ‘Snowden effect’, and actions people took in response to
NSA’s revelation about monitoring each and every aspect of your digital communications – phone
records, calls, messages, email – everything. Surprisingly, 74% of people did not take any action to
prevent from being tracked! However, of those who did attempt to save their online faces, 42%
went for browser’s ‘do not track’ options, 29% deleted/edited something they’d posted earlier
online, 17% encrypted their communications, 14% used anonymization services (such as Virtual
Private Network), and 13% camouflaged this online/social profiles.
The last set of questions was the most interesting – they asked people’s own tracking habits. They
were meant to gauge the positives of tracking technologies, such as those used by parents to watch
out their children whereabouts, or those used by caregivers to watch their patient’s statuses, or those
used to find one’s spouse’s location. Except for the children monitoring of online usage in which
60% respondents agreed on the fairness of tracking technology, but 90%+ said ‘no’ for any type of
unwarranted tracking.
In sum, until a clear line between good surveillance and bad surveillance is drawn, people would
keep discrediting any of the effort to use surveillance. The ease of sharing information provides
opportunities for crimes and abuses. While it may be impossible to entirely eliminate the risks, if
people followed reasonable guidelines to protect important data, they could greatly reduce these
risks. The benefits of being able to do such things as bank online, keep medical records updated
almost instantly, and share the thrills both big and small of everyday life with friends outweigh
these concerns.

(See more at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3012652/tracking-the-nsas-secret-surveillance-

programs; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-
boston; https://ac.els-cdn.com/)

D Comprehension Check
Answer the following questions.

1. What two suggestions does the writer of “Privacy and Computers” make for being safe on
the Internet?
2. What issues did the Washington Post Survey reveal?
3. Why do you think people keep discrediting any of the effort to use surveillance?
4. What important issues do you believe are missing from the original article?
5. What other privacy issues do you have concerning the use of your personal information?

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