Future of Online Security

Future of Online Security

It is no question that since the invention of the internet, technology has been growing massively over the years and is now a big part of our everyday lives. Each day, we as humans are more and more integrated with the technology around us, from simply calling or sending a text to a friend in another state to buying a buying groceries and accessing bank accounts we use the internet in many ways, but as we all know, as useful as technology might be, it isn’t perfect and comes with many risks of using it. With each interaction online you are passing valuable information about yourself which can be used to sell you advertisements, know your location, and many other uses than can be tracked to you. This begs the question, is your data even safe on the internet? What could it mean for you if you were to be hacked? How should your data be regulated and by whom should it be regulated by? My goal is to dive deeper into this issue and give you a concise analysis over the subject to compare the pros and cons of why personal online security is important.

As an information systems major I’ve gained great deal of information throughout my studies about cyber security. This topic interested me because it brought a very serious argument to me about encryption of personal data on the internet that I feel will need to be addressed before more damage can done. The evidence of pros and cons of having secured data is vast but I plan on giving you multiple subjects that will coincide with each other and allow you to visualize the issue clearly. To begin I will explain to you what I know about the issue and what cause it, then give you detailed outside perspectives over the topic to define the argument, and finally conclude the finally, I will give you my stance over the issue.

Encryption is a tool that to hide sensitive data over the internet whether it be a simple message saying “hi” to your password to a website profile or whatever it might be that you’re doing online encryption is used to protect that information from being read if it were to be received by the wrong recipient. To put it very simply encryption is the envelope to your letter or how you lock your door online. The benefits of using encryption as a tool are practically countless and few would argue that on either side, but it’s important to stress that encryption is a tool that scrambles data into an unrecognizable state even for the government. The issue is, who should be able to use that encryption and for what?

You might be surprised how many services use encryption to keep data private. Many people rely on the privacy that encryption provides, not on just for the banks or big corporations for example, human rights activists and people who are living in countries run by dictators or have persecutory policies. In a country such as Egypt the government where homosexuality is not expressly legal the government has used laws to criminalize LBGTQ individuals. Due to this a website was created called Ahhwaa.org where LGBTQ individual can meet digitally and talk to each other. Because the site is public yet encrypted. People are able to share experience, resources, and potentially life changing advice.

On other side of the issue some argue that encryption actually masks threats to national security and security of civilians. On December 2^nd, 2 shooters opened in the city of san Bernardino California leaving 14 civilians dead. During the investigation the FBI attained for roots iPhone but could not access it through the passcode they went to Apple to unlock it an Apple and they went to Apple to unlock it and Apple. Apples encryption was so good according to Apple that Apple itself couldn’t access the encrypted data on the Phone beyond that the assistance ordered by a federal judge would overhaul the system that disables the Phone after 10 unsuccessful password attempts. If the phone was to be unlocked, the back door in the iOS framework would allow the FBI to access the contents of iPhones everywhere as is legally it’s right with a warrant but would also leave the operating system much more vulnerable to hackers and other governments. Apple believes this problem with data breaches and lack of security of in the digital world encryption is one of the very few tools we have that can help protect us and so it’s tremendously important that we stand up for it.

Although privacy protects us from exploits and other dangers of the internet it also hides the criminals as well, because of this the line between how encryption should be regulated is a thin one. My personal stance on the subject is that encryption is very important for every individual. I don’t think it’s appropriate for a government to decide that they get security and we don’t, especially in a democratic government. In conclusion both sides of the argument are very compelling and bring a very taxing issue that will have to be addressed and agreed upon