Have you ever heard of a data breach, but didn’t understand what it means? 

Have you or anyone you know ever been scammed? Have you ever received a fake message or email, and then thought: “there’s no way anyone will fall for this”?

Or the opposite; maybe you did fall for it and afterward felt so stupid, because all the warning signs were there. 

Learn About Cyber

I decided to start Learn About Cyber, to explain all these things, hopefully in a way that anyone can easily understand. The generation that grew up with the internet and mobile phones, continuous access to all their data at all times, is still only a small percentage of the world population. 

My grandma refuses to do mobile banking, afraid of being scammed from all her money.

She was told not to click on any links and buttons. She can’t differentiate between the normal steps, buttons, and requests from her devices and the malicious ones. 

I have been studying cybersecurity for about 2 years now, so even I am still learning. I found there are so many resources out there, but many focus on people who want a career in cybersecurity. 

I haven’t found many that just explain things simply, give tips and tricks, and tell you what to look out for. 

That’s not true. I find many resources that tell you what you shouldn’t do. But not many fully explain it. Not many teach you and make you aware of other things that could happen.

And then, like my grandma, you might end up only using a very limited amount of all the possibilities of your devices and internet. Just because you were taught to not click on anything, you don’t know. 

We could never video chat because when we started a video call, her phone would ask her for permission to her camera and her microphone. Which she always denied, because that’s what she was told to do. 

The 2 main goals or objectives are to teach people what to look out for, what to be wary of, and how to double-check links, emails, messages, etc. when in doubt. 

I want to give tips and how-to’s, so you can continue to use these smart devices, smartly. 

Secondly, I want to talk about these scams and data breaches. How they happen, who’s at fault and who isn’t, and what you can or should do once you find your data has been affected. 

Every single one of us, at some stage, will have their data stolen.

And you can’t always prevent it, because sometimes you trust a company or organization with your data. Or government. 

It’s important to realize what all these consent boxes you tick and click away really mean, when you set up an account, download an app, or use a certain service. 

And it’s important how many services you are already using that use and store your data. 

We will talk about how to have your data removed when you delete an account, app, or service. 99% of the time, this doesn’t happen automatically. 

What does the data retention law in Europe mean? Do other countries and states have similar rules? What about when you’re traveling? 

What are the risks of using the same password for multiple accounts? What are the risks of sharing accounts? Can password managers be trusted? What happens when you lose access to an account? How can you prevent this? What steps can you take to protect yourself against someone hacking your accounts and against forgetting your password? 

What about authentication apps? Are they reliable?

Do you know if you’re protected against fraud and someone emptying your bank account? 

What information should you never share online for your physical and virtual safety?

Once we delve into these questions, more questions will come up.

The main purpose of this blog is to provide answers to your questions. In the future, I hope people will send in questions, or I can even set up a discussion forum. But for now, I will start with the basics and recent news. 

Hopefully, you’ll find the information easy to understand and keep coming back for more.