By the ENG116 CLASS.
Students today are so comfortable in cyberspace that they don’t always think about possible threats to their privacy.
On Wednesday, Jan. 28, Data Privacy Day put the spotlight on these threats.
Delta’s Office of Institutional Technology set up an information booth near the Red Brix café and helped students and staff alike examine their online activities.
According to Steven Rushing, the day’s events promote online security awareness to young people throughout the country. Rushing worries that Delta Students don’t realize just how much of their information is open to the public.
“As our online presence grows, it’s crucial that we’re aware of what we’re putting online and how to protect it,” said Rushing. “As students it’s extremely important for potential employers. I know as a manager myself we look online when we interview people, and we keep an eye out for red flags, what people are posting, and who they are.”
Ashleigh Lalonde, 22, works full time at Delta in the IT department and shares this tip.
“If you don’t want your employer, or potential employer to see your Facebook page do not put your Facebook email address on your resume,” she said
“What we are trying to do is just make people aware of what is available to the public online.” Ashleigh Lalonde said. “We are not telling people to have more protection on their social media accounts, just be conscious about what is out there.”
After demonstrating to curious students and staff members how easy or hard it could be to find you online, Lalonde mentioned that a person’s online identity is up to them in many ways, but the name you’re given can make a difference, too.
“Having a common name can make it harder to be found as well,” LaLonde said.
Unique and creative passwords are the key to protecting youself. Password security is a big concern for Delta student, Megan Escamilla, 20, of Bay City. Her personal Twitter account was hacked in 2010, and as a result, password security is something she takes very seriously.
“At first, I was mad. ‘Why me? Out of everyone in the world?’” she said. “But then I changed my password and got over it.
While changing passwords regularly can be annoying and inconvenient, Escamilla offers her method of inspiration for creating her own passwords: “I use the shows I am watching or what I’m doing at the time.”
Ways that the Delta Office of Information and Technology offer to keep your password safe and hack-proof are to use a phrase as a password, use a combination of lower and uppercase letters in the password, don’t use parts of old passwords, and do not include symbols.
Elizabeth Findlay, a 19-year-old old student from Saginaw, believes that her password is secure. “It’s a crazy password. It has a word, six numbers, and three letters. Nobody can guess that.”
Luke Goodrow, a 25-year-old Delta College worker and former student, didn’t even know that Data Privacy Day was a thing. But he said that people should be cognizant of the information that they put online, and should not put info online that could come back to haunt them.
“Surprisingly I have never even left my Facebook open to where someone could leave a silly status update,” he said.
He has some good advice to those who are looking for some when it comes to not getting hacked. For instance; changing your password, and not using the same password for every account that you have. Have at least eight characters in your passwords with numbers and symbols. Also, if you are playing videogames get yourself an authenticator for some extra protection.
Delta student Ashley Wrubel, 20, uses tricky passwords to help protect her accounts. “I use everything possible to make my passwords. I use uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols,” she said.
Being hacked isn’t Wrubel’s only concern.
“You look me up on Google and every one of my profiles will come up. That’s why I am careful with what things I can put up because anyone who is trying to find me can easily do it,” she said
Kassie Parker, a 22-year-old student at Delta College, considers online security basically a two-step process: Imagine your parents and complete strangers reading everything you post.
Student Austin Popour, 19, doesn’t worry much about online activities.
“I normally just keep profiles set to private if I don’t want people to see but most of my stuff is public because I don’t really mind if people see what I post.”
As for future employers, Popour said “most of the stuff I post is just typical statuses of what I’m doing at the moment. I don’t post about big parties where people are drinking and stuff because it could change someone’s view, particularly employers.”
Heather Watson,18, from Essexville, thinks she has a pretty sound Facebook password and has little fear of being hacked, but she does think the government invades our privacy.
Someone who does not feel safe with their life being available online is 20 year old Brianna Mendoza. Mendoza, from Saginaw Township, knows that there are people that are great at hacking and only need one bit of information to get into any and all social media accounts.
She recalls about the time some girl she did not know hacked into her Facebook account. Through this, the girl sent rude messages to her friends, telling them to stop talking to her. Through this experience, Mendoza believes strongly in strong passwords and taking advantage of privacy settings. She believes that long passwords will make it harder for people to find out.
“You don’t know who’s out there who can be stalking your stuff,” Mendoza said. “Stay private, just in case.”
While the demonstration from OIT focused on Facebook, the real danger may lie in emerging sites with laxer guidelines and with limited privacy settings which allow the public to see everything you have to offer.
“The online communities populating Tumblr and Tinder and much more content based than Twitter and Instagram,” states first year Delta College student David Brown. “In a way I feel safer being a part of Tumblr because it is less information about me, and more about my personal interests.”
Student Jeff Gudritz,commented that he deleted his Facebook account for a long time due in part to privacy issues.
“The only reason I have one now is so people can find me on Tinder,” he said.
