Electronic Communications

In this article I will explain what is safe and unsafe while engaging in electronic communications.

I should say at the outset, it is nearly impossible for a private citizen to be absolutely certain all their electronic communications are secure. But we can protect ourselves from anything except law enforcement and the most determined, and very, very talented and funded IT persons.

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Nearly all communication breaches are by compromised passwords or phishing, but there are other ways depending on the communication method you are using.

Email is not “safe”. It about as safe as sending a post card. It is fine for most everyday communication, but you should not include anything private in an email, particularly passwords, account numbers, company confidential information, etc.

Text messages may be safer than email, or they may not.

For example, texts between iPhone to iPhone, or Android to Android are encrypted. iPhone to/from Android is not. Even for the encrypted communication, you need to ensure your correspondent is legitimate.

The texting (and more) app, WhatsApp is relatively safe. The problem with it is that there are a lot of bots and imposters, and if a password (yours, or someone else) is compromised you are in danger.

Phone to phone (as outlined above) requires possession of a phone and its password, fingerprint or face. (There are some very complicated ways around these by very knowledgeable IT persons.).

There are other text-like apps like WhatsApp, with varying degrees of security.

If is definitely safer to text between IPhone and Android with WhatsApp, rather than the built in text methods.

Credit card transactions on the Internet are very secure, assuming they happen over a secure protocol (https). Almost all web sites use https as the default now, even just for browsing. Online credit card transactions are safer than giving out your card information in a voice telephone call, through the mail, or handing it to a waiter at a restaurant.

The advent of the contactless method of payment at businesses, instead of “sliding” improves the security of credit card transactions. Apple Pay and Android pay are even more secure. I use Apple Pay whenever I can.

One more thing. I asked all my students in my intro to IT classes what was their most important password. Almost none knew the correct answer.

It is your email password.

Why? Because what happens if you forget any password to, for example, your bank? You get an email with instructions on how to change your password. So if someone has your email password, they can change all of your other passwords (and gain access to your accounts), and they can change your email password!

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