Personal Internet Security Basics

Daniel Ficker, Pantheon

No matter if you're a developer, designer, manager or a business owner, you're a person. And these days, being a person on the Internet can be a minefield. Phishing attacks are trying to steal your information and some of your passwords have been published on the internet. But you have to work on the Internet--living off the grid is not an option.

In this session, I will go over some common attacks that you should be aware of. Also, I will highlight some simple, practical ways to protect yourself while browsing the Internet for fun or work. No doubt, some in the room will say, "This is too hard to be secure," and others will say, "This speaker is not paranoid enough." Security is a continuum, and this is meant to be a point for you, the attendee, to evaluate your personal security practices and think about improving them.

Topics Covered
Is Your Browsing Secure?
Is Your Communication Secure?
Backing Up Data
Examples of Phishing
Examples of Impersonation
Two-Factor Authentication
Password Managers
Trust No One vs. Cloud Services
My Experience
I am a professional web developer with 13+ years of building, launching and maintaining dozens of websites both freelance and at a design/development agency. While I am not a certified Security/IT expert and do not sell my services as a security professional, I hope that my experience in trying to understand security and keep my personal and professional work secure can be shared with you in this session.

Notes for Session Selection
This session has been presented last year at Twin Cities Drupal Camp.
It was presented previously as a 60-minute session, but I could potentially rework it for a 30-minute slot.
Speakers
Daniel Ficker
Web Developer @ Pantheon
Dan Ficker has been building websites since 1997, when he wanted to tell the world which rock bands he was a fan of. Since then, he has helped build hundreds of websites, most of them using the PHP programming language. He went to college, learned more about development in Java and Oracle, but still builds websites, these days most often using the Drupal or WordPress content management systems built on top of PHP. In the past 11+ years of professional development, he has built and worked on the PHP code, MySQL queries, HTML output, and performance of hundreds of websites. Dan still gets excited when a band he's a fan of comes to town and enjoys learning about other areas of technology.

https://www.midcamp.org/2019/topic-proposal/personal-internet-security-basics

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