MyEthics.net Newsletter 1-14, 11/6/25
Online security is a nightmare.
Passwords, already impossible to remember, are no longer sufficient for online security. Multi-factor authentication has become a must for financial accounts.
Each new tech creates new battlefields, like streamlining both online shopping
and identity theft. Users pay the price as legit and malevolent actors battle for advantage.
Thus, adopting best practices for online security has become prerequisite to staying safe.
An Open Platform
Designed as an open platform, the internet allows any computer, device, sensor, or camera to connect without prior authorization. Authentication happens after a connection has been established, and effort is required to avoid connecting (think WiFi). Devices that have never connected are called “airgapped.”
And that, sadly, is the only way to stay truly safe. I’m not sure if it’s even possible anymore.
Prometheus
Technology always brings evil along with the good. It’s almost like the universe is imbued with both and you can’t have one without the other, like Yin & Yang or Prometheus and his “gift” of fire.
Technologies are tools, for good or ill. Chainsaws and AI have the capacity to both help and injure.
Certainly, tech offers enormous benefits like GPS navigation, emergency communication, and online banking. However, these same advances have also created GPS-guided ordnance, 911 “SWATTING,” and emptied bank accounts.
30 years ago, our shiny new internet was going to solve all our problems…
Six years later, the dot-coms automated the world until 2000 when that bubble burst.
Then, on Feb 9, 2009, global social norms of behavior changed forever when facebook introduced the “like” button which “made social media into a popularity contest.” iPhones became performance platforms. Privacy went away.
A few years later we moved all our stuff to the cloud, where it was recently scraped by AI, bringing a whole new set of security and privacy concerns.
Does anyone really want all this?
Increasing Complexity
Tech security is a cat and mouse game where malevolent actors retain anonymity and use available tech to build, for example, “dark web” ecosystems whose only purpose is to swindle people.
AI is just the latest in the latest & greatest on this Promethean hit parade: on Oct 14, OpenAI announced that it will “allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult verified users starting December.”
Strategies
I wish I could offer you a comprehensive guide to online security, but it is so complex that millions of professionals worldwide spend every waking hour trying to prevent the next big hack. Meanwhile each end user has a different level of understanding.
There’s not much choice: we must each stay current with security basics as systems evolve.
There are some fundamentals, such as using a password manager like LastPass, Google, or the Apple Keychain… picking one and disabling the others. But honestly that’s just a start.
To keep yourself safe, here is a list of terms you probably want to understand, many of which may already be familiar:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Encrypted password management
- Incognito browsing
- Biometrics, authenticators & pPasskeys
- Automatic software updates
- Virus and malware protection
- Identity theft coverage and credit monitoring
- Dark web and data breaches
- Deepfakes
- Cookies, browsing history, and ad blocking
- Social media privacy settings
- Authenticating using Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. accounts which store your payment info
- Subscription management: autopay, autoship, and autorenew
- Algorithm and AI-driven adware and target marketing
In Sum
- Figure out who benefits and how from your online activities and check their reputation
- Implement a password manager, multi-factor authentication, and automatic updates
- Remain skeptical!
- Stay up-to-date with best practices.
Please let me know if this is helpful and stay safe out there!