Week 10

 I honestly know only a few countries, where an average user is aware of their security on the Internet, and Ukraine is definitely not on that list. The “Informational Technologies” course in public schools included obtaining skills, such as Paint and PowerPoint in middle school, and some basics of HTML in high school. As you can see, the program is a bit old-fashioned, and teenagers, who are the most active internet users, do not even think of their safety and how much it can be violated. People tend to use the same password everywhere (often containing their name or DOB), download unverified files and apps from unverified websites, skip instructions on how to avoid phishing, and lose their head while seeing pretty suspicious and too profitable offers. In my opinion, lack of awareness and knowledge is the biggest problem for users in Ukraine. 

Technology and policy, which are two other aspects of security, described by Kevin Mitnick, are pretty developed in Ukraine. More and more portals require strong passwords and passing captchas, and operating systems are actually secured, additionally, there are plenty of antiviruses available on the Ukrainian market. However, returning to the awareness question, an average user doesn’t even know, what the firewall is and how it works. 

Surely, the security situation is redressable, and, when Covid stroke and many people transferred to the Internet, more and more information on Information hygiene and security on the Internet became visible and available. Russian invasion also became a good push for users - both politicians and media urge people to use only verified information to avoid fakes and useless panic. And chances are after all this, people will be a bit more aware of their digital safety, and a good school reform will be much of help.