Page 151 - Trust in ICT 2017

Trust in ICT 2

However, open data also raises some concerns. The potential threat to privacy is probably the foremost risk.
There is no personal data to be shared with any third party. However, it is questionable whether this can be
achieved by the use of multiple sources of data which can be combined to yield information about individuals.
Risks on Internet and digital technologies

Digital communication has a number of specific characteristics that make it so popular. Digital media are
primarily characterized by an exceptional ease of receiving and sending messages. A message sent by e-mail
or in the form of short message service (SMS) is received almost instantaneously regardless of geographic
distance. Experts warn that specific characteristics of digital communication entail risks that may easily be
overlooked or be underestimated and that affect young people in particular. The Internet and digital
technologies can enable some authorities to monitor telephone conversations, to close down a website, to
ban the illegal use of a radio frequency or even to filter out specific flows of spams or advertisement
messages. The access of a large number of users to information resources is full of promise, but it can also
cause irreparable damage and create unpredictable dangers. The growth of knowledge societies might
precisely be one of the most effective means to reduce risks.
As far as technological hazards are concerned, the man-machine system has always proved unpredictable
and fallible, whereas the nature of the system is to function normally. The drawbacks and risks in the system
may be passed off while the inescapable failure down takes place. The network development gives increasing
importance to knowledge. It relies on technological dependency which accentuates risks and threats. Misuse
of knowledge can be utilized by terrorists. The potential consequences of misuse of knowledge may
accelerate terrorist activities. Scientists and engineers have a duty to protect the public safety from those
hazards.

Greater openness, combined with hiding one's real identity and impersonating a false one, increases the risks
of people making contacts with malicious individuals and becoming victims of deception. In more extreme
cases, young people may fall prey to "sexual predators", become members of cults, be exposed to dangerous
ideologies, and start gambling or carrying out illegal activities, etc. With all emerging technologies, there are
potentials for misuse. Risks associated with user interactive actions include cyberbullying and abuse by online
predators. They also include identity theft and exposure to inappropriate contents including self-harm,
racism, and adult pornography, etc. The risks to children and young people watching video games may be
subject to be reviewed by governments. In order to understand the potential risks and encourage safe and
responsible use of the Internet, there are crucial steps of risk management to be taken to keep children and
young people safe online. The ICT experts may develop the safeguarding processes and relevant technologies
to protect children and young people.
Security and privacy on cloud computing

Cloud computing poses privacy concerns because the service providers can access the data that is on the
cloud at any time. It could accidentally or deliberately alter or even delete some portions of the data. Many
cloud providers can share data and information with third parties while a requisite for the purposes of law
and order should be needed. This should be permitted in privacy policies that users have to agree to before
they start using the cloud services. Solutions to privacy include policy and legislation as well as end users'
choices for how the data is stored. Users can encrypt data that is processed or stored within the cloud to
prevent unauthorized access. There is the risk that end users do not understand the issues involved when
signing on to a cloud service (for example, persons sometimes do not read the many pages of the terms of
service agreement, and just click "Accept" without reading).

In a cloud computing platform being shared by different users, there may be a possibility that information
belonging to different copyright owners resides on the same data server. Therefore, information leakage may
arise by mistake when information belonging to one customer is given to others. Additionally, hackers are
spending substantial times and efforts looking for ways to penetrate the cloud. There are some real Achilles'
heels in the cloud computing infrastructure that are making big holes for bad guys to get into. Because data
from hundreds or thousands of companies can be stored on large cloud servers, hackers can theoretically
gain control of a huge database of information through a single attack.

143