What can consumers do to protect themselves from eavesdroppers and wiretaps? Here are three questions to Thomas Kremer, Board member for Data Privacy at Deutsche Telekom.
Mr. Kremer, consumers are confused by the NSA affair and don’t know if their communications are still safe. Are they?
Thomas Kremer: Secret services are not likely to be particularly interested in the communications of most citizens. Putting the communications of millions of citizens under general suspicion can’t be right. I share the same concern and anger, because I don’t want to be an open book for secret services or businesses every time I use the Internet.
What exactly can citizens do to protect themselves?
Thomas Kremer: First, everyone should carefully consider what information they want to display on social media. It’s the same as with tattoos: Quickly done but difficult to remove. People should also keep in mind that platforms like Facebook are not subject to German data privacy laws. For e-mails, you should choose a provider who encrypts messages before they are transmitted and saves them in high security data centers in Germany. Those who want absolute peace of mind can use additional encryption programs and a special crypto phone. However, the greater threat to ordinary citizens does not come from secret services but from cybercriminals.
And how do you protect yourself from them?
Thomas Kremer: The most important thing to have is an up-to-date antivirus on your computer and on your smartphone, especially if your phone has an open operating system like Android. The operating system itself should always be up to date, too. In addition, you should be careful with e-mails that ask for personal information or even passwords, because in these cases there’s a high risk that criminals want to gain access to your data. You should also stay away from attachments and download links in suspicious messages. Finally, complex passwords are a good way to protect yourself, and you should change them regularly – about every four weeks, just like your toothbrush.