Safer Internet: Course Updates

Summary

  • Students of earlier courses can refer back to this site as a refresher and to learn more about the latest privacy and security updates, significant changes, information and advice.
  • Students who implemented only a few changes are welcome to re-enroll in the future to review, fine-tune and expand their protection.
  • OS Update Status:
  • Ongoing: newest articles appear at the top of Reference sections for each topic
  • older (more than ~4 years ago) article references will usually be removed
  • new subsections will be added as needed

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

  • For updated discussion of passwords and password managers, see my shorter (2-session) course: P@s$w0rdz
  • Software Updates: iOS, iPadOS 13; macOS: 10.15

Winter 2019

  • Wipr for ad blocking (iOS, Mac)
  • Consider quitting social media altogether -- privacy settings won't really protect you from advertisers and data brokers; spend more time with your family & real friends
  • added Summary sections with recommendations and links to subsections
  • added topics: to References to supplement major subsections

Winter 2018

  • Meltdown and/or Spectre processor 'speculative execution' flaws affect almost all computers/devices with Intel, AMD, ARM CPUs over past decade or so; Software Updates > References > Meltdown/Spectre
  • It's not possible to completely fix (w/o replacing with newer CPU), but risk can be mitigated/minimized
  • Update system software (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows); avoid malware; Software Updates > References
  • Reorganized main topics and References with more subsections; included reference articles as examples