Cyber Security Lessons Learnt From Edward Snowden

After Edward Joseph Snowden arrived Hong Kong to disclose massive worldwide surveillance programs being conduced by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA), global cyber security now becomes a very controversial and sensitive topic that can virtually affect everyone in the world. Here we want sharing some lessons learnt from this hottest cyber security issue for your maximum privacy protection.

As a background information for your reference, disclosures from NSA whistleblower Edward Joseph Snowden include US's secretive PRISM surveillance program, an electronic surveillance scheme that NSA has used to access personal computers, private emails, widespread internet communication data, social networking activities on Facebook etc. Other than Facebook, internet search engine giants including Google and Microsoft etc revealed that US government did successfully request confidential user account information directly from them for some national security reasons. Former NSA contractor Edward Joseph Snowden also disclosed that US administration has conducted massive unauthorised interception of international telephone calls data for unknown spying or surveillance purposes. It is reported that the U.S. NSA hackers have also invaded into computer system servers or telecommunications networks in Hong Kong as well as mainland China for gathering national intelligence information since 2009.

Edward Joseph Snowden then decided to leave Hong Kong on 23 June 2013 with help of WikiLeaks led by Julian Assange, after US legal department filed criminal espionage charges against Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him for extradition back to the U.S. for espionage investigation. Source: China HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) Government.

Why cyber security protection is so important? While Chinese people are not the only victims of cyber hacking attacks and USA government is also definitely not the only hacker spying the innocence public, we believe everyone shall learn from this lessons raised by Edward Snowden and start building a good habit to make your own cyber security protection system work. By doing so, people should have a better chance of keeping their private confidential information protected from internet hackers, virus attacks or similar cyber invasion activities. Having their personal information kept safe, they can then have an option to allow (or disallow) other individuals accessing their secrets safety or protecting them fully from software security applications that may corrupt or erase their computer files.

With cyber security lessons learnt from the case of Edward Joseph Snowden, now it is time to start sharing with you our useful tips for maximum privacy protection:

Useful Tips For Maximum Cyber Security Protection

(i) In order to start building a good habit, you should identify who can access your own private confidential information and how can your personal data be accessed online. It can be just like identifying potential suspects in any criminal line-up. We are not suggesting that all relatives or friends you know cannot be reasonably trusted, but at least some extra cautious should be necessary. For example, although your mother may not do something untrustworthy, there is no guarantee that her close friends may do so. If they all have physical access rights to your personal computer (PC), then we can say your confidential data files should be at security risk of being leaked out.

(ii) To well-protect your personal computer (PC) or mobile phone(s) from unknown hackers, the best way should be to disconnect your PC or mobile devices from 3G/4G/Wifi network if you are simply not necessary to stay online. Always bear in mind that there is virtually no computer firewall systems or anti-virus software applications can provide 100% cyber security protection. And there is no reason that you cannot live without staying 24 hours every day online. So our suggested method could be to basically remove yourself away from 3G/4G/Wifi network once you are not using it for reducing potential security risks of being cyber-attacked.

We know the case of Edward Joseph Snowden is not over yet, but we all should respect his courageous discloses against U.S. cyber invasion and hacking activities. Some people even considered Edward Joseph Snowden as a hero protecting cyber privacy, especially for non-US, because it appears that US government focuses mainly on stealing personal information of non-US individuals. At the end of the day, Edward Joseph Snowden may not be able to save the world, but at least we can have lessons learnt from this particular cyber security issue for our maximum privacy protection.