But have you wondered how safe are these public networks?

Contrary to private wireless networks, which are protected by automatic encryption, the public networks are not as safe. This means that your data could be accessed by others with whom you are sharing the network.

Since these networks are accessible to everyone, it means they host several users at the same time. This increases the risks of sharing the network with potential hackers who could get a hold of your information such as bank details and more.

Most times we are not even aware of how poorly secured these networks are. So what can we do?

Tip number 1 is to use a VPN because all the exchanges are encrypted before being received by the network.

You could also opt for emails that remain secure through a secure https site. This is hard to manage at times as the traffic may direct you to an unsafe HTTP right after identification. That is why it is best to use non-web mail such as Outlook or a web-mail that has opted for full https protection such as Gmail.

Keep in mind that nothing is confidential while you are using a public wireless network.

The post The risk of using public Wi-Fi networks appeared first on Brussels Express.

It is going to be a fascinating time.  We have seen huge change in financial institutions in the past few years. This transformation is definitely set to continue this year and beyond.  One of the most noticeable trends is that the sector is becoming ever more focused on making the customer experience as easy and seamless as possible.  This is where a lot of resources are being directed.  The sector will have to go even further in innovating around this and how they deploy their staff.  In a sense the world is broadening for the financial sector.  They will have to develop new and perhaps unusual partnerships outside the sector to forge ahead on the technology that this customer service will require.  We will see more and more cases where offerings from multiple vendors will need to be integrated in one platform, which will be a challenge for some institutions to cope with internally.

What should we know about this interface between finance and technology.

This is a dynamic field.  Fintech is luring customers away from their traditional institutions.  We are going to see a speedy uptake of application programming interfaces (APIs).  In simple terms, this is technology that connects apps, including on your mobile, to the IT of the bank’s back office.  This is not new, but we are going to see institutions and consumers embrace this much more rapidly in the near future.  Banks are going to need to pair up with fintech companies to deliver this.  

We will also see institutions choosing cloud-based storage over private-data centres.  Mobile banking will also be on the rise and will really be the norm, as it becomes ever more convenient for customers and more safe and secure.  Identifying customers through biometrics such their faces, voices and fingerprints will become more prevalent.   

Should we be as excited by artificial intelligence (AI) as the media tells us to be?

AI as a technology will have a big impact in the next years.  Already it is helping banks further automate their processes and I think customers will feel the benefit from that in terms of efficiency.   We are seeing more and more that banks can automate decisions based data gathered and machine-learning.  Chatbots are another area where we can expect rapid progress, where a computer programme can essentially chat to a customer to resolves tasks and queries.  I think we’ll even see the wealth management, data analysis and fraud departments of institutions embracing this technology more.

What can we expect for blockchain technology in banking? 

We have already seen quite a bit of progress in terms of blockchain being adopted in the financial sector. I’ll be very interested to see how many of the applications in development become actual working products in the months ahead.  Good contenders for success in this field are probably blockchain solutions for payment and so we will have to see how that impacts the old school wire transfers and SWIFT.  

And cryptocurrencies?

There were so many different views about crypto currency last year within in our sector.  We saw bitcoin soar.  Some senior figures remain averse to the trend but we are seeing others setting up cryptocurrency trading desks.  As that starts to happen, this obviously boosts the legitimacy of cryptocurrency and my feeling is that more banks might start to come around to the idea.   

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After someone posted his nude photo on Instagram, a fifteen year old boy from Belgium tried to have it removed. But his pleas to the administrator of the account to delete the photo fell on deaf ears and the police said they would look into the matter. In June this year, he killed himself.

« He never told us what he was going through; we had no idea. He must have felt ashamed. The worst part must have been the likes and reactions below the photo. His full name was revealed. Imagine what this feels like for a 15-year old. He must have thought he would never be able to remove the photo. He must have felt there was no end to this, » his mother S. S. said.

Her heart-breaking video testimony was shown at the conference on Supporting Victims of Cybercrime, recently hosted in Brussels by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and organised by Victims Support Europe (VSE), Europe’s leading umbrella organisation speaking out on behalf of victims of crime.

Held with the aim of raising awareness about the ways to better support and protect victims of online crimes, this partnership event also gathered representatives from the Commission and European Parliament, as well as from other victim support organisations and social media.

Addressing the conference on behalf of the EESC, the President of the Section of Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, Pavel Trantina, said: « We continue to face challenges in providing support for victims across a wide range of circumstances and in ever-evolving circumstances and situations. The topic of cybercrime is of growing importance. »

More needed to be done to help victims to be better informed and understand their rights.

« Victims need to be made aware what to do, how to do it and know that they are not alone, » said Levent Altan, executive director of VSE, adding that victims of online crimes should have a right to specialised support tailored to their own needs.

MEP Miriam Dalli said that victims needed to be given access to information about how to file a complaint and how to stand up for their rights, as well as about to whom they should speak if they fall prey to cybercriminals.

She warned against careless posting of private material online, maintaining that 6-12% of 9-15 year olds have already been cyberbullied in their life. She maintained that the new EU legislation on cybercrime should include a section on cybercrime victims.

Ms Ann Moulds, founder of Action against Stalking, fights for further harmonisation of laws against stalking and its recognition as a criminal offence, to prevent « stalkers falling through the net ».

« Stalking is a psychological crime, a crime of mental rape, » Ms Moulds says. Moreover, 34% of people who have been stalked have actually been physically or sexually assaulted.

It was also agreed that victims of online crime ran a great risk of re-victimisation after their images and hateful comments have been posted across the Internet, which left them feeling tremendous shame and guilt, to the point of being ashamed of reporting it to the police or seeking help.

And there are a number of valuable measures and initiatives that provide support and help.

As a focal point for fighting cybercrime, Europol has recently mounted a campaign against sexual coercion and extortion of children called « Say No! », with videos available in different languages.

In Germany, NGO JUUport extends help to young cybercrime victims, with volunteers aged between 15 and 21 offering free advice against cyberbullying, sexting, hate speech, fraud and other offences.

Recognising that cybercrime is a wide-reaching societal problem, the speakers at the conference agreed that it needed to be tackled in a comprehensive manner by joining efforts at all levels in both public and private sectors and across borders. Special emphasis was put on cooperation with social media companies.

Julie de Bailliencourt, Safety Policy Manager at Facebook, said her company had zero tolerance for hate speech, bullying, revenge porn and any predatory behaviour towards children. It had developed lots of tools for security, safety, privacy and reporting and the vast majority of complaints were reviewed within 24 hours.

« The right to be forgotten is here, » de Bailliencourt said. « People need to understand that social platforms are also there to help. We have the means to remove the content. If you delete your Facebook profile, it will be deleted. »

However, a lot remains to be done on the ground to make sure the right to be forgotten is granted to all.

In her video testimony, the mother of the Belgian boy said she was not even allowed to mourn her son, as another false Instagram account had been opened in his name shortly after his funeral.

« Somebody was pretending to be my son. It took me three weeks to have this account shut down. I kept getting those standardised messages which had nothing to do with our case. »

« The police also said it was difficult for them to have the content quickly removed from social media – and for my son this would have made the world of difference, » she said. « We can’t make this that easy for bad people. »

The post More needs to be done to help victims of online crimes appeared first on Brussels Express.

Since the European Commission launched its Digital Single Market strategy in May 2015, this year is the first that EU travellers have actually benefited from the abolition of mobile roaming charges and have started to enjoy lower mobile internet charges.

The European Commission estimates that the Digital Single Market will contribute €415 billion to the EU’s economy and boost employment opportunities, but it also opens up opportunities for criminal hackers to exploit any weaknesses in the system.

Cyber criminals have already been active this year; the WannaCry Ransomeware attack which started on 12 May and targeted computers using the Windows operating system caused extensive damage to companies and to consumers in Europe. The following month on 27 June the world was hit by the computer virus Petya, which was launched in Ukraine and Russia where it proved to be particularly destructive infecting national institutions, and which subsequently spread globally.

The EU’s Digital Single Market plans to coordinate the use of high quality 700 MHz technology to enable 5G networks in at least one major city in every EU Member State by 2020. Some of the early movers are Tallinn, Stockholm and Helsinki. 5G Networks will pave the way for new services such as smart cities, connected cars and remote healthcare.

But hand in hand with market development comes the need to keep network and information systems safe in Europe.

“I expect the new EU strategy for digital cyber security to be launched in September,” said Commission Vice-President Ansip, speaking at a press conference in the Brussels Press Club last week.

“In the EU there will be 6 billion connected devices by 2020. No single member state can deal with security issues alone. There must be cooperation and only by working together will we be able to find solutions,” he went on to say.

Brussels Express is an exclusively online news service, and we fully support Commissioner Ansip’s initiative to make the marketplace safer for all of our users. As with any criminality, hackers tend to go for the softest targets where they detect a weakness that can be exploited. So, one thing that we can all do in order to protect our phones and computers is to practice some basic cyber hygiene and repair the weaknesses in our systems.

Simple safety measures include keeping software up to date, installing regular updates, changing and strengthening passwords, varying the passwords for different applications, and applying caution to the use of any public wifi networks for accessing bank account data.

Every October the European Commission organises a cyber security month to raise general awareness by focussing on the issues. The European agency for Network and Information Security  (ENISA) also produces some handy information guides with tips for online security.

These are simple precautions that can be taken now and they may prove to be a valuable investment in time so that you enjoy safe and secure surfing this summer without any cyber hassle.

The post Don’t let the bugs bite appeared first on Brussels Express.

During their last years of office these deputies visited Crimea twice, in breach of French national and United Nations policy, and they made pro-Russian public relations statements to demonstrate their solidarity with Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, speaking out in favour of removing sanctions against Russia.

But elections are great levellers, and it is not surprising that French voters failed to be impressed by the fact that these politicians spent their time on foreign ventures rather than representing the local interests of their own constituents. So they rightly exercised their democratic privilege to vote them out of office.

But before the dust has settled from these political changes, Russia is already recruiting replacements to support their propaganda initiatives in France. The latest ciphers to join their ranks are local government politicians from Bouches-du-Rhône county in southern France, who travelled to Donetsk via Moscow and Rostov-on-Don last June at the invitation of Russia.

According to the regional newspaper “Le Provence” the politicians include Christian Borelli, a municipal councillor from Vitrolles; Christiane Pujol, a departmental councillor from Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur province; and Hubert Fayard, municipal councillor in Coudoux. Their mission has violated Ukraine’s legislation by virtue of the fact that they entered Donetsk oblast by road from Russia and not from Ukraine. Apparently the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not aware of their visit.

What is interesting about the trip is not the fact that the Kremlin has recruited fresh ciphers to peddle their propaganda line in France, but that the new recruits should be of little influence compared with their predecessors, and that their mission bears absolutely no relevance to their electoral mandate at home. The local government politicians do not have the same representative status as Thierry Mariani who was the co-chair of the NGO « French-Russian Dialogue Association, » an organisation committed to « strengthening strategic relations » between both countries.

Could this be a sign that it has become more difficult for Russia to recruit support for the Kremlin’s line in French political circles under the new government of President Macron?

Whatever the reason, the Bouche-du-Rhône councillors will find it difficult to explain to their local voters back home what could possibly have been the relevance of their jaunt to Moscow and Donetsk to their their regional responsibilities to manage the municipal administration of Provence.

Their predecessors, the national politicians Mariani, Bouchet, Dhuicq and others, committed similar errors of judgement, and their careers came to an abrupt end. The pointless expedition of the Provence councillors may similarly prove to be limiting for their own future careers. Within days of the local French politicians’ departure from Donetsk, renewed fierce hostilities across the line of conflict flared up with the deadly shelling of Ukrainian military positions and civilians by the Russian troops invading Ukraine. The timing of the councillors’ visit could hardly have been worse.

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