Protect your data? Easy as pie!

Data protection is a terribly unpleasant topic. Many people have stopped bothering with safety advice and tips. Because they seem endless and contradictory and inevitably give you the feeling that it's best to ban yourself and your children from the Internet. So it's all the more surprising that security expert Martin Hellweg, who is more passionate about protecting his data than almost anyone else, always has his mobile phone and laptop to hand when he meets Fritz+Fränzi.

The earlier we teach children a few practical rules of behaviour for digital life, the better.

Martin Hellweg, founder of Virtual Bodyguard

«I don't want to spoil people's fun,» he emphasises. «But I do want to make them aware that everyone really is a public figure on the internet.» Hellweg normally advises companies or celebrities who have been the victim of a digital attack or want to protect themselves from one. Today, however, he breaks down his tips for parents.

«The earlier we teach children a few practical rules of behaviour for digital life, the better,» he says. This is because the complexity of digital life is still manageable for children. Authorities or secret services are not yet very interested in what children do.

«That's why you can initially focus on a few things and introduce them to children in a playful way,» says Hellweg. His ten tips for children and parents - plus a special tip for those who are slowly growing up:

1. be adventurers under someone else's name!

It must be fun for children to adopt invented names and use them on the internet like in an adventure story. «There is often no reason to use your real name,» says Hellweg. The big data octopuses know who is active on the devices we use - but someone who looks us up on Google can no longer check us out so easily. This applies, for example, to the employer with whom the young person is applying for an apprenticeship.

2. do not link applications with each other

Applications should never be linked. It always looks so harmless and is so wonderfully convenient when a new programme is offered: Log in with your Facebook profile. But Hellweg warns: «What it doesn't say is that you are allowing us to siphon off your data and use it to advertise.» Therefore: For the new application, use one of the fantasy names you have created with a new password.

3. secure passwords

... have more than twelve characters, have nothing to do with birthdays or the name of the offspring, are updated regularly and are never, ever the same for several accounts. How are you supposed to memorise so many complex codes? Hellweg has found an exciting method: You ask yourself three questions, one of which relates to the particular application you want to open.

For example:
What is my favourite colour? Answer: Yellow. What is my favourite animal? Answer: Rhinoceros. What is the first letter of the application that this password should open and how many letters does the name of the application have? Answer for Twitter, for example: T and 7.

Now put the first two answers together. The result is Yellow rhino. The third answer is inserted in the place of its number, in this case the seventh digit. This results in «YellowNaT7shorn», a difficult password to crack, which becomes even more secure if you also insert a special character in a fixed position or, for example, an @ for every a, and would then be called: «YellowN@T7shorn».

The first few times you still have to think when creating a password - but soon it works by itself. You no longer have to remember a single password, just the three questions, but you still have a completely new password for each account. And if you want to change your passwords after a few months, you can simply create new questions.

4. also browse anonymously

What we do on the internet says a lot about us. The advertising that is clearly tailored to us after we have googled a product is one thing. It becomes more problematic when data octopuses sell this information to insurance companies or banks, for example. Suddenly there's no more supplementary insurance because my child is interested in high-risk sports or is constantly googling serious illnesses.

So teach your child to use two browsers - the regular one for harmless enquiries and an anonymous browser for sensitive topics. Hellweg recommends the Tor browser: www.torproject.org.

5. learn to delete

Young people in particular like to collect apps on their smartphones. Behind almost every app is a login to an internet account. The larger the smartphone's memory, the greater the risk that it will never be sorted out. However, each of these apps collects data.

So make it a habit to go through your child's apps with them every few months and ask: «What else are you using?» What is not needed is deleted. Important: Delete the account first - this can usually be done within the app. Only then should the app be deleted. The same also applies to programmes on the PC.

6. problem child WhatsApp

For data protectionists like Martin Hellweg, everyone's favourite app is a nightmare. WhatsApp is structured in such a way that it cannot be used without access to all the numbers in the phone book. And all the data runs on servers far away from home, which are not subject to Swiss data protection laws.

What's more, the network belongs to Facebook - and we've known that this mega-company with its impenetrable privacy policies uses the valuable data from seemingly private conversations at least since we were forced to consent to WhatsApp data being forwarded to Facebook.

Security expert Hellweg therefore clearly recommends switching to the more secure Threema version and advising all friends to do the same. "The timing is perfect, especially for children, because they haven't yet established themselves in WhatsApp. Threema can do the same thing, but doesn't store the contact data.

And anyone who already has WhatsApp can initially use both messengers in parallel - until everyone finally recognises the necessity." Hellweg also gives every friend who installs Threema a drink - it works.

7. switch off GPS

Many apps want to know the position of the mobile phone. Take Instagram, for example: If you allow the app to do so, it creates a map in the background that shows where each photo was taken. To the exact house number. So if you often take photos at home, you also reveal your home address.

This is particularly exciting for burglars when holiday photos are suddenly posted live ... So: only allow GPS use for apps that really need it - for navigation, for example. Or switch GPS off completely and only switch it on when you need it. That also saves battery.

8. is it really you?

If someone asks for information, pictures or even money, you should always be sceptical. Even if the message comes from a mobile phone or a friend's email address. Mobile phones can be stolen and email accounts hacked. What helps is to ask for a short video chat. Or you can call a landline to enquire.

9. against unwanted insights...

... Martin Hellweg has a simple solution: cover the camera. The webcam on his laptop is blocked with a small sticky dot, which he only removes when he is using the camera. This means that no-one in his flat can see him when he's not supposed to - because it's easy for hackers to activate the camera.

Smartphones also need to be aware that they could be spied on at any time and the images distributed. A flip cover protects against the constant view of the front camera, and if the mobile phone is lying on the table with the back camera or remains in your pocket, this also only produces boring pictures.

10. your first own e-mail address

According to Martin Hellweg, this should not be from a free provider. This is because they live from analysing the information they extract from private emails and sell to large providers. In addition, they are repeatedly cracked by hackers who can do terrible things with them.

To prevent this, you can reserve your own domain for little money, e.g. with firstnamelastname.ch, and set up e-mail addresses there, for example Rolf@RolfMuster.ch. «You don't have to set up a website - but the young person will be grateful later on if they want to establish a serious business card on the Internet and already have the right domain,» says Hellweg.

11th special tip: Only do what you can't stop doing!

When a child becomes a teenager, it becomes increasingly important to think about your own future. For adults, this is the first tip Hellweg gives: In everything you do, weigh up whether the digital risk and potential costs are in a healthy balance with the benefits. «It's sometimes frightening that we are prepared to ruin a possible future for a digital kick,» says Hellweg.

However, he also sees this as one of the biggest challenges for parents - which is why this tip is at the end: How do you make young people realise that their actions on the internet are like a digital tattoo? Posting a bikini picture may feel cool for the moment and earn compliments.

But the picture can also stay with you for a lifetime and is potentially visible to everyone. So why don't you ask your child: «Would you put this picture in the supermarket where it will hang for the rest of your life?»

Facebook live chat and parents' seminar with Martin Hellweg

We met Martin Hellweg once again and interviewed him live on Facebook - and included YOUR QUESTIONS. You can watch the interview now:

We also invited several parents to a data protection workshop in 2017. Click here for the report.

These tips are just a selection. As children grow into adults, more and more safety tips gradually become important.