How a Cork university is helping us all to feel safer in the digital world

How many passwords do you store in your memory? In the original memory - the brain - not your hard drive.

Whether you’re online banking, paying bills or booking travel, almost everywhere in the digital realm requires a username and password.

For even the most tech savvy, it can be a minefield, but for non-digital natives the fear of being scammed or hacked can drive them away from digital services altogether.

You’ve probably seen news articles admonishing people for using foolish, easy to hack passwords. Dates of birth, favourite football teams or the ever popular ‘password’ and ‘12345’ are regularly deployed despite warnings.

A memorable example of poor password usage was in the documentary about the Russian activist Alexei Navalny, who revealed that a top brass intelligence official in the Kremlin had an email password ‘moscow1’ which was, of course, hacked. The official simply updated it to ‘moscow2’, and changed it again to “moscow3’ when he realised he had (surprise!) been compromised again.

So don’t feel too bad about your password peccadillos.

Any engagement with technology requires appropriate ‘cyber hygiene’ measures, but often official cyber safety advice is impenetrable and inapplicable to the needs of users.

Meeting user needs 

In the latest episode of RTÉ’s 10 Things To Know About, I had the opportunity to meet Munster Technological University (MTU) cyber security researcher and lecturer Hazel Murray, who is devising ways to make sure older adults and vulnerable users are skilled and knowledgeable enough to interact securely and confidently in our digital world.

If you have ever provided tech support for a friend or family member who needed help navigating a digital service, you are actually a ‘digital caregiver’ - you can add that to your CV.

However, relying on others to bank or do online shopping is very disempowering and older adults are increasingly alienated by public services moving to digital.

By 2030, 90% of government services will have moved online, so older adults reluctant to engage with online services can become isolated from essential services.

Older adults are often afraid to engage because they are fearful of a cyber-attack or fraud.

Through focus groups, Hazel Murray and her team heard from older adults that their greatest fear is losing their life savings because, as retirees, they have no way to recoup stolen money.

The aim of the research is to close the digital divide and increase digital resilience - whether that is in an older adult nervous about navigating online banking or a small business owner with an insecure IT system that is vulnerable to being hacked.

The MTU team is creating cyber advice and training to give older adults confidence to engage with essential online services while avoiding scams and cyber-attacks.

Much of today’s cyber-security advice is either too vague or impractical, especially for those new to tech. For example, the advice to never write down passwords, while good in theory, might not always be practical for someone who struggles to remember all of them.

Also, cyber-criminals are unlikely to break into someone’s home to rifle through notebooks to hack an account!

Real-life advice 

Simplified, relatable cyber safety tips, designed for real-life needs, can empower individuals without overwhelming them.

Hazel Murray’s team at MTU is doing just that. By focusing on the actual fears and needs of older adults, they’re creating specialised training tools such as a cyber-safety e-learning course, a card game that teaches cyber-security basics, and a practical booklet filled with relatable examples.

A second project at MTU targets another vulnerable group: small businesses. Many of these, from local cafés to independent florists, don’t have dedicated IT departments to defend against cyber-attacks, and they can easily become victims of ransomware.

In a ransomware attack, cybercriminals infiltrate a system, encrypt files, and demand a ransom for their release. Dark web services even offer ‘ransomware-as-a-service’, making it disturbingly easy for criminals to carry out these attacks.

For small businesses with limited tech knowledge, the response to a ransomware attack is often to pay up. Without payment, they risk being locked out of their payment and accounting systems, paralysing their entire operation.

The Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) cyberattack in 2021 was a sobering example of how devastating such attacks can be, even smaller organisations face serious risks.

MTU researchers are working with SMEs to model risks specific to small Irish businesses and creating user-friendly cyber-security tools tailored to their needs.

Recognising that many small business owners are skilled at running their own business but not at managing IT infrastructure, the team is developing a Cyber Risk Assessment tool to identify vulnerabilities and help businesses design a tailored action plan with practical steps-like backing up client information to avoid total loss during an attack.

The research at MTU is a reminder that embedding accessible cyber-security into Ireland’s digital transformation is critical.

As we continue to build a world where almost every interaction and transaction involves technology, empowering every member of society to feel secure online is one of the most valuable investments we can make.

Tune in to find out more on 10 Things To Know About, Mondays on RTÉ1 at 8.30pm.