10+4 Things to Keep in Mind When Shopping Online This Christmas
E-commerce offers plenty of convenience, but it also comes with a number of dangers. On the eve of the holidays, I invited Viktor Rachev, a cybersecurity specialist at the specialized company SoCyber, to help us with practical advice on what to watch out for. Read it, think it over, and show it to your family and friends—it could well help you avoid an unpleasant mistake.
02Brain Blast! Dr. Hansen's 10 Ideas for Surviving the Digital Tsunami
Our brain evolved slowly, gradually getting used to a changing environment… and then came Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and suddenly our most important organ found itself in a world it was entirely unprepared for. Swedish psychiatrist Anders Hansen is not afraid to raise the big questions of today's technological age, and his book is a reason to stop, think and pay attention to what truly matters for every one of us.
03Trust, but Verify Online!
If you have never heard of “social engineering,” or “social engineerism,” as today’s guest says we ought to call it, you are probably picturing a plot straight out of Frankenstein: the engineer builds himself a person… Or something from the conspiracy theories about mass mind control. Whether you have heard of it or not, though, we need to talk about it more and more. Because this is the most dangerous and most effective attack in the digital world. One that targets not computers, networks, servers or programs, but the weakest link in the chain: the human being. “Today cybersecurity breaches happen more and more often through social engineering, a method that uses manipulation and manipulative techniques so that people are deceived and access to sensitive information is gained,” says cybersecurity specialist Plamen Tsvetanov. But what are the most important steps to protect ourselves? What are the biggest risks of underestimating the person on the other side? Why should trust online be a scarce commodity? The subject matters to everyone, even those who don’t realize it…
04So You Want to Be a Programmer?
Is programming for you, and is it worth trying, how late is too late, which language should you pick, and how do you land that first job? I decided to become a programmer at 33, after years in another profession, and here I have gathered everything I wish someone had told me back then.
05“The Problem Is People, Not the Law”
Is our data really protected online? What rules should we follow to avoid unpleasant surprises? How can we be sure we aren't infringing anyone's copyright, and what should we do if someone infringes ours? And who will own the rights to the “works” of artificial intelligence? The law takes up an enormous amount of room in the online world too. We rarely think about it, yet the field is extremely important. Hristina Bogia holds a doctorate in law and specialized in all the important questions that technology raises for legal science. A few years ago, disillusioned with the system, she decided to change careers and moved into the software industry. Together, we'll look for answers to all of these questions. We'll head for the places where technology, the law and the rights of each of us intersect. We'll go over plenty of everyday advice that can help any user. And, last but not least, we'll get the perspective of a thoughtful young person with a distinctive view on a topic that is always current in Bulgaria: a court system that doesn't work.
06This Site Uses Cookies… So How Should We Answer?
We see the question in the headline every single day. But how should we answer it? Which cookies should we accept and which not? Does our decision matter, and can we change it? And what are these notorious cookies anyway? GDPR. We've all heard of it, and I'm convinced it must be an abbreviation of some Latin curse; if it isn't, it deserves to be adopted into Latin in the language's next release. While every tiny website is forced by law to obey the infamous regulation to the letter, the pages of the giant companies where we spend hours every day show it to us once and that's that. How did we get here? Is it worth reading the questions every site asks us about cookies? Are there more sensible solutions?
07“It’s Time We Thought About Mental Fitness, Too!”
How do we overcome the difficulties that online communication creates? Which character traits give away a good programmer? When is it time to draw a firm line and slow things down at work, before burnout arrives? The answers come from Velina Getova, a psychologist with extensive experience in information technology.
08Digital Minimalism: How to Break Free from Information Addiction
Imperceptibly, gradually and seemingly irreversibly, we have become dependent on technology. Or more precisely, on the information it floods us with, much of which we don't need and which is toxic and draining. The system known as “digital minimalism” offers a way to rein in this creeping dependence. But is it the universal solution?
