NEWS
Online safety tech failing women – despite them being most at risk
A new study from King ’ s College London provides evidence of a gender gap in online safety advice and technology – particularly in the way men and women engage with security and privacy technologies aimed at keeping them safe online .
To investigate the causes of this gender gap , researchers from King ’ s Department of Informatics conducted a survey asking more than 600 UK adults ( approx . 50 % women and 50 % men ) about their preferred online privacy and security methods – such as training courses from official bodies , semi-formal advice from webpages or informal advice through word of mouth .
The findings revealed a significant difference between the way men and women access online safety advice , with about 76 % of women saying their go-to approach is to seek online safety advice in-person from family compared to under 24 % of men ; while 70 % of men seek such advice from online sources compared to only 38 % of women .
While guidance from family and friends is not necessarily risky , argue the researchers , there is no guarantee these ‘ advisors ’ have the skills to advise , provide correct information and enable learning . In contrast , the breadth of digital safety advice delivered online is not reaching the large population of women .
The study also found that women are more likely to rely on simple or built-in online protections such as privacy settings , security software updates and strong passwords . By contrast , men participating in the study appeared to be more fluent with a wider spectrum of protection methods , including more sophisticated technologies such as firewall , VPN , anti-spyware , antimalware , anti-tracking and Multi-Factor Authentication ( MFA ).
Lead Author , Dr Kovila Coopamootoo , Lecturer in Computer Science at King ’ s College London , said : “ This research stresses the need for a gender lens when it comes to assessing online safety opportunities and whether they are configured for and serving the whole population , including women and girls .”
Nokia and Nomios Group to triple capacity for GÉANT European research network
Nokia , Nomios Group and GÉANT have announced that GÉANT , the collaboration of European National Research and Education Networks ( NRENs ), will deploy a state-of-the-art IP / MPLS solution from Nokia as part of a 10-year frame agreement led by Nomios Group , a leading European provider of cybersecurity services and solutions .
As part of its GN5 IP / MPLS routing and switching replacement project , GÉANT will be the first NREN in the world to deploy 800 Gigabit Ethernet ( GE ) routing interfaces , tripling capacity and supercharging its 50,000km network by establishing a resilient and secure foundation for extreme collaboration and knowledge sharing among an international alliance of researchers .
GÉANT interconnects 40 NRENs in 40 European countries and links 50 million users and institutions to more than 100 additional NRENs in every region of the world . The high-performance IP backbone network will be the foundation for a global coalition of researchers focused on breakthrough research across disciplines such as highenergy physics , biomedicine , radio astronomy and climate-impacting weather conditions .
Over the past five years , the GÉANT network has experienced 30 % traffic growth each year and is now carrying more than 7 Petabytes of data daily . This is due , in large part , to the proliferation of instruments such as telescopes , sensors and detectors , which gather more data with greater precision , sensitivity and speed . Supercomputers process vast volumes of data , analysing and validating findings . Given the high level of collaboration between allied institutions , that data must be transferred rapidly , reliably , securely and cost-effectively .
Nomios and Nokia will undertake the complete replacement and upgrade of GÉANT ’ s existing IP / MPLS routing and switching infrastructure , ensuring enhanced scalability , security and reliability for GÉANT ’ s extensive network operations .
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