Читать книгу Perceptions and Analysis of Digital Risks онлайн

25 страница из 61

Digital risks can be considered threats, of varying levels of danger, which can manifest themselves during or following a digital activity and which are likely to affect the user or to have harmful consequences for others. These risks cover a wide variety of domains that we have grouped into nine types, following a preliminary study carried out collectively within the framework of the eRISK project by means of a thematic exploration in the major media. This step allowed us to develop this typology, which we then took a step back from and backed up with the scientific literature. We have thus identified technical, informational and political, cognitive, psychosocial, health, socioeconomic, ethical, legal and ecological risks. Here, we propose to briefly characterize these different types of risks.

Technical risks are related to potential malicious intrusions likely to damage digital equipment in one way or another (computer, tablet, smartphone, USB key, CD-ROM, etc.) and spread to other equipment. The motives behind these attacks can vary: to destroy documents to harm an individual or a group of individuals (economic, military or governmental organization, etc.); to infiltrate an information system to steal information with the idea of denouncing or conducting industrial espionage, for example; or simply with the idea of taking up a challenge. We use the term hackers to designate those individuals who illegally act on other computer systems. These acts fall under cybercrime and are punishable by law.