Hugo Miranda, LASIGE integrated member, co-authored an opinion piece in the newspaper SAPO.pt, with José Legatheaux Martins, Internet Society, ISOC Portugal, on 11 February 2025, about the importance Safer Internet Day (SID).

The Portuguese Internet Observatory, published quarterly by the Portuguese chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC.pt), assesses the level of adoption of a set of security rules on more than a thousand national servers.

Some facts are reported, such as the fact that the websites from ‘Central and Regional Governments’ and ‘Town Halls’ are the ones with more than 25 per cent of websites that are not concerned about the possibility of third parties spying on conversations between clients and servers, since they do not allow the conversation to be encrypted. In the opposite direction, the websites in the ‘Judicial System’, ‘Security Authorities and Police’, ‘Airports and Ports’, ‘Sports Associations’ and ‘Online Games’ categories stand out, with 100 per cent of the servers supporting the encryption of conversations. However, many implement cipher systems with deficiencies and versions that are currently considered weak.

Other problems and issues are discussed and some solutions are presented, such as the safest method of preventing an attacker from diverting the communication that the client is trying to create with a server to a fictitious one or the adoption of mechanisms to prevent phishing.

In conclusion, for a safer Internet, “it’s up to us to be vigilant!”.

The article can be read in Portuguese: here.