On January 29, members of the Privacy Engineering Research Group at the School of Computer Engineering at the University of Valladolid gave a workshop on digital privacy to a group of 13 students in their second year of of bachelor´s degree at IES Vega del Prado.
The main theme of the workshop was to raise awareness about the importance of privacy in digital environments and the need to protect personal data in everyday use of technology. Through practical examples and real-life situations, students reflected on the amount of information that is shared when using mobile applications.
During the workshop, the types of permissions requested by mobile apps were explained, and students learned how to distinguish when a permission is necessary for an app to function and when it may be unnecessary, as well as how to manage those permissions.
In the first practical part, students were shown how the APK Falcon tool, developed within the App-PI Project, works to analyze the privacy risk of mobile applications. With this application, students checked what permissions different apps request, compared similar applications, and understood the potential privacy risks associated with installing them.
The second practice exercise consisted of a guided activity with HTML, in which participants learned how to obtain an image from the browser and then analyze the metadata associated with the file. This exercise allowed us to explain how metadata can reveal sensitive information without the user being aware of it, reinforcing the importance of adopting best practices before sharing content in digital environments.
This workshop helped promote education on digital privacy and data protection, providing practical tools for safer and more responsible use of technology. The IngPriv Group would like to thank IES Vega del Prado for its collaboration and support in developing this activity.
You can see part of the content of this workshop in this video.