A group of 26 second-year high school students from the Ave María School in Valladolid attended a digital privacy workshop in November, taught by members of the Privacy Engineering Research Group (IngPriv) at the School of Computer Engineering at the University of Valladolid.
The main objective of the workshop was to explain to students how their personal data is managed and protected when they use mobile applications to browse more safely in the digital environment. To this end, concepts related to digital privacy and personal data protection, mobile application permissions, and how to grant or deny them in an informed manner were addressed.
They also discovered the APK Falcon tool, developed by members of the IngPriv Group to analyze Android mobile applications and detect potential privacy risks. During the session, participants took a practical look at what permissions apps request, compared permissions between applications, and learned how to grant or deny permissions.
In addition, a guided exercise was conducted to inspect passwords from the browser using HTML, with the aim of promoting good security practices in the digital environment.
Finally, they received a brief introduction to what metadata is in images and multimedia files and what information it can reveal without the user being aware (location, device, date, etc.).
The session was very well received by students and teachers alike, who appreciated the practical, accessible, and informative nature of the workshop. The IngPriv Group would like to thank the Ave María School for its interest and collaboration.
You can see part of the workshop in this video.