In mid-November, members of the Privacy Engineering Research Group (IngPriv) at the School of Computer Engineering of the University of Valladolid gave several workshops on digital privacy to Red Cross users.
The aim of this training activity was to improve participants’ digital skills and provide them with practical tools to protect their personal data in their everyday use of mobile devices.
The workshops began with an introduction to the essential concepts of digital privacy and data protection, highlighting the importance of understanding what information mobile applications collect and how it is used. Next, there was a clear and accessible explanation of how application permissions work, what types of permissions exist, and how to grant or deny them in an informed manner in order to maintain greater control over personal information.
One of the central elements of the explanation was the use of APK Falcon, a tool developed by members of the IngPriv Group to analyse Android applications and detect potential privacy risks. Participants were able to check, step by step, what permissions an application requests, what implications they have, and how to compare similar apps to identify relevant differences from the point of view of security and data protection.
The sessions were conducted with a practical, accessible approach tailored to the needs of the group, enabling users to apply the knowledge they acquired directly on their mobile phones.
Both the Red Cross technical team and the participants rated this initiative very positively and highlighted the usefulness of the content covered in improving their digital security in everyday life. The IngPriv Group would like to thank the Valladolid Red Cross for its interest, collaboration and commitment to the digital training of its users.
You can see part of the workshops in this video on our YouTube channel.