We all are getting increasingly aware of several instances where we find our friends or loved ones or ourselves or for that matter our children getting misused by online abuse, trolls, picture in wrong hands , theft, data misuse and so on.
We have this time at Mums and Stories an expert who deals every day with the topic of how to handle cybercrime.
We asked Shubhamangala Sunil who is a Cyber Security Expert, Founder chairperson of Cyber Security Response Team and she has a few suggestions for mums on protecting themselves and family in this explosion of digital world.
Shubha says, ” We in the modern day world of outburst of gadgets and online presence are provoked to use and handle more digital gadgets, including the internet and other communication media on cyberspace.
Today most of our data is been transferred on online and stored on cloud than on paper records.
So the online data loss, mishandling the content or misusing the content has been common practice.
Having our identity and sensitive information sitting on online or the data on transit , one has to take more measures to avoid the cyber crimes.
There is sufficient data to show 98% of every individual accessing the Internet for personal or professional purpose in the present digital will be touched by the cyber criminals.
It would be directly or indirectly affected for each of the individual, we as the cyber experts differentiate netizens in two categories
- 50% of netizens as individuals, organisations won’t be knowing how to react or respond on the cyber crime
- 50% of the netizens are the individuals or the organisations or the government who who wont be knowing that they are affected.
Here are a few tips to take care of data and sensitive information on online
- Protect all your accounts
- Control your app permissions
- Find out what Facebook knows about you
- Secure your phone before letting anyone borrow it
- Watch out for theft of your government-issued identification numbers
- Permanently delete files from any device,while deleting
- Know what you are sharing on online and how much it is required to share before sharing the content
- Protect your privacy and ward off trolls on social media
- Keep strangers off your Wi-Fi network
- Stay safe on public Wi-Fi
- Back up and protect all your data
- Protect your inbox from phishing
- Protect your smartphone privacy
- Use secure passwords and do change the passwords often
- Don’t use Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, or other personally identifiable information as passwords
- Be overly cautious when sharing personal information
And when ever you notice that you or any of your known person is cyber crime victim, do report the crime at nearest police station or to the cyber crime branch or you can report with organisations like us too.
Knowing or unknowingly we as parents do introduce the digital world to our kids, but we hardly take time to make them understand about the disadvantages of the internet addiction and cyber crimes.
We strongly recommend the parents not to introduce mobiles or any other gadgets to kids before 5 years, as technically the radiations of signal and the screen rays affect the growth of young ones. Again once the gadget is introduced in a child’s life it is surely the responsibility for every parent to monitor and shadow the activities done on online by kids
Couple of tips that parents can implement in their lives when it comes to their association with internet, online world and children are:
- Use parental control software.
- Place the computer in a highly trafficked area like the living room or the corner where you can oversee the screen.
- Bookmark for safety.
- Do provide right awareness about the cybercrime happening in today’s digital world
- Set limits on late-night use.
- Establish rules and take control
- Stay in the loop!, especially on social networks
- Use good security software
- Beware of dodgy links or ads
( Cybercriminals target websites with attractive ads that promise you the sun, moon and a five star holiday. If it walks like a scam and quacks like a scam, it’s probably a scam.
If your children have email or social media account, let them know about mail-based viruses or the perils of strange links that come from a friend’s account. Taking the time to show them examples or talk them through the concept could save you a lot of hassle in the long run.)
- Avoid illegal downloading
To make any child a responsible netizen, do make sure you are helping them to follow the Cyber ethics