Awareness on uses of Computer, Internet and Cyberspace
literacy is the need of the hour. If we look at our youth some are using social platforms like YouTube to learn something using audio-visual medium. Since, in the last few years YouTube become so popular that everyone coming up with their own channel with some poor content as a source of income. As a result, when we search for a particular topic channels with maximum subscribers prioritised first irrespective of quality content. So, when we make a search for some content until and unless we look for two or three videos of a particular topic we cannot come up with a fruitful result out of that. It is good that these platforms paved the way for our youth to be a source of income. But in the same way some YouTube channels are used for propagating and advocating particular ideology and spreading hatred. Now a days, it is very common to upload videos for publicity stunt and get
viral. In the line of YouTube, WhatsApp messenger is also used to spread short video clips to spread fake information to create propaganda. When we talk about Facebook and Twitter few years back people having some basic idea of computer and internet used to have accounts. But, now it is seen that people start learning computer and internet using social media platforms, messaging apps and using various application in their mobile phones. It is true that people are learning and getting matured day by day having some good or bad experiences.
It is very important to mention here that other than youth our children are to be protected first. It is seen that, we give mobile phones to our children for playing games. But, we must be careful because some games are especially designed for luring and online grooming of our children for committing some illegal act. Since, some of the crimes are not instant but in reality it the result of a long term process. If we personally look into some games it has messaging facility side by side. Through which criminals may engage our children and may persuade to accomplish tasks on their behalf. Therefore, parents must look into the online activities of children.
From Indian perspective since users of internet are not matured enough but using internet for buying
goods online from shopping sites like Amazon, Flipkart etc and paying money digitally using banking cards and net banking. It is commonly seen some users get easily deceit by Vishing (Voice Phishing) and Phishing etc. Some criminals put skimmer devices on ATM machines. These are very common tricks of cyber criminals for identity theft. Again, now a days it is seen when we look for helpline number for certain services on Google search the fake helpline numbers comes first. Generally, it is seen for voice phishing criminals use VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) call services. If we look for VoIP call services on internet innumerable sites and Android apps found on Play-store which use some virtual number to make calls to the victim. Therefore, it is a good practice not to receive any phone call with unknown numbers.
As we all know, due to the advancement in technology we are directly or indirectly become a part of cyberspace. For example, individually we may not use internet and may be abstain from using smart phone etc but our datas like Banking details, details of Voter ID, PAN card etc all are stored somewhere in servers or cyberspace that we cannot ignore. Hence, everyone can be a victim of at least data theft. Generally, people having idea of internet and cyberspace use to store their photos, documents etc either on Google drive or Microsoft OneDrive etc. It is seen that major companies like Google, Microsoft etc are providing minimum of 10 GB space to each individual for free along with Email service. We are using it too since these companies are not treated like companies anymore. There are so many search engines but when we want to look for something we use Google only without second thought. And we are trusting these companies blindly. For instance, reputed companies like Facebook had to pay for a huge fine recently due to the leakage of user data. So, we cannot say that our data stored on these servers are safe. Hence, it is a good practice to use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) before accessing such data stored on the cloud to make it more secure. Since, we are accustomed to use those services for ease of access but must be careful before storing crucial information.
It is seen that we are part of cyberspace and cyber crimes are increasing day by day. Sometimes we cannot identify that certain acts come under cyber crime. Hence, some goes unreported. In some cases, it is become so serious that victim do not want to file a complaint since his or her credential may be misused. Sometimes, our children get groomed online by criminals to perform certain act for fun. Later on such contents are used for cyber bullying to commit some other crimes. Hence, it is our joint responsibility to learn and educate others.
In this regard, Government of India has taken a great imitative by introducing National Cyber Crime Reporting portal through the website of Ministry of Home Affairs specially for cyber crimes against children and women.
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