Online Safety Tips
Download: A Handbook For Students on Cyber Safety in (Hindi).
Download: A Handbook For Students on Cyber Safety in (English).
Ebook: For Students on Cyber Safety.
Internet has become one of the
integral part of our daily life.
It has transformed the way we
communicate, make friends, share updates, play games, and shop. They are
impacting most aspects of our day-to-day life.
Cyberspace connects us virtually
with crores of online users across the globe. With increasing use of
cyberspace, cybercrimes especially against
women and children such as cyber
stalking, cyber bullying, cyber harassment, child pornography, rape
content, etc. are also increasing rapidly.
To stay safe in the online world, it
is important to follow some cyber safe practices which may help in
making our online experience and productive:
1. Cyber awareness and hygiene for parents
Talk to your children
about the potential online threats such as grooming, bullying, and
stalking, keep track of their online activities. Set clear guidelines
for internet and online games usage.
Notice indicators of change in behaviour: If
your child begins to spend more time online and starts being defensive
or secretive about their online activities, it may be an indicator of
cyber grooming. Talk to your child and engage him/ her in other
activities.
Protect your child from Cyber Grooming:Grooming
is a practice where someone builds an emotional bond with a child
through social media or chat window with an objective of gaining their
trust for sexual exploitation.
Children
may remove privacy settings on social media to make more friends.
Parents should discuss responsible use of social media. Also, they
should educate and help them in selecting strong privacy settings.
Never click suspicious links or attachments: Never
click on links or files received in e-mail, text message or social
media from unknown person. This may be an attempt to infect computer
with a malware.
Cover your webcams:A
web camera (default in laptops) if hacked/compromised can be leveraged
as a medium to observe/watch and record day to day activities. It is a
recommended to cover webcam when not in use.
Install anti-virus software’s with parental control
functionality or parental control software’s on the devices used by
children and review there privacy settings of social media sites used by
them.
Keep software updated:Keep
your software and Operating system up-to-date. Hackers target software
vulnerabilities to access private information and putting you at risk,
so make sure to update all your software with the latest security
patches. Never install software, games, music and apps from trusted
sources.
Set Secure browser settings:Always choose updated version of the browser and install safe browsing tools for protection yourself from hackers and malware.
2. Cyber awareness and hygiene for teens and young adults
Secure your online presence just like you secure yourself:If
you have not selected the right settings on your social media accounts,
then photos and videos posted can be viewed, downloaded and used by
others without your knowledge.
Select
the right privacy settings and content sharing filters on social media
so that you are sharing your information, photos and videos only with
your trusted ones.
Be selective about accepting friend request of strangers on social media
Learn how to block someone who is making you uncomfortable
Learn how to remove someone from your friends list
Remember to logout from social media websites after use
Secure your phone with password
If
you notice your fake account has been created, you can immediately
inform social media service provider so that the account can be blocked
Be mindful of your appearance on video chat & video calls
Your video chats on social media sites can be recorded by the person on the other side
There
have been instances where video chats which were supposed to be private
in nature have been recorded and shared on social media groups and
websites
Be careful while accepting chat requests from strangers
Do not use Smartphone for taking sensitive personal photographs and videos
Do
not use Smartphone for taking sensitive personal photographs and
videos. Most of the smartphones are connected to internet and cloud
storage. If a picture or video has been clicked/ recorded by using
smartphone connected with the cloud, it may get saved automatically into
the cloud. Even if users delete their photos or videos from their
phone, the same photo or video can be recovered from the cloud account
or any other device/ PC connected to the cloud using same account.
If
someone has taken such photograph using Smartphone, then take it
seriously and make sure to get it deleted from their smartphone, the
cloud and any other device connected using the same account.
Protect yourself from Cyber stalking:Cyber
stalkers show advances on a person repeatedly despite clear indication
of disinterest by such person. They use internet, email, social media or
any other form of electronic communication for stalking
Disable location services for social media sites, mobile devices etc.
Refrain from sharing your personal information like Phone number, e-mail address, photographs with unknown persons
Consult your relatives and friends, if you think you are a victim of Cyber stalking
Beware of fake social media accounts- Not all the accounts are real and not all information provided on accounts are true
Be cautious while accepting friend requests from strangers.
Be cautious with sensitive Browsing
One
should browse shopping or banking websites or apps only on a device
that belongs to him/ her or on a trusted network. Avoid using friend’s
phone, public computer, cyber cafe or free Wi-Fi for sensitive browsing
as data can be stolen or copied.
The deleted data on your communication devices can be recovered
Be careful while you give your mobile devices, PC’s for servicing/repairing/selling:Personal
commuters and mobile devices consists private information’s which needs
to be erased before sending it for repairing, servicing or selling.
Protect your communication devices:Prevent
others from accessing your devices by providing password, PIN, Pattern
or biometric information. Always install applications to your mobile
phones, computers, etc. from a trusted source only e.g. Play store, App
store or from official company websites
Report if you find content related to of Child Pornography (CP)/Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material
Any
content related to of Child Pornography (CP)/ Child Sexual Abuse
Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material such as Rape/ Gang Rape
(CP/RGR) content should be report to the concerned social media website
If
anybody of your acquaintance shares Child Pornography (CP)/ Child
Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material with you, it
is your duty as a responsible citizen to inform the concerned person
that publication, collection and distribution of Child Pornography (CP)/
Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material is
illegal and he should refrain from doing such activities.
You can also report it on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in)
3. Cyber awareness and hygiene for organizations
How to deal with Child Pornography (CP)/ Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material in workplace?
All
organisations should have clear and strong HR policies on how to deal
with content on Child Pornography (CP)/ Child Sexual Abuse Material
(CSAM) or sexually explicit material
Organisations should have clear rules for use of electronic devices provided by the organisation
If any employee is found possessing obscene or indecent content, proper investigation and action should be taken against them
The
organisation should report any incidence of sharing and storage of
obscene content within the organisation to the police. The copy of the
content should be saved as an evidence with restricted access
All other copies of the content should be deleted
They can also report through National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in).
Publication,
Collection and Distribution of Child Pornography (CP)/Child Sexual
Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit material is illegal
Under
Section 67 and 67A of Information Technology Act, 2000 makes
publication and distribution of any material containing sexually
explicit act or conduct in electronic form a punishable offence
Section 67B of IT Act, criminalizes browsing, downloading, creation, publication and distribution of child pornography
Be safe, Browse safe!