An unwanted guest in your screen.

What do you do after you have had a long day at work or perhaps a hard day at school? Most of us would like to browse on the internet for entertainment. Maybe watching a web series or having fun with friends in an online game. Well, your comfort place might not be safe at all times if you are not careful. I am talking about the cybercrimes that have been going on these days. With the increase and advancement of technology, the threat of such crimes have also been increasing. So, what exactly is cybercrime?

Cyber crimes are crimes which are carried out using the internet and other networks. They are mostly done online. Such criminals target networks and devices. They use illegal means to access your private information. There are various types of cyber crimes, such as Hacking, identity theft, Credit card theft, Cyberbullying and child pornography.

How to protect yourself from this threat?

1. Know your enemy before you fight it

You need to know what you are dealing with. Otherwise, you will just keep shooting arrows in the dark. Knowing your situation before taking actions will definitely improve your decisions. Research about it, analyze the situation if you happen to be the victim.

2. Don't stay quiet.

If you are unable to prevent the problem and fall victim to any kind of cyber crime like theft or bullying, take actions immediately! Report the problem to a nearby police station. If you are a child and are getting cyber bullied, for example abusive messages, internet stalking, threats etc. , inform your parents immediately, ignoring it might not be the best solution, get help.

3. Keep your software updated.

Cyber criminals have been known to use the flaws in a software to get into someone's system. When you updated the software, a lot of bugs and flaws get fixed which means you are safe from cybercrime.

4. Be aware about your social media settings.

If you are new on any social media platform like Instagram, make sure your account is set to 'Private' and not 'Public' so you do not get any unwanted followers and inappropriate messages. This will also protect your privacy to some extent.

5. Make the younger generation aware.

If your child has his/her personal device, educate them about the various cybercrimes happening around the world. Teach them to ask you for help if they are being bullied on any kind of social media platform.

6. Have strong and difficult passwords.

If your password is 'password', do not think no one will be able to guess it, it is one of the most commonly used passwords around the word. Have different characters in your passwords. Do not keep it so difficult that you yourself cannot remember it, imagine brainstorming just to open your phone for looking at memes.

What are the consequences of cybercrime?

Cybercrime is a punishable offence, a person who is caught and found guilty of cyber crimes like theft, child pornography etc. can be jailed for upto three years and might have to par a sum of upto five lakh rupees. If you think that such people do it and get away with it, that is not the case, there are laws and there is always help you can seek if you are experiencing it.

I hope you found this post useful, This is the first blog I have posted after a while because of my studies, but I am back!

Thank you and stay tuned for more blogs.