Category: SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Keeping your child safe in the cyberspace

    Keeping your child safe in the cyberspace

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, children around the globe are staying at home. Those children who used to spend most of their day time in school are burdening their parents at home and parents have a straightforward solution to skip that – giving their smart devices. Children get busy with those internet-connected devices, mostly playing games, watching videos, or chatting with family members and friends. For some days those activities looked okay, but nowadays parents started worrying about the time their children are spending in front of the screen. As smart devices and the Internet is mandatory for education and entertainment, balancing other activities and screen time seems challenging. Parenting is getting tougher as the lockdown progress, and they needed to find out ways to maximize the extraordinary benefits of the Internet, reducing the possible harms. Online sexual abuse, Cyberbullying, Sharing of Harmful Content, etc. are commonly seen risks children are facing. Strangers or even the known person may send sexual content to the child. They may also receive mean comments, messages, and posts on social media. Similarly, harmful contents such as incitement to suicide and self-harm; violent or xenophobic content; misinformation about COVID-19; or marketing that is not appropriate for children may also reach their screen. So, parents should stay aware of what their children are watching or doing on the screen and talk to them about what the children learned or experienced. 

    To keep their children out of potential hazards, parents need to make the rules for ‘Internet and device usage’ in the house prioritizing the learning and creative activities. A most important part of such rules is that those should be properly followed by the parents as well because children imitate the behavior of their seniors – no smart devices while eating or in bed means no one is allowed to do so not just the little ones. Here are some tips parents need to follow, consider the age and maturity factor of a child before applying rules.

    • Set the screentime for various activities: Set how much time you want your children to spend online – how long for games? How long for chatting? Or learning? Or can they use the device while eating? Or in bed? Define it in a way that your child will not be disappointed with you.
    • Give access to appropriate content: The Internet is full of various contents but parents have to find a way to show the contents suitable for the child. For example, YouTube Kids provide the curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate viewing by kids. Similarly, other media-services providers such as Netflix, Prime Video also have the children version. Help the child to identify age-appropriate apps, games, and entertainment materials.
    • Talk to the child about what they are doing online:  Due to lockdown you are also free like never before so why don’t you talk about what children are doing online, what they learned, or any problem they faced. Talk about what is good to do on the Internet and what is not in their understandable way. Teach them life lessons, social values, respect, moral behavior with the help of stories, they will learn with enjoyment. 
    • Make aware of science and technical tools and inventions: Make your child familiar with various scientific inventions and how those inventions are making the world better. Teach them how they can learn by search it on the Internet. Teach them how to send mails. Show them the technological advancements happening around. When you let your child work on their own, make sure to activate parental controls on devices they use and the content they are working with.
    • Set rules about using social media: First of all, creating an account on social media requires following age restrictions specified by the application. Social media are the tools for interactions among people and a great way to create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas. But they may not always have a positive impact. If your child met the people with unsocial behaviors s/he may become the victim of cyberbullying. Parents must safeguard their child form the unsocial behavior that can happen in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Talk with your kids about smart social media habits and the best ways to use them. Teach them what to post or share and what to not. Help them identify trusted people or peers, to talk and interact with. You can also set social media limits, and use privacy features and content filters. 

    The Internet is full of opportunities, so during the lockdown, enhance the knowledge and skills of your child by providing them the effective tools. Make them active with recreational activities. Spend time with them – digitally as well as physically. Keep them far from negativity. 

    @coolsky_

  • Staying Safe on Cyberspace During the Lockdown

    Staying Safe on Cyberspace During the Lockdown

    The Internet was already a part of our life and the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic promoted it to our basic needs. It has revolutionized the way of communication, learning, entertainment, gaming, commerce, and many more. Whatever comes to your mind, you first search it on the Internet. You used to refresh Cricinfo and Livescore for the updates of your favorite team but now refresh Worldometers for the updates of unfavorite coronavirus.  You used to be seen in front of the tea shop playing Ludo and Carrom board but these days, you are online doing the same. You also may be cooking something new following the food recipes online, despite ending with Pakauda like Momos and brown Rasbari; in any way, you are making your friends jealous. You may also have done the virtual tour of ancient Rome and Newyork’s MoMA or watched birds on eBird or colored the canvas with Bob Ross or may have shown your creativity in the garden or cleaned your house or prepared the itinerary for travel after the lockdown.

    Netflix and Zoom are new fashion; the Professor got a new definition, Tokyo is no more just a city. Your activities and emotions are widening; you are staying in a small perimeter but your heart is feeling the world; You cry at the miracle happened in the Turkish jail; you laugh with Friends; you screamed over the course of roller-coaster seasons of Breaking Bad, or you travel to the fantasy world of GOT. Online teaching is becoming the norm and teachers may be inviting you to Zoom. The Internet has really changed your style of spending lockdown time. Despite that fancy time passes, you become speechless with the frontline people working to control the pandemic and feel lucky for being able to stay at home doing whatever indoor things you want. 

    These unprecedented dependencies on the cyber world have created limitless vulnerabilities and most of the users are not much concerned about it.

    A few days back, a link mentioning free ‘Netflix Account’ spread over the Facebook messenger, you may have clicked on that link too, went a few levels deep, yet got nothing; not only general people, some IT guys also did the same. What this example suggests is that with growth in the Internet traffic and people spending most of their time on the Internet has made cyberspace more vulnerable. Criminals are finding new creative ideas to get people in their trap and created a major problem for individuals, businesses, and other entities. Many people are becoming victims of hacking, identity theft, malicious software, hate crimes, telemarketing & Internet fraud, phishing, sniffing, harassing in social media, bombarding the emails, fake profile & updates, etc. That free Netflix was also a criminal’s trick to break into phones and steal sensitive data, also called phishing; the phishers stay active and attack the users with various money-making schemes and such activities skyrocketed during the lockdown. If Netflix is providing free service, why didn’t they announce it through their own official channels? The users are trapped in the criminal’s fake offers knowingly and mostly unknowingly. Cases of vishing are also being heard, which is phishing through voice calls. Criminals are even trying an approach of social engineering and making direct contact with intended victim(s) using emails, social sites, or Viber or phones. They try to convince, gain confidence, and retrieve the information they need.  The speed, convenience, and anonymity of the Internet are being misused.

    Not just phishing, our social media apps are full of fake news and hate speech spread about coronavirus. Rumors are being spread about various medicines for treating coronavirus or sending messages which may hurt communal sentiments. The lockdown situation increased the number of people working from home creating more opportunities for criminals to spread malware, including spyware and ransomware. As the home user may be logging into the corporate network of their office via their unsecured home network, the vulnerability has increased. Spyware is unwanted software that gains access to your computing device, stealing your internet usage data and sensitive information and ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts a victim’s files and only releases them after money is paid to it through some online channels.

    Similarly, Fake baits scammers are creating ways to trap users. They pretend to be WHO or any other health agencies and ask for donations, mostly through emails, they transfer the users to the fake site with authentic-looking contents but if anyone initiates donations entering their financial credentials those data will reach the criminals. I read the news a few days back, an email pretending to be from Vietnam asked for donations for WHO in a bitcoin wallet. But actually WHO does not use a bitcoin wallet. Internet users need to be very much careful of such scams and never enter sensitive data.

    We have recently seen the data breaches of Foodmandu and Vianet in Nepal too, where data of thousands of customers got exposed. Hackers are attempting to hack WHO and it’s partner’s computer systems. Those criminals may be looking for sensitive information about coronavirus and trying to encrypt and hold it for ransom, or they may just want to disrupt the system. About a month back a hospital in the Czech Republic suffered a cyber-attack, which disrupted their functioning and even caused postponements of scheduled surgeries, which had a direct impact on human life. Likewise, a hacker published the personal data of former patients from the UK’s one of the Medicine research centers. A hospital in France was also the target of a failed attack. A similar incident happened in Spain as well, and health workers were informed to avoid opening suspicious emails. Knowing about scams, malware and more, you may now be feeling like the Internet as a dangerous place, but don’t worry; simple security measures can heavily reduce the exposure to such threats.

    • Malicious cyber attackers are using people’s high appetite for COVID-19 related information as an opportunity to deliver malware. You must remain vigilant and don’t trust anything you see on the Internet. Ignore spam emails, “Free” offers, clickbait, online quizzes, surveys, unless you received it from the known sources.
    • If you are using the same password for all your online accounts, it’s time to keep them different and strong – use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols – and keep this secret to yourself.
    • Use the privacy settings of social media. Do not click and share anything you see and don’t believe everyone you meet on social media. Keep your personal information professional and limited; properly manage what to show and what to hide.
    • The Internet is an excellent source of information but not always. Before trusting the news, verify the trustworthiness of the source. Fact check whether the stories and photos are real; text search & reverse image search helps most of the time. Do not share the news stories and photos as you see them. Follow WHO or your government’s source for COVID-19 information.
    • Once you post on the Internet it remains forever in various forms even if you delete the original post. Any comment or image you post online may stay forever. There is no way for you to “take back” a remark you wish you hadn’t made, so think twice before posting.
    • Don’t befriend whoever you meet in the virtual space. People you meet online are not always who they claim to be.
    • The lockdown period has seen the increment in online transactions. Before performing the transaction, be sure you are accessing the bank’s genuine website. Always type the bank’s address instead of clicking on a link in an email. Look at your address bar and ensure the website’s address starts with “https”. The ‘s’, which may also be denoted with a padlock in most browsers, indicates a secure connection.  Sign out from your bank account as soon as you’re finished. The bank will never ask for your financial credentials so if you got the message asking such, never respond. Don’t give access to your mobile to anyone as most of the banking transactions these days send OTP as an SMS that is required for the transaction to complete.
    • Never believe in emails that threaten to close or suspend the account if immediate actions are not taken and they want the user to provide their personal details. Banks never send such messages.
    • Do not perform sensitive financial transactions using open Public Wi-Fi. Cybercriminals may intercept information being sent between your device and a website.
    • Download computer and mobile apps from official app stores only. Read the reviews and ratings. Don’t download apps that look suspicious or come from a site you don’t trust. Malware these days are seen in the form of the COVID-19 information app which is actually not.
    • Mobile, as well as computer operating systems, provide timely updates to resolve newly evolved security vulnerabilities and threats – Update the OS.
    • Protect your computer with genuine antivirus and anti-spyware software, and set these to automatically update. Do a little research while choosing one.
    • Enable the firewall on your OS that will block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication.

    Self-awareness of the citizens is the most effective way of decreasing crimes in cyberspace. Stay updated with the security threats being evolved, do not fear, respect the threats and apply the proper security measures. The law enforcement agency of the country should also alert the citizens about threats and respond promptly in the case of any occurrence.  

    Stay safe and enjoy the lockdown responsively.

    SAROJ PANDEY / @coolsky_

  • Shedding lights on Cyber Crime, Law and Ethics

    ● SAROJ PANDEY ● SUNIL SHARMA ●

    Information Technology nowadays is changing almost all aspects of human activities like communication, trade, culture, education, entertainment, and knowledge. The term cyber or cyberspace has today come to indicate everything related to computers; the Internet, websites, data, emails, networks, software, data storage devices and even electronic devices such as cell phones, ATM machines etc.

    cyber_security

    With the growing nature of Internet usage, the world is becoming smaller place to live in for its users. The rapid growth in the Internet traffic has led to a higher proportion of legal issues related to computer and information system worldwide. The World Wide Web is surprisingly bringing the world closer. However, it has also created a major problem for individuals and businesses, which perform their works in the Cyber World – that is ‘cybercrime’. Many people are becoming the victims of hacking, identity theft, fraud, malicious software and the rate is increasing rapidly.

    Cybercrime encompasses any criminal act dealing with computers and networks. Moreover, cybercrime includes traditional crimes conducted through the Internet. For example hate crimes, telemarketing and Internet fraud, identity theft, credit card account thefts are considered to be cybercrimes where the illegal activities are committed through the use of a computer and the Internet. The United States, Department of Justice, categorizes cybercrime in three ways – the computer as a target (using a computer to attack other computers), the computer as a weapon (using a computer to commit a crime), and the computer as an accessory (using a computer to store illegal files or information).

    These days, Internet is in the easy reach of general people, mostly teenagers; they are performing illegal tasks knowingly or unknowingly. There exists an infinite list of possible crimes that can arise in the cyber space. Network intrusion, downloading and sharing copyrighted video and music files, creating and disseminating computer virus, identity theft, online fraud, penetration of online financial services, ATM fraud with fake debit/credit cards, phishing, sniffing, wiretapping, bombarding the emails, harassing others in social media having anonymous identification, creating fake profiles in social media and troubling the public as well as the genuine person with fake updates, attaching the face of different peoples in nude photos and posting it in blogs or social media, browsing of porn sites by restricted age groups, stir up racial hatred on the grounds of color, race, nationality, religion, ethnicity etc., publishing obscene and morbid content such as images of torture or accidents, abuse or ‘sexploitation’ especially against children & girls, violating copyrights and downloading music, movies, books, games and software mostly through peer sharing websites such as torrents, plagiarism, hacking the websites, Internet time theft and WiFi hacking etc. are among many.

    The criminals these days also use the approach of social engineering and make a direct contact with intended victim using emails, social sites or phone. They try to gain the confidence and retrieve the information they need. Once that’s done, they will disappear and the retrieved information will be used for illegal purpose. The cyber terrorism, which is new to cybercrime, is increasing the anxiety of security officials. Cybercrime, these days is becoming a fast-growing area of crime. Cyber criminals perform a diverse range of crimes misusing the speed, convenience and anonymity of the Internet. Cybercrime has now surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a criminal moneymaker. It’s progressing with the wide opportunities of online and therefore becoming more extensive and destructive.

    Cyber Law to fight with crime

    The cyber law encompasses a wide variety of legal issues. It is the part of legal system that deals with the Internet, cyberspace, and their relevant legal issues. Cyber law covers broad area, which includes several subtopics such as intellectual property, freedom of expression, usage of the Internet, online privacy etc. Broadly, cyber law has been referred to as the Law of the Internet. Cyber law encompasses the area, which deals with the Internet’s association with technological and electronic elements that includes software & hardware and various information systems. Likewise, the law also deals with the communication and information sharing that includes various related issues of communication and information as the protection of intellectual property rights, freedom of speech, and public access to information.

    Cyber law consists of a collection of legal policies that typically lead the Internet world. It has provisions for penalties and negotiation for various offences that happens in the cyber space. As per the provisions of law, the government is fully authorized to punish cyber criminals – an individual as well as institution. The law also has the provisions for office of the controllers and regulation of certifying authorities, which issue license of certification to the IT industries. Cyber law varies in different countries and punishment ranges from fines to imprisonment.

    Cyber Law and Nepal

    In the rapid pace of IT, even Nepal one of the world’s least developed countries is performing very well. Nepal has implemented the ICT in various sectors such as government, education, health, agriculture, tourism, trade and various others in some extend. With the ICT implementation, the criminal activities are also being increased. The government of Nepal has crafted the Electronic Transaction Act in 2004, which is popularly known as “Cyber Law.” It was said to be landmark legislation for the development of IT industry in Nepal. The act was amended in 2008 and published as Electronic Transaction Act in 2008.

    In Nepal, cyber crimes like email and social media threat, hate speech in blogs and social media, illegal data access, obscene websites, website dispute, SMS threat, phishing, software piracy, hacking etc. are increasing swiftly. Government, private organization as well as individual uses pirated software. Seeing software, music and movie DVDs sold in the street of the capital city for less than Rs. 50 each is not the new issue. Sharing the copyrighted materials with friends and relatives is too normal. In cybercafés, no one cares the activities of teenagers; most of the proprietors of the cyber café are unaware of legal or illegal activities. Even the parents are unaware of their children’s behavior in the vulnerable virtual world. As the law enforcing mechanism is staying silent on such clearly seen issues, the complete implementation of the cyber law looks skeptical.

    The Electronic Transaction Act still lacks various issues of the cyber world. The law doesn’t contain a single word regarding online payment issues. Likewise the law does not cover even the most common forms of crimes happening presently in the cyber world. For example, no punishment exists for sending offensive messages. Similarly, phishing also lacks legal coverage. The current law also does not have the legal provision for the cybercrimes like cyber-stalking, cyber-terrorism and child pornography. Every cybercrime that is seen need specific provisions with immense fines and imprisonment mechanism.

    There are several reasons behind such lackluster response. Nepal police lack sophisticated tools to investigate cybercrimes. There are limited police officers in the Cybercrime Investigation Cell and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) with strong ICT skills to deal with cybercrime, which makes it challenging to collect evidence. So, for the effective investigation of crimes in the cyber space Nepal needs to invest more in training its human resource and developing anti-cybercrime infrastructure.

    Self-awareness of the citizens is most effective way of decreasing the crimes. The law enforcement agency should begin conducting interaction programs in schools, college, and public/private organizations to train the students & employees and make them aware of different laws and policies so that they will not repeat the criminal behavior they may currently doing unknowingly. For the developing nations like Nepal, Microsoft these days is distributing the genuine software (Operating system and other products) and its keys in the colleges via Microsoft academic program discouraging the use of pirated ones. Likewise, there are various software covering almost areas, available in the Internet with Free and Open Source License, which help to stay away from the crime like software piracy; the law enforcing agencies should also encourage general people along with themselves to use such.

    Staying safe on the Internet

    While the Internet is great for making new friends and sharing interests, it’s important not to reveal too much information about yourself. Some people will hide their real identity and approach young people for sexual purposes – perhaps sending sexual messages in a social media by Instant Messenger, or by trying to influence the person to meet in the ‘real’ world.

    Interpol suggest following things for staying safe on the Internet:

    Staying safe on regular activities

    • In social networks there is a privacy setting – use it. Do not believe everyone you meet in the social media.
    • Think about what messages and information you post online – if you don’t want your parents or teacher to see it or read it then don’t post it.
    • You can’t “unsay” what you say online, so think twice before you write.
    • Use the ‘print screen’ function to record any content that you don’t feel comfortable with, and show it to a parent or another grown-up that you trust.
    • Never meet a virtual friend without discussing it with an adult or bringing a real friend.
    • A person needs to have a legitimate reason to be in constant touch with you – if you’re not comfortable talking to them, don’t reply.
    • Always talk to your parents, or to someone else you trust, about what you experience online.
    • There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you are receiving something, what are you expected to give in return?

     

    Staying safe technically

    • Use Firewall, Anti-spyware and Anti-virus software; run and update them regularly.
    • Update OS for security patches and bug fixes
    • If you have a wireless network, make sure it’s encrypted.
    • Block browser pops ups or try using different browsers.
    • Ignore spam – just delete it, or mark it as ‘spam’ or ‘junk’ in your email client. Don’t try to unsubscribe. Do not click links sent in email from unknown sources.
    • If you get lots of spam, simply close down your email account and open another. There are lots of free ones available online.
    • Open attachments only if they’re sent by people you know and trust.
    • Keep your passwords strong and secret: never give them to anyone.
    • Keep your ATM cards in safe place and don’t reveal the card number and PIN to anyone.
    • Be alert to phishing. A trusted website or online payment processor will never ask you to confirm sensitive information like passwords or account details.

     

    I follow Cyber Ethics, Do you?

    Cyber ethics refers to the code of responsible behavior on the Internet. Just as we are taught to act responsibly in everyday life, with lessons such as “Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you,” and “Do not harm others,” – we must act responsibly in the cyber world as well. The basic rule is do not do something in cyber space that you would consider wrong or illegal in everyday life. Cyber ethics is distinct from cyber law. Laws are formal written directives that apply to everyone, interpreted by the judicial system, and enforced by the police. Ethics is a broad philosophical concept that goes beyond simple right and wrong, and looks towards “the good life”.

     

    When determining responsible behaviors, consider the following:

    • Do not use rude or offensive language.
    • Do not use a computer to harm other people
    • Do not interfere with other people’s computer work
    • Do not be a bully on the Internet.
    • Do not lie about people, send embarrassing pictures of them, or do anything else to try to hurt them.
    • Do not copy information from the Internet and claim it as yours – that’s plagiarism.
    • Adhere to copyright restrictions when downloading material including software, games, movies, or music from the Internet.
    • Do not break into someone else’s computer.
    • Do not steal/use someone else’s password.
    • Do not write computer program that is harmful to the society
    • Do not attempt to infect or in any way try to make someone else’s computer unusable.

    If you are being the victim of any of the cybercrimes, do not hesitate to report to the nearest police station with proof documents and cooperate during the investigation.

    Academic experts with police to tackle cybercrime

    Cybercrime is a growing issue. Cyber environment is being too much vulnerable. While viewing the global data many people are being the victims of cybercrime in some way. Many people are losing their money in online fraud. Even traditional crimes like burglary are being done in a digital way. In the context of Nepal, police are facing many challenges in the investigation of cybercrimes. Only few officers understand the nature of digital crimes and they can’t give full focus on the motivation and psychology of the attackers. Officers also need to learn about digital forensics and the new threats associated with cybercrime. While viewing the cases of cybercrimes, officers need to understand both how victims view cybercrime as well as the psychology and techniques used by the cyber criminals.

    There are very few researches done in the field of cybercrimes by the academic institution which are providing IT education in the country. It’s their social responsibility to find out and present new challenges and threats to businesses as well as individuals along with radical tactics to cope with it to the investigating agency that will boost the confidence of officers and staffs while investigating.

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