21st century has been tech-savvy. Digitization all over the world has made humans move into different mediums like social media, websites, and email to share information. Moving further it has become a part of life. As Joseph Joubert says ‘We must respect the past, and mistrust the present, if we wish to provide for the safety of the future.’ the people need to be careful what they are doing. Simple awareness towards your usage in social media can save you from much more hamper and damage in life. Following are the 5 safety tips that you can save yourself from massive loss.
- Use a strong, unique password
Do you have the same password for multiple accounts? If yes, then it might give you a problem.
Using the same password for all of your accounts is like having one key that unlocks every door in your life. It would be extremely unwise for a person to just rely on one key to unlock the doors to their home, their car, their office and their safety deposit box, because if that key were to get lost, it would simultaneously create multiple high-risk situations that need to be addressed quickly.
The same principle applies for when people reuse the same password for their email, bank account, their credit cards, and social media accounts. If you use the same login credentials across the Internet, then it won’t take long for a savvy hacker to identify multiple places they can use your stolen password.
It is crucial to use different passwords for different types of accounts. This doesn’t mean every single account you have online needs its own password. You can reuse a password on websites that can’t cause you any harm. But if a website is storing personal information, especially credit card or financial information, then it needs to have its own unique password.
If you have any of the following types of accounts, you should use unique, strong passwords, for each: Your email account, Your college/university accounts (particularly, your NetID), your Online bank account, your Online credit card account and Your social media accounts. Any account that stores personal data about you (home address, financial information, etc). Any account that someone could post information in your name that would be damaging to your reputation.
2. Social Media – Be careful what you post!
What clicks on your mind when ‘social media’ words strike your mind? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube?
These are all computer applications that allow people to create and share information, ideas, pictures and videos on the internet. They also allow people to communicate directly with one another immediately.
Just think, you can talk to someone worldwide just by typing a few words. You can also influence whether someone buys a product through the words you say and post. Businesses may even change the way they market something by the words people choose to put in a post. According to the According to Washington Post, President Obama spoofed himself in a Buzz Feed video. The video has been viewed almost 53 million times!
Of course, there is an ugly side to social media. We have to be careful about what we post, there may be unfortunate consequences. Don’t share super private messages, pictures and relationship matters. Be aware of the cybercrime laws of the country and protect yourself because your single post or message may take to you inside prison.
3. Manage Your Social Media Privacy Settings
We share a wealth of information about ourselves on our social media platforms. We snap perfectly posed selfies, check in at happy hours, tweet at our friends, and announce the arrival of bouncing new babies. The benefits and joys of social media are numerous, but there are privacy risks to consider as well.
Social media users tend to overshare life details in order to feel connected to friends, family, and coworkers. But these private details can be used maliciously by cyber thieves to access sensitive accounts, create fraudulent identities, and compromise careers. Carefully categorize the list of friends, families, office workers and so on. Don’t publish your phone number to the public unless it’s important or necessary. Let your pages will be secured and needs not be able to post by anyone else. Issues with family and friends need to be managed and be careful about what you share so that people don’t feel bad about having problems with posted news photos or videos.
4. Information About Your Current Job or Work-related Projects
Talking about work-related things on social networks is a bad idea. Even an innocent status update about how mad you are about missing a deadline on a project could provide valuable information to your competitors that they could leverage against your company.
Don’t share the things that hurt your office’s coworkers and friends, especially the painful ones. One statement can break your relationship for lifelong.
5. Children and the internet
As with everything in the virtual world, parents need to understand how their children are interacting on social networking sites and be sure that their children know what to do if they have experienced a bad or dangerous situation.
Below is some information for parents about social networking websites: chat sites for teenagers, what they are and how they’re accessed, potential dangers to be aware of and how to protect your child while they visit such websites like Facebook.com, ClubPenguin.com, Poptropica.com, Habbo.co.uk, Neopets.com, and Stardoll.com.
In my opinion, the value far outweighs the risk. Use social networking effectively and positively to establish new relationships, strengthen existing ones, innovate, learn, collaborate, and have fun. But beware of the risks so you can do your best to steer clear of them and think before you click!!
Mohn Dahal
Head- IT/MIS, Uniglobe College, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal and
Member, Cyber Security Committee, Computer Association Nepal (CAN)
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