Awareness is best defence against cyber crime

Since these two are hidden in the apps, users are not aware and the hackers can access the device and steal data…reports Atul Krishnan & Jaison Wilson

Becoming aware of any online scam or fraud is the best defence mechanism to save your bank balance and peace of mind, as it may become next to impossible to make up for your loss once you become a victim.

Cyber Law expert Anuj Aggarwal warns people not to download suspicious loan apps, a common fraud after the wide usage of Android phones, because they contain Remote Access Trojans (RAT) and Anydesk, which help hackers access the device and entire data.

Since these two are hidden in the apps, users are not aware and the hackers can access the device and steal data.

“RAT and Anydesk will show the entire activity of your cellphone to hackers. All your messages can be read by the hacker, and can also access entire gallery and even call recording,” Aggarwal said.

He said that one should only download the most trusted and popular apps and should not click on any suspicious links, adding that Google had also recently removed thousands of suspicious apps from its Play Store.

“Even Google can’t detect spam apps, and hence we have to be careful.”

There are thousands of suspicious apps which are available but there is no committee to regulate them or inspect them, Aggarwal said and stressed that the Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

“Even the RBI cannot regulate them easily. We need a proper body to bring them under control. Earlier the apex court had said that a data breach is a violation of fundamental rights and we need data protection and data privacy law. The government tabled this bill but later it was withdrawn after the comment by an expert committee,” the cyber expert lawyer said.

According to Delhi Police, types of cybercrimes include email frauds, social media crimes, mobile app related crimes, business email compromise, fake calls frauds, data theft, Ransomeware, net banking/ATM frauds, insurance frauds, lottery scam, Bitcoin, cheating scams and online transactions frauds.

Delhi Police have warned women to never try to meet a person with whom they’ve interacted only online without taking somebody else along and that such a meeting must always be in a public place.

“Remember, people, are not always who they say they are. People often feel uncomfortable because they don’t want to offend someone, but good-intentioned people will understand and encourage you to set safety requirements, and it is the crooks who want you to feel guilty about it,” said the police.

Children should never share their personal details like house address, phone number, date & place of birth, on any online platform such as Facebook, Instagram, blogs, Twitter, chatrooms, it added.

The police asked to not respond to indecent/offending/harassing emails/chat posts and instead keep them in records in the form of screenshots and inform your parent/guardian to report it to the police.

The account should be immediately blocked, it says.

Police also warned senior citizen to keep their passwords to be unique and strong. These passwords need to be made up of upper and lower case letters as well as numbers. Never reveal your password to anyone. Passwords are an excellent guarantee of safety and security online, it suggests.

Post with caution on social networking sites. It is a good idea to also understand how privacy settings work on social networks, it warns further.

In another major tip about online banking, police suggested that although online banking is very convenient for seniors, be sure to only enter information into security-enabled sites.

“Sites for instance which begin with https:// means that the data is encrypted in transit. Look out for this and don’t enter any bank details or credit card information into websites that start only with http://.”

The police also warn businessmen who are mostly on the go.

Protect your data on the go. When you use public Wi-Fi, choose the most secure option, even if you have to pay for it. It could include password protection and encryption. Confirm the exact spelling of the wireless network you’re connecting to. Beware of clever (slightly misspelled) fakes. Encrypt the data on your laptop (or USB flash drive) in case you lose it or it’s stolen.

Guard your laptop, smartphone and PDA as carefully as your wallet.

It is also worthwhile to note to be cautious while using Bluetooth in public places as someone may access your confidential data/information for net banking safety.

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