Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to using social media like Facebook and WhatsApp. If you act on your impulses being unaware of the provisions of IT Act you are likely to land in troublee as happened to two youths. Ankit Kshetri and Raman Rawat- were arrested by STF Uttarakhand on the charge of sending lewd photos and messages to a minor girl. They said when quizzed by the cops that they were unaware of such things amounting to punishable offences.
Upload anything you would not want everyone to see, assuming that it would remain generally unseen and you are likely to be in trouble. For, anything put up will be revealed to the internet at large at some point, whether through hack, leak or change of privacy policy. Nothing is ever really off from the internet. Even if you delete a picture from your account it is still sitting on the server somewhere. In a professional setting, be mindful of inadvertently letting slip sensitive information that could harm your company or get you fired (new security software, procedures etc).
Cyber Crimes Police Station sub-inspector Ved Prakash Thapliyal said that the youths using social medias on internet must know dos and don’ts. The police station had released an advisory for internet users on dos and don’ts, he added.
One should use a strong password. Use privacy settings and insist your friends use them too. Never leave anything but the bare minimum as publically available. Make sure that only your accepted friends or followers can see what you put up.
Even then leaks, hacks and privacy policy revisions are not unheard of. Don’t assume what you post is secure, despite the settings.
Use HTTPS to connect to your social networking sites whenever possible, especially when connecting from a public hotspot. Whenever possible organise contacts into categories. From a security standpoint it makes sense to separate “best friends” from “person I met yesterday afternoon”.
Users should verify friend/follower request. Don’t accept just anyone. Most scams start by someone bluffing their ways into your friends’ list. You must know what you are sharing your information with.
Verify links, attachments, downloads, emails, anything sent to you. Even your trusted friends could have had their accounts hacked.
You should never put in more information about yourself than absolutely necessary. Hackers, scammers, stalkers all use that information to do anything that might be harmful to you from the security point of view.
On that same note, be careful how much live information you are putting out there. Do not advertise when you are going on vacation, when your possessions might be left unattended.