The students falling prey to the danger lurking in the use of social networking sites, officers of the cyber crime police station have come forward to instruct the students of Dehradun-based public schools—Thomas School, Government Girls Inter College, Gautam International School and Children’s Academy—on the precautions they must take while using such sites.
It was the turn of the students of Gautam International School, Dehradun to be alerted on Wednesday. Such awareness campaign would continue in educational institutions, said STF SSP P Renuka Devi.
Cyber Crimes Police Station team comprising sub-inspector Ved Prakash Thapliyal and others interacted with the students for hours.
Thapliyal talked about social media and the precautions to be observed at length. Students should not post their mobile phone numbers, email ids, photos, identity cards and other important information on social networking sites, he warned.
Thapliyal further said that the youths who using social media on internet must know dos and don’ts so that they are not inadvertently trapped in the vicious cycle that many of the youngsters have fallen prey to.
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 are secure, despite the settings. Users should verify friend/follower request. Don’t accept just anyone. 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. These are some of the things Thapliyal said the students must follow to keep themselves out of the harm’s way.