Manjula Sridhar Gives Valuable Tips To Stay Safe From Cyber Harassment & Other Threats

Many of us can be soft targets for cyber threats and harassment. Here are some tricks and tips to stay safe that Manjula Sridhar gives us.

Many of us can be soft targets for cyber threats and harassment. Here are some tricks and tips to stay safe that Manjula Sridhar gives us.

I recently came across a video titled The Roentgens’ Berlin Secretary Cabinet featuring a finely designed wooden cabinet with a mind-blowing mechanism for opening innumerable hidden doors and drawers. What struck me most though is how secretive and safe this piece of furniture is.

I recollected the good old days when our mothers and father invented their own safety mechanisms. Though not as elaborate as this aforementioned princely furniture, the money hidden in the spice boxes, between clothes, the keys hid in the garden that only the inmates knew about, important documents safely tucked in a ‘secret’ cabinet and all other ‘safe-keeping’ mechanisms served their purposes. Not only did they serve the purpose, they taught us an important lesson, prevention is better than cure.

We have come a long way, and a lot of these are only relevant as fond memories. Technology has taken over our lives in ways unimaginable, and like it or not, most of us have an online presence. But the question is: have we extended our age-old safety lessons to our online presence as well? Or have we taken safety on the cyber world lightly?

Manjula Sridhar, who runs ArgByte, that helps businesses and individuals to identify fake profiles and prevent fraud, elaborates on why it makes sense to be prudent online and shares with us tricks and tips to stay safe.

She explains that most fears related to technology are self-inflicted and even those without any technology background should be able to understand the basic security measures. For any average user of the Internet, she claims that the major touch points are Google, Facebook(or any social media) and Banking related websites. And all of these are actively providing security measures that are simple enough for anyone to understand. The majority of the issues online are not technological but emotional and women are the soft targets at large.

Go beyond having complex password combinations (which are still important), and follow these tricks and tips to stay safe online.

  • Always activate 2-factor authentication. See full interview (link below) as Manjula Sridhar walks us step by step through this for Gmail and Facebook.
  • Do not post selfies with sensitive data like credit cards or boarding passes on social media. These might open doors to extracting more sensitive data.
  • For financial transactions, use the same computer as far as possible
  • Make financial transactions within a secured network like your dedicated Wifi or VPN and stay away from free WiFis.
  • Do not ignore security related emails from your Bank
  • Needless to say, protect your computers with Anti-Virus software.
  • Be resilient. Understand that the technology is only as good as the humans managing it. Humans are fallible and so is technology.
  • Understand Cyber Laws. IT Act 2008 gives you power and safety online. Do not hesitate to file a cyber complaint against online harassers, however frivolous the case may be.

To sum up, just the way health and nutrition are important for one’s well-being, one cannot afford to be imprudent online. Understand, Act and Be Safe!

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Watch this episode of The Prathibha Sastry show to listen to Manjula Sridhar explain how to protect yourself against cyber crimes.

Image source: pixabay

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About the Author

prathibhasastry

Entrepreneurship and entertainment have been the key themes in her work life. In a career spanning over 18 years, she has launched a film magazine, hosted a film-based radio talk show and co-founded read more...

19 Posts | 69,047 Views

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