The World Wide Web can either be your best ally or your worst enemy, depending on the user. There are illegitimate websites out there that people are using for bad things, like the unthinkable underground dark world. In a world where people are basically online daily, it is noteworthy to have some safety tips.
Passwords. When you create passwords for any site, come up with a password that is hard to guess by other people. Basic personal information like birthday or similarity to your name would be a joy to hackers! Have passwords that are difficult to decode, but one that you can remember.
Log-in? Log-out! When you log in, don’t leave the site on hold or wide open because that would only make it easily accessible by any tracker online and become their entry point to hack into your social media accounts. When you log in? Log out!
Sender’s Email. It is already common to receive spam or junk mail in your email, more so from aggressive marketing strategies. Before you impulsively reply, double-check that the email address from which it came is not a fake imitation. If you read that the sender’s email is: qweiuqweroitewyio@yahoo.com or something like wxyz1234ypoiauyfoiud@peypol.com those are either scammers or by bots! DO NOT correspond or interact with them. It is so easy to create an email address or a website, so be cautious about replying.
Https. HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. What differs http from https would be the ‘S’ which stands for secure. When you enter credit card details, always check if it comes with https in the Search Bar. That way, it means that the page is encrypted in order to heighten the security of your important financial data transfer. But if a website asks for a lot of detailed information for you to fill out, but only has HTTP, be wary of using that. It only goes to show that the site is not secure and is harvesting information from you.
A new way to check if the site is secure enough to send your financial details is to have the site encode them to another safer, better, more private gateway so that the institution does not store or get their hands on your info. In other words, there is an independent financial site or institution that explicitly handles your account information rather than the establishment where you are buying access to your data.
Security Questions. Usually, you are asked numerous security questions you can choose from to recover your account or password on a site. For example, with emails, they would ask what security questions you’d like to answer if the need arises or if you have forgotten your login info. Always remember the answers to your security questions. Check if they are highly caps-sensitive. This means that it matters whether you need to capitalize or not.
Always Save and Back up Files. One of the basic rules we were taught in school was to always SAVE your files. Remember to also have backup copies, whether soft or hard copies, as long as you have copies of the files. When working on a document, save it every few minutes. Don’t rely on auto-save. You don’t know when there will suddenly be a power outage.
Banking info? NO! One of my mistakes was when I was applying for a job. I saw this lucrative job offer and sent in my application with my resume and other requirements. But then when it came to the online interview, the interviewer asked for my personal banking information. At first, I thought maybe he’s right because he needs to send me a salary. But thankfully, there was a brownout (electricity went out), and there was no way I could reply.
Eventually, I found out that it was a big scam. The job was bogus. Who knows what he could have done with all my info and savings? You could say I was saved in the nick of time.
Report to anti-cybercrime authorities. If you run into website troubles or even with your cellular phone network, it is under the authority of an anti-cybercrime organization to properly investigate for you. In the Philippines, it is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, Office of Cybercrime. Cybercrime is not your ordinary kind of crime. Identity theft, spoofing, phishing, and online predators fall under Cybercrime, and it is not limited to a country but is global because it involves the internet, the World Wide Web. For international cybercrimes, you may file a report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3.
You can report serious fraud and other website crimes at: cybercrime@doj.gov.ph. This would be the local investigative office in the Philippines. For other countries, find your respective local FBI that fights against cybercrimes.
