. General Guidelines On Cyber
Safety :
Do
not give out identifying information such as your name, home address, or
telephone number in a chat room. Even vital details like age, gender should
never be divulged to anyone.
Do not send your photograph to any one on the net unless you know the
person well enough.
Do not respond to messages or bulletin board items that are obscene,
belligerent or threatening.
Never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone who you have just ‘met’
on the Internet. In case you have to meet this person, make sure you have
someone with you for the meeting. And inform someone of the person and
place you will be going to. Remember, people online are not always who they
seem to be.
If
you ever get an email containing an embedded link, and a request for you to
enter secret details, treat it as suspicious. Do not input any sensitive
information that might help provide access to your bank accounts, even if
the page appears legitimate. No reputable company ever sends emails of this
type.
Virus
warnings are a very common occurrence in the mail box. While you shouldn’t
take these warnings lightly, a lot of times, such warnings are hoaxes and
will do moe harm than good. Always check the story out by visiting an
anti-virus site such as McAfee, Sophos or Symantec before taking any
action, including forwarding them to friends and colleagues.
. Guidelines To Make Your Child's Internet Usage
Safe :
By
taking responsibility for your children’s online computer use, parents can
greatly minimize any potential risks of being online.
Make it a family rule to never give out personal information - home address
and telephone number - while chatting or bulletin boards (newsgroup), and
be sure you’re dealing with someone that both you and your child know and
trust before giving out this information via E-mail.
Be careful before revealing any personal information such as age, marital
status, or financial information while chatting.
Never post photographs of your children on web sites or newsgroups that are
available to the public.
Consider using a fake name, avoid listing your child’s name and E-mail
address in any public directories and profiles, and find out about your
Internet Service Provider’s privacy policies and exercise your options for
how your personal information may be used.
Get to know the Internet and any services your child uses. If you don’t
know how to log on, get your child to show you. Ask your child show you
what he or she does online, and familiarize yourself with all the things
that you can do online.
Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer
user without your permission. If a meeting is arranged, make the first one
in a public place, and be sure to accompany your child.
Do not respond to messages or bulletin board items that are suggestive,
obscene, belligerent, threatening, or make you feel uncomfortable. Ask your
children to tell you if they respond to such messages advice them not to do
that. If you or your child receives a message that is harassing, of a
sexual nature, or threatening, forward a copy of the message to your ISP,
and ask for their assistance.
Instruct your child not to click on any links that are contained in E-mail
from persons they don’t know. Such links could lead to sexually explicit or
otherwise inappropriate web sites.
Remember that people online may not be who they seem. Because you can’t see
or even hear the person it would be easy for someone to misrepresent him-
or herself. Thus, someone indicating that "she" is a
"12-year-old girl" could in reality be a 40-year-old man.
Remember that everything you read online may not be true. Any offer that’s
"too good to be true" probably is. Be very careful about any
offers that involve you coming to a meeting, having someone visit your
house, or sending money or credit card information.
A child’s excessive use of online services or the Internet, especially late
at night, may be a clue that there is a potential problem. Remember that
personal computers and online services should not be used as electronic
babysitters.
Be sure to make Internet surfing a family activity. Consider keeping the
computer in a family room rather than the child’s bedroom. Get to know
their "online friends" just as you get to know all of their other
friends.
. Protect Personal Computer :
If
you think that your home computer was safe from outside attacks, think
again. Home computers are as susceptible as office computers to online
attacks. Here are some extremely important guidelines for home computer
owners -
. Use the latest version of a
good anti-virus software package that allows updating from the Internet.
. Use
the latest version of the operating system, web browsers and e-mail programs.
. Don't
open e-mail attachments unless you know the source. Attachments, especially executables (those
having .exe extension) can be dangerous. Confirm the site you are
doing business with. Secure yourself against "Web-
Spoofing". Do not go to websites from email links.
. Create
passwords containing at least 8 digits. They should not be dictionary words. They should
combine upper and lower case characters. Use different
passwords for different websites.
. Send
credit card information only to secure sites.
. Use a
security program that gives you control over "Cookies" that send information
back to websites. Letting all cookies in without monitoring them could be risky.
. Consult
your system support personnel if you work from home.
. If
you use your broadband access to connect to your employer's network via a Virtual Private Network
(VPN) or other means, your employer may have policies or
procedures relating to the security of your home network. Be sure to consult with your
employer's support personnel, as appropriate.
We
strongly recommend the use of some type of firewall product, such as a
network appliance or a personal firewall software package. Intruders are
constantly scanning home user systems for known vulnerabilities. Network
firewalls (whether software or hardware-based) can provide some degree of
protection against these attacks. However, no firewall can detect or stop
all attacks, so it’s not sufficient to install a firewall and then ignore
all other security measures.
. Don't open unknown email attachments :
Before
opening any email attachments, be sure you know the source of the
attachment. It is not enough that the mail originated from an address you
recognize. The Melissa virus spread precisely because it originated from a
familiar address. Malicious code might be distributed in amusing or
enticing programs.
If you must open an attachment before you can verify the source, we suggest
the following procedure:
. Be sure your virus
definitions are up-to-date
. Save
the file to your hard disk
. Scan
the file using your antivirus software
. Open
the file
. For
additional protection, you can disconnect your computer's network
connection before opening the file. Following these steps will reduce, but
not wholly eliminate, the chance that any malicious code contained in the
attachment might spread from your computer to others.
. Don't run programs of unknown origin :
. Never run a program unless
you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust. Also, don't send
programs of unknown origin to your friends or coworkers simply
because they are amusing - they might contain a harmful program.
. Turn
off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use Turn off your computer
or disconnect its Ethernet interface when you are not using it. An intruder
cannot attack your computer if it is powered off or otherwise completely
disconnected from the network.
. Disable
Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible.
. Be
aware of the risks involved in the use of "mobile code" such as ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript. A
malicious web developer may attach a script to something sent to a web site,
such as a URL, an element in a form, or a database inquiry. Later, when the web site
responds to you, the malicious
script is transferred to your
browser.
. The
most significant impact of this vulnerability can be avoided by disabling all
scripting languages. Turning off these options will keep you from
being vulnerable to malicious
scripts. However, it will limit the interaction you can have with some web sites.
. Many
legitimate sites use scripts running within the browser to add useful features. Disabling scripting
may degrade the functionality of these sites.
. Make
regular backups of critical data.
. Keep
a copy of important files on removable media such as ZIP disks or recordable CD-ROM disks (CD-R
or CD-RW disks). Use software backup tools if available, and store the backup disks
somewhere away from the computer.
. Make
a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised.
. To
aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk,
which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred.
Remember, however, you must create this disk before you have a security event.
. Preventing Credit/Debit Card Fraud :
By
taking certain precautions, a user can prevent their credit or debit card
from being misused both online and offline.
1. Do not provide photocopies of both the sides of
the credit card to anyone. The card verification value (CVV) which is
required for online transactions is printed on the reverse of the card. Anyone
can use the card for online purchases if the information is available with
them.
2. Do not click on links in email seeking details
of your account, they could be phishing emails from fraudsters. Most reputed
companies will ask you to visit their website directly.
3. While using a credit card for making payments
online, check if the website is secure The CVV will also be required.
4. Do not give any information to persons seeking
credit card information over phone.
5. Notify your bank / credit card issuer if you do
not receive the monthly credit card statement on time. If a credit
card is misplaced or lost, get it cancelled immediately.
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