Government has tips for citizens to stay safe online. Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has posted seven “best practices” that citizens can follow.
“Verify the website before clicking & while sharing sensitive content,” said ISEA, a project that is aimed “towards human resources development for safe, trusted, and secure cyberspace”.
Phishing scams are a type of cyberattack where fraudsters impersonate trustworthy entities to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information like passwords, credit card numbers, or personal data.
As a part of observing October 2024 as ‘National Cyber Security Awareness Month’, the government listed 7 points:
- Carefully check the URL before clicking on it.
- Never react to messages which show urgency.
- Do not trust promotional offers which look “too good to be true”.
- Do not hesitate to report to Law Enforcement Agencies, if you become a victim of phishing.
- Verify the email ids in emails addressed to generic recipients.
- Look for typing errors (eg., AccOunt, emall, depOsit, passwOrd)
- “Do yu kare about yurself?” Look for poor grammar and unprofessional Language.
Cert-In also observing October as ‘National Cyber Security Awareness Month’
CERT-In also announced that it is observing October 2024 as ‘National Cyber Security Awareness Month’ for “Cyber Surakshit Bharat”. It separately listed things to keep in mind while surfing online and choosing passwords for multiple accounts.
- Never use your name, age, birthday, phone number, address, place, or any other sensitive personal information as your password.
- Use a unique password for each account.
- Don’t share your password with anyone.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication.
- Always log out from the devices when you have finished your task.
- Do not store your passwords in your phone or laptop.
- Use
strong passwords . - Avoid keeping the same passwords for multiple accounts.