Let’s admit it. We all spend our time in the rush of telling the world what we do. It seems like a victory, something to show to your friends and family. But we tend to forget that one single piece of data is enough for the criminals out there to hack your data in the vast world of the internet. That’s why it’s called a web-once it’s out, it’s never found.
Given the time of COVID-19, where people are driving towards having the vaccine, Social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram are flooded with the vaccine drive with the hashtags. But wait: that can have a tremendous breach of your personal information. In the end, it’s just one single tap.
That’s right! A Vaxxie is where you post your picture of being vaccinated. That’s totally okay. What is not okay is the certificate that you post, which can be used to take all your personal information. This word is coined by the Cyber Law & Security Expert and Author Dr. Ananth Prabhu G, who says that this can be extremely harmful, “A certificate may have 4 – 5 parameters, but when it comes to critical infrastructure, entire medical records can be mapped, getting lots of other information. You can take a vaccine. But when it comes to private information, it’s better to keep it private only. He says that this is a proactive measure, and nothing so far has happened.
Dr. Ananth Prabhu G is an Author, TV Host, Motivational Speaker, serving as a Professor of Computer Engineering at the Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangaluru. He is also the Director of SUREPASS, and has also established the CoE in Cyber Security and Forensics at Sahyadri, being the first of its kind in Coastal Karnataka.
However, the advisory is brought out by The Information Security and Education Awareness (ISEA), an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, by the Government of India. Cyber SafeGuard is a project through which Dr. Ananth is closely working so that India does not fall prey to cyber-attacks. “There have also been fake calls for fake vaccines at other facilities and it is better to stay alert”.
Giving an example, he said, “You take a person’s name, his location, and his hobby, one can extract 100+ information about the person and be provide it to the other. This technique is called OSINT, Open Source Intelligence. One can perform operations and gather so much information.“
Being recognised as one among the 30 unsung heroes of India by India Today in 2019, Ananth was also awarded the prestigious Karnataka District Rajyotsava Award in 2020. He was recognised by HDFC Bank as “Our Neighborhood Hero of Mangalore” in 2020 due to his untiring and relentless work during the pandemic.
He has contributed towards writing books that focus on self-development and self-help genres besides the Cybersafe Girl and Glorious Bharat Series (Part 1 – 3). Cyber Safe Girl V3 is a collection of 30 prevalent cybercrimes, the precautions one can take, relevant cyber laws and sections applicable for the crimes under the Indian Penal Code, IT Act & other relevant acts, and tips to browse the internet safely and responsibly.
So to all the social media and hashtag lovers, it’s time to stay safe.
Image Courtesy: ananthprabhu.com
