Oversharing can lead to Cyber Stalking

Social media is treated as a very powerful means of freedom of speech and expression. It has become a voice for the voiceless. From the other side, it is also a place for sexist, racist, homophobic, and other violent behaviours that affect the victims adversely.

Cyberstalking is the repeated tracking of an individual by using electronic modes, i.e., social platforms. (i.e., making unwanted phone calls, leaving voice messages or unwanted messages on messengers, spying, or monitoring the social media activities of an individual, or posting or threatening to post unwanted information on the internet.) Cyberstalking leads to emotional distress and can also cause bodily harm to a victim.

Types of Cyberstalking are (a) Fake profiles are created or existing ones are copied on social media to approach and abuse the victims. (b) Monitoring check-ins: Closely watching the activities of the victim on social media to gauge the behavioural patterns. (c) Spying via Google Maps and Google Street View from posts of victims on social media, to find the location. (d) Hijacking webcam: By introducing malware-infected files into the victim’s computer and hijack their webcams. (e) Tracking location with geotags: Picture are mostly geotagged with the time and location of the picture in the metadata format. This makes the job easier for the stalker to access the information of the victim.

How to avoid cyber stalking:

Enter your bio information with care on social platforms.
Enable permissions for tagging only known or real persons whom you know.
Avoid using your real name; we suggest you use a gender-neutral screen name for all your social media accounts.
Always log out of social media accounts when not in use, even if it is your private system.
Share private information with friends over a private message rather than a public post.
Avoid using public or shared computers or smartphones for accessing your social media.
Beware of apps that want to access or track your activities on other apps.
Never respond to calls or emails that ask for personal information, unless it is from a real or verified contact.
Do a Google reverse image search against the online contact trying to connect with you or converse with you.
If a new contact is trying to connect and converse, we suggest you do a video chat on the messenger instead of a voice chat.

Social Media Safety Tips:

When accessing websites, use only HTTPS:// (Padlock Symbol).
Use a complex password with a capital letter and special characters. Also, It is safe to set up Two-Step Verification for all logins (2FA).
Don’t enable your GPS location while viewing or uploading images to avoid finding your location details.
To avoid malicious attacks when clicking on short links, un-shorten the link and check if it’s a phishing link.
Use only End-to-end encryption messengers.
Never leave your webcam plugged in, alternatively use a Bindi to cover the webcam when not in use.
Connect with real and known people only. There will always be a hidden security threat with unknown people (Alternatively, you may choose to lock your profiles. Using privacy settings)
Set privacy parameters for all your social media, messenger, and email applications.
Secure your smartphone, laptops and any other devices with anti-virus and anti-malware software’s
Never share sensitive information on social media platforms (i.e., financial, login credentials and personal information) as this leads to compromise of your identity.
Manage the consent the same way both online and offline. (i.e., expressions and thoughts)
Never access public Wi-Fi unless and until you are sure that it’s a secured network. There is a scope of third person entering into the network to grab your important information if any.
Download apps only from reputable sources (such as Google Play or the Apple App Store) to operate in a secured way.

Reporting Abuse on Social Media:

What to do if yo are harassed online:

If you think someone is cyberstalking (tracking you) through spyware, don’t use that smartphone; instead, borrow a family member’s phone for further communication.
Get your smartphone checked by a security professional for spyware or other signs of compromised accounts.
Keep a copy of the abuse that has been made on social platforms.
Immediately change the passwords of all your social and email accounts.
Set your privacy settings to block the person, and then report the abuse to the network (check the above links).
If the issue is not resolved, immediately report it on the national cybercrime portal, https://www.cybercrime.gov.in/, file a complaint, or reach out to the national toll-free number, 1930.

Reach us at: support@endnowfoundation.org

Anil Rachamalla

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