BE ALERT!!!

What is Cybercrime? I read about it in newspapers very often but I don’t really bother about it before. Surprisingly, Cyber Crime can be very dangerous or even more dangerous than physical bullying. It can cause harm to other people by sending hurtful, threatening, or non-stop messages. Cybercrime is illegal activity committed on the internet.  The internet, along with its advantages, has exposed us to security risks that come with connecting to a large network. According to the Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 cybercrime is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide with more than a ­million people becoming victims every single day. The report also found that the most common type of cybercrimes are malware, scams and threats ­targeted at mobile devices. Although Malaysia wasn’t in the list of countries studied in the report but as we are in the same environment and using the same technology, so whatever that is happening in the world will definitely affect us the same way. Started as a communication platform, internet is more than what we thought it could be.

Due to the increasing amount of cybercrime there is a need for more proactive measures to prevent more Internet users from becoming cybercrime victims. Personally, I think that in order to prevent this from happen, we should not reveal too much of our own personal information. We need to strengthen education and awareness efforts to educate users on Internet risks. . As to share with all of you, Cybersecurity Malaysia already has a list of home-made security tools such as DontPhishMe, DNSwatch and MyPHPiPs that protects users from cybercriminals which can be downloaded for free. So, get it NOW if you think you are not secure anymore to use internet. In addition,   they are also working on ­establishing a Cyber Clinic which will offer an extensive list of cybersecurity services to computer users. The clinic is expected to be ready before the end of the year. Although many prevention step has been or going to be implemented, the most important thing is user awareness. Awareness of the potential issue is the first step in preventing us from becoming the victim. 

So, hopefully now when we read the headlines about cybercrime we will take a moment to think about things we could do differently.