Protect yourself before you connect yourself!

Many of us, have also been lured into sending our personal information to unknown persons or organisations believing we won the lottery, or were invited to a conference.

Reports of individuals who are victims of exploitation through criminal behaviour and other harmful acts namely identity theft, fraud, and cyber attacks on individuals and corporations are becoming quite prevalent.

Stephen Carrick-Davies, CEO of Childnet International an Internet safety and security organisation in the UK has being advocating for increased public education (especially for young people) on the dangers that exist on the web.

“Young people need information on how to keep themselves safe and security professionals are passionate about information security and want to ensure that young users are empowered to keep both their computers secure and their personal details safe,” he remarked at a Malaysian cyber security awareness campaign in July 2007.

As more and more persons in Jamaica acquire ownership of a computer, the growth in Jamaicans using the Internet has grown significantly. It is now commonplace to find Jamaicans chatting on instant messenger, blogging, downloading songs, movies, programmes, as well as conducting researching.

A discussion on MSN Instant Messenger revealed that while the Internet is useful for our communication, download and research many Jamaicans are unaware of what the issues surrounding Internet safety and security are.

“I think I have an idea what it is about,” said Moya Wellington a final year student at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“Well for one the sending of emails recently for NCB customers to send their bank information and the website redirection to log on to a fake website is an example,” Myron Grace a UWI student and Serchen Morris student at the University of Technology (UTECH) who also participated in the online discussion pointed out.

However, examples of cyber crime are not limited to fraud. Spyware and adware; Trojans and viruses; spam and phishing; identity thefts; pop ups; file sharing and cyberbullying are also issues of major concern.

The idea of raising awareness about Internet safety and making incidences of such activities known is also a major concern for the participants in the discussion.

“There are many cases of fraud, theft, and cyber attacks but because they don't get published like it would in a first world country no one believes it actually can happen,” Myron highlighted.

“Where I used to work, students hacked into our network and used it. But no one knew this occurred,” he continued.

The Go-Local Jamaica was unable to get in contact with personnel from the eLearning Project that could speak to plans or initiative the project has to ensure students are web aware while they encourage the use of computers in the classroom.

According to the students in the MSN Messenger Go-Local Jamaica discussion the problems exist, because people are unaware of the potential dangers. They called for more media awareness, more public be education programmes, more public forums and seminars.

Go-Local Jamaica will be addressing your concerns each week online. So watch this space for more information on Internet safety or you can say what you would like us to discuss. 

Send your feedback and comments to jaevion.nelson@gleanerjm.com

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