Giving away information easily to anyone across any platform online, filling any random form on any website, giving away device and data access to any application on the mobile and many more similar acts. Do we think twice before doing so? What we are giving away may appear mere pieces of information which would hardly make a difference in sharing but what it can be transformed into and where all of it can be used could be devastating sometimes.

Information age – “an interesting and transformational phase of time” is one of the greatest times in the human history where information is not merely serving as piece of data but it has power ingrained in it which can be used in favor as well as against us. Social media has become so powerful and influential that it can trigger many conflicts and those could be catastrophic. A lot of recent incidents such as influence imposed by social media in general elections across countries, negative propaganda against an idea, organization or country to impact and affect the overall image and sentiment and many more. We are becoming addicted to social media and have started sharing every bit of our information on it without a second thought. We are more concerned about sharing it more and more without even knowing who and how that information is being used. Increased number of online frauds, cyber bullying, curiosity to be popular in online forums etc. are becoming common. We have accepted and adapted ourselves to the online world much faster compared to the physical world. It’s time to take a pause and think not only for us but for the larger good of our coming generations as well. What are we heading towards could be transformational or transgressing, all would depend on how we shape our world today.

“A progression without limitations” – Technology age has proved to be quite helpful and quite important for us as we have progressed in many dimensions today. Almost every industry is depending on the technology today and it’s beneficial for them. We moved from the era of simple manual transformations to larger automated machines, which gave shape to many industries and today all those industries serve us in all possible ways we have ever thought to achieve. Another significant step we have taken today is towards the digitization of industries. Almost every sector in some way is taking a step forward to implement digital. All this has been done and achieved at such a rapid pace that we have hardly thought of making rules and regulations strict enough to protect ourselves in case things turn out against us. Everything developed has its own good and bad attached with it. It’s easier to see the good and adapt it possibly at the earliest without even thinking about the bad side, which is being watched and progressed at a similar pace by those who are eagerly waiting for a mass adoption. Reference here is towards the dark side of technology which has progressed and achieved a scale today. Information security is a great measure being taken to protect what is important, but does that really help is a big question, reason being those who are setting the standards are not the avid users, they are just doing it as part of their jobs.

“It’s time to limit ourselves” – Every one of us need to think and decide on what we share with others especially when it comes to information. Social media, public forums, chat messengers etc. are great tools to share and interact but are they really serving the purpose for what they were build, is a larger question that needs greater attention. Remember those times when we were being told and cautioned by our elders on what should be and what shouldn’t be shared publicly. Those were the rules of the society we have built and that stands true today as well. But why have we forgotten those rules and why are we moving away from them so easily. We should accept this fact that what is being used to publicize us can somewhere be used against us as well.

Some facts: According to a report published by cybersecurity firm Bronium, cyber criminals have exploited and used social media to platforms to earn nearly $3.25 billion. As per the report, nearly 20 percent of the organizations worldwide are now infected by the malware distributed on social media and this is growing at a significant rate. As an example, in the US, social media cybercrime increased nearly 300 times during the period 2015-2017. Hackers and cybercriminals are continuously changing their ways to lure their victims through fake advertisements, big attractive package offers and similar stuff which makes people interested in clicking the posted links. Such ads, posts, packages serve as an easy welcome door for the cybercriminals into your private online space.

An example case of cybercrime – In a recent cybercrime case in India, two call centers used to project themselves online on google as Microsoft’s IT support. The call centers hosted more than 500 staff at each location. Whenever they received a call from the US they would ask the customers for remote access to their laptops and then they would make a reason for the error or problem and charge customer $300-400 for resolution. Unless being paid they wouldn’t release the remote access of the client’s system. FBI on getting information about this raised an alert and arrests were made in the case.

Such cases clearly indicate that cybercrime has paralleled itself as a separate space which is continuously growing and that’s really a point of concern for all of us who are becoming more and more dependent for most of our services on the digital platforms and applications. An old saying is – “Prevention is better than cure” and that’s something which needs to be done for the digital space as well. To put a stop to the increasing cybercrime rate, we collectively need to take immediate steps through our well thought and limited approach towards any online platform. We need to be more careful and choosy while giving away anything to anyone online whether it’s a bank, any association we are working with or anyone else. Only limited information should be shared and that too when highly desirable.

“Serving ourselves better” – This is a favor we need to do to ourselves. We are better equipped today in terms of technology, but we need to remember and remind ourselves that we are better equipped and developed in intellect as well. We have arrived so far through our intellect and we should be careful while associating ourselves with technology. It should be chosen as a mode of efficient delivery of work and effective utilization of resources, but it should not be given extra privilege to control our entire space where we become the mere hollow structures.