How to protect yourself online: Here are some life-saving tips

Hyderabad: On the occasion of International Women’s Month, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) conducted a workshop for women journalists under the theme #OnlineButUnafraid.

The workshop was conducted in the presence of B Shivadhar Reddy, IPS, Director General of Police (DGP), Telangana, and Shikha Goel, IPS, Director, TGCSB.

The training sessions were led by Sunny NV, CEO of Vatins, on cyber hygiene, emerging threats and actionable safety measures. Meanwhile, the event was organised by Sai Sree, SP, Cyber Crime.

Here are the important tips from the training session that apply to everyone:

1. Importance of Golden Hour

If a victim reports an incident immediately via the national helpline 1930 or the official online portal, the chances of blocking fund transfers and recovering stolen money increase drastically. This period is often referred to as Golden Hour.

2. Preventable Crimes

Unlike physical crimes, many cyber-incidents rely on user error, a misplaced click or a shared OTP. By being informed, individuals can effectively prevent themselves from becoming targets.

3. Advanced Cyber Hygiene

Here are some ways you can make your home or public internet safer for browsers

Router and Network Security: Move beyond basic home network configurations. Log in to your router settings and ensure your encryption is set to WPA3, the current industry standard for protection.

Additionally, avoid revealing your identity by using generic names for your Wi-Fi (SSID) rather than names that link to your home or office.

Never repeat passwords across different platforms.

Instead of simple phrases, use complex, long-form passphrases. Change these credentials at least every three months to minimise the impact if one service you use experiences a data breach.

4. Protecting Identity

Conduct a monthly digital audit by searching your own name online. This helps you identify if fake profiles have been created using your photographs, a common tactic for image morphing and social engineering.

Whether it is a friend on WhatsApp asking for money or a romantic interest on a dating site, always verify their identity through a second channel (like a voice or video call).

Never trust a profile simply because the display picture looks familiar; impersonation is a rampant tool for extortion.

5. Essential technical safeguards

Enable 2FA on every account that supports it. Whenever possible, use a separate, secure secondary device to receive verification codes, ensuring that even if your primary phone is compromised, your accounts remain locked to the attacker.

Utilise your smartphone’s native settings to ‘Silence Unknown Callers.’

By automatically sending calls from numbers not in your contacts to voicemail, you drastically reduce your exposure to social engineering and phishing scams.

If you receive a suspicious link, use tools like VirusTotal.com. This service scans any URL or attachment against over 70 different antivirus engines simultaneously to determine if it is malicious.

Further, one can also check if their phone number or email ID has been compromised before by checking into websites like ‘Dehashed’ or ‘Have I been pwned’.