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How to safely use Internet at public places
With the increase in internet user worldwide, internet crimes are also increasing. We protect us from all internet threats by following some simple tips. I have presented some facts and figures of Internet use in India and given some tips, that you can follw to use internet safely.
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Internet use in India and safety tips
In the 21st century every one know about computers and Internets. We are now leaving in the Internet era. With the increase in internet user worldwide, internet crimes are also increasing. There is no physical presence of thieves who steal your information or even your lifetime earnings. We can't catch these thieves so easily. But we protect us from all internet threats by following some simple tips. I have presented some facts and figures of Internet use in India and given some tips you can follw to use internet safely.
Internet Use in India:
In India the no of internet population is increasing rapidly day by day. As per the report at http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm there are 5,280,000 broadband subscribers as of June, 2009 per ITU which is much higher than the internet user on 1998. You can see in the below table that the no of internet users in India is growing rapidly and soon India will top the list of internet users worldwide.
As per a report of I-Cube (September 2008 – 2009) in India there are 52 Million Active Users in India, 37% Internet access happens from cybercafés.
• The report claims that the Internet usage has gone up from 9.3 hrs/week to 15.7 hrs/week i.e. a steep 70% rise – primarily due to more entertainment content, content delivery etc.
• 37% Internet access happens from cybercafés, followed by 30% who access from offices and 23% from home.
• Around 4% browse the net via mobile phone
• The study was conducted across 31 cities in the country covering 19,000 households, 68,000 individuals and 500 cybercafés.
Below figures represent the different findings of Internet use in India.
Internet Usage in India
Internet in India - Distribution across Metros and Towns
Purpose of Internet Access
Safe use of Internet:
I am also an internet user and I use internet daily for email, online transactions, study, searching for contents, etc. The use is vast. I have seen that most of the people are not aware of safe use of internet, particularly at public places like Cyber Cafe, Wi-Fi zone, etc. Below are some tips for safe use of internet at public places as well as at your home to protect your valuable resources.
Do not give your email id to every person. Share your email id only with reliable people.
Don't share your email password with others. Make it confidential.
Always use strong password containing combination of alphabets in lower case as well as upper case, numbers and symbols. A typical example of a complex password is "Apl34@!)".
Don't use your name as your password or simple password like 1234, 102030, abcd, etc. These are easy to break by any hacker. Complex passwords can be break but will take a much longer time.
Change your password frequently.
Use virtual keyboard to type your password mainly while using internet banking.
Be suspicious of any email that you receive from someone unknown to you.
Check for viruses in the attachments before downloading them.
Don't give your confidential and personal information in your mail to everyone.
While using online transactions or accessing online banking make sure that the web URL starts from https instead for http. Https is a secure connection with a security certificate is attached.
Avoid using internet banking at public places like Cyber cafe, Library, etc.
Be aware of phishing.
e.g., you may have received a mail saying that you won some money in a lottery. Please send your bank details for transaction. This type of mails is send by some spammer to get your bank and other sensitive information. Report this type of mails as spam to your mail provider.
Install Spam email filtering so you do not receive junk mail which contains inappropriate material or viruses.
You should never post your real email address to a forum, comments form or other webpage that's publicly accessible. Spammers can harvest it and your mail box will be filled with lot of spam mails. Use an image containing your mail id like in the example.
Uncheck the option "Remember Me" while logging in to any site or your mail box at public places like cybercafé.
Make sure to clear the cache, cookies, and history of a computer if you are using a computer in a public place, such as a library. Be careful where you access your online personal information.
Don't access the websites you don't trust. They may have viruses. So use a good browser with antivirus software installed in it.
Public computers may have viruses. So before using the system make sure that there is updated antivirus software installed.
Don't use pen drives and other media in public computers to store information. If there is any virus in the public system then it can easily be transferred to your system. Rather take printouts of any data you want to store in pen drives and other media.
Always make backup for your important data so that they can be recovered in necessity.
These are some basic rules to be followed while using internet. You can search the internet for detailed information on secure use of internet. In the computer world data is the most important asset. Once it is lost there is no chance to get it back.
Always remember that "Prevention is better than cure". So use internet safely and explore the world of everything.
References:
1. http://www.pluggd.in/internet-usage-in-india-market-statistics-297/
2. http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm
This article is also published in "The Ravenshaw Times, Vol.1, No. 2, February 2011" issue.
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