Info Awareness

Information security needs have to be addressed at all levels, from the individual user to an organization and beyond that to the Government and the Nation. Information Security is becoming synonymous with National Security as Computer Networking, which is vulnerable to Cyber attacks, forms the backbone of critical infrastructure of the nation’s banking, power, communication network etc. It is, therefore, imperative to have secured Computer Systems and Networks. Also, increased focus on outsourcing of IT and other services from developed countries are bringing the issue of data security to the fore. Furthermore, owing to the massive Internet boom, a lot of home users with little or no prior knowledge with the threats and their countermeasures are exposed to the Internet. Thus, the attacker can exploit to expand their base of malicious activity and use innocent people for their schemes. Consequently, we aim to spread the education to school children, teachers, parents and senior citizens and equip them with the knowledge needed to mitigate the threat.

Looking at the growing importance for the Information Security, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India has initiated and spearheading the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) program. One of the activities under this program is to widely disseminate information security awareness to children, home users and non-IT professionals in a planned manner.

One of the primary advantages of the Internet is that it can make learning more accessible. It can remove the physical & geographical boundaries of classrooms, reduce class scheduling restraints and offer easy access to searchable databases and a vast array of other global resources.

The Internet is a powerful resource for learning, as well as an efficient means of communication. Its use in education can provide a number of specific learning benefits, including the development of independent learning and research skills, such as improved access to subject learning across a wide range of learning areas, as well as in integrated or cross-curricular studies and moreover communication and collaboration, such as the ability to use learning technologies to access resources, create resources and communicate with others.

Despite the educational and social benefits of information and communication technologies, there are risks associated with their use, especially for school age students. Many children are using the Internet at home for homework, socializing, and playing games. It is vital that safe Internet use at school is required to be mirrored by safe Internet use at home.

The Internet can be a good resource for kids. They can use it for school reports, research and to communicate with teachers and like-minded other kids, to acquire knowledge and play interactive games. Any child can get the information at his/her finger tips. But that access can also pose hazards to the children. For example, your child might go into a search engine and type in the word “parts of human body” for her science assignment But the same search engine may take him/her to enter some web pages, or be directed to thousands of websites with a focus on body - some of which may contain pornographic material.

They can access information that might be inappropriate for them. This include pornography, intolerance, violence, hoaxes, and misinformation and hype.
Students can be subjected to many risks while communicating online – they can be lured into giving away personal information, they can download viruses and malware and they can get into contact with people with bad intentions.

One of the most serious risks to children and young people communicating online is that persons who have a sexual interest in children use these technologies for becoming friends with and getting close to them (so-called "grooming").

Persons who want to get into contact with children for sexual abuse sometimes use fake information to get close to the young people, for example they give false name, age and interests. However, not all give fake information.

The process of getting close to children for sexual abuse happens through a process of manipulation and persuasion, in many cases without the child noticing it. The person starts communication with the young person, asking about apparently common interests, asking about where they live and their family, if they are happy or sad and why. All the communication is aimed at gaining their trust over time.

In the online environment, one of the nice things is that you can get new friends. It is therefore only natural to talk about your interests, parents, siblings and your state of mind when you want to get to know someone. Therefore it is easy to start revealing personal information about themselves, their friends and family, and giving out the address, name of their school, telephone numbers etc. In many cases, the "new friend" aims to be the child's new best friend, the close friend he or she has always missed, the one that really understand him/her.

The persons in search for children to abuse can be very patient and take a lot of time to collect enough information about their potential victims’ life, in some cases starting to ask questions about their sexual experiences, fantasies and hopes of getting a girl- or boyfriend.

In some cases, pornographic images and images portraying child abuse are used to show the child how "normal" it is that adults have sex with children. This also puts the child in an awkward, embarrassing and sometimes threatening situation so that they won’t tell their parents. Such actions aim at weakening the potential victims and persuading them to take part in sexual acts later on.

Also, many potential abusers ask youngsters to physically meet when they believe that they have gained their trust. Such meetings can prove dangerous, and lead to sexual abuse or even to kidnapping with fatal consequences.

Internet materials may be pornographic, sexually explicit, offensive, hateful or violent and may encourage activities those are dangerous or illegal. Students, especially adolescents, are sometimes interested in and curious about sexuality and sexually explicit material. They may be moving away from the total control of parents and seeking to establish new relationships outside their known circles. Students sometimes use their on-line access to actively seek out such materials and individuals out of curiosity. Paedophiles will use and exploit these characteristics and needs.

Some students may also be attracted to and lured by on-line offenders closer to their age who, although not technically child molesters, may be dangerous. Nevertheless, they can be seduced and manipulated by a clever offender and children may not foresee or recognize the potential danger of these contacts.

While the Internet is a valuable vast information resource providing valuable materials, it is also a commercial tool for online marketing as well as online gambling.

For all students regardless of age or year level, it is important that they are taught how to navigate safely through such sites. As much of the content on the Internet is not moderated and controlled, there are a high number of bogus or dummy sites posing as prominent organizations.

Often these sites have been created for the sole purpose of obtaining confidential information such as credit card details in a process known as ‘phishing’. This raises practical concerns for students who may fall victim to such dubious methods, putting themselves as well as their family at risk by revealing sensitive information such as their parents’ credit card details

Students can access information to the unrelated things and purchase products those might be dangerous to them and to the society.

Cyber harassment and Cyber bullying is now an issue that is not restricted to forms such as verbal or physical harassment. Cyber bullying through the Internet means that bullying can take through different forms through emails, chat rooms, discussion groups, instant messaging, and web pages.

Such bullying can include teasing being made fun of, spreading rumors and lies, sending unwanted messages and emails, as well as defamation. Mobile phone technologies can also be used for bullying or harassment, through SMS/MMS messages.

It is important for the schools to consider bullying and harassment as forms of misbehaviour, and incorporate it into student model behavior policies and practices. Harassment should not be tolerated in any shape or form in schools.

Students can be trapped in the guise of friendship and harassed by unknown persons who threatens, blackmail or may send them viruses or hack their computers

While visiting a website, students or staff may be asked to complete forms requesting details such as their name, email address, age, gender, and sometimes their contact number, postal address, and photos.

Some requests are genuine, and are used for the sole purpose that they are supposed to be - such as access to needed information. It is however, important to be aware of what happens to the personal details once they have been submitted. By providing personal information, students and sometimes staff can often become targets for spam mail, advertising as well as viruses and any personal information may fall into wrong hands.

Children may be giving some important and private information by filling out forms for playing games, downloading software, entering contests online and as a result, important personal information will reach the unwanted.

A risk associated with the internet is meeting with stranger i.e. meeting someone online who may claim to be someone which they are not. This may occur when a student provides personal information to someone they meet online. In some cases, the strangers may have used chat rooms, email and instant messages to gain a student confidence, and then ask for a face-to-face meeting.

Children can be lured by cyber pals who want to meet them face-to-face which may pose dangers.

Spam messages may contain virus along with it or some advertisements, which are sent to various users by email. This may happen when we chat with some strangers on line. They may collect your email address and sell it to advertising agencies. Even while shopping on line they may ask to specify the email address for getting discounts and for other purposes. Spam is also known as bulk email or junk email or unwanted mail.

A virus is a computer program which can copy itself or infect the system without the knowledge of the user. A virus can spread from one system to another system whenever a file with virus in an infected system is accessed from another system. Viruses may cause damage to the system by infecting the files, deleting the files, formatting the hard disk etc.

Symptoms that we can observe when a system is infected by Spy ware are