Logo

Logo

Dealing with vulnerabilities

Probably, the best way to describe one of the major attributes of today’s youth is that they are tech savvy.…

Dealing with vulnerabilities

PHOTO: Getty Images

Probably, the best way to describe one of the major attributes of today’s youth is that they are tech savvy. Their technical knowledge and implications make them vulnerable for various cyber crimes like bullying, victimisation among others and henceforth cyber security has become one of the most discussed topics in recent times. Various studies and surveys showed that there has been a huge increase in the usage of Internet in the last five years and inevitably are at huge risk of getting the negative psychological impact.

There are various types of cyber crimes such as hacking which is the unauthorised access to a computer system. Technical innovation throws up new online dangers. For example, the migration of data to third-party cloud providers has created a centralisation of data and therefore more opportunities for criminals to misappropriate critical information from a single target attack.

Applications that involve the collection and analysis of mountains of sensitive data, personal information, etc in large quantities so-called mining data put additional pressure on security managers. The development of an Internet of Things, which enables communication between machines, raises the possibility of appliances being manipulated by hackers. The widespread use of machine-to-machine communication is only likely to boost the possibility of information misuse.

Advertisement

Since the rate of cyber crime has accentuated at a very fast rate parents and teachers have got an essential role to play for shaping the overall personality from an earlier stage. They should be taught the dos and don’ts while accessing different devices. They should be taught the difference between addiction and optimum usage. The psychological root causes like low self esteem, high need for acceptance among peer group, sex stereotype, introvert personality type, absence of either of the parent which act as catalysts for getting involved into these kinds of vulnerable crimes should be identified and treated with the help of professionals and should also be taken care of utmost sensitivity and without any kind of judgment.

Also the taboo of getting tagged as a victim should be removed from the society to help youth to get rid of this challenging situation. The employment of an apt and comprehensive curriculum is essential since one should be taught about the various aspects of cyber education. The curriculum should ensure that cyber education is instilled at an early age in the most applicable manner. It can be said that it needs a patient ear and an approachable hand to fight out this particular problem from the society.

The writer is director, MCKV Institute of Engineering, Liluah, Howrah.

Advertisement