Pankaj Rai – Compudon Junior

Protect Your Online Accounts

Pankaj Rai — Sun, 12 May 2024 11:30:35 +0000

In today’s interconnected world, safeguarding our online accounts is of utmost importance. This is important to create Defense Against Unauthorized Access, Protection of Personal Information and Prevention of Unauthorized Transactions.

Here are 12 essential tips for safeguarding your online accounts:

Use of a “dedicated password manager” is recommended with auto generate password feature.
Save copy of unencrypted copy of your passwords at a safe place.

And to continue using passwords, follow the following tips:

Avoid common phrases such as “password”, “123456“, admin123.
Make your passwords at least 16 characters long.
Combine upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters (e.g., @, #, $, %) to create complex passwords.
Turn on two-factor authentication for extra security.
Never share your password with anyone, whatsoever.
Don’t write your password where others can find it.
Change your passwords often to stay safe.
Consider using a different password for each account.
Avoid saving passwords in your web browser.
Generally, avoid using a public wi-fi

Secure Your Inbox

Pankaj Rai — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 10:51:17 +0000

Email plays a crucial role in today’s interconnected world, serving as a fundamental communication tool for both individuals and businesses. Email is essential due to its’ widespread usage, accessibility and versatility.

Keeping Email Safe

Email security is critical because cybercriminals often target it. Nearly every email contains valuable information—financial data, personal details, and more—that can be exploited. In last few years, cyber threats have become more sophisticated and pervasive than ever.

So, here are 12 essential email safety tips to help safeguard your email & online security.

Verify the sender’s email address; it might be spoofed.
Trust your instincts; avoid suspicious links or attachments.
Be alert to misspellings in the hyperlinks.
Be wary of emails creating a sense of urgency.
Use and update antivirus software of repute.
Don’t assume all inbox emails are safe; spam filters aren’t foolproof.
Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible.
Using a password manager is recommended but if you want to use password,
then make it 16 characters, combine upper- and lower-case letters, numbers,
and special characters (e.g., @, #, $, %) to create complex passwords.
Learn about common phishing techniques.
Don’t click on anything in an unsolicited email or text message asking you
to update or verify account information.
Keep all software patches on and your system updated.
Report suspicious emails to email provider/ CERT-IN / phishtank / NCCRP

HOW TO IDENTIFY A FAKE FACEBOOK PROFILE

Pankaj Rai — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 05:37:02 +0000

The company Meta, previously called Facebook, owns four of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. This post is focused on Facebook.

In the first quarter of 2022, Facebook took action on 1.6 billion fake accounts, In the first quarter of 2019, a record figure of approximately 2.2 billion fake accounts were removed by the social media platform.
In India alone, there are nearly 239.65 million Facebook users, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size. So, one can imagine, the larger the user base, the larger is the number of scammers.

The vast majority of those deleted accounts were automated accounts that are often created by software programs. We all know that bots have been used for years to manipulate people. The good news is that in recent years, Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies have gotten much better at catching bots.

However, the challenge still lies when real humans create the fake accounts. In such cases, these social media companies have a much harder time catching them because such accounts are hard to identify, as they do not carry the same revealing digital signs of a bot. Approaches to find such accounts remain imperfect. So, what can we do about it?

This means WE MUST OWN RESPONSIBILITY TO STAY SAFE. Here are some tips that can help you identify fake Facebook profiles.

FIRST & FOREMOST: TRUST BUT VERIFY
This means Do Not talk to strangers online. If you do not know them or recognize them, DO NOT accept friend request. These fake accounts would generally have an attractive photo because attractive photos entice people to befriend the account.

DO A REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH
If you want to know more, then the best way to identify a fake Facebook profile is to save the profile photo, and then do a reverse image search using https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=EN or www.tineye.com, and there are few more options that you may use to do a reverse image search. Doing so would reveal if the profile photo is real or fake? Such an exercise will show all the places where the photo has been used and it will be easy for you to spot if the profile photo is real or fake.

SEEING YOUR FRIENDS ALREADY BEING FRIENDS WITH STRANGER’S ACCOUNT DOES NOT MEAN ACCOUNT IS REAL
It is also important to remember that if you find such accounts already friends with your friends, it does not mean the accounts is genuine or real. Please know that fake accounts can connect with your friends as well as you. If you are unsure about an account, DO NOT accept the friend request, but send a message and enquire how does this person know you or where did you meet? Chances are such accounts will never respond, and if you do get a response, verify the correctness of the response.

Some of the other ways to spot a fake profile are:

Check if the picture truly looks real or appears to be taken from the internet
Check for group pictures on the account. Fake accounts would not have many group pictures
The information shared in the profile would seem far from real
Generally, fake accounts would not have wall posts on the Facebook page
Messages would be far from practical. You might find them too nice or too good to be true
Fake accounts are mostly fairly new accounts and not an old account
Fake accounts may have no friends or they may have very few friends.

Remember, you can identify fake accounts, just stay alert!

DIGITAL LITERACY IS THE KEY TO FUTURE

Pankaj Rai — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 06:25:01 +0000

“KIDS ARE GROWING ON DIGITAL PLAYGROUNDS AND THERE IS NO RECESS.

THE GAME GOES ON”. Kevin Honeycutt- Educator

Question: My kids can use computers easily. Do they still need to learn about Digital Literacy?

Answer: If we know and agree that our kids are growing on digital platforms, and there is no RECESS in the game, then the answer to above question is a resounding YES. Beginning to acquire Digital Literacy in earlier grade levels and continuing through later grade levels is the need of the hour. Let’s look at some of the reasons for this:

Digital Technologies are so pervasive now that they have entered all areas of modern life. From this perspective, digital literacy in real sense is much more than the ability to handle computers. Just like the 3 ”R”s – reading, writing & arithmetic, it comprises of a set of fundamental set of skills which include the consumption and production of digital media, processing & retrieving of information, creating and sharing of knowledge, and a wide range of other professional computing skills.

Digital literacy is now the key to almost all meaningful jobs as employers across the world look for digital literacy skills in prospective employees. Employers expect prospective employees to be digitally literate in real sense when they screen the job applications.

Digital Literacy works as a catalyst because it enables the acquisition of other important life skills.

But, one may still ask- what does it mean to be digitally literate, and what role can digital resources play to fulfill students’ academic needs? In this blog, we will try to answer this question and offer guidance about developing students into responsible citizens of the 21st Century Global Economy.

Digital Literacy enables students to access information from the internet and communicate the lessons learnt with others. COVID 19 Pandemic made remote/online learning essential which accelerated the need to use digital resources, especially for education. Digital resources are ever changing and include hyperlinks to visual or auditory sources, which when blended add meaning for the reader.

What role do Digital Literacy & Digital Resources play in fulfilling students’ academic needs?
Being digitally literate enables students to learn via technology and this provides learners immense power in their hands to tap into the tons of digital resources of information available on the internet, allowing students a sense of informed discretion in the selection of materials they use.

Not only are there sources with written content such as news articles, online research journals, classic literature, poetry, and blogs, but also video sources such as vlogs, and YouTube. Audio sources like podcasts or audio files are also prominently available, as are many social media sites. Many sources are multimedia with a mixture of text, audio, and video.
Availability of vast number of online resources motivate students to actively explore these resources, and using their creativity, pick and choose the most effective and appealing sources to further their learning.
But the access to and power of self-selection comes with the obvious issue of being able to sort through huge amounts of information to decide what is credible and what is not credible? What is it that students should or should not rely upon to build their understanding of the world and then communicate it to others?
Digital Literate students can critically evaluate what is being said, and who is saying it? It enables them to understand that just because information is published on the internet, does not mean it is reliable, credible, or accurate. Lot of people go to Wikipedia for research but the uninformed do not know that Wikipedia is not a source of credible information. Whereas Wikipedia itself says, it does not consider itself as a reliable source of information for academic purposes or research.
Digital Literacy empowers students with the knowledge to differentiate between accurate information, misinformation, and disinformation in digital spaces. It also empowers students with power to reason, how to look for unsupported claims, and how to separate fact from opinion — beginning in earlier grade levels and continuing through later grade levels is the need of the hour.
Digital Literacy enables students to evaluate the perspective presented. For example, a website created to promote wind power may only show the positive impacts (e.g., unlimited resource, extremely low greenhouse gas emissions) and may hide the potential negative impacts (e.g., threat to local species, scar on the landscape) leaving students who are not digitally literate with only one side of the issue.
Digital Literacy empowers students to investigate the purpose of the website and also verify not only the information presented but also any possible missing information, such as opposing views, to form their own fact based viewpoint.
There can’t be any debate that as creators of the information, students bear the responsibility for producing content that is credible and trustworthy and not something that has been picked from internet without verification, which may be incorrect information.

It is the responsibility of all education leaders and parents to ensure students have the foundational digital literacy skill for their higher-level studies and for building future careers.

We invite all education leaders and parents to enroll kids between the ages of 8-14 in www.compudonjunior.in – the national championship on digital literacy and help them acquire this very important skill from the young age.

THERE IS NO PRIVACY OUT THERE

Pankaj Rai — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 05:51:05 +0000

What are the dangers kids face when they go online?
Online predators steal peoples’ identities, post inappropriate photos, pretend to be someone they are not, do cyberbullying activities, etc., etc. If this happens to a kid, imagine the kind of overwhelming negative impact it can have on the kid’s emotional and physical well-being. …

PROTECTING YOURSELF AGAINST PHISHING ATTACKS

Pankaj Rai — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 13:25:32 +0000

You can protect yourself against a large number of Phishing Attacks by adopting following behaviors/practices:

Always hover over the link in an email to see the destination URL before you click on it. Many times the email link would show legitimate name but on hovering, it would show the real name/ real destination
Before taking suggested action, always scrutinize the content of the email. If unsure, do not take immediate action, talk to someone who knows better
Ask your elders/ teachers if you are unsure about the legitimacy of an email on which you want to act
Scan all hyperlinks in incoming email messages to determine if they’re malicious
Don’t depend browser’s Block or Allow lists, especially since attackers can exploit legitimate sites and services to evade these lists
Implement advanced email security that can analyze the nature of an email message and ascertain its true intent.

Digital Literacy- A Mission-Critical Priority!

Pankaj Rai — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 06:04:46 +0000

This article aims to serve as a call to action.

The above quote speaks volumes about our role as parents & educators and there is no doubt that parents, educators and Schools are doing a great deal of work in that direction. …

However, with this article, I wish to draw your attention to a very forceful threat that is looming large on our kids and the intensity of which has increased multifold because of COVID-19.

I am referring to the dangers that our kids are exposed to on daily basis because of not being digitally literate. We tend to believe that today’s kids are digitally literate because they are digital natives, i.e., born in the digital age but research has proven that when it comes to being safe in the cyber space, they simply lack the skills that would keep them safe. Kids who are not digitally literate are exposed to dangers of cyber space. Like if we are not proficient drivers on a high-way, we are carrying a significant risk and same is the case with information highway.

Here is some data from the western world, the world which is much ahead of us in terms of technology adoption and its ability to teach and use technology.

“Two-thirds of teachers are aware of pupils sharing inappropriate content, with as many as one in six of these children of primary school age.” NASUWT teaching union “More Than 75 percent of Fifth and Eighth Graders are Non-Proficient in 21st Century Skills” – Learning.com study

“A majority of U.S. adults can answer fewer than half the questions correctly on a digital knowledge quiz, and many struggle with certain cybersecurity and privacy questions” – Pew Center for Internet and Technology- October 2019 report

Digital literacy is not just knowing how to post messages/photos on Facebook or snapchat or Instagram, it is lot more than that.

Staying online and that too in isolation like it is happening because of COVID-19, has made our kids very vulnerable to criminals and bullies. Criminals can negatively influence and hack our kids’ minds which at times can lead to real physical and psychological issues. There is ton of data that criminals are exposing vulnerable and impressionable kids to misinformation, manipulation, and fake news, which causes all kinds of issues in their lives. Who doesn’t know about the horror of Nth Room Case?

The unpredictable changes and the speed of the changes in technology and the cosmic and ubiquitous internet has made it mandatory for everyone to be digitally literate, especially young kids. Digital Literacy is already an essential skill for lots of jobs and this will only go up in the coming years.

The above clearly conveys that teaching digital literacy to our kids is mission-critical. We educators have a great responsibility and we must help our kids by motivating them to acquire digital literacy.

Stay tuned for my next article later this week with some more insight on this problem and some easy and very feasible solution(s).

About the Author:

For over a decade, Pankaj has been a noteworthy leader in the entry level global certifications space. You may know him as the Founder & Managing Director of CyberLearning and Pankaj can also be credited with introducing several global certifications into India including the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification, Microsoft Technology Associate Certification, HP-ATA Certification, Critical Thinking Certification from ETS, Adobe Certified Associate Certification and few others.

Pankaj is the Past President of Rotary Club of Capital City New Delhi and has won numerous awards including at the international level. The COMPUDON Champions (www.compudon.in)championship on MS office Skills was launched by CyberLearning in 2011) sponsored by CyberLearning have won all top 3 titles including title of World Champion at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (USA) and the World Skills championship (Germany). CyberLearning also launched www.compudonjunior.com a championship on Digital Literacy based on Microsoft Digital Literacy Standard in 2019.