Awareness expert and personal cybersecurity consultant Abdalnour Sami identified several steps to reduce online bullying and harassment, saying they could eliminate 90% of the entry points and channels used by bullies and harassers in the virtual world.
He told Emarat Al Youm: “The most important steps are to pay close attention to privacy settings and keep them enabled, limit contact with strangers, and activate filters that hide abusive and obscene language across all of one's social media accounts.”
Sami described steps for protecting people when using smart devices and social media. The first and most important is awareness. The second is caution when dealing with unfamiliar applications and links. Awareness creates caution, and caution creates safety. “Hackers and fraudsters continually develop their skills, so awareness must also keep developing. They constantly search for vulnerabilities and digital mistakes to exploit. Putting awareness into practice requires understanding the main concepts, terminology and mechanisms, then following safe procedures.”
The third step is acquiring and applying the skills needed to use smart devices. These involve practical measures: do not share sensitive personal information, since attackers look for openings; do not visit unknown links even when they arrive from familiar sources; and use a strong password. Attackers' password-cracking abilities are advancing, and stronger passwords are harder and take longer to break.
He stressed that applications should be downloaded only from approved sources. Many people encounter viruses or other attacks while trying to obtain paid software free of charge. Nothing is offered free without a motive: hackers distribute those programs and then compromise users. He said he often saw this with Office applications such as Word and Adobe applications such as Photoshop, because of demand. Users may also seek multiple Snapchat or WhatsApp accounts and download “Plus” applications, such as WhatsApp Plus or Snapchat Plus. These are prohibited by the original companies and can lead to account closure. Messages passing through them may be monitored because the applications connect users to intermediary companies rather than directly to the original provider.
At a workshop in the Social Media Station pavilion at the Sharjah International Book Fair, Sami explained how to hide inappropriate YouTube videos, a concern for parents, and the need to select Google search results that are educationally and practically useful. He added: “I advise against downloading applications that weigh down the phone. Choose well-known programs for the tasks you need, without repeatedly downloading several programs for the same purpose.”