ministry of electronics and information technology Released a calendar titled 2023 Stay Safe Online Campaign on Social Media, which features six interesting artworks focusing on women online users and the dangers around them.
In a tweet, the ministry asked people to pin it on their social media accounts so that online users can remind themselves that cyber security is a priority for Digital India.
In late December, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav launched a new campaign, ‘Stay Safe Online’, to raise awareness among citizens with the ‘G20 Digital Innovation Alliance’ (G20-DIA) as part of India’s chairmanship of the G20. launched. Importance of online security.
The growing use of the internet, especially social media, has pointed to the fact that cyber security awareness is the need of the hour and many experts agreed on this when they spoke to News18 earlier.
the calendar
The recently released digital calendar includes paintings made by several women from different parts of the country, highlighting online threats and safety issues. While one painting titled ‘Spread the Wings of Cyber Awareness’ was created by an artist from Punjab, the other painting titled ‘Revenge Pornography’ was created by an artist from Uttar Pradesh.
Similarly, other artists, through their paintings focusing on female characters, have addressed issues such as online data sharing, data theft, cyberbullying and trauma, as well as the effects of social media and becoming puppeteers, raising privacy concerns. Featured it.
It is understood that the ministry and agencies have tried to integrate art and technology so that messages related to cyber security reach maximum number of online users. The notes added to each of these images read:
- Follow cyber hygiene practices for a safe digital life
- Contact family/friends in case of online threats
- Be careful what you share online
- Think before you click
- Have a unique and long password
- Enable security and privacy settings for Online.
Why women?
A study by Nature highlights that women and girls are more likely to be victims of ‘distance sexual abuse’ than men; Being targeted by cyber criminals and bullies on online platforms.
Experts have found that women are soft targets on social media. For example, in a study conducted on 72 women titled ‘Cyber Stalking – Victimization of Girl Students: An Empirical Study’, 12.5% of the respondents had a relationship with their cyber stalker before the stalking began. According to the study, 62.5% of the harassment started over email and online chat.
In the early 2000s, India First cyber stalking case was reported in which Manish Kathuria appeared as the perpetrator who stalked the victim Ritu Kohli through online sources and then abused her by sending obscene messages.
It is understood that social media has become a good hunting ground for criminals. Personal data leakage, stalking, cyber impersonation, and honey trapping are becoming extremely common online crimes in India. Speaking to News18, a spokesperson for cyber security company InstaSafe said that Indian women are also being targeted online, using some other methods like impersonation and photo morphing and that “irrespective of geography, sadly women has usually been the target of scorn and humiliation”.
According to data from the National Commission for Women in 2021, the frequency of cyber crimes against women increased dramatically in March and continues to grow. Additionally, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) received over 600,000 complaints in the same year involving allegations of crimes against women, with First Information Reports being received in 12,776 cases.
At present, India has some legal remedies under various statutes that can help victims, women as well as men, but legal experts continue to urge for a specific legal framework for cybercrime. However, apart from this the most important fact would be to be aware of all the cyber threats.
Dr Pawan Duggal, Supreme Court lawyer and chairman of the International Commission on Cyber Security Law, had earlier told News18: “People should learn not to share passwords, OTPs, sensitive personal data and financial or banking data with anyone. Additionally, Internet users should restrict themselves from downloading any program without verifying it.
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