Cyber bullying:
What is it?
Cyber bullying is a term for mostly children and teenagers who get bullied via the internet. Usually on the post popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, ect and are usually targeted by anonymous individuals. People don’t realise how that Cyber bullying these days is becoming a more popular and easier way to target someone.
How severe is the threat?
Cyber bullying is now being taken more and more seriously, because of how popular it has become. Children and teens who are Cyber bullied may start to take a downturn in life by becoming depressed, self harm, and there have even been some cases of suicide because of Cyber bullying.
What can you do to overcome the bullies?
It may seem simple but the easiest way is to keep all online profiles on social networking sites set to private and only message people you know. As soon as someone sends you a threatening message, report them to the staff of the website and block them immediately. Also don’t respond to the bullies, this will only encourage them more to bully the individual even further.
Spam:
What is it?
Spam is when a single message is send widely across the internet, usually being the same message over and over again. Also known as chainmail, you could be sent messages to your inbox saying if you don’t send this on within 24 hours your family will be cursed. These are mostly done to look like this so that it stands out from other messages.
How severe is the threat?
Although the threat is not entirely severe people now find that they are forced to give out personal information to sign things like petitions even though they don’t want to. Some people are more gullible than others and find themselves looking at the same sort of emails over and over thinking that they have to sign and give out personal information otherwise something bad will happen.
What are the solutions to overcome it?
It may seem simple, but just ignore the message, either block the sender or just delete the message, or even do both! Do not answer to the message and don’t send them onto other people on your contact list, it’s what the spammers want you to do.
Phishing:
What is it?
Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to steal personal information such as:
· Passwords
· Email addresses
· Users names
· Credit card information
And anything else that maybe useful to the person trying to get into your computer.
How severe is the threat?
Obviously the threat is very serious. Depending on what website you are using, you could be giving out personal information to people you may not even know. The biggest problem with Phishing is that some people can disguise themselves and pretend to be big companies that you may trust just to get your personal information.
What are the solutions to overcome it?
Ignore the messages completely. Delete the message are soon as possible and block the sender. Although they may seem like a friendly company you can never be entirely sure with who you are dealing with.
