Sherlock says “A World with the Internet is Unsafe”

 

Once a journalist in Baker street interviewed Mr Sherlock Holmes about a cybercrime happening in the Cyberspace.

Disclaimer: This article is about privacy and security measure that needs to be taken in  cyberspace

Journalist: Hello Sir, I am a Steve working as journalist and I have few queries about the cybercrime happening nowadays and the reasons behind it.

Sherlock: A world with the internet is unsafe, the technologies and applications that we use are often not secure and our data might not be safe.

Journalist: Sir, can you explain briefly?

Sherlock: We download applications, files, music etc from different sites. This may trigger a Malware. This Malware acts as Spyware. Through this malware, we will have full access to the entire mobile such as a camera, microphone, messages, contacts and logs. Malware will also be able to gain access to content-sensitive information such as OTPs, bank details and these confidential details will help hackers gain access to the bank accounts.

Journalist: When I install an application, it asks for different permissions and I’m giving all these permissions assuming that it is secure. Is it secure?

Sherlock: Yeah, when we install any application in mobile or PC it asks many permissions from users.It asks for accesses like contact, storage, microphone, camera and messages- all these permissions create a backdoor to the application owner. The owner of the application has complete access to the device.

Application owners like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc have certain data and privacy policy for the application, which guarantees the data security and privacy of the user. So, there will not be any kind of problem when we install them in our device.

Journalist: Sir, what kind of data shouldn’t be exposed by the user in social media.

Sherlock: Great question! No data should be exposed to the internet. Any information makes the user vulnerable.

For example, Data of birth, Phone number, Favourite TV shows, Favourite Food Places etc might be the passwords or security questions of many users, so no data except the required fields should be exposed to the internet.

Journalist: Mr. Holmes, can connecting to public network cause any privacy breach or data leak?

Sherlock: In some cases, yes! When we connect to that network, it opens but doesn’t provide any authentication. This would help the cybercriminal to eavesdrops or man in the middle attack and may gain information about that device.

Journalist: We’ve heard about your intellect, Mr. Holmes, but it was a pleasure to witness it. 

Sherlock: As I always say, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”.  

To be continued.........