Cybercrimes In Nigeria: Tips To Reduce The Risk Of Being A Victim

The growth of the internet and its wide acceptance has made life easier. Not only did it make life easier, but It also led to increased security threats, bullying, and crimes.

Just as the name implies, Cybercrime is the use of a computer or computer-related device to enhance crime either to a person or a system.

Cybercrimes are committed with a criminal motive engineered toward causing financial loss, pains (physical, emotional, social, psychological, etc.), tarnishing of reputation, or even death.

Examples of Cybercrimes

Cybercrimes are not only limited to stealing someone’s money via the internet, they also include the following

• Hacking into a person’s computer or computer-related device.
• Child Pornography.
• Stealing one’s intellectual property/ piracy.
• Spying to obtain confidential information.
• Impersonating a person through social media handles/identity theft.
• Use of one’s content without prior permission by the author.

Unfortunately, Cybercrime affects everyone at all levels of life. It happens to the elites and low-class persons regardless of their exposure.

In as much as we cannot completely eradicate crimes, here are ways we can reduce the risk of being a victim of cybercrime.

Be enlightened: It is impossible to protect yourself against something you are ignorant of. Individuals should be properly and adequately sensitized to ensure that they become smart and guide themselves against the criminals who try to steal their joy via the internet.

Secure your mobile devices and data: Your devices are vulnerable to both hackers and viruses. Therefore, you should be careful enough not to download files or applications from unknown sources.

In addition to this, you need to make sure to only update your operating systems from the right sources. Finally, important files should be encrypted as well as backed up at all times every time.

Don’t click on emailed links: You should not click on any link that is sent via email. Especially if you are not sure about the source. Rather, type the link or website URL directly on the web browser bar or use a search engine like google.

Use different passwords for different sites: Consider getting a password management application that allows you to set different passwords for all the sites you frequent but remembers one when needed.

Beware of phishing emails: A phishing email is an email that wants to get access to your data. These emails instruct you to act faster by clicking on any link in the email. If you click on the link, they will gain access to your data. Emails like this should be deleted.

Use strong passwords: Don’t repeat your passwords on different sites, and change your passwords regularly. Make them complex. That means using a combination of at least 10 letters, numbers, and symbols. A password management application can help you to keep your passwords locked down.

Know what to do if you become a victim: If you believe that you’ve become a victim of a cybercrime, you need to alert the police. This is important even if the crime seems minor. Your report may assist authorities in their investigations or may help to thwart criminals from taking advantage of other people in the future.