Inviting suggestions to prevent women from becoming victim of social media crimes

The Director General of Police, State Cyber Police Headquarters, Madhya Pradesh is urging people to share suggestions on checking of social media crimes against women at mp.mygov.in. Important thoughts and ideas can go a long way in making women feel safe in the world full of cybercrime.

We live in an era of digitalization, a time where life is unimaginable without the internet. From paying our electricity bill to clearing an examination, our dependency on the internet is paramount. However, as useful as it can get, we are also aware of the adverse effects of internet. According to Madhya Pradesh Cyber Police, about 80% of women using the Internet are falling a victim to cybercrime in one way or the other. Women often become easy targets for cyber miscreants who take advantage of the vulnerability of the latter. This is leading to a steady increase in cyber-crime against women. In a digitally connected world, women become victims of online abuses and intimidations every day.

There are countless ways in which the vulnerability of a woman are put to threat and exploitation. Some of these are:
● Sharing confidential content
● Pornographic content publication
● Talking to strangers
● Chatting through fake profiles
● Photo morphing-using the wrong photo
● Hacking social media account and password
● Online fraud by Facebook and WhatsApp
● Using phishing links to send malware and viruses
● Luring through fake lotteries

Alongside women, school and college students also fall victim to stalking, child grooming etc through social media on the internet. To put a stop to all of these and take women's safety a notch higher, the State Cyber Police is inviting suggestions from the citizens.

To raise awareness among the common people and ensure cyber safety and security of women, Cyber security guidelines have been formulated by the Government of India in the Information, Security, Education and Awareness (ISEA) project. Abiding by these guidelines, women can protect themselves make create awareness on the safety of other women.

Let’s join hands to make ourselves and our nation a safe place for women.