EDITORIAL - A new threat to safeguard against

A new kind of crime is on the rise. The Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit in Central Visayas reported that it has been getting more and more reports of cybercrimes these past few months. The most common incidents involve cyber libel, phishing or online scams, as well as identity theft.

Except for a few people today we quite affectionately refer to as technological dinosaurs, almost everyone has a gadget for the purpose of getting online for one reason or another. Almost everyone has an account in one, two, or even all of the social media platforms available.

And whenever we create an account, create a post, react to a post, or leave any kind of digital trail whatsoever, just about anyone can find it and pick it up.

Unlike what you see in the movies, one doesn’t have to be a master hacker well-versed in cryptography and computer programming to compromise an account or steal an online identity. The least one has to do is grab one of your public photos and create an entirely new account profile and identity based on that photo.

Once that has been created he or she can now use your identity to make certain statements, issue threats, or worse, make purchases or ask for money for themselves.

For this election alone, some individuals have even reported that their identities were used to endorse certain candidates they would never even think of supporting.

As in the real world, the best way to protect yourself from online crime is to prevent any chances of it happening. Go look online, there are many tips on how to protect against cybercrimes, but the basics are to always use a strong password in your social media accounts, to always log out when using a public computer on another cellphone, to avoid clicking on suspicious emails, and also avoid suspicious characters online.

Because the internet is not the same as the real world, people who get victimized by cybercrimes may not feel it as urgent to report such crimes compared to one where they were actually physically assaulted or victimized. But make no mistake about it; even in a platform that we cannot physically grasp, any effort to infringe on your rights, steal from you, or misrepresent you is still an offense.