Cyber Safety, Digital Ethics and Data Privacy
This domain tests whether you can name threats precisely, apply safe practices, and explain the ethical and legal duties around personal data.
Threats you must name correctly
- Virus: attaches to a host file and spreads when it runs. Worm: self-replicates across networks without a host. Trojan: disguised as useful software. Ransomware: encrypts files and demands payment. Spyware/keylogger: secretly records activity or keystrokes. Adware: pushes unwanted ads.
- Social engineering: phishing (email), smishing (SMS), vishing (voice call), baiting (infected USB), shoulder surfing. Look-alike domains and public Wi-Fi are common attack routes.
Safe practices
Strong unique passphrases, a password manager, two-factor authentication, regular updates, antivirus plus firewall, tested backups, screen lock, and verifying links before clicking. Never share OTP, CVV, PIN or passwords - no bank asks for them. In India, report at cybercrime.gov.in or helpline 1930 for financial fraud, and preserve screenshots and message headers as evidence.
Ethics and privacy
- Your digital footprint is active (what you post) and passive (data collected about you).
- Netiquette: no cyberbullying, no forwarding private chats, respect copyright and licences, cite sources instead of plagiarising.
- Data principles: minimum collection, consent, stated purpose, limited retention, security.
- Law: IT Act, 2000 (including identity theft and privacy-related sections) and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Worked example
An SMS reads: "Your electricity will be disconnected tonight. Pay Rs 10 here: pay-bill-secure.xyz". Reasoning: manufactured urgency, an unofficial domain, and an oddly tiny amount - this is smishing. Do not click; verify through the official electricity board app or number; if already clicked, change passwords, inform the bank and report on cybercrime.gov.in.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling every malware a "virus"; worms do not need a host file.
- Believing antivirus alone is enough.
- Assuming "no money lost" means no report is needed.
- Confusing active with passive footprint.
- Trivialising plagiarism as "copying notes".