Kaspersky Lab Launches Awards Campaign to Increase Awareness on Internet Safety

2
Aug 2017

The Goondus Awards website which features the
submissions anonymously, highlights real life incidents where a naïve or
ill-informed Internet practice led to some form of misfortune.

“We want to educate people about safer Internet
behaviours and to showcase real world examples of missteps leading to some form
of loss or damage. While some stories may be humorous and even incredulous, the
repercussions and damage were real and in some cases severe,” explained Sylvia
Ng, General Manager, South East Asia. “As our entries are entirely anonymous, we’re
encouraging a community led campaign to drive home the message that only safe
practices will make the Internet safer for users.”

The Goondus Awards showcases a wide array of stories
ranging from humorous occurrences to unintelligent acts and sad episodes
involving monetary or reputational loss. The campaign acts as an initiative to
raise cyber security awareness in an engaging form through the sharing of
personal stories. It also serves to help web visitors foster positive and
pleasant online experiences.

With the ease of access to the Internet, users have
developed a sense of complacency or even a mild form of naivety in their daily
digital lives, potentially lending themselves to becoming victims of
cybercrime.

The Goondus Awards aim to remind users that they are
not completely safe from cybercriminals and that they need to be vigilant,
practice and maintain Internet etiquette to protect themselves.

One classic example of a story that may happen to
anyone is one of two friends using iTune top up cards who was duped through an
ingenious identity theft scam. Only when one of the friends was out of pocket
by $200 did she find out that her friend had never asked for a top up!

The fact that identity theft can happen so close to
home and lead to financial loss was very disturbing and shocking to the
individuals in this example.

The criteria for the story entries are that they must
be based on actual events leading to tangible or intangible losses concerning
Internet use. The winning stories will be selected by a panel of judges where
participants stand a chance of winning an iPad Mini or a Tablet and even
monthly prizes like a Kaspersky Lab premiums hamper. The website also includes
tips and advice from cyber security experts and elaborations on the different
types of scams such as Internet love sex scams, credit for sex scams and
phishing scams, to further inform users.

Due mainly to a rise in online commercial crime, the
Singapore Police Force (SPF) found that overall crime had increased by 4% in
2015, from 32,315 cases in 2014 to 33,608 crime cases in 2015. Online
commercial crimes consisting of cheating which involve e-commerce,
credit-for-sex and Internet love scams surged 95%, from 1,929 cases in 2014 to
3,759 cases in 20151.

The Goondus Awards website can be accessed from the
following link.

1Home Team Annual Statistics: Singapore’s
4 Per Cent Increase in Crime Rate Largely Due to Cybercrime, Ministry of Home Affairs