Be Careful What You Click On

State Minister for Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, is advising Jamaicans to be careful about opening links that are found in emails, tweets, posts, and online advertising.

He said that clicking on these links could introduce viruses to computers and also open the door to data predators.

“The emails and other things that come to you; there are many risks associated with spam emails that come to people that people respond to, which then trigger viruses that will go on your device or your computer. So, if you are not familiar with an address, if you haven’t participated in a lottery or sweepstakes, then it’s unlikely that you are the recipient of some award or something of that nature. Those are some of the simple ways that people are trying to target online users,” he said.

“When in doubt, throw it out. If it looks suspicious, delete it,” he advised.

The State Minister, who was addressing a JIS Think Tank on cybersecurity awareness, also urged caution when sharing personal information online.

“Personal information is like money, value it and protect it. You should be conscious about how much you share about an address for example, a home address, a telephone number, other data that is very unique to you. Persons need to be careful about where they share that. Not everything needs to be put out on social media,” he noted.

He pointed out that information collected through apps, games and websites is used to track online activities in order to carry out direct marketing.

Mr. Robinson said that in addition to protecting information, persons should delete any app that they are not actively using.

He noted that persons should also consider disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use, as this could be utilised to track their movements.

The Ministry is providing security tips as part of a public awareness campaign to sensitise Jamaicans about the threat of cybercrimes.

Cyber-security Awareness month is being observed in October globally.