Google and Nigeria’s Film Regulator (NFVCB) Conduct Free Training On Online Safety

Google has partnered with the National Film and Video Censors Board to organize an interactive session for a number of students in private and public schools in Abuja, the federal capital of Nigeria.

Ahead of the Safer Internet Day 2018, Google is embarking on the campaign to create an awareness of safe online habits across Nigeria. Titi Akinsanmi, Google’s Policy, and Government Relations Manager said:

“This year’s event, themed, ‘Create connect and share respect: A better Internet starts with you’ reflects our aim to train and inform active internet user in Nigeria about the dangers of online technologies and how users can keep themselves safe online. Protecting online users is one of our top priorities this year, which is why we are partnering necessary stakeholders to talk about simple steps that can be taken to help people stay safe and secure while surfing the web whether on a personal computer, tablet or smartphone.”

Security has been the greatest challenge that technology faces. While it’s almost impossible to find a lasting solution to this menace, there are certain guides that can be religiously followed to stay abreast of safety measures to keep you safe from hackers. Some of the tips she highlighted include the use of lengthy characters made up of symbols, numbers, and letters and setting up recovery questions and updating apps regularly.

As highlighted by some tech specialists after the “WannaCry massacre”, a hack occurs because of loopholes in the management system, other than a technological issue. In other words, we can stay safe if we ensure to religiously adhere to instructions such as creating unique passwords, setting up recovery options, and updating apps whenever there is a notification, to avoid patches or loopholes.  We live in an era of widespread corporate and personal hacks. The safest measure as explained by her is to use a password manager to store and create “unique” passwords for all accounts.

Mrs. Akinsanmi also encouraged the audience to report extreme or abusive content, suspicious websites and avoid fraud or scams. Very recently, there are lots of avenues and opportunities to share sensitive or personal information online. These are tools that hackers could use to impersonate a victim or guess login details.