We live in an electronic age, or to put it in contemporary language: an e-age. Well, people here suffer from a syndrome of putting the letter ‘e’ almost before everything. We also have email, electronic ticket, electronic invoice, electronic banking, electronic networks and electronic appointments!

My guess is that in the next few years we will soon be witnessing e-births and e-cremations. (Pun!)

However, not long before, all of these ‘e-activities’ were physically done in person rather than just logging in, typing a few words, clicking a few buttons and finally logging out, sitting back and watching the ‘e’ do. It’s work. In fact, it is phenomenally magical. But it’s just as unorthodox, unconventional, and lackluster, to say the least. From Facebook, the mother of all social networking sites, to Twitter, from Instagram to Flickr, from Flipkart to E-bay, there are a litany of examples to follow.

Without a doubt, the Internet has not only made life easier and more convenient, but it has also helped people stay more connected and reinforced the feeling of social unity between them.

But what the Internet has also done in the course is often forgotten: it has made every individual who uses the Internet somewhat vulnerable. Looking at the current trends, it is easy to conclude that people, particularly the young, are addicted to social networking sites. from the likes of FB, Twitter, etc. This has a double effect: One, your sense of friendship and getting to know people contract only with the Internet community. Young people prefer to make friends through the Internet and some ‘crazy’ characters even go so far as to date someone they have only met through the Internet. No sane soul in this world would support that idea, but there are always exceptions.

Second, the information shared or rather disseminated on these social networking sites makes an individual’s personal credentials and private information easily accessible to people. No level of security can prevent such incidents because more often than not, sooner or later, there is always a flaw that can be exploited and exploited to access personal information.

If we talk about organized cybercrime, the situation is even worse. Money laundering cases involving large amounts of cash are literate all over the web. Recently, several of the banks operating in India declared a cumulative loss of close to Rs 6.6 billion due to cyber money laundering in the periods of January to August 2012. Furthermore, a survey conducted by Norton claims

one in three Internet users is a victim of cyberfraud. The numbers are undoubtedly alarming and disturbing. However, people take this with a reckless attitude and do not strictly adhere to the rules of online banking. Their nonchalant disposition is one of the reasons for rampant cyber-fraud cases.

Optimists believe that it is just as likely that a person will be the subject of an actual robbery and that physical money will be stolen from them. But what they don’t realize is this: cyber fraud is more likely to be the mode of crime in this world of ever increasing technological knowledge. Add to this that the perpetrators of these crimes are difficult to catch, given the sophisticated nature of the crime.

So the point to be driven home is this: the comforts and facilities that this ‘e’ age has given us, offered at the click of a button, should be used to their fullest. But it should not become a habit and a necessity, because sometimes the conventional way out is the best and the safest.