Online communication can be helpful as it is easy to communicate with one another; with the extension of group calls, you can have a business, personal, or school group calls a meeting, which is effective in Covid-19, since the internet is practically anywhere it has a big advantage in connectivity, and it has improved diverse social interactions. However, we can not deny that the internet can sometimes be a dangerous place, and the internet is a digital world where we have to act similarly to real life and respect each other. So how can we be safe online? We can be safe online by just keeping simple rules preventing/learning cyberbullying and netiquette. Firstly, we are going to talk about netiquette. Netiquette is an abbreviation for Internet etiquette or network etiquette, which are principles for polite online communication. It covers correct e-mail and internet communication etiquette, among other things. Netiquette, like conventional etiquette, establishes norms of behavior in social circumstances. Its goal is to help build and maintain a pleasant, comfortable, and efficient environment for online communication, as well as to prevent putting strain on the system and causing disagreement among users. The golden rules are respecting each other's privacy, being mindful about my language, not being sarcastic, choosing my emoji's carefully, and respecting other's views. By establishing this rules, you can respect others online without miscommunication between each other and a more efficient communication. In addition, it can be used as a method to prevent the risk of abusive or cyberbullying type behavior without even being aware of it. Secondly, it is important to be mindful about each other's privacy. For instance, according to, scu.edu although privacy isn't a fundamental human rights, it is equally important as in some measure losing personal information is paralleled to some measure to lose for one's life and one's dignity which is why it's necessary for us to protect fundamental rights like this. Secondly, we have to set boundaries for each other's privacy and safety. We have heard a lot about news where our personal information such as passwords are leaked. To prevent this, we can regulate several rules and boundaries for each other such as
Cyber threats and Digital deception are mundanely prevalent nowadays, which are ramified by the extensive proliferation and adaption of the internet worldwide, the surged dependency for internet communication during the pandemic, and the ameliorate social media obsession primarily in teens. Although we can not dispute the leverages such as the convenience and unprecedented expeditious practicality it has brought about, it also has deleterious repercussions such as the escalated probability of the internet users confronting cyber threats and digital deception. The origin of the term "cyber threat" has a confusticating history, and it was initially an uncorroborated term similar to conventional specialized terms. According to Preyproject, the word "cyber" in the 1950s referred to cybernetics, "the science of understanding the control and movement of machines and animals." However, as the 1990s brought new cyber-related terms, the word "cyberspace" emerged to define "an invented physical space that some people wanted to believe existed behind the electronic activities of computing devices," basically interpreting "cyber" like system, devices, or information that is computerized. Then, the word "cyber threat" was an adapted version of the word "cyber" to define a specific act in the digitalized world. Since "threat" is referred to as an impending danger that can cause severe harm or an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or hostile action, "cyber threat" means a threat in cyberspace. To be more specific, according to, UpGuard, an information security company, defines "cyber threat" as a malicious act/threat that seeks to damage data, steal data, or disrupt digital life in general. The threats can include computer viruses, data breaches, DoS (Denial of service) attacks, and other attack vectors (methods for hackers to gain access to a specific network or a computer). So what is the problem surrounding the hyped controversy? Well, cyber threats became so prevalent and detrimental compared to previous years. According to Varonis, each day, there are about 2244 cyber-attacks and an attack every 39 seconds by hackers. Impressive right? However, considering the ratio to the total numbers of internet users according to Statistica and to the daily attacks might be too meager as it is less than 0.0000004815 {2244 / (4.66 × 109)}. On the other hand, even if the comparison might lower your eagerness, it is still profound to say that cyber threats are imposing a substantial threat to the internet world considering the damages they possess. For instance, according to Noton, internet crime victims lost a staggering 4.2 billion dollars in 2020. In addition, the average cost of a ransomware attack was 1.85 million dollars in 2020, and the victim was often corporations rather than individuals for financial purposes. And, the details genuinely allude that Covid-19 is a paramount factor contributing to the exacerbated problems as, according to the FBI, it reported a 300% increase in cyber crimes with the pandemic, which is the devasting reality. The problem doesn't finish with the corruption of the digital world and cataclysmic financial welfare for the black hat hackers. You might be surprised, but what concerns me is that the cyber threats happening in the digital world can influence the physical infrastructure, health of people, and services. For instance, according to Norton and Associated Press, the first reported death caused by a ransomware attack occurred in September 2020. The problem resulted from the IT failure at a hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany, showing the detrimental impacts that enlarge out of cyberspace. Moreover, a successful Russian ransomware attack on JBS, renowned as the world's largest meatpacking company, affected nearly 10,0000 workers in June 2021 and caused an uptick in meat price, according to Newsweek. The hindrance cyber threats are causing is apparent, and likewise, it is a very momentous crime since it can disrupt virtually all aspects of life depending on the victim. Nonetheless, many hackers and cyber terrorists often make preposterous excuses that it wasn't for nefarious intent but for their entertainment and freedom of the internet to break into systems. The perennial development of trailblazing cyber-attacks is also worrisome to the national security agencies. Since cyber-threats are just a subcategory to define many problems on the internet, they can be theoretically divided into perpetual types. For instance, currently, there are stupendous 19 major ones in addition to hundreds of other minor ones. Those include attack types such as Malware, Spyware, Phishing attacks, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks, Ransomware, Zero-Day Exploits, Advanced Persistent Threats, Trojans, Wiper Attacks, Intellectual Property Theft, Theft of Money, Data Manipulation, Data Destruction, Man-in-the-Middle Attack (MITM Attack), Drive-by Downloads, Malvertising, Rogue Software, Unpatched Software, and Data Centre Disrupted by Natural Disaster. According to Norton, the truly mind blogging fact is that there were 5 cyberattacks on the rise, which include cryptojacking, mobile-focused cybercrimes, social engineering, IOT-focused cybercrimes, and stalkerware. The advancement of cyber attacks and new variations make it impossible for us to avoid, making the internet a perilous place for businesses with high values that often become the victim. Moreover, cyber threats not only include cyberattacks but also misconstrued cyberbullying false social activism, and digital deception. Cyberbullying is defined as "bullying or threatening someone intentionally with the use of digital technologies and devices" and was a relatively recognized concept; however, misapprehended by many people. Since people's view regarding what is "bullying" is divergent, we can not agree or disagree on the subject. On the other hand, a private university institution known as Maryville University conveyed that although the term "cyberbullying" is defined as bullying through the internet, it is classified as a subcategory of a specialized term, similar to the term "cyber threats." According to this source, there are 5 different types of cyberbullying, which include Harassment (Which involves sending abuse or offensive messages to an individual or group), Cyberstalking (A specific form of harassment are not just offensive or rude, but more threatening as it may threaten the victim's physical safety as well as lead to stalking in real life as it progress), Exclusion (The act of deliberately ostracizing the victim), Outing (When the bully publicly shares private messages, pictures, or other information about the victim on the internet), Masquerading (Occurs when the bully uses another identity to harass the victim anonymously), and Fraping (Act of logging in to someone's social media profile and posting inappropriate content under their name). Cyberbullying is also ubiquitous due to the prevalence of social media. For instance, according to, National Center for Education Statistics, 20.2% percent of all students have reported experience with some bullying, and ⅕ of all bullying occurs through social media. The data supporting the research shows interchangeable relatedness between social media and cyberbullying and its widespread through communication. Cyberbullying in social media is dangerous as it can make the victim feel attacked everywhere as you can interact everywhere. The impacts can include mental aspects such as feeling upset, embarrassed, stupid, even angry, and can result in decreased self-esteem and depression. In addition, it can precipitate deterioration of physical aspects such as ired (loss of sleep) or experiencing physical symptoms like stomach aches and headaches. As a result, of these colossal health risks, many social media are now trying to develop a solution that addresses and protects their users with new tools, guidance, and ways to report inappropriate content. Facebook, a controversial social media premier, uses image caching technology and AI-based algorithm to remove inappropriate content from its server. In addition, Facebook introduced a new captcha method that involves sending your photo to verify if you are a human. Although it has become privacy atrocious, Facebook proclaims a new measure to protect its user as it is one of their primary goals. Social Activism, on the other hand, is an entirely different problem. It is often regarded as a righteous movement. However, some users are allegedly using the functions to promote absurd premises, political campaigns, and fake stories such as satire which exacerbates the problem of false information spread. According to Ionos, a web hosting company, there are 4 types of fake news that are widely spread in the derogatory contents of Social Activism. Those include Targeted Misinformation, Fake Headlines, Viral Posts, and Satire. Fake news has inimical effects, such as the viewers fostering an anti-democratic mindset; social bots have had a major influence on world events, including the United Kingdom's Brexit vote in 2016 and the United States presidential election in 2017, and ruining business because of the derogated reputation. Lastly, Digital Deception, also a recent term, is a term for deception happening on digital communication in our personal and professional lives through platforms such as email, instant messaging, and other social media platforms. The emerging bleeding edge technology such as metaverses