We’re here to complete the series on intimidation arising from technological lapses and its diversified forms.
Intimidation from purchasing from unknown sites People often ask: “Can we buy from any website? What are the ways to protect us from websites and app purchases? How do we obtain guarantees?”
One of the best ways to do that is avoid buying from sites that are unfamiliar to the public. If it is necessary, then you have to choose websites that provide the possibility of purchasing via PayPal or any similar process.
This service, even if it charges small fees from you or the website, is your guarantee. If a problem occurs and the website or the app fails to fulfil the order, then you have the right to claim your money through PayPal. And they get the full amount back most of time.
One of the benefits of using PayPal is that the website cannot withdraw more than the agreed amount and this is an important feature. It is worth noting that some sites intend to bring you into a monthly and yearly withdrawal, so you must pay attention to read the terms of sale and PayPal instructions.
You can also block and cancel such services from the control panel.
Intimidation on guarantee and quality of website merchandise E-commerce is pervasive and this has its uses, but one of the biggest defects is these websites depend on sellers putting up their stocks on multiple platforms. Unfortunately, some of these sites do not provide a service for evaluating the products or the sellers, and serious issues often occur as a result.
These include the delivery of products other than those displayed on the website and not identical to the existing description. Sometimes, the products are used and not meant for use in some countries as they may lack the electrical plug approved for the country.
This may lead to product damage, or product and usage info is not available in Arabic language for those who require it. The issues go on, but the bottom-line is that if you need to buy electronics, it is better to buy from stores such as Sharaf DG, Jarir, EMAX, Jumbo, and others with an option of extended warranty if you like.
On many websites, the warranty is a major issue, and so is after-sales services.
Intimidation from buying a computer without SSD not less than 256 GB Many people complain about the slowness of their devices, even new ones. When we take a quick look at them, we find they lack one of the most important components - if not the most important in my view.
That is the storage disk, which is one of the main factors affecting speed of use. Since most processors have become relatively very powerful, starting from Intel processors from the eighth generation up to the 10th, the most important component that anyone who wants to acquire a computer should make sure is that the storage disk should not be less than 256 GB SSD not the old HDD ones.
As for those who missed out, they can remove the HDD disc and buy an SSD which excels in performance, starting from raising the speed by ten times. The nice thing is that its prices have become affordable, and even the installation in PlayStation 4 devices speeds up some games significantly.
Intimidation from the use of inferior home devices I have heard about the term “Internet of Things”. I do not consider this to be a valid term in the first place, as “connected devices” is better in my opinion. To return to the important point, these devices can be tampered by hackers most of the time, and unfortunately protecting you from security vulnerabilities of these devices is difficult.
So you have to make sure these products are from reliable brands interested in updating and patching their devices. You may install “connected lamps” that can be easily hacked, or even surveillance cameras on the refrigerator, speakers, and other connected devices.
To ensure protection, you have to isolate these devices into a different vlan or repeatedly check for security updates. By hacking into these connected devices, they can access your computers and spy on your home network or use it to destroy websites with DDOS attacks.
Intimidation from sharing your data
Social engineering is a well-known concept of collecting data about you or the institution you work, or even confidential financial information. So someone comes and asks questions that you find simple, but in fact, it is like the story of “Leila and the Wolf” to get you to reveal information. So you have to be ware of those who love fishing in troubled waters.
The information could be the name of your maternal grandfather, the city of birth, date of birth, friends, the name of the favorite country, the extent of protection, programmes used in work and their defects. So, be watchful.
- Ahmed Al Zarouni is a Dubai based tech specialist.
