3 Feb 2023

Vyankatesh Prabhudesai who founded the Aryaan Study Circle makes it a point to give the students an exposure to personalities in varied fields, to motivate them beyond the normal studies. Luminaries in the field of Aerospace, Technology, Education, Chemistry, Sports, Business, etc have addressed the students. It is therefore always a pleasure to interact with the students and share with them some of my own experiences and what has worked well for me. It was a talk titled “Enjoy the Challenge and You will Enjoy the Journey”, taking several analogies from the sports field.

But I am also thankful that VPD – as Vyankatesh Prabhudesai is fondly known to his students – has also given me a platform to share the message on road safety to the students. This year, I decided to experiment a bit. Since these are students of Std XI, I tried to incorporate a few specific changes that help them relate the Physics they learn to the different aspects of road safety. In particular:
• How a helmet is essential even at slow speeds, since the vertical fall can cause damage. And how it is effective in reducing the impulse of the force of impact.
• Blind spots are related to optics and geometry and therefore the extra caution required especially around large vehicles like buses and trucks.
• The effect of speed on a) the cone of vision b) the stopping distance and c) the energy dissipated on impact in a crash
For the last point, it was a thought experiment : if a vehicle travelling at 80 Kmph crashes, the energy dissipated causes the damage. How does one relate to the severity of this impact? Imagine the vehicle falls from a height. What is the height from which it should fall to hit the ground at 80 Kmph? It is about 84 feet => equivalent to a 8-9 storey building! And, it increases exponentially with the square of the speed. The picture on top illustrates this point.

We also did the exercise to sensitise the students that using a mobile when driving is risky.

The students had good observations about the lack of protection for 2 wheelers, jumping red lights, and driving on the wrong side of the road. One of the students had a very pertinent question about standards “shouldn’t safety standards be same for all vehicles?” he asked. This is indeed an important question. The standards for 2 wheelers will be quite different from those for 4 wheelers. We often pay attention to the other aspects of the vehicle we purchase, but safety should be high in that list. As technology evolves, and the price point reduces, the safety devices become more mainstream. There is now a push from the Ministry of Road Transport to make airbags available for all cars. It was very nice to see the level of awareness in the children and their ideas to improve safety.

I also want to thank Dr Subba Nayak. Just before my session, he shared with me the stats for Goa. The most striking information was that 67% of the fatalities in Goa are related to 2 wheelers. This is way above the national average of 45%.

Here is feedback from the students.

The session made us aware about the road safety with particular focus on accident prevention.
-Navinya Desai

The knowledge he imparted regarding road safety was informative and eye opening. Sir really integrated physics in the right way and the data he brought to us made us realize how critical the issue is. The road safety part was the best as I got to know how wearing a helmet is very important, for instance, among multiple other things that I will, from this day on, implement in my life and encourage those around me to as well
-Arjun Nair

This session has just brought the realisation that life is precious, not just ours but all whom we come across in our lifetime. The statistical data of the deaths caused on roads was quite shocking. “Not just One life is important but EVERY one is and that Each one should value not just his own life but even that of the others.” One’s life can really be saved if he/ she would wear a helmet or would use their seat belts. We should concentrate on only one thing at a time and not get distracted, for example while studying that’s all a student should do and while driving that’s all the driver should do and not talk on the mobile or do anything that would be distracting.
-Presha Rane

The detailed presentation and the precise figures helped us realize the gravity of the issue and drilled the measures that we should take to travel safely.
– Aachal Sawant

The session made us aware of the importance of road safety in our country. What made it so special for us Aryaanites was that he related it so well to the physics we learn on a daily basis providing a much clearer understanding. I have been inspired to spread awareness as well.
-Anavee Palyekar

The session gave us an insightful overview of the status and perils of road safety in India, supported by statistics. Integration of physics in road safety was something that caught my attention. He urged us to be responsible future drivers and riders. It makes me wonder, that there are so many aspects and variables to driving on a road to take care of, and one can’t afford to get it wrong.
-Jahnavi Saraswat

This lecture was an eye opener for me as well as a lot of my peers. He taught us that a healthy body nurtures a healthy mind. The second part of the lecture had us stunned as he explained the safety record on our roads. He explained the situation through graphs and practical use of physics ( which I enjoyed very much ). And in the end he made us take a pledge that we would be responsible drivers and be good citizens of this beautiful country of ours and set a standard for the future generations. This is a pledge I plan to keep.
-Shashank Kamat

In the session on road safety he explained that being a good driver is a responsibility that all of us bear and that a driver needs to be vigilant when he/she is driving. He used a little bit of physics which was really interesting and eye opening for students like us.
~ Siddhi Nagvekar

Sanjay sir talked to us about road safety and deeply inspired us by his story. I am sure that we will take all the required precautions when we start driving or even otherwise.
-Trishaa Pai Vernekar

The topic was quite a refreshing change from our usual study and college oriented topics. Road safety is clearly close to his heart, and now it resonates deeply within us as well. Now we all have a much clearer grasp of the importance of road safety and we will definitely will be more prudent in our choices on the roads.
-Nalini Gupta

Your emphasis on the significance of responsible driving and your reminder of our role as future drivers and responsible citizens, through the work of the Arundhati foundation, will stay with us always.
-Mandar Waigaonkar

We are grateful to TV 18 for this opportunity to participate in the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyaan. It was a well thought out, well constructed program that encompassed many different dimensions : road discipline, road improvements, different types of road users (truck drivers, delivery boys, motorcyclists), educating young children, and others like us who have faced loss on account of road crashes. This is such an important initiative, and we hope the sincere message from the iconic Mr. Bachchan, the reach of TV18, and the push from Mr. Gadkari will give it momentum. As was rightly said, it does not stop after the telethon, this is a long journey!

Here is the link to the video clip of our segment.

For those who do not follow the Hindi, here is an English version.
**

We have resolved to improve road safety, to bring about a positive change. To remember Aru is not just name, but also in deed, this is our effort although we know that this is a difficult task.
We have tried to take this message of safety to people across the spectrum : from little children, to young students, to adults. Our presentations are age appropriate – we tailor it to suit the audience’s age.
For little children, we have used cartoon posters and nursery rhymes so that the message is easy to grasp, and sticks.
We also have a unique program: Safety Quest. This is a safety quiz. It is a superb example of how a boring subject like Safety can be made interesting and engaging.
For the young and adults, we conduct “Tenets of Proactive Driving”. Many people use the term “Defensive Driving”, we say “Proactive Driving” because we emphasise two key aspects: Anticipation and Alertness.
After our sessions, about 10% of the audience comes to us, or sends us emails, telling us what they learnt or the changes they will bring into their driving. Our experience is that very few people are aware of blind spots, and our sessions help them understand blind spots for self and blind spots for others. We also conduct a small exercise that helps people understand that driving while using the mobile is risky.
One person wrote to us that after our session she started wearing the seatbelt even in the rear seat. And she believes this is what saved her when the car met with an accident.
When working with traffic police, our main focus has been “traffic calming”. Where the traffic patterns criss cross, we try to streamline the flow. And if the traffic is calm, the chances of collision are reduced, safety is improved.
**
Mr. Bachchan acknowledged how painful this loss would have been. But, he remarked,”It is really commendable that this enormous grief has been channelled into something so positive. And when the message comes from someone who has gone through the experience, it has a far greater effect. People will definitely listen to you”
Shubhangi said “It is difficult for anyone else to comprehend our grief and our loss. Our daughter was brilliant with a superb academic record, but she was also a very good human. She would have contributed a lot to the nation.”
I added, “In our sessions, my presentation focuses on the practical aspects, logic, science, techniques. Shubhangi conveys a strong emotional message ‘remember, there is someone waiting for you at home’.”
***
We are extremely grateful to all the other road safety champions we met: Shilpa Mittal, Savita Bhatti, Rishabh Anand, and Piyush Tewari. Their efforts in this field are exemplary.

We are thankful that the work of The Arundhati Foundation came up on this forum. Due to the paucity of time, we could not share a couple of points, and I would like to capture them here.

1) Integrating Safety into the School Curriculum
10/20 years from now, what will be the scene on the road: the number of people? the speed of the vehicles? the driving ? We have to prepare our children far better than how we were trained. Safety has to be integrated into the school curriculum right from the beginning. It must be reinforced each year, with added breadth and depth all the way till the age of acquiring a driver’s license. Children should develop a positive mindset, a positive attitude and positive behaviour with regard to Safety. In the training for the driver’s license, safety training should be compulsory.
We have submitted a proposal to Mr Gadkari for the same. He listened to us attentively, and has connected us with his Principal Advisor. We hope to work with his team to give it shape.

2) Boost Public Transport over 10 times
This point did not get much attention during the discussion. We have to shift our focus from moving vehicles to moving people or goods. The dynamics of a city are quite different from the highways. If we develop a robust network that is reliable, convenient, well connected, affordable and comfortable, it will not only reduce the load on the roads, it will have a multiplier effect on safety.
We believe that if the above 2 points are implemented effectively, they will create a sustainable difference and improve road safety.
***

Here is a link to the various segments of the telethon.

We had a pleasant surprise when one of the participants of Safety Quest 2022 shared her experience with us. Here is the video that Aabha Sardessai recorded.

Safety Quest 2022 – Aabha Sardessai

We conducted our annual Safety Quest on 18 Nov 2022. It was heartening to see 190 students participating wholeheartedly.
For those of you who would like to try the quiz at your own pace, you can visit: https://kahoot.it/challenge/008080101

We shared examples of a few young children, 10-16 years of age, who have demonstrated creative thinking in designing innovative solutions for safety, and some who have shown exceptional leadership to guide others to safety. We hope it inspires our young participants, and they also realise that they can make a difference.

While the questions were not very difficult, behind each question was some lesson or information that would have given the children better insight into the techniques, science or innovations.

Way back in 1854 John Snow carried out a neat data analytics exercise when he mapped the deaths due to cholera on the map of London, and then further added the position of the water pumps. The correlation jumps out visually to the reader, and draws a strong cause-effect relationship to the contamination of the water from a specific water pump. We included this example to help children understand the power of using data in scientific analysis.

It is heartening that the children know many answers. This builds hope that the future generation may strive to improve safety on the roads, or otherwise. They were well aware of
• distracted driving, the protection provided by helmets, and hand signals
• first aid techniques like Heimlich maneuver and CPR – the videos would have given them details about the techniques
• the effects of climate change
• the different types of fire extinguishers

There were a few questions where the scores were low, and the Safety Quest may have given some exposure to the children:
• Stop Drop and Roll : the technique used when one’s clothes are on fire
• Stubble burning : a major health hazard in the NCR region
• Cone of Vision : How it narrows as the speed of the vehicle increases
• Cybersafety : Guarding with strong passwords, and recognizing phishing
• Safely charging electronic vehicles

We hope they continue to remember these as they become adults and take on greater responsibilities.

Some children were forthcoming in sharing :

• Jyotsna V Vadivel shared how the students of her school were affected when a fellow student lost his life in a fatal crash due to the rash driving of a bus driver. The whole school lit candles in his honour.
• Vishnu Siddhartha K was very well aware of Cybersafety, and suggested that to recognize phishing attacks, we should check for spelling errors, unauthorised identities, and check that it relates to to our online activity

The Winners
The Quiz platform rewards correct answers and also the speed with which they are given. It was a close contest, and the winners of our quiz were

1. Aditya Rajiv Ratnam
2. Vishnu Sriguruganesh
3. Sooryanshi
4. Iniyaa Elaiyaraja
5. Shuban Singh

What the Children Said
With the wordcloud we ask the children to reflect on what they learnt, and as you can see there are some specific lessons being called here.

The quantitative feedback

And a few comments
• Chandana: it was wonderful
• Vishnu Sriguruganesh: I liked learning about safety rules
• Aadit Natchu: It was very interactive
• Sooryanshi Raut: very informative
• Nilaya Bandaru: I learnt a lot of new things
• Ananya Kasavajhula: I realized that road safety is the most important thing. Thank you for this amazing event. I learned a Lot
• Tamaira Nekkalapudi: I loved how you explained to us all about how to react. Thank you for this!
• Atharva Faldessai : I learned so many new things about road safety and protection against fire. Truly fun learning session.
• Aditya Rajiv Ratnam: thank you very much for the quiz. This is my 3rd time attending the Safety Quest Quiz and I learn so much every time.
• Meghana Vani: The questions were not too hard, but some were really informative. I liked the extra info at the end of each question. Thank you!

We had invited all the donors, and one of them had this to say : This is one of the best quiz programs that I am watching. Very good questions and answers by children are excellent. These future citizens are surely going to make Indian roads safer. Special compliments to the quiz master for making the program so interesting. Well done Arundhati Foundation!

***
Our Thanks!

Our sincere thanks go to the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies for sponsoring this event. Sahana Jose and Suresh Ponappa were extremely quickly in responding to our request, and taking care of the expenses involved. I am urging our readers to read Rohini Nilekani’s new book https://www.samaajsarkaarbazaar.in/. It is a collection of over a decade of articles, interviews, and speeches by Rohini Nilekani, Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar: A Citizen-First Approach, showcases her journey in the civil society sector and outlines her philosophy of restoring the balance between the state and markets, by positioning society as the foundational sector.

It’s available for free download on our site and to buy via Amazon / Flipkart.

Thank you Shyam Kokku, Dr Punith and S Ranga Ram Kumar for your kind donations and your participation! It means a lot to us.

And a big shout out to the team from QShala ( Walnut Knowledge Solutions ) – Anagha, Shilpa, Vaishnavi, Raghav. Their work in content curation, creatives, mobilizing participation, providing a great platform for the online quiz, and managing the logistics, all makes it easy for us to organize this event. And Anagha’s energy and enthusiasm to keep every one engaged through the event was just superb.

References of Safety Champions
Zen Sadavarte
Rishank Kanaparti
Jayakumar
S. R. Valava
John Snow’s map

Participants Gallery

Here are a couple of screenshots of the participants gallery

When it comes to road safety, the risks are often conveyed in terms of statistics. Yet, despite losing over 400 people every day on Indian roads, our road users seem to judge risk quite differently. We tend to minimize personal risk due to unrealistic optimism and an over-estimation of our driving abilities, leading to perceived invulnerability. But things can turn topsy turvy in a split second!

I Feel It’s Safe!

Take a look at the pics below. Each depicts a risky behaviour.  Overspeeding, overtaking on a curve at high speed, jumping lights, intentionally driving on the wrong side, is particularly aggressive risk taking. But the persons involved believe they are in complete control.

There can be internal factors affecting the driver behaviour: experience and past memory, stress, fatigue, mood. And there can be external factors as well: the road condition and signage, the environment, the group who is with the driver. These factors can lead to a failure to examine risks, poor information gathering, bias in processing information, and therefore risk perception.

The person rationalizes, and justifies the behaviour to himself – he is attending to an urgent matter, it was an important phone call, because ‘everyone is doing it’. Some people may not even realise that what they are doing is risky – it is just normal for them. People have been used to riding without helmets, so the risk perception does not change with the law. And everyone around uses the mobile phone! Sometimes it is to impress peers, although they may not admit it. Thrill seekers knowingly take high risks. Overindulgent parents who encourage children to stand up in the cars, or encourage minors to get into the driver’s seat, believe that their behaviour was safe.

This is not limited to people in the driver’s seat.

You can see in the pic, a pedestrian is taking some risk with the distracted walking.  He has probably done it many times before.

Pedestrians do have a tough time on our roads because the sidewalks are encroached, or the facilities to cross the roads are non-existent. This leads to undue risk especially when crossing broad and busy thoroughfares.

The unfortunate crash that led to the demise of Mr. Cyrus Mistry brought into sharp focus the use of seatbelts in the rear seats. How often do you see people in rear seats wearing seatbelts? It is a rarity. Mr. Mistry may have been accustomed to travel in this manner, and may have covered thousands of km in the rear seat.

Or take the example of the tragic bus crash near Tumkur in Karnataka. Was it the first time that the people were travelling in the overcrowded bus? Was it the first time that the driver has packed so many passengers in his bus? Most certainly not. The passengers rationalise that they have no other means. The driver and the transport company are keen to make the most of the opportunity for their gains, they are confident of their vehicle and their ability to control it. They can all justify the reason for their action. Plus, they had made the trip numerous times. So why not one more time?

Topsy Turvy In A Split Second

If the first risky attempt results in some injury or a near miss, the person may refrain from such behaviour. But more often than not, this passage is without any hiccups. And then, the behaviour repeats, many times over, to a point when the person has an exaggerated sense of control.

It will take just one fall to the ground from the motorbike to damage the skull. It will be just one instance of a speedy ride spinning out of control. It will be just one instance of the underage driver panicking.  Whether in the case of the bus tragedy, or in the case of Mr. Mistry, on the fateful day, it was a split second that turned everything topsy turvy!

And when the moment arrives, it is too late to take evasive action or to make any correction. Extra caution is required to curb the optimism bias, for things can turn topsy turvy in a split second!

Risk Perception and Tolerance

Risk perception is the ability to discern risk, and risk tolerance is the capacity to accept a certain amount of risk ( we often use the term “calculated risk” ).

There is an interesting correlation with the age of the driver. Younger drivers are overconfident because they underestimate the hazard or do not anticipate it. This is due to inexperience. On the contrary, the experienced drivers underestimate the risks because some of them are familiar! Or, as discussed earlier, the repeated experience blunts the sense of risk and exaggerates the sense of control.

It is known that men take more risks on the road compared to women drivers. This is primarily because the risk tolerance levels of women are lower, and there is a strong correlation to the family affiliation.  Thrill seekers have a very high risk tolerance, and they knowingly engage in extremely risky behaviour.

What Can We Do About It?

We need safer systems – safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds – that will be more forgiving to human errors. But there is no substitute to a safety mindset – safety is not by accident.  As my friend Naresh Raghavan ( the author of the Card Driving School Manual for India ; he has recently released his course online for free Indian Driving Rules (Professional Road Safety Course) – YouTube ) says “Driving may be fun. But primarily it is a huge responsibility. A well-trained driver can drive safely through bad roads, bad traffic conditions, bad weather. Good driving is science, don’t leave it to luck”.

The awareness that the road is a shared space, and that we all should be able to continue to enjoy our driving or walking is essential to reduce risky behaviour. Perception of risk is a critical antecedent to at-risk road behaviour. Conventional defensive driver training should be augmented with training to increase self-awareness so as to improve technical driving skills without increasing overconfidence.  We suggest the use of toolkits with a set of questions supplemented by videos and images. The drivers can do a self-assessment. Based on the answers, there can be a targeted sensitization. This will help temper their risk perception. The toolkit can also help draw a stronger connection to family and community so that they feel the need to avoid the negative consequences and thus lower their risk tolerance. Fleets ( trucks, buses, taxis ) should certainly implement this on a regular basis.

“Catch them young!” – The sooner we do this in the life of a driver, the better it is.  This can be incorporated into the process to grant a driving license, and then at each renewal to help the driver re-calibrate.

If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear from you!

References

1. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/nitin-gadkari-seatbelts-mandatory-for-passengers-in-rear-seats-of-car-cyrus-mistry-accident-1997204-2022-09-06
2. https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/the-v-and-l-on-the-road-that-claimed-cyrus-mistrys-life-23244463
3. https://www.india.com/karnataka/8-dead-20-injured-after-bus-carrying-60-passengers-overturns-in-karnatakas-tumkur-5292865/
4. https://www.thecampbellinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Campbell-Institute-Risk-Perception-WP.pdf
5. https://iosh.com/media/5929/presentation-by-tina-on-risk-perception-to-safe-behaviour.pdf

In our last post, we analysed the clickbait in phishing emails. In this article, we look at the 2nd part of cyber safety, Vishing and Smishing.

Vishing is voice phishing, the tactics that lead to sensitive information being obtained via phone calls. And Smishing is short for SMS phishing, when an ordinary looking SMS has a hook that snares the victim and leads him to share sensitive information. The prevalence of this phenomenon led to the creation of the series Jamtara – Sabka Number Aayega which dramatised some true stories.

Often, the fraudster poses as a person with some authority – from the bank, from the government, from the police, from the workplace, etc. – and the victim is convinced that it is right to share the information. People may be wary of another person calling with such authority, but there are other occasions where greed or fear lead to an error. Let us see some examples.

Vishing – Case 1
Mani put up a car for sale on an online website. He posted a few nice pictures of his car along with the expected sale price, and his phone number. Later in the day, he got a call. 
“This is Colonel Rajendran. I am a ex- army officer, now in civil service after 18 years in the army. As an army man, I like dealing with honest people, so I am happy that you have posted about the small accident you had. I am keen to purchase it”.
Mani was very happy. He asked the Colonel to come over and check out the car.
The Colonel said, “For sure, I will do so. But I want to reserve the car. Hence, I want to pay you a token amount up front. I will transfer Rs 50,000.”
On the Colonel’s request, Mani shared the bank details to transfer the money.
While still on the call, the Colonel transferred Rs. 100 to Mani. “It was a trial transaction. I will now transfer the Rs 50,000”, he said, keeping Mani engaged on the call. A little later, he told Mani, “Since the amount is a bit high, the bank wants me to share a QR code for your authorization. I will share it on your email, and you can scan it with your banking app”.
Mani shared his email, and in a moment, he received the QR Code via an email that from col_rajendrann. Following the Colonel’s instructions, Mani opened his usual mobile banking app, and scanned the QR code. “I am approving it”, he told the Colonel. As soon as he had approved it, the phone got disconnected. Mani then noticed an SMS that his account had been deducted for Rs 50,000.

Note the modus operandi of the fraudster. He builds trust posing as an ex-army officer, and appealing to Mani’s honesty. And he keeps Mani distracted with his conversation while he sends the QR code. What did Mani miss? If you have paid using QR code in shops, you will realise that it identifies the entity receiving the money, and may embed the amount in it as well. The QR code is scanned by the person who pays, and not by the person who receives the money! This small detail would have alerted Mani.

Vishing – Case 2

Payal got a call in the afternoon. “Hi, this is Surya from xxxx.com. Am I speaking to Payal Sharma?”. Payal confirmed. Surya’s voice was very enthusiastic, ”We recently held a lucky draw for our regular customers. I am happy to say you are one of the lucky winners! One amongst 10 lac! The prize is a gift coupon worth Rs 20,000! Congratulations!” Payal was very excited. She had never been so lucky before. Surya said, “I need to verify a few details to ensure that we are indeed sending it to the right Payal Sharma. Can you confirm your first name, last name, and your address?”. Payal did so.

Surya then said, “Our database says that you have used a Credit Card for your purchases. Can you confirm the card details? Your card number, expiry and CVV should match our records”. Payal went ahead and shared that as well.
Surya said, “Thank you for your patience. All the details have verified OK. I am now going to initiate the process for the dispatch of the gift card. You will receive an OTP, once you confirm the same, the delivery will be completed.”
The next second, Payal received an OTP. She opened it, her eyes registered Rs 20,000 and xxxx.com. She read out the OTP.
Surya said, “Thank you. The gift card is on its way!” and cut the call.
Immediately after that, Payal noticed that her account had been debited by Rs. 20,000.

Note the modus operandi. The fraudster has dangled the carrot of a free voucher, appealing to the basic greed. Again, the fraudster is keeping her distracted, and creating a sense of urgency to share the OTP. In the process, Payal does not pay full attention to the OTP.
Here is a typical OTP one may receive for transactions:

Note the specific mention that it is for a transaction, i.e. a Purchase! And that the purchase is on MMM merchant. Also, it explicitly ask the user not to share the OTP.

Smishing – Case 1
It was the month of March. There had been many reminders requesting PAN number to be linked with Aadhar. In the last week of March, Dinesh received an SMS

Dinesh was alert. He recognized this as a Smishing attempt. What did he see?
He checked that the SMS was sent from phone number 079854xxxxx. A bank will never send messages from a personal phone number. By regulation, such messages have to be sent using a registered identity so you will see the receiver being VM-AxisBk or AD-SBI, etc.
He noticed that the language was not refined and it had errors. Most importantly, Dinesh was sure that the bank will never solicit such KYC information on its own. KYC does not get “suspended”. He ignored the SMS as a fraud message and carried on.

Smishing – Case 2
In the same period, Paul got a SMS :

Paul was cautious, but curious. He called the customer care number listed. He heard the usual recorded message that AAA Bank played. Then the agent picked it up. “Hi, thank you for calling AAA Bank. This is Sunita. How may I help you?” When Paul asked about the message he had received, Sunita told him “Let me check.”, and after a pause, she said, “This is quite common, so the bank has created an app to help customers. I will share a link with you. You can download the program and do the KYC details yourself”. The call ended, and Paul received a link on his mobile.  

At this time, Paul became suspicious, and decided to do a further check. The SMS had come from phone number 63834xxxxx, so not a genuine message from the bank. Wisely, he chose not to click on the link.

This is an example of a clever attempt (and a 2-step mechanism) to get victims to download malware onto their devices. The malware can then capture lot of sensitive information, and relay back to the fraudster.

Higher level of Security with 2FA and MFA
The two-factor authentication (2FA) in India provides a second line of defence even when certain sensitive information is compromised. 2FA brings two elements together:
* Something you know : eg. Password, PIN, Credit Card details, etc
* Something you have : a mobile device where the OTP gets delivered; a chip card in your hand

Thus, even if card details etc are shared, unless the transaction OTP is shared, the authorization is incomplete.

Stronger authentication mechanisms include “something you are” e.g. biometric, so no one else can impersonate you.  Other factors include Location and Time.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) uses 2 or more factors to further strengthen the security.

Be(a)ware!
There are many other examples – impersonating your friend, fake job portals, fake tech support, fake covid testing / vaccination sites, fake loans, fake insurance offers – the list of fraudsters is long. But luckily, we have a short list of precautions!
Whether it is phishing, vishing, or smishing, remember that
* The fraudsters will play on your psychology – greed, or fear
* They will speak with authority, with practised ease that wins your confidence, and create a sense of urgency
* They will entice you to share the 2nd element of the 2FA – the OTP – that will complete the transaction.

Remember
* Scan a QR code only when you want to pay a merchant
* Check the OTP message to confirm it is triggered by your action for purchase or registration. Do not share any OTP
* If in doubt, check directly with your bank or the said authority
* Set your transaction limits to contain the loss in case of any such event

* In an unfortunate event, if you face such a situation, report it to the nearest Cyber Crime Police Station and National Cyber Crime Reporting portal at https://cybercrime.gov.in

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Image Credits
www.whatismyipaddress.com
blog.credo.com
www.kaspersky.com
www.avatier.com

This year, we conducted the Safety Quest online on the 13th of November. The poster above was used for the invitation along with an FAQ. Thanks to our partners, Walnut Knowledge Solutions, and several well-wishers, the word spread across the country and also beyond. We had students in grades 6-8 from over 70+ cities from India and UAE. The major cities being Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Patna, Chandigarh, and AbuDhabi, Dubai, Doha.

We had a total of 1234 registrations of which 350 participants joined in for the event.
For those of you who wish to experience the quiz, check this out https://kahoot.it/challenge/003952769

As usual we strive to bring awareness to the students in a fun way. This time we leveraged the Kahoot platform more effectively, and it allowed us to create questions in different formats :
1) Multiple choice questions – where there may be 1 correct answer, or multiple correct answers
2) Type your answer – we made it a one-word answer, and allowed for typing mistakes
3) Arrange the options in order – where the 4 options could be moved around to create the sequence
Another good feature of Kahoot is that it logs the time to answer, and thus there is an automated method of ranking the correct answers based on “fastest finger first”.
The gamification also ensures that each participant sees the top performers on the charts, and their individual position vis-a-vis the leaders. This was also useful in engaging and enthusing the participants.

Students learnt about various aspects of safety : Road, Electrical, Fire, Cyber, Health, Environment
They learnt about techniques : Distress Signals, CPR, Creating a Floatation Device, Using a Fire Extinguisher
We included questions on innovative ideas from young children to inspire the participants, to let them know that they can make a difference.
We used videos to reinforce the learning.

At the end of the quiz, we asked the children to answer in one word “What is the 1 new thing that they learnt today?”. This is what the children responded with :

The worthy winners of the quiz were Ritwik Choudhary, Saaliha Bilal, Sanath Kothari, Gia Goel, Aditya Rajiv Ratnam
and Vidisha Swaika. Congratulations to all the winners!

Here is some feedback we received, which we thought was very heartening :
Aditya Rajiv Ratnam: regards to the Arundathi Foundation for doing such wonderful work. We are grateful for your enormous generosity and kindness to society despite your personal loss. I wish everyone in the Safety Quiz could properly interact with you and understand the story.
Saee Nimdeo: Thank you for the quiz
Yashaswini Vallurupalli: it was great
Parv Patodi: Amazing quiz
Diya Pawar: Amazing 😻
Tanvi Vallurupalli: It was fun
Rishabh Sehrawat: please conduct the next quiz as soon as possible
Anushka Shanker: wonderful quiz!
Pragyan Saluja: very nice I enjoyed and learned many things
Suveer Modi: It was an amazing quiz. I would love to play more quizzes like this!!
Ritwik Choudhary : Some questions were tough for me to answer, but was happy to learn so much new stuff
Saaliha Bilal : The content and format of the quiz were enjoyable. I promise to be an ambassador by spreading safety information with my friends.

Since many of the registered participants could not join us, we shared the link to the quiz https://kahoot.it/challenge/003952769
This has also been shared with the teachers who had helped us mobilize the students for the quiz. So far, 177 people played the quiz shared in this manner! We hope that anyone who comes across this blog post will do so as well.

A big shout out to Anagha Sridhar, Shrija Bhattacharya, N Shilpa of Walnut Knowledge Solutions. They played a big role in putting together the content for the quiz. And during the event, despite some technical glitches, they kept the show going, keeping the audience engaged all through!

We are grateful to Lakshmi Nair, and Underwriters Laboratories, who came forward to sponsor the prizes for the event. One of the core values of UL is that of safety science, and therefore we are especially pleased to have UL as a partner for SafetyQuest since 2017. A sincere Thank You!

Here are some pics from the online event.

9 Jan 2021 : We hosted the first Safety Quest of 2021 online for the young students of grades 3,4,5 of the Shiv Shikshan Sanstha’s Global School, Sion.

For many of them, it was the first time to attend such an event online, and some of them also faced operational challenges. Despite this, the children were enthusiastic and engaged all through the event.

Congratulations to the Top5 winners ! Aditya Kadam, Shreedatta Patil , Arush, Aishwarya Prakash Vhatkar and Aarya Helkar will receive their QShala vouchers. We are sure it will be a great learning experience for them.

The children wrote back to share what they retained :

• Wear a helmet on scooters, and in the car put on the seat belt even in the rear seats
• We are aware of safety – to protect self and others
• It was enjoyable for students to learn safety in this manner

Here is the testimonial from the school management(Mrs. Sunita Pant – Principal):

“It was a wonderful event and was very engaging. Most of the parents called me personally and appreciated the way the event was hosted and asked me to conduct such events in the future too. These kinds of activities help children in building their mind set and thinking way which will make them a better person in their life.”

Thank you Ma’am for giving us the opportunity and we hope the participants will be our Safety Ambassadors!

Here are a couple of screenshots of the participants.