There was pin drop silence at the Avila Convent auditorium today as inspector of cyber cell P.N. Rajan delivered an awareness speech on cyber crime.

The interactive session, organised as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the school, was attended by more than 1000 girls and staff members.

“Using technology is good. If it is used wisely, it will be good. Or else, the same technology can bring only do more harm. It is in your hands to carefully use the various forms of technology,” Rajan said.

He urged the students not to get too close or personal with strangers on social media such as Face book as it could land them in deep trouble. Rajan recalled an incident where a young girl’s profile picture on social media was morphed and harassed by criminals. “Unable to bear the harassment, the girl took an extreme decision,” he pointed out.

On finance-related crimes, he said no bank official would ask their customers for personal details. “Similarly no police officer or any one from the police department will ever ask anyone to deposit money in a bank account. If any of you receive any communication in this regard, report this to the police immediately,” Rajan said.

On identifying an authentic website, he said “a website address that ends with is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure website.”

The cyber crime department can be contacted through email ccc.cbre.tnpol@gov.in or over the phone, Rajan said.