As millennials, we wish to share all our noble deeds with friends and family on social media in order to make ourselves feel appreciated. Be it a picture of an inked finger after casting a vote or more recently a photograph of the certificate issued after vaccination, we feel compelled to let others know about it - or what's the point?
While the former may be relatively safe, the latter might lead to adverse consequences, which is why the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a warning against it.
Cyber Dost - a safety and cybersecurity awareness handle maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs, earlier on Tuesday posted an advisory on Twitter, which read “Beware of sharing #vaccination certificate on social media."
The post went on to explain why one should not post a picture of their post COVID-19 vaccination certificate on any social media platform.
The vaccine certificate contains your name and other personal details which may be misused by cyber fraudsters to defraud you, the post further stated.
When you receive your first jab, the government issues a provisional certificate which in addition to your personal information also carries the date of the second dose and the last four digits of your Aadhaar card number. The final certificate is given after the second dose and can be downloaded from the Aarogya Setu app or through the CoWIN website.
Well, basic information like Aadhaar details, phone number is enough for fraudsters to dupe you.
A vaccine certificate is likely to become as relevant as an ID proof in the near future since countries around the world will require you to produce one as evidence of being inoculated against the virus.
Rather than sharing our vaccine certificate on social networks, we could consider posting a picture of the sticker received from the health care centres or even writing a text encouraging others to get vaccinated. In this way, we can create awareness about our actions without compromising on safety.
