When 26-year-old Taruna Aswani was blackmailed for naked pictures by the man who hacked her Cloud, she turned to social media and took the matter into her own hands.

Tips for staying safe online: Use separate devices for banking and kids' gaming

Use separate devices for banking and kids' gaming Don't send passwords via email

Don't send passwords via email Don't use personal accounts on untrusted wi-fi

Don't use personal accounts on untrusted wi-fi Think twice before providing anyone personal information, a phone call to confirm is never a problem for legitimate requirements

Think twice before providing anyone personal information, a phone call to confirm is never a problem for legitimate requirements Don't click on untrusted or unknown links

Don't click on untrusted or unknown links Check the address an email comes from to ensure it is legitimate and look out for grammatical errors in emails Source: Scott Ceely, Internet of hacked things: the biggest threat to online safety is ourselves

Ms Aswani received an email on October 21 from a "Kevin John" — who was unknown to her — with the chilling subject line "let's start".

From then on, Ms Aswani was sent a series of emails demanding she send John naked pictures of herself.

John claimed to have obtained naked pictures and videos of Ms Aswani by hacking into her Google Cloud back-up.

He taunted her with the material he had obtained.

"You know what I have. You in the bathroom with your blue sandals," one of the emails read.

"All I am saying is if you want me to keep quiet on this and don't let the world know then you have to excite me.

"I will give you 24 hours to respond and 48 hours to send me [the images].

"I have access to all your friends … family and co-workers."

Ms Aswani reportedly filed a complaint to the FBI immediately, but instead for awaiting their response, took matters into her own hands.

Born in India and currently living in Maryland, United States, Ms Aswani wrote a public post on Facebook alerting all family and friends to the blackmail threats.

"I am posting this and emailing you individually as my online identity has been compromised," the post said.

"As embarrassing as the videos may be (they were sent to my boyfriend at the time) I choose to stand up to this man.

"I do this so that other women may take a lesson to stand up to bullies … and may get the confidence to stand up as well in case he is known to us and is targeting all of us, but we're either too scared, ashamed or clueless in how to manage or handle such situations."

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Ms Aswani implored her social network to share the post in the hopes that "someone may be able to locate this person".

Her post was shared more than 4,400 times with more than 22,000 reactions.

Many commenters commended Ms Aswani's bravery and she has received thousands of comments in support.

Ms Aswani expressed her gratitude to those who reached out in a following Facebook post.