Loading...How to stay safe on line
We’ve all heard stories about internet fraudsters clearing out bank accounts and people being “phished” and having their identity stolen, so for many of us spending lots of money buying stuff on the internet can be a daunting prospect.
By taking some simple precautions you can reduce your risk of being targeted online.
Check out Girl Geek’s top ten list to staying safe on line:
1. Strong Passwords
- Use different passwords for all the accounts you may have, this makes a hacker’s job much more difficult.
- Use strong passwords so this means a combination of letters, numbers and common symbols, generally more than 7 letters long.
2. Suspicious emails
- Phishing is a technique where you get a fake email which appears to be from a site you may use regularly. The email may ask you to update details and click a link to do so where they can then harvest your details.
- If you get an email that seems dodgey, don’t do what it is requesting!
3. Keep your wits about you
- If you get, for example, an email from a man offering you hundereds of thousands of pounds and you don’t even know him then yes, this is obviuolsy too good to be true and a con.
- It’s a scam, if you get one, delete it.
4. Secure your wireless network
- Do not leave your wireless network at home un-secure as your network can be hacked and your broadband connection can be used by other people.
- Use some form of wireless encryption (WPA or WPA2), use a strong adminstrator password and ensure only known computers can connect to your network.
5. Shop at secure sites
- Make sure there is a closed padlock in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
- Make sure there is https:// in the address ba
6. Firewall
- A firewall is a piece of software which makes your computer invisible to hackers searching for soft targets to hack.
- Use a quality firewall to stop hackers cracking your computer’s security easily.
7. Anti-virus / Anti-spyware software
- Install a good quality anti virus software on your computer.
- Keep it up to date as new viruses are being released all the time.
- Install anti-spyware software such as Microsoft Defender
8. Take care when downloading
- Make sure you trust the site you are downloading from.
- Some disreputable sites may attach spyware to another innocent package you are downloading which can send information from your computer back to criminals.
9. Be responsible
- Don’t think “oh, it will never happen to me” and not bother taking precautions.
- Security is your responsibility.
10. Keep sensitive data private
- Be aware not to give too much personal information away on line
- Social networking sites are accessible by everyone so do not add loads of personal details including date of birth as this gives people access to your identity.
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:51 am
Could I add a note for the Suspicious Email bit. Your bank will NEVER send you an email asking for your details. At work a few months ago we received an email from a bogus HMRC site, asking for the companies details. I immediately chucked it in the spam folder but my sister, our accountant, saw it and was going to reply. She only questioned it when she couldn’t find the email after I’d deleted it.
Always check the ‘To’ box. If it says ‘undisclosed’ it has gone out to many, many people so you know it is not from who they say.
I think most of the banks have a dedicated ‘phishing’ email address for you to forward emails to asking for details, that way they can keep track of it.
I’d also highly recommend Norton Anti-virus suite. Ours cost £30 from WH Smiths and it includes ‘Utilities’ which will help keep your registry clean too. It also contains anti-spyware/ad-ware etc.
Hope it’s ok I’ve added some bits.
Jo