Online Safety
By Marlene Gundlach | July 25, 2008
In this day and age, an individual can target your family from across the country. The Internet provides a virtual open door to your family, including your children. There are steps you can take to stay safe online.
Protecting Your Personal Information
The easiest and smartest thing to do to stay safe on the computer is to never share your personal information with anyone. Through message boards, blogs, and online social networks, people are reaching out to each other from all over the world. Some feel like this is a safe haven and it is all completely anonymous. Never let your guard down and start sharing more information than you should. Personal information includes such items as first and last name, address, phone number, or any password information. If you simply give someone your last name and the city where you live, it can bring trouble right to your front door. Likewise, sharing specifics on where you hang out, work, or what school your children attend are also not safe ideas.
Social Networking
The popularity of social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, are a relatively new phenomena. However, they open an entirely new level of security issues. Carefully choose the sites you register with. Determine whether only registered users are allowed to view and post content. If the site allows you to limit access based on invitations that you control, you are better able to control the viewing of your pages. When choosing screen names, do not choose something that will give away your real name. Do not choose something that is sexually explicit; you will only be inviting the wrong type of cyber friend.
It is not a good idea to post pictures of yourself. This may seem extreme, but some will take that photo, alter it in ways that you could never imagine, and re-post the photo elsewhere (in which case, you could soon find a photo with your face, but the rest of your features will be entirely a shock). Keep in mind: Once information is posted, it is there forever. Even if you delete it, somewhere it still exists. Never post something you will not want your family, friends, or future potential employers to view.
Be careful not to flirt or become overly friendly with online friends. Do extensive research before ever agreeing to meet with someone in person. If you do meet, do so in public and never go alone. Tell someone where you are going, whom you are meeting, and when you expect to return. There are stories on the news about teens who believe they are meeting another teenager whom they met online, when it is actually an adult predator. Rarely do these stories have a happy ending.
Cyber Bullying
Bullying is not limited to the playground anymore. Through email, instant messaging, and social networks, cyber bullying has become a serious issue. The attacks may be directly aimed at an individual, or others may step in to help.
Hateful emails or posts are the most basic type of attack. Others include stealing email information or passwords. Then, the bully will email or post hateful information posing as the victim. If someone has your screen name and password, they can log on to almost any site and pose as you. An example of this situation might go like this: a cyber bully stole a female’s information, visited a sexually explicit site, and then posed as the victim. The victim began receiving emails that she did not elicit. Other cyber bullys may choose screen names very similar to yours — maybe leaving out or adding one character. Then, they post inappropriate things, which are then connected to you.
Another trend is called “warning wars.” Many Internet service providers offer a way to report someone who is using threatening or inappropriate language. If you anger someone, they can report you through this warning system, even if it isn’t true. If they get enough people to also report you, you may be banned from using the service.
Death threats or other threats of violence are also sent through text messages, email, or instant messaging. Viruses, inappropriate photos, or spam emails can also be ways cyber bullies attack. Many of these situations can be avoided by communicating only with trusted friends and family online. And, be sure to never say anything through cyberspace that you wouldn’t say directly to someone’s face.
Email Safety
One suggestion to avoid spamming or phishing, is to have more than one email account. Some experts even suggest three accounts. The first account will be a personal account that you only give to friends and family. A second account, for work, that is limited to work-related communication. Finally, the third account for use only when you must use an email address to sign up for special offers or contests. This is the only account you will want to open up for unwanted emails, keeping the junk email at a minimum. There is also free software that you can install to protect your account.
There are two main types of unwanted emails:
- Spam emails are basically unwanted emails, mostly advertising products. These often are the source of many computer viruses, so you should never open an email if you do not know the sender. There are spam filters and software you can set up on your computer accounts to keep these emails from reaching your inbox.
- Phishing emails are those explicitly looking for personal information, most often financial information. It is common to receive multiple emails asking for verification of credit card and password information for online accounts such as PayPal or eBay. Companies will never email you asking for this type of information. Whenever you get an email like this, contact the company directly.
PayPal and eBay specifically request that you forward suspicious email to them so they can investigate it. It is recommended that you do this consistently. Also, always forward this type of financial e-mail to reportphishing@antiphishing.org or spam@uce.gov. Be sure to forward the entire email, including the sender information and the body of the email. The only way to help stop this type of email is to report them every time.
There is also the very popular “You have won the lottery in (insert any out of the way, exotic country). Please contact us with your banking information immediately.” The other unimaginable email you may receive is from the person who has billions of dollars and wants to get it into the United States by passing it through your account. All they need is your bank account number! Report these types of emails and delete them immediately. They are never legitimate and will only open a Pandora’s box of trouble.
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