Digital Safety

Information You Shouldn't Share

When online, there is a multitude of information that you should stray from sharing. This includes personal information such as addresses, emails, and phone numbers. As well as this, in order to protect your information and yourself while online, it’s best to also exclude family members’ names, car information, and work history. Other sensitive information that should not be shared online according to Justice.Gov can include “social security numbers, birth date, school names, passport information, driver’s license numbers, insurance policy numbers, loan numbers, credit/ debit card numbers, PIN numbers, and bank account information.” This type of information is risky, can be traced and put your wellbeing at risk, so it is important to avoid it.

Staying Aware Online

Being online has its faults, one being the false sense of security when you haven’t taken precautions in staying safe and aware online. Aside from keeping your personal information professional and limited, there are other measures you can partake in to ensure that you’re being safe and to lower your chances of getting viruses or getting hacked. Keeping your privacy settings on and making sure your internet connection is secure is a good starting point. Using a secure VPN connection can also help aid against unwanted information leaks. Being mindful of what you download is wise, seeing as how downloading material from shady websites can lead to viruses. To further prevent viruses and the chance of getting hacked, be sure to make online purchases only from secure sites and choose strong passwords for any accounts. Staying aware online also extends to being careful who you meet there. Along with this, keeping antivirus software up to date is also a useful tool. .

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the act of using electronic communication to bully a person. This can happen through sending threats or hurtful messages. Cyberbullying has become an increasing issue as younger generations start to use the internet at ages younger than the last. 45% of children admit they have experienced bullying online, and too much of the youth on these devices aren’t prepared with how to deal with these negative experiences or to do their best in prevention of them. For starters, being conscious of what exactly cyberbullying is, can be a good start. Being informed on the signs can be helpful should a situation arise. Another step to take would be to have a strong password on any accounts you have and keep the password to yourself. This will prevent the chance of someone taking hold of your account and causing disruptions. Just as well, make sure to log out of any accounts you use on a public computer so that nobody else can use your account. You also have the option of privacy controls on social media. This prevents people you don’t want seeing your content in the dark. On top of this, be mindful of opening messages from people you don’t know, especially if they send links. Often, these tend to be a ruse and can put viruses on your device or send you to unwanted webpages. Taking note of these measures will significantly increase your levels of security on the web.

Friend Requests

Due to the risks associated with opening messages from people you do not know, there tend to be risks taken when pertaining to friend requests. According to verveacu.com, “Accepting friend requests from strangers can increase the risk of scammers spoofing your profile.” This can be due to small instances such as collecting personal information about your person in order to attempt gaining access at your passwords. Making personal information that could clue a scammer into important information should be information that should not have easy access. Links from strangers especially should be taken carefully or ignored. Typically, these are a part of a phishing scam that makes you log in to an account and this is how the sender receives your information and can download viruses onto your device. Being mindful of friend requests is definitely something to be aware and well informed about when online.

Insecure Websites

A common way to acquire a virus on their device while using the web is insecure websites. Keeping antivirus software up to date is also a useful tool to have. In prevention of viruses and the chance of getting hacked, making online purchases from insecure websites isn’t recommended considering a lot of them can be scams for your credit card information. Clicking on adds while in an insecure website also will likely lead to sites that can provide your device with malware and thus should be avoided.