I spend a lot of time online and as my kids get older I’m aware that they will too. Internet Safety is important to me as I’m sure it is to you. Please read this guest post to make sure you’re aware of the dangers and most importantly, how to keep safe:
Just how safe are we online?
People are going online for everything these days, from booking holidays to sorting finances or merely chatting to friends. This reliance on the internet can be dangerous if you are not careful, and there are plenty of unscrupulous people out there who can easily take advantage of your trust and cause you to unwittingly give up personal information and passwords.
Here are some of the top hazards you should look out for:
Be aware of what your children are doing online
Children are very vulnerable online and can easily be sucked in by online predators or scams. The best way for you to protect your children is to set up family filters on your computer which help you to control what your children can see and do. Many routers, operating systems and websites have built in parental controls, which you can activate if you feel that your kids might be at risk. Parental controls will enable you to shut down access to sites that you don’t feel your children should have access to. Most reliable parental controls can be found on good antivirus software. Make sure that you have passwords for your children’s social networks (if they’re allowed accounts!). This way, you can check regularly to make sure they aren’t talking to anyone they shouldn’t be.
Be careful when selling online
Make sure that you use a proper auction site where people receive ratings and reviews, as this will help you to be sure that the person you are buying from or selling to is a genuine user. Never give out your address or personal details on your advertisement, and if possible meet someone in a safe local place to give them the goods and receive the money.
Don’t tell people where you are
Scammers and criminals can add people on social networks under fake names and fake pictures and then use these profiles to spy on you. If you decide to check in somewhere that is not your home, or announce that you are going on holiday, you could have just told a criminal that you are not in your home and that it is vulnerable. Teamed with the wealth of personal information that tends to be available on social networks, this could almost be like handing a burglar your keys. One of the simplest ways of keeping your private information from prying eyes is to strengthen your Facebook privacy settings: make sure only your friends can see what you post, and only add people you know in the first place.
Guest Post
