Digital Safety

Keep Yourself Safe Online!

The internet is a truly amazing place, and a wonderful resource. In the past one year, the time that we spend on the internet has gone up considerably. We can confidently say that the digital era is truly here. Like everything else, the internet has its risks and dangers, but if we are smart and prudent in our online usage and interactions, we can mitigate these lurking dangers almost completely. In this article, Mishal Faraz, Year 9, lists a few simple but effective tips to keep yourself safe online.

1: Create unique passwords: Creating strong and unique passwords is a must! Ideally, a password should be a combination of numbers, letters in upper case, as well as letters in lower case. Don’t use passwords like your name, your birthdate, your parents’ names, etcetera, as they are super easy to guess. Make sure that your passwords are tough!

Set different passwords for each account that you have.

Never, EVER, share your passwords with anyone, except your immediate family, and change them regularly.

2: Use a Firewall: A firewall is a software which you can install on your device. It is an electronic barrier that blocks unauthorized access to your account and devices, and makes them safe from cyber-attacks.

3: Beware of Phishing: Phishing is when someone tricks you, and tries to get your personal data and login details, by pretending to be a trustworthy company or organization. A bit like fishing, they are trying to hook you into typing in this information. Phishing will usually come as an email or a direct message, and will be designed to look like groups that you know and trust.

4: Be Alert: If you do not know where a link is leading, or who it is from, there are several risks involved in clicking it. It might try to get you to share your personal details, or it might take you to a sight with malware, a malicious software, which will try to steal information from your device. So make sure that you do not click links that you are not sure of, no matter how tempted you are.

5: Fraud Online Shopping: Be careful of online surveys, giveaways, and things that threaten or rush you, as they are often scams to get your information, or money.

6: Be Careful When Using A Public Device: Say that you are using a computer in the ICT lab at school, always remember to sign out of your account when you are done.

7: Be A Selective Sharer: These days, there are many platforms where you can share your personal information online. Just be cautious about what you share, particularly when it comes to your identity information. This can potentially be used to impersonate you, or guess your passwords and logins. Oversharing on social media is never a good idea.

8: Keep your personal information

safe: When chatting or posting online, don’t give away things like your full name, password, or home address.

9: Safe Sites: Want to find out if a site is safe or not? Check if the site starts with https:// instead of just http:// and has a padlock icon in the URL field. This means that a website is secure, and uses encryption to scramble your data, so that it cannot be intercepted by others.

10: Do Not Accept Unknown Friend Requests: Accepting friend requests from people that you do not know in real life is something that you should never do. Meeting with someone that you only know online, even if it is the friend of one of your friends, can be extremely dangerous, as this person is still a stranger. If someone online requests to meet, or for pictures and videos of you, report it to a trusted adult, such as a parent, immediately.

11: Protect Your Personal Information: Explore privacy settings to protect what you post online, and how much you share with others. In particular, you should always keep person information private, or avoid sharing it online at all.

12: Don’t Trust Everything That You See Online:

Do not rely on everything that you see online, as some things could be outdated, inaccurate, not completely true, or biased. To get concrete, true information, compare at least three different websites, consult books, and talk to someone else about what you have found.