Basic Online Safety

Today's internet offers a vast range of facilities and opportunities, but with those also come some diasadvanteages - fraud and people trying to take adavantage of you. This is nothing new; these problems have existed for centuries. The difference now is that, in using the internet, everything can happen nearly instaneously and the whole world is our neighbourhood.

Whereas in the distant past you only met a con artist physically and therefore contact was limited, now a whole host of them can knock on your virtual door at any time. Should that make us stop using the internet? No - we just have to be more street-wise.

The first steps are to make sure that you are running a firewall and virus checker on your computer. The situation on smartphones is not so clear, but will almost certainly change in the future. Many computers come with a trial version of a commercial virus software. This will usually expire after one or three months and your computer is then left unprotected unless you pay. There are good free virus checkers available - you do not need to pay for one.

Having installed your virus checker however, it and the computer operating system need to be kept up-to-date. New viruses are continually created and new ways of hacking the operating system are continually found. The updates guard against these new threats.

Use a strong password for you computer, laptop, tablet, mobile. It is likely that your computer, by default, has remembered a great deal about your various accounts. If you are burgled, with no password, the burglars could just start your computer and use it and gain a great deal of sensitive information.

So having got the basics covered, what about day to day use? In any situation trying to determine a fake from the real thing, there are no absolute rules, only guidelines, a hefty dose of common sense and think before you act. So what are the basic guidelines?

• Don't put sensitive data on the ordinary internet.
  By default everyting sent over the internet can be read by anyone. It's not like sending a letter through the mail, which is esentially private. So with suitable equipment, which is freely available, your e-mails can be read, your e-mail address and those of the people to whom you send them can be read, all your shopping choices can be seen. The counter to that is that there are billions of e-mails and other transactions on the network every day, so the chances of someone specifically reading yours are less than winning the lottery, but hackers will target specific email communications such as to and from solicitors and when the risk can be easily avoided, it's not worth the risk.
• When inputting sensitive data make sure that encrypted communication is being used.
  Encrypted communication will manifest by https:// showing in the site's address bar at the beginning of the address. Any reputable business will offer this facility by default, but you still need to check. Many banks now offer extra protection in the form of apps like Trusteer which adds an extra layer of protection for sensitive transactions. Most financial institutions also offer a secure mail communication service within their websites. You type your email within their encrypted website and you receive an email telling you that you have a reply, but you need to log back into the website and then, under an encrypted link, you can see your reply.
• Be wary of windows saying there is a problem with your account or computer.
  You will see links on occasions saying that your computer has been scanned and these problems have been found. Rubbish - at best they are just trying to sell something, at worst if you click on the link, you may get a virus. A variation on this is to call your telephone number and tell you your computer has been scanned and these problems found - please go on line and give us access so we can corect them.
• Don't skimp on your passwords.
  These are your only protection between the public and your data. There are freely available password crackers and a six character password with just lower case letters can be broken in a few minutes, quicker if it is an ordinary word. A nine character password with lower and upper case letters, numbers and symbols could take 4 centuries to break.
• Know your browser.
  Browsers can keep a record of the entries you make when completing forms on-line. This can be very convenient when loggin on and completing forms, but means that anyone else using your device can see your data and potentially logon to anyone of your accounts. If you put in incorrect data or the data has changed, you can apparently see the old or incorrect data keep coming back. Learn how to control these browser features.