Privacy
Identity theft (someone using your personal details to do something illegal) could never happen to your family, or could it? Actually, it is surprisingly easy to dupe people into giving away their personal details using the internet. Some spam emails use a technique known as phishing, pretending to be from a well-known site, asking for personal information, even your password.
It's easy to make an email that looks official. Never disclose passwords or bank information in email, you might suffer the consequences and you might only find out what those consequences were months later when the bills or your statement comes in. Some identity theft is simply a dare. There have been examples of children using stolen or copied credit card numbers to order over the internet for fun. Protect your details.
Also remember that while you are connected to the internet, it may be possible for someone to snoop and look at your computer's contents, unless you block their access. This is essential if you use broadband. The software (sometimes it's in your broadband modem) you need for this is called a firewall. One is supplied with Windows XP, but you have to make sure it is turned on for it to work. More sophisticated firewalls usually form part of a computer security software package.
What you can do...
- never give out your username and password for any website, even if the email asking for it looks official. Banks and other companies don't ask for this information via email, if at all - only fraudsters do.
- try not to use the same username and password for every site you register on. When you decide on a username and password, try not to use obvious choices that can be easily traced to you, like names of family members, pets, etc. If you use password protected software on your PC at home to control web filtering, keep that password safe too
- be wary of the information that you make readily available. If your office is at home, Out of Office replies on email can simply confirm that your home is empty. So be careful not to provide dates and times when you will be away from the office
- do not supply too much personal information on email signatures as emails can be intercepted or simply sent to the wrong person just as normal mail can get delivered to the wrong house
- be aware of how much personal info your email address contains. For example, joe.blogs@anISP.co.uk tells everyone your full name and address - it doesn't take a detective to find you
- don't forget that you can't control who can look at your personal website, so do not name individual children or supply any details like address, phone number, etc.
- if you have a permanent connection like broadband you should always use a firewall - without this it is possible for people anywhere to access all of the files on your computer at any time
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