6 Important Rules to Keep Yourself Safe on the Internet

Last Updated on 2016-08-17 , 6:23 pm

The Internet has drastically changed the way we interact and live our lives, but besides all the conveniences it brings, it also comes along with many new risks and threats. Internet safety is therefore of the utmost importance.

The following are some tips you might want to consider when it comes to protecting yourself online.

1. Don’t Reveal Too Much of Yourself Online

Don’t post any personal information online. Details like your address and mobile number could potentially attract online predators.

2. Think Before You Act

Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but whatever happens on the Internet stays on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many more places. So think carefully before posting personal photos/videos or even your thoughts and opinions online. Once it’s done, there will be no turning back.

If you don’t want your post to go viral for the wrong reasons or have someone stalk you, do consider the privacy options provided by social networks. It is highly recommended that you restrict visibility of the post only to your friends or in some cases just your close friends.

3. People are Not Who You Think They are

Remember that not everyone is who they seem to be – especially online. Be extremely careful before meeting up with someone you’ve just met online. Choose well trafficked public place and avoid invitations to someone’s house, hotel room or other private venue if you’ve never met them before.

4. What’s Your Password?

An important part of internet safety would be your passwords, never give your password or credit card number to anyone, especially online. A leaked password can have devastating consequences. Potentially this could tarnish your reputation and get you into a lot of inconveniences.

Also create smart and strong passwords. An example of a strong password is: “*pAssVV0rD!” you can see that it has a combination of small, capital letters, numbers and special characters. The use of such passwords makes it hard for hackers to crack.

It’s also a good idea to use different passwords for various sites – if you’re just using one password for everything, the moment it’s cracked all your accounts are vulnerable!

5. Online Scams

Ever seen pop-ups or an email that tells you that you’ve won a million bucks? An iPad or a car? And all you need to do is to pay an ‘Admin Fee’, etc.. Well.. news flash! You will never win anything by visiting websites or being picked randomly! (I mean seriously…what kind of business model is that?)

Another type of common scam is the phishing scam, it uses fraudulent emails and fake websites to pose as a legitimate business, luring unsuspecting people to reveal their private login and account information. Some of these phishing scams also come in the form of software or application updates, so be very careful when doing your updates. Ensure that it’s by the developers themselves.

6. Secured Online Shopping

Lastly, lets talk about one of the world’s most popular online activity, Shopping! Before keying in your credit card details, check to see if the website that you are buying from uses secure technology. Make sure the web address starts with “https”, or look out for a tiny padlock symbol at the corner of the page. If not, check if they use secure payment platforms such as PayPal.

Featured Image: kaspersky.com