Top 5 Internet Safety Rules for Children

Same as you were to lock your front door when leaving the house, you should also lock your screens whether mobile or computer when leaving their site. This is how you prevent unauthorized access. Before you know it your child or someone else can click on something and share it and it can have some serious consequences regarding your privacy and Internet security.  The same thing goes for the business environment, don’t go grab a cup of coffee before locking your screen. Identity theft is a reality today and it happens to the best of us. So, minimize the risks with this simple tool.

You have received a fantastic e-mail with an offer or a promise to fix all your problems, for free! All you have to do is visit this linked website. Or you have visited a website and you see an ad that’s promising to fix something you thought was unfixable. Usually, if something sounds too good to be true – it probably is. All kinds of scams can be behind these kinds of e-mails or links, that can allow criminals to access your computer and steal your data.

Teach your loved ones not to click on all kinds of links with the speed of light, but to think it through. Make sure the link is valid by hovering over it, and before tapping it or clicking it, make sure it appears right, for example, that it’s not paypall.com, but paypal.com. If you’re not sure about the link source, it’s better to visit the website directly from your web browser and then see what it’s all about.

You must think that everyone today is well aware of the importance of passwords, remembering them, not sharing them, but have you explained it to your children or to people closest to you as well? It takes so little for your gadgets and accounts to get compromized. Always use a unique password, for every peace of technology and for every service. Make the password contain at least 10 characters, with letters, uppercase, and lowercase, numbers, question marks, commas, exclamation points etc. Change your passwords regularly and use two factor authentication wherever you can.

We are, of course, aware of the vast amount of the passwords you have and know it’s impossible to remember them all, so you can use password manager software and apps, like KeePass, and it’s free.

Attention must be paid to all the mega-popular social media and the privacy settings they provide. A lot of them require a minimum of 13 years of age to use them, but children often (a lot younger than 13) make accounts without consent or supervision of their parents. So talk to your children and explain the importance of security settings on these apps, because default settings can often make you share a lot more information than you are aware and comfortable with. You can never be certain who is checking your kid’s profile and to what purpose. So make them private! Teach your children not to accept follow or friend requests from strangers. One of the most important smart phone privacy settings is to disable location services to social media apps.

Remember that everything you publish online leaves a permanent digital footprint, you can never actually delete it, it always stays somewhere. Don’t say or write anything you would never to say a person standing in front of you, be kind and inclusive. As you would in real life, think twice before you click something. Develop a sense of consequence, as hard as it may be in the virtual world.