Monday, January 5, 2015

Web safety tips and resources (EPP LESSON)

Before accessing the Internet, you should first learn about web safety. This can help you stay away from hassles like privacy problems and harassment.
Use the Internet safely. Keep the following tips in mind:
1.     Do not give out personal information such as home address, social security number, bank accounts, parents’ work address and contact numbers to strangers and acquaintances. You can check first with your parents first if it is ok to furnish such information.
2.     Avoid giving out passwords to personal accounts to other people except to parents or family members.
3.     If an email or some form of communication seems important but cannot be understood or makes you uncomfortable, consult your teacher or parents first before doing anything.
4.     Avoid meeting up with strangers. If a meeting is with the permission of the teacher or parents, then do so in a public place with at least one parent or teacher.
5.     Be careful in posting regular hangouts, whereabouts, class schedules, or itineraries online. You are exposing yourself to a great danger.
6.     Avoid sending photos of the family without permission.
7.     Be responsible Internet users. Avoid visiting inappropriate websites.
8.     Be a good online citizen and avoid doing anything illegal, immoral, or offending to others.
9.     Use the family credit card for Internet transactions only if there is permission to do so. Also, evaluate first if the website is a reliable website and not a scam.
10.  Do not open emails, attachments, files or web pages that is not recognized or not trusted. They might contain viruses or other bugs that might harm your computer.
11.  Always remember that people online may or may not be who they say they are. So don’t trust a stranger immediately, since it is easy to pretend to be someone else online.
12.  Be careful about answering “fun” surveys about friends online. Anything can get forwarded and they can be used for harming a reputation or for blackmailing.
13.  In social networking sites, make sure that everyone in your ‘friends’ list is really your friend because by including them in your list, you allow them to get access to all the information, photos, status updates, among others, in your social networking site.
14.  In any online accounts, don’t forget to modify your privacy settings according to your preference.
15.  Be careful about what gets posted or uploaded. These data can be kept forever online.
Download software updates regularly to fix security threats. Install firewalls, anti-virus software and software against spyware or malware to protect your computers from identity thefts. They also help in detecting potentially dangerous website through pop-ups.
Make it a habit to create a back-up of all your important files just in case.
Sources:

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