How to Stay Safe Online

The Internet is an integral part of many people’s daily lives. This is a fun, rewarding, and informative place, but it can also be very dangerous, even if you feel comfortable using it. By adopting some safety measures when using the Internet, you can always protect your information and identity.

Table of Contents

Password protection

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Use passwords that are hard to guess. When you create an account, make sure the password contains numbers, symbols, and uppercase and lowercase letters. Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts. Of course you will have difficulty remembering the password, but your information will not be easily stolen. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Try combining the first letters of a sentence. For example, “Drinking coffee makes you sleepless” would become “UcPkbmn@!”
Long passwords are often harder to guess, so you could try using your favorite quote, or a sentence from a song, book, or movie. Keep in mind that some websites have password length limits, so you need to stick to this. ^{[2] X Research Source}
Avoid using common passwords like “123456” or “matkhau”, or personal information that others can easily know, like your nickname, the street name where you live, or the name of your pet.

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Use a password manager to organize and keep your passwords safe. The password manager automatically generates hard-to-guess passwords for each of your accounts. You just need to create a master password for the tool and let it protect the others. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

You can use a number of free or premium password management tools for premium options.
Trusted password managers include 1Password and LastPass. You will find other tools by searching the net.
You can also use the browser’s built-in password sync service, but this is a less secure option and is more prone to information theft, so you need to use it with caution. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Enable multi-step verification for your account. Multi-step verification increases account security by requiring additional information when signing in, such as a code sent to your phone. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

To check if your account has been set up for multi-step verification, you need to check the Settings section of the page.
This extra step can be annoying, but it will secure information better than just using a password.

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Register an account on legitimate sites. Consider carefully before creating an account on the website, even if you are only asked for an email address. No matter how well secured your password is, providing an email address on an unsecured site can put you at risk of information theft.

Avoid pages with badly spelled or grammatically incorrect addresses, as these could be fakes of some legitimate website.
In addition, you also need to be wary of pages that have a lot of pop-ups, or have numbers or meaningless words in the address.

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Sign out of your account when you’re no longer using the site. Signing in to the site creates a cookie in your browser and identifies you; If this information is stolen, your account may be compromised. This is a huge problem on sites that hold important information like bank accounts or credit cards; Therefore, it is best to log out of your account after completing the operation.

Sign out of pages you’ve visited on a computer or public network.
Log out of the online banking or shopping sites you already use, even when accessed from your computer and home network.
You don’t necessarily have to sign out of accounts like email or social media on your home computer, as long as you remember to lock the computer when not in use.

Use social media and email safely

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Make your profile private. Making social media profiles private makes it difficult for strangers to contact you or get hold of your information. Set up a profile just for you or your friends. ^{[6] X Trusted Source Pew Research Center Go to Source}

Access your account settings and security or privacy menu to view and change privacy settings.
When choosing to make your profile public, remember to hide important information such as your address and phone number.

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Review the information that is publicly available on your profile. Important information on your account may not be hidden and publicly visible when you’ve just created or edited a profile. Visit the Privacy section of your account to check out what strangers can see on your profile.

You should do this every few months to make sure any private information remains secure.

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Consider whether you will regret posting something. To stay safe online, you need to know what you should and shouldn’t share. It may feel okay to post inappropriate or provocative content at first, but keep in mind that such posts can be screened, viewed, and shared by people all over the world, even if you have deleted them. ^{[7] X Trusted Source Pew Research Center Go to Source}

As a general rule, you should ask yourself if you want your parents, teachers, or prospective employers to read such articles. If the answer is no, you should stop.

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Review posts you’re tagged in before approving them. You can prevent harmful or embarrassing information from appearing on your account by turning on tagging review. This is extremely important when your friend’s account is set to public because other people will see the post or image you’re tagged in. ^{[8] X Trusted Source Pew Research Center Go to Source}

Enable tagging review in privacy settings.
You’ll get a notification when someone tags you in a post, then either accept the tag for the post to show on your account, or decline.
If you’re still concerned about a photo after you’ve removed the tag, talk to the poster about removing the photo.

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Do not share personal information with people you meet online. This is obvious but still needs to be repeated. No matter how much you know about someone you’ve met online, you can’t know for sure who they are and if they’re dangerous. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Avoid giving out contact information like your name, address, phone number, and other information like school or work that makes finding you easier.

Scott Nelson, JD

Police Sergeant, Mountain View Police Department

Scott Nelson is a police sergeant with the Mountain View Police Department in California. He is also an attorney at Goyette & Associates, Inc., where he represents clients dealing with a wide range of employment issues across the state. He has over 15 years of experience in law enforcement and specializes in digital investigations. Scott received extensive training at the National Institute of Computer Forensic Medicine and holds certifications in investigative science from Cellbrite, Blackbag, Axiom Forensics, and others. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from California State University Stanislaus and a doctorate in jurisprudence from Laurence Drivon Law School.

Scott Nelson, JD
Police Sergeant, Mountain View Police Department

Experts agree that: In addition to specific information that helps others figure out where you live (such as school or work), you should also avoid providing information such as restaurants, parks or shops favourite. This information will be aggregated to localize your whereabouts.

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Be careful when you meet someone you know online. It’s best not to meet someone you’re just chatting with online, but some situations will require this, such as when you shop online or use an online dating site. In these cases, choose to meet in public and bring a friend.

If you can’t bring a friend, let a relative or friend know where you’re going, with whom, and for how long.
If you’re under 18, never meet someone you just met online.

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Choose a neutral username when joining forums. Private or invite-only forums can be more dangerous than traditional forms of social networking; so please pay attention to protect your identity. You should choose a neutral username when possible and avoid posting personal photos or linking to social networking sites. ^{[10] X Research Source}

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Don’t open emails or files from strangers. Scammers often use fake emails or text messages to entice you to share personal information. If you receive an email from an unknown address or from a familiar address with suspicious content, please move the email to the spam folder. ^{[11] X Federal Trade Commission Trusted Source Go to Source}

The email may also contain a link that looks genuine, but you shouldn’t rush to click it until you’ve verified it’s trustworthy content.
If you know someone’s email address has been stolen, report it immediately and report the case to the FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
Scammers often want bank account information or social security numbers; Therefore, you need to be careful when you receive a request to transfer money, provide login information or personal information.

Use websites and networks safely

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Avoid clicking on pages that look fake or fraudulent. If you’re familiar with the Internet, you can identify unreliable links when you see signs such as: grammatical errors, pop-ups, “bait” titles or unusual web addresses. You should avoid clicking on these sites and do not download any content from here. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Accessing these sites may cause your computer to become infected with viruses or freeze.

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Regularly delete browsing history to keep information secure. Many sites can access your cookies – small text files that store preferences so that those sites can respond by showing relevant ads. However, hackers also use cookies to steal your personal information. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Clear cookies every month to clear personal information.

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Shop online on encrypted sites. When you shop or enter your bank account online, check the URL to make sure it starts with “https” instead of “http”. The letter “s” means that the website has security and data encryption to ensure that the information is not stolen. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Secure sites often have a small padlock in the URL path field.
While saving your payment information on your shopping page will make for a more convenient experience, you should exercise caution when doing this because of the possible risk of a website being hacked.

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Use a private WiFi network instead of a public network. Public WiFi networks such as those in restaurants, hotels or airports are often unsecured, making it easy for others to hack your computer. Only connect to an unsecured network when you have to, and be aware of possible risks. ^{[15] X Research Source}

If you often have to use WiFi when out and about, buy a virtual private network (VPN) – a type of hard drive that can create a private, secure connection from anywhere.
Exercise caution when making connections from smartphones. If possible, it’s a good idea to confirm the WiFi name and login requirement with the staff at the location before connecting. ^{[16] X Research Source}

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Use your browser’s antivirus utility. To increase your safety on the Internet, you can download an antivirus utility to check the security of your site or block advertising windows with viruses or malicious content. However, be sure to download the extension from a legitimate source like the Chrome store just to be on the safe side.

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Install a firewall to protect your home network. A firewall is an electronic barrier that prevents unauthorized devices from accessing your computer or phone. Many computers have built-in firewalls; you can go to the security section of your computer to check if a firewall is installed. ^{[17] X Research Source}

You can also get paid firewall software from authorized vendors such as Norton, McAfee, or Microsoft.

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Continuously update your computer’s software. Most software updates are security-enhanced; so you’re better off using the latest version of the software. To easily get the latest updates, you’ll have to turn on automatic updates in your computer’s Settings. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

Stay safe when using your smartphone

Advice

Make it a priority to install an anti-virus and anti-malware program as it is one of the most reliable ways to protect your hard drive.
Use anti-theft features from a separate credit card company or service. That way, you’ll get a notification if your information is leaked or there’s a suspicious payment when someone tries to steal your information.
Remember to back up your data on a cloud service or an external hard drive. If your device is compromised, you still have your information kept safe elsewhere.
To add an extra layer of security to your phone, it’s a good idea to create a PIN or lock with fingerprints or facial recognition. This way, it will be more difficult to access your information when your phone is stolen or lost. ^{[23] X Research Sources}
Avoid sharing your real name, home address, nickname, or other personal information.

Steps

Password protection

Use social media and email safely

Use websites and networks safely

Stay safe when using your smartphone

Advice

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