There are a number of
risks associated with going online. These result from either visiting malicious
websites or inadvertent disclosure of personal information.
The Risks
The risks of visiting
malicious, criminal or inappropriate websites include:
·
Phishing, designed to obtain your personal and/or financial
information and possibly steal your identity.
·
Fraud, from fake
shopping, banking, charity, dating, social networking, gaming, gambling and
other websites.
·
Copyright infringement –
copying or downloading copyright protected software, videos, music, photos or
documents.
·
Exposure to unexpected
inappropriate content.
Use the Internet Safely
It is very easy to
clone a real website and does not take a skilled developer long to produce a
very professional-looking, but malicious site.
Being wary of
malicious, criminal or inappropriate websites:
·
Use your instincts and
common sense.
·
Check for presence of an
address, phone number and/or email contact – often indications that the website
is genuine. If in doubt, send an email or call to establish authenticity.
·
Check that the website’s
address seems to be genuine by looking for misspellings, extra words,
characters or numbers or a completely different name from that you would expect
the business to have.
·
Roll your mouse pointer
over a link to reveal its true destination, displayed in the bottom left corner
of your browser. Beware if this is different from what is displayed in
the text of the link from either another website or an email.
·
If there is NO padlock
in the browser window or ‘https://’ at
the beginning of the web address to signify that it is using a secure link, do
not enter personal information on the site.
·
Websites which request
more personal information than you would normally expect to give, such as user
name, password or other security details IN FULL, are probably malicious.
·
Avoid ‘pharming’ by
checking the address in your browser's address bar after you arrive at a website to make
sure it matches the address you typed. This will avoid ending up at a fake site
even though you entered the address for the authentic one – for example ‘eebay’
instead of ‘ebay.
·
Always get professional
advice before making investment decisions. Sites that hype investments for fast
or high return – whether in shares or alleged rarities like old wine, whisky or
property – are often fraudulent.
·
Be wary of websites
which promote schemes that involve the recruitment of others, receiving money
for other people or advance payments.
·
If you are suspicious of
a website, carry out a web search to see if you can find out whether or not it
is fraudulent.
·
Be wary of websites that
are advertised in unsolicited emails from strangers.
Secure Websites
Before entering
private information such as passwords or credit card details on a website, you
can ensure that the link is secure in two ways:
·
There should be a padlock symbol in the browser window frame, that
appears when you attempt to log in or register. Be sure that the padlock is not
on the page itself ... this will probably indicate a fraudulent site.
·
The web address should
begin with ‘https://’. The ‘s’
stands for ‘secure’.
The above indicate
that the website owners have a digital certificate that has been issued by a trusted third party,
such as VeriSign or Thawte, which indicates that the information transmitted
online from that website has been encrypted and protected from being intercepted and
stolen by third parties.
When using websites
that you do not know, look for an Extended Validation (or EV-SSL) certificate, which
indicates that the issuing authority has conducted thorough checks into the
website owner. The type of certificate held can be determined by clicking the padlock
symbol in the browser frame which will launch a pop-up containing the details.
Do also note that the
padlock symbol does not indicate the merchant’s business ethics or IT security.
Cookies
Cookies are files on
your computer, smart phone or tablet that websites use to store information about
you between sessions. Most of the time they are innocuous – carrying out tasks
such as keeping track of your username so that you don't have to log into a website
every time you visit it, and storing your usage preferences. However, some are
used to track your browsing habits so that they can target advertising at you,
or by criminals to build a profile of your interests and activities with a view
to fraud.
·
Set your browser to warn
you when a cookie is installed. Note that some sites will not work if you block
cookies completely.
·
Some browsers will let
you enable and disable cookies on a site by site basis so you can allow them on
sites you trust.
·
Use an anti-spyware
program that scans for so-called tracker cookies.
·
There are also cookie
management programs that can delete old cookies and help manage them. In
addition you can use settings in some browsers to delete unwanted cookies.
·
Use a plain text email
display instead of HTML email so that tracking files and cookies cannot be
included in email files.
Safe Use of Browsers
The most common
internet browsers enable you to manage your settings such as allowing and
blocking selected websites, blocking pop ups and browsing in private.
Respective browsers will tell you to do this in slightly different ways, so we
recommend that you visit the security and privacy section of their websites, or
the help area of the browsers themselves:
Some browsers also
have the ability to identify fraudulent websites by default.
Always ensure that you
are running the latest version of your chosen browser that your operating
system will support. Also, be sure to download and install the latest updates.
It is important to
remember that even if you turn on the private browsing setting, this will only
prevent other people using your computer from seeing which sites you have
visited. Your internet service provider, search engine, law enforcement
agencies and possibly (if browsing at work) your employer, will still be able
to see which sites you have visited.
Always remember to log
out of a secure website when you have completed your transaction, and before
you close the browser.
Closing the browser does not necessarily log you out.
Ensure you have
effective and updated antivirus/antispyware software and firewall running before you go online.
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