Email Safety Blog

There are all sorts of rules that we know as an adults about keeping ourselves save online.  Don’t give out your password.  Don’t click on things unless you know what they are.  And don’t respond to that guy from Nigeria who wants to wire you 3 million dollars.

But what about your kids?  You keep them safe out in the world.  Don’t forget about keeping them safe online.  Same rules – different medium.

1.  Don’t talk to strangers. 

You’ve told your children not to talk to strange people at the store and not to walk up to strange cars, but what if they get an email from someone they don’t know.  I can tell you that when my 12 yr old got an email from someone he didn’t know, he responded back, “Who is this?”  It’s like opened our front door to a complete stranger and said, “Come on in”. Your child should never talk to anyone online if they don’t already know them or if they haven’t been approved by you.  Sexual predators rely on anonymous communication to get into your child’s life.

2.  Look both ways.

Stay alert and look for danger.  Teach your child about the dangers online.  There are people who want to take money from you, scam you and worst of all, hurt you.  A car isn’t necessarily going to run you down in the street and a sexual predator isn’t necessarily on ‘Club Penguin’, but it COULD happen and they need to be aware.  If your child knows what to look for, they will know what to avoid.

3. Everything in moderation.

How often do you tell your kids, “Not so much” or “That’s enough”.  Don’t forget to say that when they’re online as well.  Kids that spend too much time online are much more likely to get themselves into trouble or stumble on things they shouldn’t be doing. And if they are spending too much time online, it could signify a problem. Just like you tell them to turn off the TV and go outside – same goes for the computer.

4.  Don’t go out alone.

Use the buddy system – right?  You are safer when you’re with someone else.  Sexual predators online will often try to set up in person meetings.  Your child should know to never keep secrets and never agree to meet anyone they met online. Make sure you talk to your child often about what they’re doing and who they’re talking to online.  If they start acting secretive and spending more time online than usual, that’s a big warning sign.

Just make sure you and your children are using common sense when online.  Watch them, like you do when they’re playing at the park.  Talk to them about what they’re doing, like you do when they get home from a party.  And protect them, like you do when you lock up the house at night.  Then you’ll have smart, safe kids – online and off.

1.  Create a good password.  Believe it or not, your dog’s name is NOT a good password.  Neither is your daughter’s name or the word ‘password’.  Create a ‘real’ password with a mixture of lowercase letters, capital letters and numbers.  Obviously it needs to be something that you can remember, but if your password is ‘Sparky’, you’re going to be in trouble.

2.  Keep your password private.  Don’t tell your friend or your neighbor and for goodness sake’s don’t keep it on a Post-It note on your monitor.  You don’t have it hanging on your computer do you?!?!  Remove it.  Now!

3.  Log out.  Especially if you’re at a public place or at work.  And don’t just close the browser window.  You may still be logged in and if someone opens the browser again, they may be able to get into your email and wreak havoc for you or others.

4.  Don’t respond to or forward chain email letters.  First of all, they’re annoying. And if you’re sending it to everyone in your address book, it’s SPAM.  If that’s not enough to stop you, understand that viruses can spread like wildfire if they are attached to a chain letter.

5.  Don’t click on anything unless you are absolutely sure what it is.  ANYTHING.  If your sister sends you pictures of her kids, that’s fine.  But if you get an email with a strange attachment.  Don’t click on it.  You know when someone says the handle is hot and you just have to touch it. DON’T.

I could go on and on, but 5 is a good round number.

So we all like to laugh at the Viagra ads that find their way into our inbox.  And how about the Russian bride who is anxiously waiting to meet you?  Sometimes spam email is quite entertaining, but sometimes it can be dangerous. 

I’d like to believe that no one is emailing back the Russian bride and sending her money for a plane ticket (but if you know someone who has, my goodness please share). I do, however, start getting concerned when completely legit looking emails from HSBC start referring to my bank account.  Have you seen this one?  It says that my account has been blocked for security concerns so I should just click through, enter a bit of information and my account will be re-verified and I’ll be able to access it again.  Well I do have an HSBC account.  Could this be real?  Certainly more convincing than the Nigerian bank wanting to wire millions of dollars directly into my account.

What I just described is called ‘phishing’.  Cute, huh?  But spammers are out there phishing for your personal information and even internet savvy people can get ‘hooked’.  Here are some do’s and don’ts of email safety to keep you from being tricked into giving out your personal info.

DON’T give send financial information via email.  Ever.  Don’t send passwords, ATM codes or account numbers.  Even if you need to remind your husband how to access your savings account online, make a phone call.  Email is not a secure way to transmit this type of information.  It can be intercepted and used to drain your account.

DO update your anti-virus software regularly.  Sometimes spammers can get into your computer without you even knowing it.

DON’T click through an email, no matter how legit it looks and enter personal or financial information.  Your bank will NEVER ask you to do this and neither will any other legitimate company.

DO research the content of an email if you’re unsure.  Just by pasting a few lines into a search engine, you can see if it is a known scam that others are talking about online.

DON’T enter your information on a web site if you receive an error message saying that the security certificate is not up to date. If the web site is not secure (even if you know it’s the web site for your local credit union), your information could still be compromised.

DO report spam.  Most email services offer an easy way to report an email as spam.  This will improve your spam filter and cut down on the amount of email that gets through spam filters for everyone.

DO read the privacy policy.  You could be on a completely legitimate web site, but you should know what they plan to do with your personal information.  Be wary if it says they can share your information with their ‘affiliates’.

These are just a few tips, but the most important thing to remember is to never enter personal or financial information online unless you are absolutely sure it’s legit.  You must be vigilant in safeguarding your personal information online.  Only use secure sites and do your research.  By just being aware of what’s out there, you can protect your identity and your bank account.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!