Internet Safety Tips - Online Safety for Kids & Parents

Children today are the web and mobile generation. The current crop of teenagers and younger children has never known a world without the internet.

For them, living their lives online is perfectly natural. It is very appealing, and thanks to their encounters with the internet from an early age through school and home life they feel naturally at home there. There are so many benefits that young people can gain from having access to such a wealth of information, and being within clicking distance of so many opportunities to express their creativity and to interact with their peers.

As a consequence of feeling so at home online however, children and young people may not always recognise that the internet can also be a dangerous place.

Parents can sometimes also be unaware of these dangers.  Being from the wrong side of the ‘digital divide’ it’s easy to feel a bit baffled or out of your depth as a parent about what your children are doing online and how the information they may be sharing might make them vulnerable.

It’s a tricky balance. Your instinct as a parent is to do everything you can to protect your children, and in the ‘real world’ their safety and well-being is your top priority.

However, if you are not a confident Internet user, or don’t feel that you are up to speed with the latest social networking sites, chat rooms and messenger services that your children are using, it can be hard to keep track.

The good news is that there are plenty of resources available to help you.

And although there are some dangers lurking in cyberspace, they are plenty of actions that you and your children can take that will keep them perfectly safe online.

Further information on how to internet safety for kids

Read our section on parental controls and safe social networking tips.

Visit Directgov for parental advice on Internet safety and read the Vodafone parents’ guide at http://parents.vodafone.com/.  Their ‘digital parenting magazine’ is particularly useful.

For more information on child safety online visit: www.bbc.co.uk/onlinesafety

Get Safe Online has a variety of resources for parents, teachers and young people to help children and young people use the internet safely.

While the internet may seem a daunting place at first, there are many reliable websites that can provide you with secure online shopping, in depth information about any number of subjects, safe access to online banking and much more.

Online shopping

A good place to start when online shopping is the websites of high street stores. With online versions of the high street shop, you can rest assured that if something goes wrong with your online shopping experience; you can visit the physical shop to talk with real people. Many shops offer a returns procedure allowing you to take any unwanted items back to a physical store for a refund.  This takes away the worry of returning goods in the post should you change your mind.

There are also many well-known and trusted “online only” stores. As they operate solely online, they are often able to offer lower prices due to lower overheads. One thing to watch out for when shopping on these sites is exactly who is selling the goods you are looking at. Many websites of this nature, as well as selling items directly, offer a way for users and independent shops/retailers to sell their products, using the website as their online shop front. Thankfully, both the products and these independent resellers can be rated by previous shoppers, giving you a good idea of the quality of service before making your purchase.

If you are choosing to purchase from an “online only” store that you have not heard anything about, it is worthwhile doing some research to check their legitimacy. Reading our guide to spotting a fake website may also help ensure your online shopping experience is an enjoyable one.

Find out more about how to spot fake sites

Find out more about shopping online

Researching online

The internet is a fantastic place to find information on any subject that you can think of. Online encyclopaedias, journals and research projects are readily available, and can be a great source of information. It is important to be wary however, when researching online. It is forever becoming quicker and easier to create your own website and have your own online space. Opinions can be easily made to appear as fact, and reliability of data can be compromised. A

s with any research, always use a variety of sources, and if in doubt, visit the websites of trusted published works. Wikipedia, while a great online research tool in many ways, can be updated by anyone; always use it with caution.

Further information

For further information on reliable websites visit: www.getsafeonline.org

Whether it’s a PDA or a smartphone, criminals will be interested in getting hold of your mobile device because of what you store on it. This can include personal information that can be exploited for social engineering, identify theft and to impersonate you, for example when requesting a password be reset.

The information these devices contain is only limited by memory capacity, which is increasing every day. Personal data including contacts, passwords and even credit card details are stored on mobile devices; all having potentially serious repercussions in the hands of a criminal.

Here are some top tips on how to protect yourself against security threats on your mobile device.

• Treat your mobile device in the same way as a laptop or desktop. Only download trusted applications and install reliable malware protection
• Be aware of public places that offer hotspot connections, such as railway stations and airports. These could be targeted by fraudsters who set up bogus Wi-Fi gateways to mimic genuine providers to connect to your phone and steal your data
• Keep your data safe. Always use strong passwords and security questions to protect access to web sites and email systems
• If you’re using Skype (or any other VoIP app), remember that these can also be targeted. For any communication that needs to remain confidential, make sure your chosen app encrypts your calls so they can’t be intercepted.

Trojans take their name from the term 'Trojan Horse' and are a type of computer virus which can be installed on your computer without you realising. Trojans can be capable of installing a "keystroke logger", which captures all of the keystrokes entered into a computer keyboard. Some specifically seek to capture passwords entered at certain web sites, by capturing keystrokes or taking screen shots of sites you visit. This information is then sent to the fraudsters over the Internet.

Trojans are malicious programs which look innocent, fool you into accepting them, and then more or less take over your computer. You can go on using your PC or laptop while a criminal is also using it, remotely, for his illegal purposes. The criminals have also designed programs called “rootkits”, which hide the fact that your computer has been compromised, so your anti-virus software never spots the Trojan infection.

How do Trojans get on your computer?

So, how do Trojans get on to your computer in the first place? Many are sent via email attachment, masquerading as a legitimate piece of software. When you open the attachment, the Trojan silently installs itself on your computer. In most cases, there is no indication this has occurred, and you innocently play the game or enjoy the new screensaver before sending it on to the next victim in the chain. Instant messaging systems carry the same sorts of risks as email – files shared this way can just as easily carry a Trojan.

Typically the fraudsters send out emails at random to get people to click on a link from the email and visit a malicious website where vulnerabilities in the web browser are exploited to install the Trojan. The emails are normally related to Internet banking and try and dupe people into visiting clicking on the link to the malicious web site with a variety of excuses.

Even regular web browsing can pose a risk. Every day more and more websites are infected with malicious software without the site owner’s knowledge. Just visiting an infected site can result in your computer being infected in turn, and perhaps becoming part of a botnet.

Of course free software and even shareware software can also be infected. That exciting new game, screensaver or utility program can hide a Trojan program ready to infect your PC.

Social networking sites like Facebook are another rich opportunity for criminals, who dupe people into sending infected movies, pictures and web links to their friends.

Firewalls, up to date antivirus software and anti-spyware programmes all provide the best defence from Trojans so it is important you use these to protect your computer.

Further information

Find out more about Trojans, visit: www.banksafeonline.org.uk/trojans_explained.html

Read our guide on how to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime

Social networks are websites where you can create a profile about yourself and contact other people, and engage in discussions (called forums) about your shared interests. Social networks make it easy to stay in touch with friends or colleagues in an informal way, and to share music, photos or video, as well as to chat.

Popular social networking websites include Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, MSN and MySpace, but there are thousands of others. They are used by people of all ages and some people have profiles on more than one website.

Most children make little distinction between real life and online life. They may use social websites designed specifically for children such Club Penguin, or social websites designed for adults such as the ones mentioned above. Whatever they're doing, children should understand that many of these web pages can be viewed by anyone with access to the internet. Social networking sites are open to anyone and it is therefore vital to teach your child to follow stringent safety rules, as the age-old adage ‘stranger danger’ applies more than ever online.

Children and young people are also likely to access social networks on mobile devices, such as smart phones, ipads, Blackberries etc. Helping them to stay safe on these sites is no longer as simple as keeping an eye on how they are using the family PC. Children may feel more relaxed and let their guard down when accessing these sites on their phones, because they are so used to sharing personal information when texting with their friends, and they may not realise that it is important to be more careful online. 

Tips for parents

Here are a few tips for parents to follow:

• Help your child create a safe and secure profile and password
• Keep your pc in a communal area of the home so you see what your child is looking at
• Make sure your child understands that they should only make contact with existing friends online
• Remind your child not to give out any personal information such as their date of birth, mobile phone number, address details or the name of their school
• Set time limits on the pc and/or mobile devices they use to access social networks
• Advise your child not to open unfamiliar emails or messages, as they may contain unsuitable content or a virus

And here are some basic tips to Social Networking safety that you can share with your children to make them feel safe online and give you peace of mind that they are protected:

• Always explore the privacy settings of your Social Networking Site (SNS) to protect your privacy and to protect yourself from strangers.
• Get your friends and family to have a look at your SNS to check that you aren’t giving out too much personal information or posting inappropriate photos/films because they might see something you’ve missed.
• Keep your passwords to yourself.
• Respect yourself and others online.
• If you are unlucky enough to have a bad experience online report it to the service provider and tell an adult.
• Cyberbullying is NEVER acceptable. If you or someone you know is targeted by bullies online tell them:
  • to report the bully to the website/service operator
  • keep evidence of the bullying behaviour
  • to resist the temptation to reply to nasty messages
  • to tell an adult.

Further information on child safety on social networks

ChildLine has a lot of useful information for children going online and using social networking sites. For further information visit:
www.childline.org.uk/

Childnet International is a great source of safety advice for both parents, young people and teachers. For further information visit:
http://childnet-int.org/safety/parents.aspx

A criminal can tune their PC in to your wireless network easily. This is why it’s so important to encrypt the information on a wireless network. If you use encryption, the packets sent over the airwaves are scrambled to make them unreadable if they’re intercepted. Unless the criminal cracks the encryption code, or discovers your encryption key, your information will be safe.

Read the router’s manual and find out how you connect to its management interface to change all the default settings to something more secure. Every criminal knows all the manufacturers’ default settings and can use these to take control of your network.

Log out from the router management interface, unplug the network cable, switch your computer’s wireless on, and make your wireless connection. If things aren’t working properly, you can always go back to the manufacturer’s defaults and start again. There’s usually a little hole in the back of the router marked “reset”.

Once you’re happy that the wireless network is working correctly with the new settings, it’s time to turn on encryption, to protect your information against sniffing.

Turning on encryption

1. Turn off your computer’s wireless again and reconnect to your router using the network cable.

2. Log back in to the router’s administrative interface, using the password you set earlier.

3. Find the menu for security settings, select “WPA-PSK”, and enter a strong passphrase which you can remember, mixing letters and numbers. This is the “key” that your PCs and laptops will use to connect securely to the router once encryption is turned on.

4. To create a strong passphrase, try thinking of a song title or a saying (something like “now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party”) and take the initial letter of each word. You can substitute the number 2 for the word “to” and perhaps use capital letters for certain words so that you end up with something like “NittfagM2c2taotP”. Now you’ve got a passphrase which you’ll remember but no-one is likely to crack. If you’ve got an old router, you may have to select WEP as your security setting instead of WPA-PSK. And if that’s the case, select 128-bit WEP. It’s not as good, but it’ll have to do until you decide to upgrade to a new router

5. Finally, log out from the router again and unplug the network cable. Select the same wireless encryption type and passphrase on your PC or laptop as you did on the router. That way they’ll be talking the same language. You’ll find the wireless network settings under “Control Panel” and “Network Connections”.

Now when you re-enable wireless on your computer, it will associate with your router using strong encryption. You can relax in the knowledge that the criminals won’t be breaking in to your network or emptying your bank account.

Further information

For more information on secure wireless networks visit: Get Safe Online

Unfortunately hoax emails are becoming more and more commonplace. Many hoax emails are designed to make the recipient believe that it is from a trusted or known source. They achieve this in a number of ways and can be very convincing.

Emails from “your bank”

A common scam is an email designed to look like it is from a financial institution or another trusted source. These are generally known as Phishing emails. The email asks you to click a link and login to your online account to update your information – if you did you would give scammers all your login information for your account. A good way to spot this scam is to check where the link is pointed. By hovering over an internet link, most browsers will show you where the link is going to take you – email scams use random website addresses that are not associated with the financial institution. Most financial institutions make it very clear when first signing up for online banking that they will never ask you for these details. If in doubt, visit the website directly yourself and login to your account.

Emails from “friends”

Other hoax emails include those that masquerade as being sent by a known source. These may be known organisations or even individuals from your address book. Often, the way they are written will give away the fact that they are a hoax. If in doubt, contact the company or individual directly by another means before opening any attachments or clicking any links.

Emails from “abroad”

A common hoax is that of the lottery win or the long lost inheritance. These both play on the dream of many to become rich. Again these can seem very convincing and at first you may feel amazed at winning a lottery that you had never entered, or that you will be given money from a dead relative that you didn’t realise you had. The hoaxers attempt to blind users into giving up financial information in order to secure these tempting funds. If an email sounds too good to be true, it is likely that it is a hoax.

Trust your instincts

If in any doubt of an email’s validity, do not click on any links or attachments, and do not respond. If your email system allows it, simply mark it as spam, junk or a scam, otherwise delete it. If you are unsure, telephone the company directly or email using an address from their website to ask if they have contacted you.

Further information

Protect yourself from becoming a victim of a scam, read our guide on avoiding email scams.

For information about hoax emails visit: www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1138

To find out more about to deal with a suspicious email visit: www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1379

To view a list of the latest phishing emails sorted by bank, please visit:
www.banksafeonline.org.uk/phishing_examples.html