Safer Internet Day: Tips to stay safe and secure online

TODAY (February 6) is Safer Internet Day. The day takes place in February of each year to raise awareness of a safer and better internet for all, and especially for children and young people.

As part of this annual celebration, everyone is encouraged – including children and young people, parents and caregivers, teachers and educators, policymakers, industry and others – to join ‘Together for a better internet’.

Also read: Be wary of online romance scams, warns private investigator

Safer Internet Day aims to not only create a safer internet but also a better internet where everyone is empowered to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively.

To highlight this day, we spoke to private investigator Rick Crouch who shared tips on how to help the public not fall victim to online scams:

– Always install the updates to your operating system.

– Always use a strong password with a minimum of 10 characters. Use a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters.

– Do not accept friend requests from someone you do not know, even if you have friends in common. Also, do not accept a friend request from a friend that you are already friends with before calling that person to verify.

– Manage your social media settings. Ensure that your profile is only visible to people on your friends list, and make sure that only you can see your friends list, meaning that not even people on your friends list can see the full friends list.

– Do not click on any link that is sent to you from an unknown email address.

– Do not open any attachment that is sent to you from an unknown email address.

– Do not send money to anyone requesting it, even if it is someone you know. Call them, and verify that it was them first.

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