3 Tips for Staying Safe Online

In today’s day and age, we spend a considerable amount of time connected to the internet. Whether it’s for work or staying in touch with friends, it’s important that we stay safe while doing our online activities. Because even though the Internet can offer all sorts of opportunities and plenty of entertainment, it can also expose us to serious risks from hackers to predators. 

The internet can be a dark place if you’re not careful. That’s why staying safe is a must if you hope to protect your personal information and stay safe. Here are some essential tips you’ll need to know to stay safe online.

Use it For Good

Remember, the Internet is a bit synonymous with “magic.” There are all sorts of things we can do with it, and it can be used for good or for evil. If you want to learn how a centrifugal pump works, then the internet can be a great place.  However, if you want to learn how to do something illegal, then it’s probably a bad idea and could get you into trouble.

Be on your best behavior online and you’ll be that much less likely to run into problems.

Use Strong Passwords

Passwords are incredibly important for defending yourself against unauthorized access and malicious activity. Using weak or reused passwords makes it that much easier for hackers to get access to your accounts and create strong passwords that contain at least ten characters. 

They should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, and also symbols.  It;s important that you avoid using easily guessable words like the name of your pet or your birthday. 

Perhaps most important is changing your password across multiple platforms. Using the same password on every website is setting yourself up for disaster. All it takes is someone guessing your password on the website and gaining access everywhere.

Be Careful For Scams

Scams are prevalent online, and phishing scams are one of the most dangerous. This is a scam that involves cyber criminals trying to get your personal information in the form of an e-mail or even an SMS. 

They’ll usually ask you for your precious information like your credit card details, or even your usual social security number. It’s important that you don’t share this information with them, as they could use this to hack you. 

The best way to guard yourself is to look for the signs of a phishing scam. Phishing scams often contain generic language like “dear user,” or may even spell your name wrong. It may contain multiple spelling errors throughout the message. In general, the best way to avoid phishing scams is to always air on the side of caution. If it seems fishy, then chances are it probably is.

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