Children Should Be Aware Of Internet Theft

Internet theft should concern everyone but especially those that are the parent of a child who uses the internet or will soon. The internet is a fantastic way to learn the latest news, do research for school projects and communicate with friends but it can also be a very dangerous place.

It is the parents responsibility to make sure that a child visits safe areas on the internet. A child should never know more about the internet than the parent does. You should at the least know about the same.

If you attempt to block adult themed websites that have offensive material, it would not be good if your child knows how to get around the parental block. That is why it is important that you know how to use a computer and the internet.

Another good reason why you should have knowledge of the internet and computer use is because you are better able to fully understand the dangers of the internet. You may hear that an internet predator approached a child on the news. You may assume that will never happen to your child, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

A child on the internet can be very vulnerable, playing a game or researching a paper online. A common mistake would be your child accidentally stumbling into a porn site, getting into malicious web pages that infect your computer, mistakenly deleting your own computer's files.

Mistakes like these can happen and your child may not be aware of them. If they do happen you may not be told for fear of punishment.

There are some activities that you can do with your children that will in effect allow you to supervise their actions online. If that is not possible, you can always monitor their computer use. Which sites they visit, the activities they do online. If they use chat rooms and e-mails, pay attention to who they are corresponding with and how well they seem to know them.

Children should be aware of the dangers online. They should be able to recognize suspicious behavior or activities on the internet. Knowledge is truly the best defense. This will help you and the child set boundaries for their computer use. Hopefully you will be able to avoid any type of internet theft with the proper knowledge.

Tactics To Avoid Cyber Identity Theft

Cyber identity theft is a very real concern but it is really not that difficult. Knowledge is the best defense against cyber attacks. Once you start to use safe tactics online it will become second nature to you.

With the rising cost of gasoline people are doing their shopping at home online. Shopping in stores takes a certain security mind set but so does shopping at home on the internet. There is an old saying "follow the money" Scammers are taking that to heart.

When you engage in online shopping you are relived from the stress of standing in line and dealing with other rude customers. Sometimes the employees are not in a great mood either. A person can stay in the comfort of their own home and accomplish shopping with just a few clicks of a mouse.

One way to discourage thieves is through proper education. Make sure that your firewall is current and up to date. It is the best way to protect your computer from the outside world. A properly maintained firewall will filter data from the outside world.

A lot of people use one password for everything. It is best to have a different password for every account but it is strongly recommended to have a separate password for online banking and anything else that may involve money.

E-mails are another area where scammers are able to get in. You should never open an e-mail unless you are familiar with the person that sent it. Banks and other financial institutions will never ask for login information through an e-mail.

There are also activities that you can do with children and other family members that will allow you to supervise their use of the internet. If this is not possible to monitor them on a one on one basis you can supervise their activity on the net later. The sites that they like to visit online such as gaming or chat sites. It is important to know if they actually know the people that they come in contact with.

This will help you to set limits to their online use. The sites that they visit should be age appropriate of course. It is not necessary to scare but instill in them a sense of awareness when they are on the net. This includes sites they are allowed to visit.