Staying Street Smart in the Online World

The threats of online grooming are real and dangerous. However protecting our children and young people against them can mean we neglect to warn them about other threats in the virtual world. There is a large and active criminal interest in identity theft, access to financial transactions and infiltrating devices, much of which is difficult to trace and even harder for the police to prosecute. Learning about defending yourself against this is a valuable life skill for all ages. Here are five key pieces of advice for everyone to stay safe online.

When is a fast food outlet not a fast food outlet?

Cafes, restaurants and shops began offering free Wi-Fi years ago, and many young people have grown up expecting it to be there. However, with the advent of mobile hotspots that can be purchased from anyone, people need to be savvy about which one they log into. If the networks has a variation of a famous name, you should not log onto it. This can be a more obvious copy like “starbucks_1” or a less obvious rearrangement of letters like “strabucks”. A good rule of thumb is to be wary and ask behind the counter if unsure. If a password is not required this can be another red flag to be wary of.

When is an app not an app?

It is sometimes difficult to see the difference between a bonefide and a fake app, particularly as the logos on devices can be very small. In November 2017, a copy Whattsapp was downloaded 1 million times through the Google Play Store, having bypassed the security screening by using Unicode to impersonate the real version. It used a similar developer name to the original and looked identical bar a blank space at the end of the name. In this case the copy version included a wrapper to display ads on mobile devices. However, other copyists are not so kind and can be used for phishing attacks and data capture. Using separate mobile security can defend against this, as can checking reviews of apps before download.

When to look over your shoulder

A lot of socialising takes place online, and we have all been in situations when a screen distracts from the real world around you. People can take advantage of that, though, and shoulder surfing on a bus, train or any other public place is a real possibility. It is unrealistic to expect we can challenge strangers on whether or not they can do this. A far more sensible approach is to be more aware of what you are posting. Snapchat may disappear in 24 hours, but if the person next to you sees personal information, they can remember this for a lot longer. Being aware of this in public places is critical.

When to question a question

Anyone with a mobile phone or a smart device has access to the entire world. At the same time, they feel the apparent security of being in a familiar environment. Sometimes this encourages us to say and do things we would not think of in a face to face conversation. Teaching our young people (and ourselves) to be critical about why people want information is an excellent habit to get into. Cyber criminals will pay up to a pound for an email address, name and telephone number which can be used in all sorts of ways. Just as young people were warned not to put their names on T-shirts a few decades ago, they need to know that identifying themselves online carries similar risks today.

When keeping clean means keeping safe

Fashions change quickly, and upgrades of mobile hardware are a regular part of many young people’s lives. While selling old devices to friends or through websites is a good way to make money for the new version, it comes with plenty of risk. We need to bear in mind that the next owner might not be the final owner and protect ourselves against our data going somewhere we never expected.

We at Techbuyer wipe data centre storage devices with military grade data erasure software. For phones, there are simpler options. A factory reset on an android device will not overwrite the data contained on it but rather forget where to find it, making it vulnerable to hackers. A simple sentence into a search engine will offer a solution. All we need to do is to educate young people that they need to do it.