How to keep safe online

This post was originally published in The 19 of November 2014. I like this post, because writing this was a challenge for me and I think that this post can be very useful for you.

You think you've done everything to be safe online. Are you sure? Maybe you should follow some tips to prevent potential danger. It is probably not possible to completely protect ourselves online, but by following some tips we will minimize this risk.

Protect your identity

First, protect your identity. Never use a lazy password. What does this mean? The account password should not be the name of your child or your mother's maiden name. It’s best to invent a password that contains letters and numbers interchangeably. Remember! Never use the same password for different accounts.

When signing up to agreeing to anything, you must always read everything in the fine print. If you're too lazy to do it, expect to receive junk mail. The good sites will have a statement listed that they will not sell your name to other companies.

Beware of spoof email claiming to be from PayPal, or a bank or a company you trust asking for personal information. This is called phishing. Also, bear in mind that companies like e-bay, PayPal, amazon or email programs like Gmail etc. will never ask you for your password.

The best tip! Change up your password every few months.

Protect your photos

Although the law protects us, that nobody, without our permission cannot use our images and texts that we have placed online. However, there are a lot of dishonest people who can steal your work.

Using social media, you should take into account what kind of photos you share, because you can harm not only yourself, but your family or friends. Firstly, you should not post pictures that may embarrass the other person. You should always ask others for permission before you share a picture in which there are other people. You should think twice before you share a photo of your child.

How to protect your photos from being stolen? By sharing your photos online, for example on blogs, websites or social media, set the image in low resolution, eg. 800 pixels. Photos of this resolution look good, but these photos are useless for people who want to use your photos without your permission. You should always sign a photo, preferably in places where removal would be require too much time, for example, a piece of the face, body e.t.c

The best tip! Think twice before you share photos.

Protect your connection and download safely

Make sure you are using an anti-virus program, and remember about regularly updating this program. Anti-virus will not protect you from all dangers, eg. when using a public wireless network, make sure to turn off file sharing and network discovery, because  your files and system are at risk of being opened by anyone, not just hackers.

Try to use the secure pages, not just for cash transactions, but also, if you want to download something. The best companies will have many security devices in place.  If these are banks you see a small gold lock at the bottom of the page Indicates a secure site.

Don't forget to download files or software from sites that have been verified by trusted sources. Do not download illegally or copyrighted material without paying for it.

The best tip! Never use sites that have not been verified by trusted sources.

If you follow this advice on how to be safe online, you can avoid many dangers. Remember! You have to be watchful, but you should think reasonably and enjoy the ability to use the Internet.