Family Internet Safety

It often urges you to act quickly, because your account has been compromised, your order cannot be fulfilled or there is another urgent matter to address.

If you are unsure whether an email request is legitimate, try to verify it with these steps:

Contact the company directly – using information provided on an account statement, on the company’s official website or on the back of a credit card.
Search for the company online – but not with information provided in the email.

Spam is the electronic equivalent of junk mail. The term refers to unsolicited, bulk – and often unwanted – email. Here are ways to reduce spam:

• Enable filters on your email programs: Most internet service providers (ISPs) and email providers offer spam filters; however, depending on the level you set, you may end up blocking emails you want. It’s a good idea to occasionally check your junk folder to ensure the filters are working properly.
• Report spam: Most email clients offer ways to mark an email as spam.
• Reporting spam will also help to prevent the messages from being directly delivered to your inbox.
• Own your online presence: Consider hiding your email address from online profiles and social networking sites or only allowing certain people to view your personal information.

• When in doubt, throw it out: Links in email, tweets, posts and online advertising are often how cybercriminals try to compromise your information. If it looks suspicious, even if you know the source, it’s best to delete or – if appropriate – mark it as junk.
• Think before you act: Be wary of communications that implores you to act immediately, offers something that sounds too good to be true or asks for personal information.
• Make your passphrase a sentence: A strong passphrase is a sentence that is at least 12 characters long. Focus on positive sentences or phrases that you like to think about and are easy to remember (for example, “I love country music.”). On many sites, you can even use spaces!
• Unique account, unique passphrase: Having separate passphrases for every account helps to thwart cybercriminals. At a minimum, separate your work and personal accounts and make sure that your critical accounts have the strongest passphrases.
• Lock down your login: Fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device. Your usernames and passphrases are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media.

• Report it to the appropriate staff within your organization, including IT Support / Network administrators. They can be alert for any suspicious or unusual activity.
• If you believe your bank accounts may be compromised, contact your bank immediately, explain what has happened and follow their guidance.
• Watch for any suspicious or unauthorized charges to your bank account.
• Consider reporting the attack to the police.