Know the net: ways to avoid cybercrime

Knowthenet advice on avoiding cybercrime:



"The term ‘cybercrime’ covers a wide range of activities that are carried out against businesses and individuals using computers and the Internet.

The main activities that affect individuals are:

Computer misuse (including hacking, spam email, Trojans, viruses, botnets etc.)
Financial fraud (including scams, online theft, phishing etc.)
Identity theft and identity fraud
Offences against the person (including cyberbullying, hate crimes, child sexual abuse content)
General tips to help you avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime

Treat all unsolicited emails (especially those from unknown senders) with caution and never click on links from such emails to visit unknown web sites - these could contain links to code that could affect your computer.

Don’t open attachments in emails that you’re not expecting – they could contain a virus or code that would enable someone to control your computer.
Don’t share files or programs with other users.
Don’t use free software unless you know it’s reputable and safe.
Install anti-virus software, keep it up-to-date and run regular security scans.
Install the latest security updates, also known as patches.
Install and learn how to use a personal firewall.

Be careful not to share personal information such as address information, bank details, telephone numbers, date of birth etc. on social networking sites and other websites that do not use encryption to secure the information you publish.

Do not use the same password across multiple websites. Although this makes it more difficult to manage your online accounts it is worth the effort, you can also use password management software and encryption to make this easier."


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