Self Defense Techniques

15 Steps To Internet Safety for Women

Here's a quick checklist to get you started on the road to Internet safety. If you want more detail, look to http://ilookbothways.com for straightforward practical advice on how to steer clear of Internet hazards whether you're sending e-mail, dating online, making purchases or socializing – and whether you are on a computer, or your phone.

A few of these goes to men too. So read on...

1. Secure your computers with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and tools.

Keep them current and use them unfailingly-as automatically as locking your door when you leave the house. A computer that does not have security software installed and up-to-date will become infected with malicious software in an average of four minutes. That malicious software will steal your information and put you at risk for crimes.

2. Choose a safe online name.

Use e-mail addresses, IM names, chat nicknames, and other such names that don't give away too much personal information. Pick a name that doesn't help identify you (your age, for example) or locate you. Avoid flirtatious or provocative names that may cause unwanted attention.

3. Use strong, unique passwords for every site to reduce the risk of someone breaking into your account.

1. Secure passwords do not have to be hard to remember, just hard to guess. It is easy and can actually be fun, and the payoff in increased safety is big. The key aspects of a strong password are length (the longer the better); a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols; and no tie to your personal information.

2. Use unique passwords for each site or service. This way, if your password is discovered on one site, the rest of your services aren't at risk.

3. Avoid passwords with personal information, dictionary words in any language, words spelled backwards, abbreviations, and sequences or repeated characters ("abcdefgh" or "12345678").

4. Use a phrase. "2BorNot2B_ThatIsThe?" (To be or not to be, that is the question.)

5. Incorporate shortcut codes or acronyms. "CSThnknAU2day!" (Can't Stop Thinking About You Today!)

6. Play with your keyboard. Use your keyboard as a canvas to draw on. For example, "1qazdrfvgy7" is just the letter "W."

4. Discuss online safety with your family and friends.

Decide together how you will help protect each other's privacy online and set rules that reflect your personal values. Decide what information about yourself you are willing to have shared online, and with whom you are willing to share it. This includes asking friends to put your email address on the Bcc: line if they are including you on an email to people that you don't know.

5. Be selective about who you interact with online and what information you make public.

The risks are relatively low when you stick with people you know—your family, and friends. Going into public chat rooms or opening your blog up to the general public, for example, significantly increases your risk.

Think carefully before you post online any information that can personally identify you, a family member, or friend on a public site like a blog, in online white pages, on job hunt sites, or in any other place anyone on the Internet can see the information. Sensitive information includes real name, birth date, gender, town, e-mail address, school name, place of work, and personal photos.

6. Pay attention to the risks of e-mail.

Think twice before you open attachments or click links in e-mail-even if you know the sender-as these can be used to transmit spam and viruses to your computer.