StopSign Internet Security Blog

It’s getting close to the middle of the school year for most kids, and by now they’re probably pretty comfortable with the swing of things. As such, you’re probably finding your kids on the home computer surfing the Internet, “studying” online (haha), and chatting with their friends the web. As a parent and a tech geek, I’m all for kids learning and playing online. But as the school year progresses, most kids become lax in their safety consciousness when online.

It’s always a good idea to remind your kids about the importance of online safety, but here are three things you should make sure to keep on top of all year long:

• Don’t give out personally identifiable information:

  First names are probably fine, but a last name should always be kept under wraps from anyone your kids interact with online. Other things to keep quite about are the locations of their home and school, frequent hangout spots, and after-school schedules. The last thing you want is some creepy stranger taking a 3 hour drive to visit your kid at little league!

• Keep kids social networking profiles private:

  Places like Facebook allow kids (and adults) to post anything they want at any time they want, with little to no repercussions. Make sure that your kids don’t accidentally invite a web perv into their online life with an open and public profile.

• Let an adult know about cyberbullying:

  Cyberbullying is no joke, and it’s happening more and more. Be sure to keep an open and honest dialog with your kids about online harassment, whether it’s about them, their friends, or someone they know at school. No child should have to live in fear or shame because of a cyberbully.

If you keep those three things alive and well during the entire year, your kids will have a much better, and safer, time on the Internet.

I was having a lovely morning on the StopSign Twitter account yesterday, checking out tweets, when I ran across the link to a great blog post over at MamaKatsLosinIt.com about Internet safety and how a simple email really shook up the site owner, Kathy, and made her reevaluate how much information she shares online.

I won’t ruin any surprises for you by giving you specifics (you really should read her blog post), but suffice to say that even the best of us slip up and let personally identifiable information slip out of our hands and onto the Web. They key, however, is not to live in a world of fear and never post again. In fact, in the post she says “I refuse to live in fear of what could happen.”, which is a great attitude to have. Instead, Kathy’s post reminds us to be ever-vigilant about keeping things like our full names, home addresses, and other places would-be bad guys may be interested in off the web. Make it hard for them to track you down.

At the end of the post, Kathy said she was going to use the weekend to look for anything with her last name, her address (even in pictures, as we’ve mentioned in our blog post “Staying Safe Online (and Offline)”), and anything else that might identify her or her family. I really loved this idea, and I went home and did the same thing myself that night. I suggest you take Kathy’s suggestion and do the same.

With the new school year starting up it’s time for a refresher on keeping your kids safe online. Below you’ll find three simple Internet safety tips to make sure that little Johnny or little Janie can browse for school-related info without you worrying about inappropriate content, malicious software being installed accidentally, and cyber-pervs.

1. Set Ground Rules:

   Sit down with your kids and make sure they know what’s appropriate to look at on the Internet and what isn’t. Also make sure they know to come directly to you if they see something they shouldn’t. Emphasize that they won’t get in trouble if they stumble upon something by accident and you’ll likely get a better response out of them if they do happen upon the more unsavory side of the web.

2. Keep Limits:

   A set time to go online for school, or for fun, can make a world of difference. With time limits and expected consequences for too much overtime, you and your kids will all know exactly what to expect. And when. You’ll also have some ammunition against any complaining that they need 15 more minutes on Facebook when you remind them that you both agreed on time limits.

3. Monitor Activity:

   Even the best, most responsible kids in the world forget to tell you things, or skip a rule every now and again. Make sure to check in on your kids and make sure the ground rules you set from above stay fresh in their minds. I like to check in on my kids when they’re actually surfing so we can talk about what they’re looking at when it’s fresh in their heads.

While not all-inclusive (can Internet safety ever be?), these 3 simple back to school Internet safety tips can go a long way to keeping your kids safe online.

Gently used clothing, bartered services, even free books and bicycles… these are all commonly found deals you can luck into on Craigslist, one of the worlds most popular (mostly) free online sites for classified ads. But just like with any other popular website, the unscrupulous use Craigslist to scam folks looking for a great deal.

With all of the items and services being sold, bought, bartered, or advertised, there’s a lot of temptation for an e-crook to use Craigslist to scam people out of their hard earned cash. Luckily avoiding Craigslist scams mostly falls under common sense, but there are plenty of tricky grifters out there, so watch out!

To help you avoid scams on Craigslist, we’ve written down some of the commonly used tactics used by alert buyers and sellers to avoid hassles with scams. Hopefully these tips will help you avoid a big headache, too.

• Meet Face To Face:

  Keeping things in the real world vs. on the Internet of via snail mail will help make sure that you actually get what you paid for. And this tip leads us to…

• Locals Only:

  Only buy/sell from/to someone who is close enough to you that you could arrange to meet in a public place. Choose someplace like the parking lot of a grocery store or a department store, and only meet during the daytime. There’s no sense in letting a stranger know where you live and into your house just to save a buck on gas.

• Cash Only:

  If you’re selling something, make sure to ask for cash only. Wire transfers and checks can be faked, but cash in hand is much harder to scam with.

• Avoid 3rd Party Services:

  Many online escrow services are well-known to be run by scammers, so keep things nice and simple. If you’re dealing with someone who insists on using an online escrow service, save yourself the hassle of a headache and look for a new person to deal with.

For more details on Craigslist scams, check out the official word from Craigslist on their “about scams” page.

Are you guilty of putting Too Much Information (TMI) online? Probably, right? If you’re a human who has been online more than about 15 minutes, you probably are a little guilty of the occasional TMI moment.

Putting too much information online has been a time-honored tradition since the early days of the Internet. The Usenet groups and BBS systems of the good old days of the web were a boiling mass of TMI, and the blogs and social networks of today are no different. From stories about being dooced to YouTube videos about drunk people getting caught by others acting, well, like drunk people act… the Internet gives us many examples of what not to do. But people still keep giving the rest of us too much information.

Samples of TMI include:

• Work:

  It’s not a good idea to talk trash about your boss, much less putting it online for the world to see. Avoid this TMI no-no and avoid waiting in line for your unemployment check.

• Home:

  The last thing you want is for your spouse to know that you do, in fact, think that she looks fat in that dress. This TMI tip keeps you out of the dog house.

• Friends:

  What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, and a TMI slip up getting back home just might force you to find a new best friend. Or maybe a new place to live.

• Family:

  Venting online about people like your neighbor or your your Mother-In-Law on Facebook may seem like a good idea. Unless you forget that they follow you on Facebook, or that someone they’re close with follows you. Do that and you could have some awkward conversations in your near future.

• Strangers:

  A potentially dangerous example of TMI is anything that tells people where you live or when you’re going somewhere on a trip. You may as well put a welcome sign out for crooks.

• Personal:

  Possibly the worst kind of TMI, nobody wants to know about what happened in your bathroom or in your bedroom. Just don’t do it.

Keeping the aforementioned in your head and not on your blog or Facebook page will do wonders to keep your family, friends, and co-workers from being exposed to too much information.