Internet Safety
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Here at the Sexual Assault Center, we believe that there is a need to raise awareness of the potential for dangers that exist with the widespread use of internet and personal electronic devices. Below we will provide important information and tools for the protection of our community. The information that will be provided in this section is important. We hope you will consider taking steps for your own safety. Our center also provides age-specific training on-site training to schools, community groups, churches, and more upon request. Please contact our office for more information.
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Best Online Practices
It is important that adults as well as children practice internet safety for the protection their own private information, and personal safety. Careless online habits may come back to haunt us, but we can prevent scams, identity theft, physical harm, and even financial damage by taking certain steps or engaging in "best practices" for our own protection. Here are some general tips:
Privacy
Make sure your privacy settings are set to the highest level available. If not, your personal information could be accessed for the purposes of marketing. Hackers might access it in order to cause financial harm. Your location and details of your personal life might even be accessed to cause physical harm. Most popular sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have privacy setting which you can use to protect yourself. Make sure you protect your information no matter what site you are accessing. Another best practice is a strong password. Make sure you use long passwords which mix letters, numbers, and symbols to best protect yourself.
Personal Information
Think about what information you share before you share it. The location of your home, your family photos, and relationships --if you wouldn't provide it to a stranger--reconsider whether or not you should be sharing it online. Remember, once it's posted, it's forever--even if you delete it. Another important detail to remember is to protect yourself by turning off locators in your social media, and especially dating apps. People can be tracked through location sharing, and this has lead to issues like stalking. Keep your location private!
Safe Browsing
Online content is not always safe. People can be baited with certain types of content or when searching certain terms. Be very careful what you choose "click" on. One wrong click may expose certain data or infect your device by downloading malware. Resist opening unexpected or suspicious messages or downloading items you are unsure of. Make sure you are only using a secure VPN. Never share information such as banking information or logging into password -secured sites on public Wi-Fi--your data could be accessed by unknown parties.
Relationships
Be careful with online relationships. People are not always who they claim to be. Predators disguise themselves to gain a victim's trust and to gain access to personal information. The best way to deal with this type of predator is to keep privacy settings set high and limit personal information. It also important to not add "friends" you don't know or respond to random or suspicious texts, messages, or emails. Don't open random links, and be wary of strangers attempting to flatter you .
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