Stay safe on the internet

Social media sites are a great way to stay in touch with family and friends, or share interests and photos. But if you’re not careful with your online identity, social media is also an easy way for cybercriminals to learn more about you. Make sure you take precautions before you share, post, and connect with others.

Risks to you

Phishing

Phishing messages can come from people pretending to be your friends, companies, or just friendly strangers. Never share sensitive information or click on any links that seem suspicious — even if they’re from your friend.

Social engineering

Social engineering is a type of attack that relies on deception to gain sensitive financial or personal information. A fraudster may use facts you have made public on your social media accounts, for example, where you live or work, to make their request seem legitimate or like they know you personally.

Privacy

What kind of information are you posting online? Do you post the names of family and friends, pets, photos from your neighbourhood, your vehicle, or where / when you vacation? Not only can fraudsters use this information against you, but also be sure to understand what information the organization is collecting about you, how they are using it, and to what other organizations it is being disclosed or sold to.

Malware

Malware is spread on social media through links and direct messages, often with catchy or strange headlines. Once malware is in your device, it might send spam messages to your friends, steal your information, or harm your device. Always be careful when clicking links on social media, even if they claim to be from a friend.

Protect yourself on social media

Use a passphrase or complex password, and make sure you have a unique one for every account.
Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible.
Avoid posting sensitive information like your address, license plate, or photo IDs.
Disable geotagging. Geotagging is a feature in many cameras that automatically attaches the precise location where an image was taken to that image's file information. Attackers can look at geotags to determine your precise location. Disable geotagging in your camera settings to prevent this, or ensure the social media site removes geotags when photos are uploaded.
Be cautious when posting photos to ensure they don’t reveal information like street locations or license plates.

Connect to public wifi safely

These days, you can’t go anywhere without being prompted to connect to a public wifi network. From coffee shops to doctors’ offices, to buses and hotels, wifi is available almost everywhere you go. While convenient, public networks aren’t the safest; anyone can connect to them — including potential cyber criminals. To ensure you stay secure on public networks:

Be cautious what you browse: to be on the safe side, never use public networks to access sensitive information like your bank account. Make sure you’re only visiting websites that use HTTPS , which are more secure than regular HTTP sites. In order to help ensure you are browsing safely, look for 'https://" or a padlock icon at the start of the URL field to know you’re on a secure site.
Use a VPN: VPNs direct all your web activity through a secure, independent network that encrypts and protects your data. A VPN is offered by most internet service providers as a secondary service, or there are several free and paid options.
Look out for shoulder surfers: the thing about public wifi is that it’s, well, public. Make sure to keep an eye out for anyone who might be watching your screen over your shoulder.

When in 'roam', check out these travel security tips to help you and your devices travel securely.