#1 KEEP SECRETS
In the information space, we often have to enter our data: full name, address, date of birth, document numbers. Is it safe?
Personal data (name, surname, address, date of birth, document numbers) can only be entered on government websites or on ticketing websites. And only if the connection is established using the https protocol . A green lock icon should appear to the left of the site address, indicating that the connection is secure.
It is unlikely that a child will need to register on government websites, but even if it is needed, it should be done under the guidance of parents anyway. It is important to remember that in no case should data of any documents and bank cards be transmitted via the Network . Even (and even more so) if someone asks for it, he tries to convince that a critical situation has arisen, hurries and repeats that information must be urgently sent.
If this situation arises, the child should immediately contact the parents. If he is told that he cannot tell anyone anything, and is frightened by unpleasant consequences, all the more urgently should he tell his family about everything. Intimidation and attempts to get information at all costs indicate that you are facing scammers.
#2 BE ANONYMOUS
When creating your profile on social networks, you need to avoid being tied to the “physical” world as much as possible.
You can not indicate your address, date of birth, school, class. It is better to use an obvious pseudonym: it should be clear from it that this is not a real name (after all, using false data: “Aleksey” instead of “Alexander” is prohibited according to the rules of social networks ).
No need to put your photo on the avatarif you are not at least 15-16 years old. All children and adolescents under this age are at risk of becoming a victim of an attacker by posting their photo.
#3 DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS
There are several major dangers that can be encountered on the Internet. By and large, they differ little from those that threaten us in real life. Attackers here simply use other means.
Bullying . A child is called names or bullied on the Internet - most often for no reason, "because it's so much fun." The victim may be picked on because of a profile picture or a social media post .
Pedophiles. They ask to send personal photos, and if they refuse, they threaten to kill family members or blackmail them in other ways.
Fraudsters. They are trying to get hold of the user's data or drag the child into a dangerous financial adventure.
The main defense against all these threats is privacy. You are not allowed to post your photos online . You should limit access to information about all aspects of your life, whether online or offline. You can report them only to trusted people: relatives, friends and people who know you personally, and not via the Internet.
Those who are trying to hurt and offend you somehow (the so-called trolls) should simply be ignored.
#4 RECOGNIZE THE ATTACKER
What should you pay attention to before entering into a dialogue? What signals danger?
You don't know this person in real life.
Your interlocutor is clearly older than you.
He has no or very few friends on the social network .
The interlocutor asks for something: take a picture, send some data, etc.
#5 KEEP YOUR PHOTO OUT OF ACCESSIBLE PLACE
The rules for publishing your own photos are very simple - if you do not want them to become public, you cannot post them on the Internet and send them to someone using it. Generally. Even instant messengers "know how" to copy correspondence to the "cloud", so you can lose control over your pictures.
If something was sent somewhere or published somewhere, it went to the Web . It is important to remember that in no case should you upload photos of documents - your own or others'. And photos of other people should be uploaded only if they agree to it.
#6 BE SURE
The bad news is that nothing can be removed.
Everything that got on the Web or even on a smartphone will remain there forever. As a rule, it is impossible to erase data from the Network . The only way to avoid leaking information is not to share it.
#7 DO NOT GIVE YOUR LOCATION
Geolocation data allows the whole world to know where you live and study, spend your free time, what promotions you participate in, what shows and performances you like, how you relax. Tracking the location of a person is no longer difficult.
For a child, this can be a great danger. But you can’t completely turn off geolocation on a children’s phone. It is useful for parents to use special programs to know where the child is.
To make geolocation as safe as possible, you need to make sure that the location is not displayed on the " looking for " objects - especially in photographs. On phones, in the camera settings, as a rule, you can disable geotagging .
#8 ATTENTION TO GAMES
Security rules are not only in social networks and instant messengers. All major threats can also come from online games.
There, the child is even more vulnerable, because it is easier to manipulate them: game objects, team membership, in-game social connections - all this can become a manipulation mechanism for scammers, pedophiles, or even recruiters of various extremist groups. That is why in the game you need to behave especially carefully.
#9 LEARN TO NOTICE FAKE SITES
Phishing is a way to lure a person out of his data: login, account name and password.
It happens like this: the user is sent a link to the site, very similar to the real address of the mail service or social network. As a rule, phishers specifically buy such domains. For example, for mail.ru it could be “meil.ru”, and for vk.com it could be “vk-com.com”.
The attacker is waiting for a person to enter a username or password on a fake site. So he learns the data, and then uses them to enter the real profile of his victim.
#10 TRAIN YOUR MEMORY
Can I use services that save passwords? If the profile contains really important information, then, alas, no. Why?
This is convenient, but online password storage services are unreliable.
They are often hacked and copy user passwords from there.
More often than not, the victims will only find out about it after some time, if at all.
Often, such sites and services are created by scammers specifically to collect passwords.
Passwords must be unique. Numbers and special characters greatly complicate the selection process. It is safer to enter social networks , messengers and mail through applications, but entering passwords in browsers should be avoided. All apps must be installed by, or under the supervision of, parents.
#11 CAREFULLY SHOPPING
The main rule of online shopping is this: a child's access to money should be limited and be under the control of parents.
The main financial losses usually occur through the phone. It is necessary to connect paid content blocking services, not to put a lot of money on a child's phone account and control expenses. All other payments must be agreed with the parents and occur only under their supervision.
All services that accept money must have a green " https " icon next to the name. If there is no such icon, it is better not to use the page. However, even its presence does not give a 100% guarantee.
Often , online sales sites offer to buy something using a QR code or online payments . Here, too, you need to be vigilant and carefully study the reviews about the seller. There are many scammers in social networks who disappear after receiving the money.
#12 CHECK THE INFORMATION
Verification of information is a rather complicated process, and even adults do not always cope with this. There are several formal signs that you have landed on a "yellow" site, which should not be trusted unconditionally. These are screaming headlines, an abundance of advertising, or if the reader who clicked on the news is thrown somewhere further.
To verify the information you received online, follow these guidelines:
look for two or three more sources, preferably in other languages too;
find the source and ask yourself the question: “Can it be trusted?”;
check if there are other opinions and facts on the Web that refute or confirm what has been said.
If you need to find out some fact or find out what an incomprehensible term means, you can turn to Wikipedia. It is rare to find absolutely outright nonsense there, but you should not blindly trust an open digital encyclopedia: even it comes across errors.
#13 TAKE CARE OF THE CLOUD
How reliable are storages like Mail.Ru Cloud , and is it safe to store documents there?
Experts say that cloud storage can be secured by first encrypting documents with PGP or using a program to create an archive by placing scanned documents in it.
When creating an archive, you need to specify the option "continuous archive" ( solid archive ) and put a good password on this archive.
For example, this: "kn23iuhuio12njkpuiy89y7&R&TFTGIY*(UYT&*T^ G!* OUH*&GYUIHJK)".
Or at least this: “stood in the #field123”.
It is not recommended to use the same password for different archives.
#14 OBSERVE NETWORK ETIQUETTE
Mankind is just learning to communicate on the Web , but the rules of good manners here are no different from those that must be observed in the real world. Do not insult others, do not be intrusive, do not let your negative emotions get out of control, write competently.
As in life, on the Web we have to be in different communities, and the rules of communication may differ. A polite person, once in an unfamiliar society, first of all will try to find out its features. Somewhere it is customary to communicate on “you”, and somewhere - on “you”, somewhere emoticons are appropriate, but somewhere not. There are companies where the use of network slang is encouraged, and there are those where they simply will not understand it or consider you illiterate.
However, there are rules that are relevant for any community:
do not draw attention to yourself due to shocking;
do not deviate from the topic of conversation: " flood " is considered one of the main "sins" on the Web;
do not ignore the interlocutor's questions, except for obvious trolling or insults - such a conversation should be stopped immediately;
never participate in bullying: online bullying is no different from the real one and is equally dangerous for both the victim and the aggressor.
#15 THE BIGGEST SECURITY ON THE NETWORK
You don't have to do anything online that you wouldn't do in the physical world. The difference between virtual and real reality is minimal.
As for parental behavior, on the Web it should also not differ from the behavior “offline ” . It is impossible to achieve obedience from a child through prohibitions and strict control. However, there should not be a feeling of permissiveness on the Internet either. Together, learn to lead a safe lifestyle, both real and virtual.