In light of the news that online hate crime is set to be treated as seriously as ‘offline’ offences, under revised CPS guidelines, David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab commented below.
David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab:
“Technology offers protection but we cannot rely solely on it. By being informed and talking about our lives online, we will continue to raise awareness and understanding of the risks and threats and how to guard against them.”
Four simple and practical steps you can take to help you stay safe online are as follows:
- Don’t assume that someone is who they say they are. Remember that even a friend’s account may be hacked, in which case it could be a cybercriminal that’s sending you a message, or inviting you to click on a link.
- If you wouldn’t publish something on the front page of a daily newspaper, don’t post it online.
- Review your Facebook security settings carefully, ideally restricting all sections to be viewed/shared to ‘friends only’. Set limits to what applications can do and remove applications once you no longer wish to use them.
- Protect your computer using Internet security software and always install security updates to software on your computer.
