Digital safety: How do you stay safe online?

[Toby]

Hi guys,

Some of you may have seen the O2 Parents page where everyone can find out about info on how to make sure your children, relatives and yourself are always digitally safe.

Digital safety can account for many activities in day to day life; Purchasing items online, talking to people online, downloading content, texting, calling and even simply internet content itself.

It’s something that has affected a lot of people and is always a hot topic when mentioned in the media. I’m sure you all have your own tips and habits on how to stay safe and it’s a great opportunity for everyone to help each other out with their advice in this discussion.

What do you do to make sure you, your children and grandchildren are safe online?

What tips would you share with others who you thought were danger?

[Anonymous]

Hi Toby.

Unfortunately these people are pretty much slick at getting through most home brand security suites these days.

Even visiting trusted sites can bring issues.

Now I use a Mac I don't seem to have been hit. {touch wood}

I'm sure we've all got bad experiences. I was once hit with a key logger Trojan when purchasing off e bay through paypal. The person was able to see exactly what I typed and tried to take £1,500 from my account.

I had several internet security measures in place ,and they got through them.

Many years ago someone tried to groom my daughter through a social chat site which fortunately we caught in time.

I think it's just sometimes a case of bad luck if your caught by a virus etc.

[Toby]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts BoB.

It sounds like you took the right steps at each stage which is good.

I had problems with a ticket site once, where they sold tickets before ordering them themselves, so the system would not work if they could not obtain all of the tickets they needed. I struggled for months to get my money back.

Do you think digital safety is better now than it was? There are more checks and regulations, but also more ways to communicate, download and purchase things that may catch an individual out.

[Anonymous]

Yes I believe it's much improved in the way of security ,and with the many different types of measures in place ,and what's available to protect yourself.

And as importantly people are a lot more savvy now about what to watch out for.

I was fortunate that my bank caught my situation and saw it as a not a usual spend pattern for my account ,and locked down all my accounts.

I know people sometimes are unhappy at having to jump through a few security hoops to get what they want but on the flip side I'm sure they would be equally unhappy if someone managed to take money from their account ,or opened up a bogus contract etc.

And in many instances the first place they seek resolution is the bank etc.

[Anonymous]

How did you spot the issues with your daughter, BoB? Were you supervising her time online?