Internet Safety Resources
Discussing internet safety, we compare the story of Little Red Ridding Hood. Where she was not to concerned about the friendly wolf. She gave the wolf all the information he needed to cause her and her grandmother real harm.
When you are on the internet you can find lots of information and many websites have legitimate uses for your personal information. Unfortunately, there are a variety of predators that take advantage of trusting people.
There are those who:
- want to steal your money,
- want to invade your computer
- want to do you personal harm
It is your job to keep yourself safe. You can seek the help of adults who care about you, but ultimately you have to keep yourself safe.
One basic rule for all situations is "Don't believe everything". Use a little skepticism. Check out this ad for State Farm. It really illustrates this point.
Another basic rule is to never share your passwords with anyone except for your parents or guardian.
Keeping your computer and personal data safe:
- Be certain of the websites you visit. There are often impostor sites. It is common for thiefs to copy the look of a real website and make a URL (website address) that looks similar to the real site. Sometimes people get emails saying that their is a problem with their bank account or some other account. These emails direct them to a website to fix the problem. MOST of the time these are fake websites doing something called "phishing". This is the word phony and fishing combined. They want you to log on and in the process they capture all your data, account information, usernames, passwords, etc and then they have access to your bank or social media account, etc. You should always go to your bank or social media sites directly and not via a link in an email.
- Look for signs that the website is fake or real. www.google.com is real but www.google.net is not. Other signs may exist. Check out "How To Spot A Fake Website."
- Ask a parent or trusted adult before giving any personal information. Personal information includes your: name, age, gender,address, phone number, school, family information, personal description, email address, account information and more.
- Check out this site from Google about internet safety. Click here.
Keeping YOU safe: Unfortunately, there are some who are predators. These people want to do harm to you.
- NEVER give personal information of any kind to someone you AND your parents do not personally know and you have not met face to face.
- If someone asks you for personal information or suggests that you meet them, IMMEDIATELY tell a trusted adult and do not continue communicating with them.
- Stay on trusted sites.
- Use the computer when you are around people. There is strength in numbers.
- If someone bullies you, tell an adult right away.
Keeping Your Money Safe:
Much of this is similar to keeping you safe and keeping your computer safe.
- Don't use a credit card without your parent helping you.
- Only use trusted sites. If you are not sure, search for reviews and other information about the site. Make sure the reviews are not the same home URL as the site you are researching.
See if you can figure out which of these sites is a fake:http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
http://allaboutexplorers.com/