Use IT, Stay Safe

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ID Theft and other wickedness

Develop your instincts: spot threats to yourself before they become a problem

You're reading a web page, available to everyone - and criminals might be reading this page at the same time as you.

When you use the internet, the moment you follow a link, reply to an email, post something to Facebook or Twitter, respond to a request for something, is the moment you're at risk. Develop the skills used by the many people who use the internet without exposing themselves to danger.

Students and pfishing attacks

If miscreants know that you have something that's worth money to them, they'll try to steal it. If you're a student, they'll know that you may have a student account that receives your student loan - and will try to trick you into parting with your password if they can. They're organised, this is large scale crime in action, the perpetrators take this seriously.

So, what's 'Pfishing'?

'Pfishers' send a shower of spam email asking the potential victim to do something - like scattering bait for fish. Most fish will see the trap, some fish will take the bait. Do you or your friends want to be among the 'phished'. Probably not ...

Even an email from a friend?

That last example sounds wrong - if someone you know asks for your help, you'll want to help them. But think: you'll help them far more if you first check to see that it's actually them that's asked.

Pfishing and your student loan

Be aware of the method that criminals may attempt to steal your student loan - it works like this: the fraudsters steal your username and password for your dealings with the student loan company ... and you can guess the rest.

Here's more from DirectGov on Student Loan Fraud.

Passwords, and email accounts you use day to day

Choose good passwords. There's plenty of advice on this, and even a Mark's Help page on choosing passwords. Recognise when you can use a 'Weak' password - some activities don't require strong passwords - save the tough ones for your email account, online banking etc. Write the tough ones down if you need to - and keep the note in a place that will not be associated with you. That's far better than using an easily-guessed password.

Your devices: set a login password

For your own devices, always set a login password, a 'Wake from sleep' password. If you need to surrender your device to someone else for repair or to change settings, be aware of the risks - it's likely that anything stored there - passwords, photos, documents - will be available to them, so you need to ensure that they are trustworthy.

Should I set a login password for my phone/smartphone?

Of course, and you're not only protecting yourself, you're protecting your friends and relatives too.

Perhaps I should encrypt the machine's hard disk?

If you're looking after data for others, yes. Apple's OS X's 'Filevault' now works rather well. On Windows machines, the encryption offering is rather more fragmented unless you're using the 'Enterprise' version of Windows 7 - but 'Bitlocker' encryption of USB sticks is an option ..

Facebook / social networks

Facebook's used by people, pupils, students, employers ... and criminals ... the world over. There's good uses for social networking and some stunningly bad uses too. Develop your instincts. The 'Know the net' resource has lots of info and starting points.

Bullying / Harrassment / extortion

Bullies thrive when they are able to isolate their victim. People who work in organisations have a group moral responsibility to ensure they do not encourage a culture in which bullying is tolerated. If you find yourself on the receiving end of bullying, the one thing that always works is help from others.

Bullies depend on:

• 'Owning' any sources of help (or at least making everyone believe that they do)
• Lowering the self-confidence of thier victims

Harrassment and extortion

It's very easy to set up a blog or wiki - or use social networking sites - to maliciously attack someone. If you find yourself on the receiving end of this, you may find it difficult to have the offending site removed, often because the companies that provide the means to build the sites do not have provision to deal with sites - even if these break the providers' terms of service. Social networking sites have recently improved their response to this problem, others remain less ethical.

As a general rule, if the site warrants it, get help, especially if illegality is involved, but regain control, proceed on your terms, avoid playing into the hands of the perpetrator:

if you're unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this, do your best to give malicious sites a 'Jolly good ignoring' - most other people who use their commonsense will do the same. There are people and organisations who will not ignore malicious information on web sites, and especially if criminality is involved they will act on your behalf.

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