intrascopicmedia.com

Protect your privacy online. According to I.T. experts, any computer connected to the internet is vulnerable to random virus attacks, spyware and malicious people who want to steal information or data. Here are few tips to protect your identity.

• Always be careful in giving personal information when using the internet.
• Only give out when you need something from the requesting website
• Read and study the general privacy agreements of the website if they will share information with third parties or not.
• Install reliable anti-virus software that regularly updates its libraries to detect and halt the latest viruses.
• Run your anti-virus when using a USB from other machines.

Email. Think e-mailing as “sending a postcard” and not as being a “sealed confidential letter”. Always assume that your email can be read by anyone.

• Assume that your work email and web activity is being monitored
• Assume that everything you post on a mailing list is public, unless you’ve double-checked with the email administrator. Be careful about the information you post.
• Don’t open attachments from sources that you don’t trust or without checking then for viruses first.
• Choose the option to view and send mail in plain text.
• Filter your spam folder or block emails from people you don’t want to receive messages from.

Social Networking Sites. A lot of people are guilty of sharing too much information on social networking sites virtually handling their personal information to potential stalkers and robbers.

• Remember that you decide what information about yourself to reveal, when, why and to whom.
• Do not reveal too much information in your public profile.
• Don’t reveal personal details to strangers or “online friends”
• Categorize your contacts to “real” friends and a “danger” list. Limit access to those you care about.
• Use a disposable, anonymous email for websites that ask an email address to register. This makes it easier for you to delete an account permanently.

Online chatting. Internet messenger like YM, AIM, Google Chat and Skype are excellent ways to keep in touch with friends and family. These can also be abused by people who want to befriend you for the wrong reasons.

• Use anonymous nickname when chatting online
• Don’t use the option “remember your password”.

Disable the archive feature of your messenger.