It has always been the case that people are much more likely to be a victim of violent crime in their homes at the hands of a family member than on a city street being accosted by a stranger. And now, with the internet in everyones home, the chance of becoming a victim of crime at home has only increased.

Of course, internet crime is not usually violent crime, it tends to be more along the lines of destruction of property, through viruses and worms, and thefts through the use of scams and ID theft. But these crimes are highly destructive to people’s lives, as well, and need to be taken just as seriously as any other.

The good news is that, although you can never be completely safe, by employing a few simple practices you can greatly improve your online security. Use these top ten tips to protect your online privacy and help make your home a safer place to be.

1. Use separate accounts for personal and work e-mail. There is no telling who may be able to gain access to your work e-mail. Keep private stuff private by having a separate personal account.

2. Clear you cache often. Anyone who gains access to your computer, with your permission or without, has a record of your browsing history through cached pages. Keep it clear and you can keep it confidential.

3. Only use secure online forms. Make sure that any personal or sensitive data you transmit on the internet is encrypted. Never use non secure sites to transfer your private data.

4. Teach you kids to use the internet safely. Its not enough that you now what to and not to do on the internet. Make sure your kids are well informed as well.

5. Look for privacy policies. Every site you visit can collect information from your computer. Make sure the websites you visit have privacy policies that clearly state what the will and will not do with the information they might collect.

6. Reject cookies. Cookies enable sites to store information about you on your computer and access it at a later time. Unless you need cookies enabled for a specific reason, disable them in your internet preferences.

7. Opt out of information sharing. Many websites you visit will give you the opportunity to opt out of information sharing. This keeps them from distributing information on you and your browsing preferences to other interested sites. Always opt out when it is offered.

8. Never click on links in IM from people you don’t know. If you get an instant message from someone you don’t know well, leave any links contained in them alone.

9. Use e-mail filtering to prevent receiving spam e-mail. You never know what those e-mails might contain or what information might be compromised just by opening them. Filter out spam and don’t open e-mail if you don’t know the sender.

10. Password protect your e-mail and bookmarks. Password protect everything on your computer that has the option,. The more obstacles one needs to overcome to get your information, the less likely they are to try. Put these practices into use and make sure you are as safe as you can be.

Also, if you have not seen our first series Top 10 Ways List… Go Now The Best 30 Of The Top 10 Ways

As Always Be Safe Online, and if you find you have topic’s or ideas on other subjects that you would like us to investigate or create a list please email us our use our contact form.

Thanks for all the support and please Learn IT, Teach IT, Share IT…

Your Online Security Authority

Bill Wardell

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• Privacy Requires Security, Not Abstinence (technologyreview.com)
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• Tech Today: Cable vs. the Internet, Web Privacy Efforts, More (blogs.wsj.com)
• 8 ways to protect you and your family online (techburgh.com)

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