Electronic Safety

Technology can be a key tool in helping you find valuble resources, help and support. However, even though it is helpful, technology can also be used to monitor your activities without your consent. Awareness and education are the best methods of avoiding being monitored electronically. Below you will find helpful guides and hints detailing electronic threats and how you can best avoid them when seeking help.

When using the computer

When using a computer to seek help there are many things you must remember even if no one else has access to your machine.

• Unwanted Software

Be aware of who has used your computer. If someone else is given access to your computer, even if only for a few moments they can install unwanted software on your computer, such as keyloggers that record what you type or other monitoring programs. Most of these montioring programs can be found by using anti-virus software. Remember to keep your anti-virus software up to date and scan for viruses and spyware regularly.

• Physical Access and Strong Passwords

If you aren't sure that you're the only one accessing your computer then set a strong password to help protect your account. Remember to make your password hard to guess. Use upper and lower case characters as well as numbers and special characters. Make sure that the password for this account differs from those that you use for other activities and make sure to keep your password well hidden, if you must write it down make sure to put it somewhere secure that you may monitor at all times such as a wallet or purse. Do not keep it on your desk or in a notebook where it could be easily found.

After setting a strong password remember to scan for viruses to be sure that your computer is safe to use.

• Your Network

Even if you've followed the above steps and your computer is safe, be aware that your computer can be monitored from afar over your home network as well. If another person has access to your network then they can use software to scan the network for information as it is sent out to the internet. If your network is wireless, this is even more of a threat as the area that someone can access the network from is much larger. You can however take steps to fight this. Make sure that you are aware of the computers that are connnected to your wired network. If you are using a wireless network then make sure it is well secured before accessing the internet, two types of security exist for wireless networks: WEP and WPA. WEP is very vulnerable to attack so if you have the option use WPA. If you do not know how to set up protection on your wireless network then contact your ISP for assistance.