How Safe Are You Online? It's Time to Think About It!

How often do you log onto the internet?  Daily? Several times per day? 

And how many of those times do you consider how your actions might impact your own safety and that of your family? How often do you think about being safe online?

You may not give it much thought as you go about your daily tasks, but it's time to start!

As parents, we put our children to bed each night and promise to watch over them.  We lock our doors, close the windows and ensure our home is a safe environment for our families.  Unfortunately while we're locking up physically, we forget about the very real threats that enter our lives via our own internet connection.  Sometimes those threats spam you, sometimes they just annoy you and, unfortunately, sometimes they do worse.  The increase in popularity of social networking, coupled with our increasing desire to share, connect and gain visibility is making it even easier for unsavory people to gain access to our personal lives and that of our families.

A Few Statistics

o   91% of online adults use social media regularly
o   69% of teens have their own computer
o   73% of teens are on a social networking site
o   There are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on the Earth

Scary Statistics

o   1/3 of kids online have been contacted by a stranger and half of these were inappropriate contact
o   75% of youth who received an online sexual solicitation did not tell a parent
o   81% of parents of online youth say that kids aren't careful enough when giving out information
o   25% of teens have had an experience online that led to a face-to-face confrontation
o   From 2007-2009 MySpace deleted 90,000 accounts because they were created by registered sex offenders
o   4,000,000 children are posting content to the web everyday

Even Scarier Statistics

o   In 26 - 50% of online sex crimes against minors, offenders disseminated information and/or pictures of the victim through the victim's personal social networking site.
o   15% of Americans have never checked their social networking privacy and security account settings
o    Of the active adult users of Facebook, 66% reported they did not know privacy controls existed on Facebook and/or they did not know how to use the privacy controls.
o    24% of Americans say they are not at all confident in their ability to use privacy settings.
o    Only 18% of parents with children under 10 on Facebook are actually "friends" with their child on the site.
o    Only 62% of parents of teens ages 13-14 are "friends" with their child on Facebook. 
o    Only 10% of parents of children aged 10 and under had frank talks about appropriate online behavior and threats.
o    30% of 7-12 year olds and 11% of 13-16 year olds say no one has spoken to them about staying safe online
o   76% of parents don't have rules about what their kids can do on the computer
o    72% of teens have a social networking profile and nearly half (47%) have a public profile viewable by ANYONE!
o    Teens often include the following information on their social networking profiles:
·         Real age (50%)
·         Photos of themselves (62%)
·         City they live in (41%)
·         School name/location (45%)
·         Videos of friends (16%)
·         Videos of themselves (14%)
·         Their cell phone number (14%)
·         Places where they typically go (9%)
o   26% of teens know someone something bad has happened to because of information or photos posted online.

Potential Dangers

1.      Strangers gain access to your family's private information

a.       Home address
b.      Phone number
c.       School information
d.      Family location
e.      Other personal information that can help identify you or your family offline

2.      Phishing scams
3.      Spammers gain access to your email or messaging system & send viruses in the form of an email from you
4.      Stalking or unwanted attention from strangers
5.      Identity theft
6.      Offline theft due to knowledge of homeowner's whereabouts
7.      Discrimination based on personal views and beliefs
8.      Exposure to bullying, hate or other negative materials
9.      Exposure to inappropriate content for minors
10.  Termination of employment due to inadvertently leaking sensitive work information or negativity towards an employer
11.  Encouraging negative behaviors by providing easy and frequent access to negativity and poor behavior from others along with a sense of anonymity

What To Do About It!

1.      Limit who can see what you post
2.      Limit what you post
3.      Don't create passwords that are common -- "Someone found out my Facebook password. GREAT! Now I have to change my dog's name!"
4.      Don't click on every funny or intriguing link you see
5.      Don't vent about your job, a friend, co-worker or boss online, EVER!
6.      If a friend sends you something that is out of character for them, don't open it! Contact them separately and ask if the message was from them. Their account may have been hacked!
7.      Be respectful of other's photos and personal information.  Don't share anything you don't have permission to share.

20% of Americans are concerned about what others may post about them online.

8.      Be aware of what you've done and posted online. Don't fall for messages that say "Ha Ha, did you really do this? (link)".  It's a virus! 
9.      Review your personal profile. Don't share personal information even within the confines of your personal and private profile (year of birth, address, phone number, etc.)
10.  Don't allow children in your home to use social media unmonitored
11.  Talk to family members about online safety (this includes young and older family members)
12.  Know EVERY ONE of your child's friends online and ensure they've personally met everyone they have friended.
13.  Set ground rules for online safety the same as you would offline.  Remember Stranger Danger?
14.  Run regular virus scans on your home computers. A few good programs include:

a.      Symantec
b.      Norton
c.      McAfee
d.      Kapersky
e.      AVG

15.  Review the privacy settings on each of your social and sharing platforms
16.  If you are sharing pictures of children online, consider a private Flickr group that allows you to invite only specific viewers via email. Other sites specifically intended for photo sharing may also be good options. Just remember to check the privacy settings so you know who you are sharing with and turn off the geo-location settings so others can't see where photos you've uploaded directly from your phone were taken.

I recently had the opportunity to share more about online security and being safe online on the Word of Mom Radio show.  If you missed the show, you can still listen to the archives here at Online Security with BizMSolutions on Word of Mom Radio. .

One of the resources I shared on the call was 100+ acronyms parents of teens should know. 

In addition to these resources, I also put together a brief tutorial to help you manage your Facebook privacy settings.  You can view the tutorial on customizing your Facebook privacy settings right here.

Whether Working or Playing -- Be Safe Online

Social media and other online platforms offer wonderful opportunities to connect with friends and family.  They are a necessity for marketing your business and offer unbelievable opportunities when used correctly!  Just remember, you can't take it back!  Once you've published something online, it is available to other people and often search engines.  You can delete it from your own sight but you can never retract it!  Individuals and businesses alike have come face to face with this very hard reality.  You've lost control of your voice and often your own personal photos and information.  A careless comment, a thoughtless moment or an innocent photo can quickly turn into a nightmare for you! 

Take a moment to take your own safety and reputation seriously. Understand who may be looking at what you post online and take the extra time to determine if you really want to share your personal thoughts, views and photos as part of a a permanent record.  If you wouldn't want to see it in the newspaper headlines tomorrow then reconsider posting it online today.

Do you have concerns about being safe online?  Share your questions, concerns and the solutions you've come up with to protect your own privacy in a world where sharing rules!

Sources:

http://topdogsocialmedia.com/social-media-statistics/
http://facebook-parental-controls-review.toptenreviews.com/30-statistics-about-teens-and-social-networking.html
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
http://www.netlingo.com/tips/cyber-safety-statistics.php
http://www.internetsafety101.org/Socialnetworkingstats.htm
http://cybersafetyacademy.com/
http://mashable.com/2012/06/22/share-too-much-social-media-infographic/
http://www.safenetwork.org.uk/help_and_advice/Pages/potential_online_risks.aspx