Internet Security Advice

It is important to be aware of how to protect yourself from scammers, spammers and malicious software (viruses etc).

Here are a few basic steps you should take in order to stay safe on-line

Passwords

You should not consider any website to be 100% safe. Large companies with huge IT resources (Tesco, TalkTalk, Yahoo, Dropbox, NHS, British Airways, Facebook - and many more) have had their data stolen by the spammers and scammers. Small voluntary groups like Railcam are just as likely to be targetted.

It is therefore vitally is important to have an effective password scheme.

• Change passwords regularly
• Do not use the same password for multiple websites
• Choose passwords which cannot be easily guessed - more than 8 characters long and containing a mixture of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols.
• Never share passwords with anyone - especially over the telephone.

Antivirus & other Internet Securty Software

Any computer which connects to the Internet (for web-access or email), should be adequately protected by a good security package. There are free options out there (AVG / Avast), but it may be worth paying a modest amount to be properly covered.

Scam Emails

Apart from viruses which may steal your data or damage your system, there are also an increasing number of scam emails which :

• pose as familiar companies in order to steal your log-in details
• claim that you owe money and attempt to get you to click a link to a malicious website
• attempt to extort money using bogus blackmail techniques.

Some good rules to adopt :

• never click a link in an email unless you specifically requested it (password resets etc.)
• treat all unexpected emails with suspicion
• if in doubt, ask an expert - make a phone call, but look-up the number yourself rather than using one provided in an email