A few tips to prevent cyber crime

For the next four weeks I will be writing Crime Prevention ideas concerning Cyber Safety, Identity Theft, and On-Line security. Today I am sharing information concerning Cyber Safety. The Internet has opened up a world of information and opportunity for anyone with a computer and a connection. Your safety and your children’s safety can be protected by establishing safety guidelines. Never let your children on the super highway of information until you have placed safety guidelines in place. Talk to your children. Make time to explore the internet together. Your child may have more knowledge about computers than you. That is fine. Let them take the lead. Explain to them that they are never alone once they have logged on the internet. Skilled people can find out who they are and where they live. They can even tap into their information. Discuss problems like exploitation, pornography, hate literature, excessive violence and other harmful issues that may be found on the internet. The best screening tool for a child is their brain. Tell your children to never respond to messages that have bad words or seem scary or weird. Encourage them to always come to you immediately if they have something scary or threatening on their computer. Teach them to NEVER give out their name, address, telephone number, password, school name, parent’s name or any other personal information. Tell them to never send a picture of themselves without your permission or never agree to meet anyone face to face anywhere. Make sure they know to never enter sights where it costs anything without your permission. Parents please choose a commercial on-line service that offers parental control features. These features can block contact that is not clearly marked as appropriate for children such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, news groups and discussion groups. You can also purchase blocking software and design your own safety system. Monitor your children when they are on-line and monitor the time they spend on-line. Make sure your child’s school has an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Finally, beware of the top scams on the internet. These include business opportunities of franchises that are represented as more profitable than they really are. Example pyramid schemes offering you a chance to invest with guaranteed high returns. Another is work at home schemes where individuals need to invest money in startup services, but you won’t earn enough money to recover your initial investment. Just stay aware and be careful. Even though the internet is the super highway of information it also has millions of ways to bring heartache and financial destruction to you and your family. Stay safe on the World Wide Web. Your Olney Police Department is here to serve you.