Online Safety and Security

The Internet, truly, is a powerful tool. It can be used to promote your business, again new friends, and stay in
touch with the old ones. It is also a source of entertainment through games, online communities, and everything in
between. But like most things in this world there is always the “other side of the coin”. The Internet is one of the most
dangerous laces, especially if you do not know what you are doing with it.
The Internet defined as the information superhighway. This means that anyone has access to this highway, can
place information, and grab that information. Any information, even things that you have set privately, can be accessed
one way or another. This is why social networking sites like Facebook continue to improve their security features. The
threat of cybercrime is very real. While you may not experience the threat now, whatever information we share today
could affect our future.

Tips To Stay Safe Online

The Internet is a public place and it is up to you to protect yourself. Here are some tips to help you to stay safe
when using the internet.
1. Be mindful of what you share online and what site you share it to.
2. Do not just accept terms and conditions; read it.
3. Check out the privacy policy page of a website to learn how the website handles the information you share.
4. Know the security features of the social networking site you use. By keeping your profile private, search engines
will not be able to scan your profile.
5. Do not share your password with anyone.
6. Avoid logging into public networks / Wi-Fi. Browsing in “incognito (or private) mode”, a feature of the web
browser, will not protect you from hackers.
7. D not talk to strangers whether online or face-to-face.
8. Never post about a future vacation. It is similar to posting, “Rob my house at this date”.
9. Add friends you know in real life.
10. Avoid using untrusted websites.
11. Install and update an antivirus software on your computer. Use only one antivirus software to avoid conflicts.
12. If you have a Wi-Fi at home, make it a private network by adding a password.
13. Avoid downloading anything from untrusted websites. You are most vulnerable in peer-to-peer downloads as
the download is most likely not monitored by the site owner
14. By the software; do not use pirated ones.
15. Do not reply or click links from suspicious.

Internet Threats
Here are some of the threats you should be aware of when using the internet:
1. Malware – stands for malicious software.
a. Virus – a malicious program designed to replicate itself and transfer from one computer to another either
through the Internet and local networks or data storage like flash drives and CDs.
b. Worm - malicious program that transfers from one computer to anther by any type of means. Often, it uses
a network to spread itself. For example, the ILOVEYU worm (Love Bug Worm) created by a Filipino.
c. Trojan – a malicious program that is disguised as a useful program but once downloaded or installed, leaves
your PC unprotected and allows hackers to get your information.
*Rogue security software – tricks the user into posing that it is a security software.
d. Spyware – a program that runs in the background without you knowing it (thus called “spy”). It has the
ability to monitor what you are currently doing and typing through keylogging.
*Keyloggers – used to record the keystroke done by the users. This is done to steal their password or any or
other sensitive information.
e. Adware – a program designed to send you advertisements, mostly as pop-ups.
2. Spam – unwanted email mostly from bots or advertisers. It can be used to send malware.
3. Phishing – Its goal is to acquire sensitive personal information like passwords and credit card details.
*Pharming – a more complicated way of phishing where it exploits the DNS (Domain Name Service) system.
Protecting Reputations Online
Think Before You Click
Here are things you might want to consider before posting something over the Internet:
1. Before you post something on the web, asking these questions to yourself: Would you want your parents or
grandparents to see it? Would you want your future boss to see it? Once you post something on the web,
you have no control of who sees your posts.
2. Your friends depend on you to protect their reputation online. Talk to your friends about this serious
responsibility.
3. Set your post to “private”. In this way, search engines will not be able to scan that post.
4. Avoid using names. Names are easy to for search engines to scan.
5. If you feel that a post can affect you or other’s reputation, ask the one who posted it to pull it down or
report it as inappropriate.

Copyright Infringement
If you create something ----- an idea, an invention, a form of literary work, or research, you have the right to as
to how it should be used by others. This is called intellectual property. In other words the copyright law includes your
rights over your work, and anyone who uses it without your consent is punishable by law.
Here are some tips that could help you avoid copyright infringement:
1. Understand. You can express something using your own words, but you should give credit to the source.
2. Be responsible. Even if a material does not say that is copyrighted, it is not valid defense against copyright.
3. Be creative. It is important to add your own creative genius in everything that will be credited to you.
4. Know the law. There are some limitations to copyright laws. If you have doubts that what you are doing does
not fall under the policy of fair use, seek permission first.

Online Research
The information that we need is more likely already in the Internet. It is just a matter of how to look for it and how to
use information from the most credible source. Here are some tips in conducting online research:
1. Have a question in mind.
2. Narrow it down.
3. Advanced Search.
In Google, simply search a word like you would normally do, then click the advanced search option on
the options button located at the upper right corner of the page. Once you are done you can now filter
your search results.

In Microsoft® search engine, Bing, you can use certain keywords and symbols for your advanced search:
Symbol Function
+ Finds web pages that contain all the terms that are protected by the + symbol:
Allows you to include terms that are usually ignored
““ Finds the exact words in a phrase
() Finds or excludes web pages that contain a group of words
AND or & Finds web pages that contain all the terms of phrases
NOT or - Excludes web pages that contain a term or phrase
OR or I Finds web pages that contain either of the terms or phrases
 By default, all searches are AND searches.
 You must capitalize the NOT and OR functions. Otherwise, Bing will ignore them as stop words,
which are commonly occurring words and numbers that are omitted to speed a full-text search.
 Stop words and all punctuation marks, except for the symbols noted in this topic, are ignored
unless they are surrounded by quotation marks or preceded by the + symbol.
 Only the first ten terms used to get search results.
 Similar to the MDAS, whenever you solve an arithmetic problem (where multiplication is
computed first over division, addition, and subtraction), term grouping and Boolean functions
are supported in the following preferred order:
1. Parentheses ( )
2. Quotation marks “ “
3. NOT + -
4. AND &
5. OR l
 Because OR is the function with the lowest precedence, enclose OR terms in parentheses when
combined with operators in a search.

4. Look for a credible source.

5. Give credit.