Things You Should Never Do On The Internet

The Internet has been part of our daily lives for several years now and it is no secret that people do and post nearly everything on the Internet. Here’s a list of things you should never do on the Internet for your own good and safety.

1. Post sensitive/private/inappropriate photos 

• We know you love to post your travel photos. However, this can be a go signal for burglars. Travel photos = You’re not home.
• Beware of posting pictures of your baby online! A woman from Utah posted family photos of her children on Instagram, only to find them on a child pornography site. Yikes!

2. Download grabby apps 
   • Grabby apps are applications that grab information from you. Here are the statistics:
     • 82% of apps read device identification
     • 64% of apps know your sim carrier
     • 59% of apps know your last location
     • 55% of apps continuously track your location
     • 26% of apps run other apps that you use
     • 26% of apps know your sim card number
     • 36% of apps know your account number for your account information
   • Make sure you know what your apps are reading. Don’t download apps that gain access to too much information.
3. Click on email message links 
   • Instead of clicking on links, copy and paste the text into a browser even if you trust the sender. You never know when it might be a virus!
4. Share vices 
   • You never know what the long-term consequences of showing your vices on the Internet may be.
5. Take quizzes (https://www.edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/quiz.jpg)
   • By revealing information about yourself and your personal preferences, you may be feeding marketers and data companies information about yourself. If you really want to take a quiz, verify who made it first.
6. Use free Wi-Fi 
   • If you use free Wi-Fi to do your banking or to buy something online, you might be putting yourself at risk for being scammed.
   • Don’t ignore the warning that others might be able to see what you’re doing.
   • Use your phone as a mobile hotspot for sensitive transactions instead of using free Wi-Fi.
   • Public Wi-Fi’s are notoriously unsafe. Think about it: If you can access this Wi-Fi easily, what more can a trained hacker do?
7. Cyberbully 
   • Not only is it unethical, cyberbullying is also one of the main causes of suicide.
8. Put email address in a comment 
   • Spammers send web crawlers to harvest exposed e-mail addresses and fill your inbox with spam.
9. Respond to spam 
   • All this does is confirm that your email address exists and is actively being used.
10. Share your password. 
    • For obvious reasons.

When it comes to Internet Dos and Don’ts, remember to trust your gut. If the website or email looks sketchy, ditch it and scan for malware.

Happy surfing!