Stay Safe & Secure Online
Click on a topic to the left to find tutorials and resources to stay safe and secure online.
How to Stay Safe Online
What is Online Identity Theft?
Password & Account Safety
What is a Data Breach?
What is Phishing?
Where Does My Data Go Online?
Which Websites are Safe?
Using a Password Manager
How to Stay Safe Online
- Top 10 Secure Computing Tips: Tips from UC Berkeley for how to stay safe and secure online.
- 10 Cybersecurity best practices that every employee should know: Norton offers this top ten list geared towards businesses. This could be helpful for entrepreneurship and small businesses classes.
- FTC Smartphone Security Checker: This tool will allow you to choose your mobile operating system and access ten steps to follow to secure mobile devices. This is from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
- 10 Steps to Mobile Security: This is a more generalized list for smartphone safety from the FTC. This could be printed out and taped to a wall near the computer as a reminder.
What is Online Identity Theft?
- Recovering from Identity Theft (Federal Trade Commission): “One-stop resource to help you report and recover from identity theft”. This tool will help get back on track after identity theft.
- Identify Theft (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse): This collection of articles will help you reduce your risk of identity theft, properly dispose of records containing personal information, and more.
- Protect Against Identity Theft (ConnectSafely): Tips and tricks to stay safe online.
Password & Account Safety
- Use this Infographic to Pick a Good, Strong Password (Lifehacker): There are also additional resources at the end of the infographic.
- Creating and Managing Strong Passwords (Department of Homeland Security): Use this list as a quick checklist of what to look for in a good password.
- Tips for Strong, Secure Passwords & Other Authentication Tools (ConnectSafely): Find more great password and cybersecurity tips and tricks.
What is a Data Breach?
- What to do During a Data Breach: The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse outlines what a Data Breach is and how we can take action to protect ourselves.
- Data Breach Response: A Guide for Businesses: Businesses need help preparing for the digital age as well. This guide will help them protect against data breaches.
- What do Do When You Receive a Data Breach Notice: The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse built this guide to help you respond to different kinds of data breaches.
What is Phishing?
- How to Recognize & Avoid Phishing Scams (Federal Trade Commission)
- 11 Most Common Computer Security Threats…and what you can do to protect yourself from them: The title says it all. From Norton Symantec, a well-known security company.
Phishing Examples (Phishing.org): See examples of Phishing attempts and find other resources.
Where Does My Data Go Online?
- (Infographic) What Does the Internet Know About Me? This three page infographic tells you what you need to know about where your data goes online.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Sides of Data Tracking: Mozilla has this and several other great articles about online privacy and security.
- (Video) How Facebook Tracks Your Data: The New York Times put together this video about how Facebook tracks and uses data to gather insights about people. Facebook isn’t the only one who tracks people; they are just used as an example because they are a larger tech company.
- The Wired Guide to Your Personal Data (and Who is Using it): Wired allows four free articles per user, per month. This is a great resource, but there are others out there as well.
Which Websites are Safe?
- How to Identify & Protect Yourself from an Unsafe Website (Boston University)
- How Can I Tell if a Website is Secure? (Northeastern University)
Using a Password Manager
- (Video) How To Use a Password Manager: This video from The Verge describes how to set up and use a password manager. It uses LastPass as an example, and provides information about security threats.
- The Best Free Password Managers for 2019: PC Magazine reviewed the top password managers to secure passwords in one location.