Helpful Resources

Identity TheftProtect your identity. Arm yourself with knowledge.

Every year, thousands of people become victims of identity theft. In addition to substantial economic losses, many victims suffer other related impacts due to the abuse of their identity.

Top 10 Tips to Prevent Identity Theft

• Be careful when giving out personal information. Most information is gained via the phone, on the internet, through the mail, at the door or through instant messaging. Verify to whom you are providing information and ask how it will be used.
• Slim down your wallet, memorize your social insurance number and carry one low-limit credit card. Store your birth certificate and passport in a safe location.
• Review your bank and credit card transactions through mailed statements or online. Monitor for unauthorized charges.
• Watch your mail. Deposit outgoing mail in designated mailboxes only. Remove delivered mail promptly. File ‘change of address’ notices before you move. Contact Canada Post if mail has not arrived for an unusual period of time.
• Invest in a cross-cut shredder. Shred personal and financial documents before disposing of them.
• Be selective with your email address. Restrict the amount of information you reveal about yourself on the internet.
• When disposing of old computers, cell phones and PDA’s, remove the hard drive or professionally wipe the hard drive clean.
• Protect your PIN (personal identification number). Never write it down or use one that can easily be guessed. Do not tell anyone your PIN.
• When entering your PIN, shield the key pad. Change your PIN and passwords regularly. Create passwords that do not relate specifically to you (e.g.; birthday, anniversary or pet names).
• Get an annual credit bureau report and review for unauthorized activity.

PhishingCriminals often go "phishing" for personal information.

Legitimate companies will not ask for sensitive information by email. Asking for this information is illegal solicitation known as “phishing.” Get smart with your personal information and know when it’s safe to provide it.

Top 10 Tips to Prevent Phishing

• Use your best judgment when on the internet. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Never send personal or financial information through email. Delete email messages that ask for personal or financial information. By stealing brand names and logos of banks, e-tailers and credit card companies, phishers convince recipients to respond.
• Verify that the organization exists by going to their website or contacting them by phone. Remember that, no matter how real the email looks, no legitimate company will ask for personal information through email.
• Question and verify emails that ask you to call a telephone number.
• Be suspicious of emails with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or inconsistencies.
• Avoid clicking on links contained in emails; they may lead to websites masquerading as trusted sites or they may contain malicious code that could infect your computer with a "bot"
• Invest in an anti-virus program, firewall, spam blocker and anti-spyware technology. Keep these updated regularly to ensure they continue to protect as new technologies evolve.
• Be aware of your browser’s security features. The browser will notify you when you are on a secure site. Most browsers use a closed padlock to indicate this. Information exchanged with an address beginning with “https” is encrypted using secure socket layers (SSL).
• Check that an email is addressed to you personally in the body of the email. Verify the information to ensure it is not a random email sent to thousands of people.
• Establish family rules for internet use.

Safe SurfingSurf the Internet Safely.

Surfing the internet can be fun and full of great learning opportunities. Fortunately, doing it safely is just a click away.

Begin by establishing rules and by signing a family internet use contract together. Encourage children to share their online experiences. Surf with them while explaining what content is appropriate and what is not acceptable.

Top 10 Tips for Safe Surfing

• Select a family-friendly internet service provider that offers and supports parental controls and that will act promptly to reports of online abuse.
• Customize your computer’s default search engine with a family-friendly search engine. Create additional blocks and filters by using the engine’s preferences or options tools. Be specific in your searches to reduce the risk of viewing undesirable sites. Use additional terms like and, not and or to refine searches.
• Add approved sites to your browser’s favorites. Encourage your family to use these to access web sites.
• Ensure the rules extend to cell phones and internet use away from home.
• Invest in an anti-virus program, firewall, spam blocker and anti-spyware technology. Keep these regularly updated to ensure they continue to protect as new technologies evolve.
• Place computers in a high traffic room where use can be observed. Establish rules for web camera use.
• Teach your family that plagiarism is cheating. Pirating music, software and games is stealing.
• Remain as anonymous as possible when on the internet. Never give out your address, phone number, school name or other personal information. Limit data you give out in contests and surveys.
• Become an advocate. Report inappropriate, frightening or criminal behavior.
• Encourage your family to use other sources of information in addition to the internet.

NetworkingCommunicate safely on social networking sites.

In recent years, social networking sites have exploded on the internet scene. While many sites are aimed at a younger audience, even older users of the internet are taking advantage of one of the hottest new trends in communicating.

Top 10 Tips to Keep Networking Social

• Keep personal identifying information such as name, age, date of birth, address, phone number, photographs and school name off websites and social networking sites. When sending personal information, send it as a personal message rather than as a general comment. Comments are visible to everyone.
• Use gender and age neutral names when online. Use nicknames that are different from screen names.
• Be modest. Go slow. Flirting online is not advised.
• Be cautious when posting photos. Photos can be removed and used by third parties. Be mindful how a photo represents you.
• Immediately exit from conversations that make you feel uncomfortable or at risk. Do not worry about offending anyone and block this sender from future contact. Do not reply to glaring or harassing messages. Right and wrong is the same on the internet as it is in real life.
• Keep online friendships in the virtual world. Online friends may not be who they say they are.
• Stay in public areas of chat rooms. Stay out of private or whisper sessions. Do not get talked into web camera conversations with strangers.
• Parents should be an online guest and experience the sites and chat rooms that children visit.
• Know the user name and password for your child’s social networking sites and email accounts. View your child’s profile on a regular basis as everything on the internet is public and nothing stays confidential. Stress to children that the same rules apply to cell phones that have internet access.
• Always be involved in your family’s internet activities.

Email & Instant MessagingBe Email Savvy. Be IM Secure.

Email and instant messaging (IM) is quick, easy and direct but it’s not always secure. Cyber criminals prey on novice users. Become email savvy and IM secure to protect yourself from the latest cyber scams.

Top 10 Tips for Safe Email and Instant Messaging

• Do not send sensitive photographs, personal, financial or confidential information via email or in an instant message (IM). Ensure that online profiles do not contain personal identifying information such as name, age, date of birth, address, phone number or school name. Use age and gender neutral names.
• EGive your cell number out only to people you know and trust. Never give anyone else’s number out without permission. Do not post your cell phone number online.
• Never take pictures of anyone with your cell phone or camera and post on the internet without their permission.
• Never reply to text messages or open attachments from people you do not know. If in doubt, delete the file and use the telephone. Also, delete online contacts you do not recognize.
• Learn to recognize spam and delete it before reading. Do not forward or reply to spam. Close your email preview panel.
• Avoid clicking on suspicious email links. Not all links are legitimate and they may contain malicious codes like viruses or redirect you to undesirable sites.
• Use a primary email address for friends and family and use a secondary email address for all other purposes.
• When sending emails to multiple recipients, place these personal email addresses in the blind carbon copy (bcc) area. This will prevent exposing their email addresses in cyberspace.
• Invest in an anti-virus program, firewall, spam blocker and anti-spyware technology. Keep these regularly updated to ensure they continue to protect as new technologies evolve.
• Be aware of your family’s email and IM activities. Explain that there is no expectation of privacy online and that children should expect that parents may view their online activities to make sure they are safe. Ensure that rules of good behavior remain intact when on the computer.

Chain LettersBreak the chain!

Chain letters, fake virus warnings, petition letters and other internet hoaxes, sent in email messages, can often mislead, trick or frighten recipients into forwarding these messages to others. Chain letters waste time and bandwidth and often supply spammers with addresses that, in turn, can interfere with receiving legitimate email.

Remember, legitimate warnings and notifications are not issued through email. Reputable organizations use more timely and effective communication like TV, radio or newspapers to warn the public.

There are three basic types of chain letters:

1. Those that promise good luck or threaten bad luck.
2. Pyramid-scheme letters that promise to make you lots of money (it is illegal to ask for money or product in a chain letter).
3. Hoaxes or urban legends related to police incidents, health issues, computer viruses or missing children.

Top 5 Tips for Breaking Chain Letters

• Validate email alerts and messages by checking the sender’s website or contact them using a trusted phone number.
• Use a search engine to conduct an advanced search on the subject of the message to verify its authenticity.
• Delete chain letters and hoax messages when they appear in your inbox.
• If in doubt, forward the email to your internet service provider or your computer security manager. Ask friends to not send you chain letters.
• Check an urban legend website to validate the information.

Cyber BullyingStop Cyber Bullying.

Cyber bullying is any online message that threatens, harasses, humiliates or intimidates. It might be anonymous, from a former friend or even from someone you know.

It’s important to report cyber bullying. Make sure to tell an adult. Bullies can feel empowered because they believe they are nameless. Make sure they are not.

Top 10 Tips to Stop Cyber Bullying

1. Guard your personal identifying information such as name, age, date of birth, address, phone number, photographs and school name.
2. Speak out when someone is being mean online. Talk to parents, teachers or an adult.
3. Exit from conversations that make you feel uncomfortable or at risk. Do not worry about offending anyone. Block future messages from these senders.
4. Do not reply to threatening or harassing messages. Keep a record of these messages including the date and time received. Save the message and report them to an appropriate source.
5. If you get bullying messages online, ignore them rather than answer them. Cyber bullies are, just like other bullies, looking for a reaction.
6. Taking part in web polls by voting on the ugliest kid or the most popular teacher is just as bad as creating the poll yourself. This is another form of bullying.
7. Emails are as private as a postcard (which everyone can read). Never write anything in a message you would not want the world to read.
8. Never use someone’s picture without their permission. Speak out on people that do.
9. Do not participate in video-networking in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked or bullied while an accomplice records the incident with a camera or cell phone (happy slapping). This is wrong and can lead to criminal and civil consequences.
10. Parents should always be aware of their family’s internet activities.