Making the Internet a Safer Place

Julian Perrott

Managing Director

16 February 2018

On Tuesday last week, it was internet safety day. We thought it was important to pick up on this topic, not only because we build websites and work tirelessly on the internet ourselves, but to also give you a bit of an insight about what is happening online to make the internet safer for everyone.

Useful links: https://www.saferinternetday.org | https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2018

Although it might seem a faraway threat, the fact is the internet can be a very dangerous place. Not only can it be dangerous for minors, accessing explicit content, but it can be dangerous for adults too. Everyone needs protection from Malware (malicious software/viruses) and Phishing (the attempt to obtain sensitive information, including credit card details). Of course, your trusty antivirus software can help with this, please don’t tell us you haven’t got one installed, but other internet beasts, such as Google, have taken their own measures to make you safer when browsing.

Safe browsing

Google recently introduced safe browsing software on chrome, to give users the extra protection against phishing and malware. This alerted users when a website was dangerous and gave them the choice to either “return to safety” or, if they are really daring, proceed to the site. This is one example of how website browsing is being made safer to make the internet world a better place and to prevent avoidable harm. Google made this ‘Safe Browsing’ technology free for other browsers to use, including Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

HTTPS

We truly believe all websites should have this. This is the chance to protect your browsing session from phishers and malware. If they intercept an encrypted website, all they will see is drivel, and won’t be able to make anything out. To encourage this further, Google has incorporated this into it’s search algorithm to make it a key factor when ranking websites in search results. So it doesn’t just improve safety, it improves your rankings. This is truly a “no brainer”.

Find out more: https://security.googleblog.com/2018/02/a-secure-web-is-here-to-stay.html

The future of security…

As the internet only continues to expansion of the internet, security concerns are only going to grow with it.

Google India released a public initiative to increase security awareness among young internet users, called #SecurityCheckKiya (Hindi for “Did you do a Security Check?”). It gives young users insight on how they can protect themselves when using the internet, and how to protect their android devices from Malware and make their personal data secure, should they lose their phone.

This begs the questions, is security something major search engines and applications should carry out for us, to make sure we aren’t harmed OR something we should do ourselves and get educated on?

If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some great starting points:

Passwords – Passwords are the key to your account. They are the safe guarder of personal information. It is vital that these are kept private, secure and slightly complicated. Mix it up with numbers and symbols to make it far harder for people to guess.
Be email aware – Phishing emails are becoming all too common, and harder to recognise. The most popular of these are those which require you to insert bank details. The easiest way to check whether an email is phishing, is by looking directly at the email address of the sender. More than often, these give it away. Many senders of online scam e-mails won't have addresses that match the company they claim to represent.
Limit your social sharing – We all have that one Facebook friends who shares absolutely every aspect of their life. People post their mothers names, maiden names, phone numbers, address and where they currently are. This information gives anyone with a computer just about every essential piece of information about you. Limit what share and make your profile private!
HTTPS – Secure URLs begin with HTTPS://. This means that your transactions or browsing are encrypted to and from the web server. A potential hacker will not be able to pick these up.