General Guidelines for Safe Web Surfing

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There are some rules that we should always follow in order to make our web-surfing experience for our children and us all the more fun and as much safe as possible.

Let's begin..!

1) Never add people or friends whom you don't actually know in real life as your social media, game platform friends or online "buddies".

2) Never reveal personal information online to strangers. Such personal information can/could include: your street address, surname, mobile phone, email, social security numbers, the name of your pet, which school you go at, names of places you frequent, etc

3) Never feel intimidated by strangers online asking you personal information or for personal photos "or else..".

4) Always tell your caretaker, an experienced adult such as your teacher or your parents if a person online bullies you, threatens you, harasses you, asks you for personal information or to harm yourself or asks you to meet somewhere in person. It's better to inform the police right away.

5) Don't click on suspicious links in emails or on the internet such as on google results.

6) Ask your parents or older and trusted adults to help you if you are in distress or need help in something. Ask them how to check links for malware or viruses and how to download favorite games.

7) Only download games from a trusted publisher (e.g. Google) and a trusted online platform (e.g. Google Play).

8) Use app passwords when you connect on public wi-fi networks. Avoid to make online transactions when connected to public networks.

9) Always remember to close the browser or the app and log out of it when you finish.

10) Periodically check for system and app updates and patches to always be more safe against online attacks, bugs and failures.

11) Instead of clicking links on search results, it is better to type them yourself.

12) Don't connect all your online accounts and especially not through social media such as Facebook. Use a different email for your portable devices such as mobile phone and tablet(s). Rather enable email forwarding to your personal email through this "portable-device-only" email to be sure to always be up on date with things.

13) Enable two factor authentication for all your accounts or at least the most important of them. SMS verification is not as safe as time generated codes, printed x-digit codes or verification via a physical device such as a USB flash drive.

14) Prefer email services, websites and apps that support end-to-end encryption.

15) Always check the url of a website you visit. Especially if you log into the website, check that it supports and makes use of the "https" protocol.

16) Always check the privacy of your information. Try to set to "only me" for most info required of you on online websites.