Don’t Take Sweets From Strangers

We spend a lot of time educating children about the dangers of strangers. Don’t speak to strangers, don’t get in cars with people you don’t know and don’t take sweets from them. This education starts from an early age and so becomes part of their philosophy.

It is time we do the same thing for information that is requested online - and the education needs to start just as early. Why would you give your name and address to someone online when you wouldn’t dream of doing the same thing if someone asked you for them in the street? What about credit card and bank details - of course not. But… online… well anything goes. When you do need to use a credit card, in a shop, then you are ‘in the shop’ and that goes a long way to  that it is a bona fide shop which has a (hopefully) good reputation - when you are online how do you know who you are dealing with? What additional precautions do you take to ensure that you will not be ripped off, or become another identity theft statistic?

Of course this is not just about children - it is about everyone who is active on the Internet. Education that changes behaviour is tough - the earlier you start the more you remember and the behaviour becomes second nature.

At the moment, I guess most cyber-criminals talk of their latest exploits and the gullibility of their victims as “it’s as easy as taking candy from a child”.

April 11, 2008 | Filed Under Reputation, security 

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