Get Safe Online this October

Date Added: 27/10/2022

How can you protect yourself online?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that people are more likely to become a victim of cyber crime and fraud than any other type of crime. Unfortunately, cyber crime is significantly under-reported and therefore, the true scale and impact is not possible to assess

To help stop cyber criminals in their tracks, Get Safe Online recommends that people:

• Ensure their device Operating System is up to date
• Choose, use, and protect passwords

Updating your operating system

Get Safe Online says that not keeping your device operating systems up to date can result in serious issues and may affect your personal security. Your devices may be at risk from viruses, spyware and other malware.

Find out more about updating your operating systems on the Get Safe Online website.

How secure are your passwords?

Get Safe Online has a whole section on their website about how to choose effective passwords. The general advice includes:

• Not using the word ‘password’ as your password
• Not use ascending or descending numbers (4321 or 12345), duplicated numbers (1111) or easily recognisable keypad patterns
• Choosing a password with at least eight characters, a combination of upper and lower case letters, and symbols

Want to find out more?

Cyber crime has been identified as an emerging issue by the Community Safety Partnership, and as a result the team have committed to raising awareness of cyber crime and how residents can protect themselves.

If your community group would like to find out more about cyber crime and some steps you can take to prevent it, our Safer Communities Team can visit you and give a talk.

To find out more, email: [email protected]

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How to report cyber crime

If you are a victim of cyber crime, you can report it to Action Fraud, the UK's fraud and cyber crime reporting centre. If you have received an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS): [email protected]