The internet is one of the world’s most valuable tools. With just a click of a button, we can access a wealth of resources at our fingertips and a variety of different websites ready to use at your disposal. Despite internet use becoming a daily occurrence for most people, technological advances have meant that even the most tech-savvy amongst us are at risk.
Safer Internet Day 2025 (11th February), features a focus on the theme "Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from online scams". This day aims to raise awareness about online safety concerns specifically relevant to older adults, like phishing emails, fake websites, and potential scams.
Discover how you can stay safe online with some top tips:
- Keep your online footprint as small as possible
- Prevent disclosing your personal information to an audience of strangers
- Be sure to have the highest security options turned on social profiles
- Only accept requests from people who you know on social media
- Scan all links before clicking, if it seems out of the ordinary, just ignore it
- Attend workshops or webinars geared towards staying safe online
- Review your privacy settings to limit what information you share
- Update your online passwords as frequently as every three months
- If you feel your online account may have been compromised, you should immediately change your login information
- Try to avoid writing passwords down; a digital password manager can help you to remember your login credentials for each site
- Use a different password for each site you use
- For any password, use combination of letters, numbers and special characters, with a variety of uppercase and lowercase letters being used
- Report suspicious activity you see online
We hope you stay safe online, happy browsing!