Privacy Awareness Week – Computer Protection Tips
PDF This week is ‘Privacy Awareness Week’ 2010 and as such it is urged that we familiarise ourselves with our rights, 
obligations and best-practice in relation to privacy.
The few recommendations below, from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, are related to Computer identity and information theft. They are well worth reading through:
- Make sure your computer has firewalls, virus protection and online security and privacy safeguards.
- Your online accounts should only be accessible with passwords that you create and change often. Your passwords should be hard for anyone to guess.
- When you shop or bank online, or fill out online forms, look for the padlock symbol at the lower right corner of your screen. This symbol means the information you provide is secure.
- When you log on to your e-mail or bank account from a library or other public computer, make sure no one can watch over your shoulder as you type in your password and other private information. Log out when you leave.
- Be careful about any personal information you divulge online, including in chat rooms and over social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
- Be suspicious of e-mails that appear to come from financial institutions or government agencies, asking you to provide personal information online. Real banks and governments don’t do that, but scammers will often hijack real logos to make their fraudulent messages look authentic.
- Delete any e-mail soliciting funds unless you can verify independently – for example with a phone call – that it’s from a reputable organization.
