Taking control of your online safety can be overwhelming and a scary prospect. Here, we give you some helpful information on what you can do to ensure you’re safer online- from making sure you’re not broadcasting your location to more subtle ways people can access your devices.
Track down your devices– make a list of all the devices in your home, including your children’s, with internet access. You need to look through each of these and check all your location settings on each app. Cover over all cameras too so they can’t be accessed remotely. You may consider restoring your devices back to factory settings- but this would mean you lose everything on those devices including pictures and apps.
Run a malware scan on all the devices in your home– including your children’s- this will tell you if spyware has been installed. Apps like Avast will scan your device to see if there’s anything there that shouldn’t be. Please note that this is a link to the free version and that paid versions with additional features are available.
Break your connection– look for joint accounts on devices- things like Google Play, iTunes, and apps for your heating or doorbell. Check what devices they’ve been downloaded to- they could have been downloaded to more than one device or your children’s devices. You can remove people from apps from your shared user list. Alternatively, change your passwords to them to secure them from anyone else. Finally, remove the apps themselves.
Secure your WIFI network, as these can be accessed remotely. Change your password and login to keep it private.
Create new STRONG passwords– It’s really hard to keep track of passwords- we get it. But in order to keep devices and social media accounts safe, choose tricky passwords which would be difficult to guess and are unique to you.
Location settings– turn off your location settings on social media sites but also on your satnav, GPS fitness trackers, find my phone etc. Check your children’s devices too.
Social media– Block your abuser from social media accounts and remove anyone you don’t know or mutual friends. If you need to, create a new account and only add trusted friends and family. Change your settings so you can’t be found when people search for your name. Watch out for your location appearing on posts- you can turn this function off also. You can also change your settings to decide which friends see which posts.
Children’s social media– we appreciate your child may not want to block your abuser from their social media accounts. Speak to them about the implications of sharing content online. Ensure location settings are turned off and change settings to decide who can see what posts.
This is not an extensive list but we hope it provides you with some information on how to stay safer when online.