Online Security Tips and Advice – Google’s ‘Good To Know’ Campaign

Google started a new resource called ‘Good to Know‘ in the Google’s website that makes learning about security and privacy even easier for internet users. Google started this in association with the UK’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Privacy policies and terms of service can often be long, complex and legalistic. Goal of the Good To Know campaign is to provide people with practical guidance, like how to select a safe password or keep their online accounts secure.

The new Good to Know website builds on the commitment to explaining things in simple language. The in-depth resources are still there, but google hope a one-stop-shop resource will make this information more accessible for everyone.

Good to Know contains tips to:

• Stay safe online: Advice for staying more secure on the web and an overview of some of the security tools that Google offers.
• Your data on the web and how it makes websites more useful: An overview of ways that websites can get to know your preferences and how this makes them more useful for you.
• [advt]Your data on Google and how it makes Google services more useful: This section explains what information you share with Google when you use our products and services and how we use it to make your experience better.
• Manage your data and what you share with websites and Google: Guidance on how you can manage the data you share online, both across the web and on Google services.

Five tips for online safety:

1. Pick a strong password. One idea you can try is to choose a line from your favourite song, film or play, like “To be or not to be, that is the question”. Then use numbers, symbols and letters to recreate it: “2bon2btitq” is a password with quadrillions of variations. The more unusual the phrase you choose the better.
2. Never reply to suspicious e-mails with your personal or financial information, and never enter your password after following a link from an e-mail that you don’t trust.
3. Look for ‘https‘ and a padlock to check that a site is secure. When you go into a branch of your bank, you recognise the official staff by their name, their uniforms and the services they offer you. Having this level of reassurance shouldn’t be any different for online banking or other sensitive services.
4. Always sign out and shut down your browser. Ever gone out for the day and left your front door wide open? Exactly. The same principle applies when you leave yourself signed in to online accounts on the computers you use.
5. Use two-step verification for accounts that offer it, like Google and Facebook. Two-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to have access to your phone – as well as your username and password – when you sign in. This means that if someone steals or guesses your password, the potential hijacker still can’t sign in to your account because they don’t have your phone.[source]