Right now, safeguarding ourselves, our loved ones, friends and colleagues from COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is uppermost in people’s minds in the UK and around the world. After all, this is an unprecedented situation which warrants unprecedented precautions.
Also of great importance, however, is making sure we also remain safe in the virtual world during restrictions on travel, socialising, offi ce life and other things we normally take for granted.
Why is online safety even more important than usual?
Invariably, a crisis affecting large numbers of people triggers a huge volume of fraudulent activity. With Coronavirus, expect fake ads for anything from vaccines to facemasks, links to sensational news and video, bogus charity appeals, and phishing emails claiming to be from travel, compensation and insurance companies or event/tournament organisers. Fraudsters know that at times like these, we may be too concerned or preoccupied to spot that something isn’t right.
Business owners with employees not accustomed to working from home also need to take simple precautions additional to those we normally exercise in regular workplaces.
And if we’re using the extra time on our hands to relax, there’s also more chance that we could be letting our online guard down, whether we’re social networking, gaming, dating, downloading or the many other things we take for granted.
However Coronavirus is affecting your online life, please read our top tips to help you protect yourself, your family, finances, devices and organisation. And as always, make sure you check out our advice including passwords, payments, safe buying and updating your software and apps.