Safer surfing

Just about everyone with a computer has gotten the emails.


The names and scenarios may change, but the request is always the same. Someone, in some foreign country where democracy has never seen the light of day, has amassed millions and needs help to get it out of the country.
 
With a promise to share a healthy portion of the bounty with whoever helps them, the emails are sent in hopes that some sucker, somewhere around the planet, allows greed to cloud their better judgment.


It’s just one of thousands of ways the criminal element has infiltrated cyberspace.

Thunder Bay is far from exempt, says deputy police chief J.P. Levesque on Tuesday, which has been officially designated as Safer Internet Day.

“We still see some cases of phishing. By and large it’s people who are vulnerable or aren’t that familiar with what safety is on the Internet, what steps they should be taking and what email they should be responding to and what they should be putting in those emails,” Levesque said.
 
Demographics usually dictate the way someone is victimized, he added.

While youngsters are more likely to be targeted by sexual predators and cyber bullies, older people who should know better are equally adept at finding themselves in dangerous situations.

“There’s a certain element of fearlessness with young people on the Internet. And although older people may tend to be a little more cautious, they’re maybe not as well educated,” Levesque said. “So you’ve got a couple more elements working at play here.”

Sabah Mohammed, a professor in the computers sciences department at Lakehead University, said people must be aware that as much energy as they put into keeping the bad guys out, an equal amount or more is being spent trying to get in.

“I cannot solve it only by putting a firewall, for example, on my computer,” he said.

One has to be careful what information they’re sharing about themselves, often forgotten in a world where Facebook and Twitter rule.

“There are a lot of things that are open that we should study very closely before attempting to use it. The danger is there. Other predators might use every sensitive thing to bully others, steal their identity and things like this which is really damaging,” Mohammed said.

“I get so discouraged. It’s the awareness that we need to always think twice and thrice before using such websites. I’m sure Facebook or My Space or Twitter have a lot of safeguards, where if there’s something sensitive it can be removed or there are some security techniques they can use. But nothing is 100 per cent.”

That’s one of the messages local police are trying to get across when the send their computer crime division constables into Thunder Bay schools.

Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board officials have put in place strict guidelines for Internet usage, that forbids sharing of “inappropriate information or confidential information.”
Similar rules are in place at the public school board.

However, said Levesque, education needs to begin at home and parents need to know what their children are doing online.

There are steps parents can take to try to keep their children safe, he added.

“The very basic one is the proximity of the computer within your home. Know where your computer is. If somebody’s squirreled away up in their bedroom or with their door closed, you should be asking, ‘What are you doing? What kind of site are you on?’

Then sit down and have a frank discussion, set guidelines and stick to them, Levesque said.

“They don’t need to keep hearing it from the police, this kind of scared straight type of situation about Internet safety. It’s important that it comes from the home as well.”