Internet Surfing Safety Tips

Keep Your Personal Information Private.

Never disclose your personal information; this includes your address, Social Security number, and telephone number. If prompted for this information, practice due diligence—investigate who is gathering the information, why they are collecting it, and how they will use it.

Look For a Company's On-line Privacy Policy.

Most companies have an on-line privacy policy to inform users of their information collection practices. Always check this privacy policy before disclosing any personal information. If you are unable to locate this privacy policy, inquire about one, and request that the company post it to their website. Refuse to submit any personal information without reading a privacy policy first. Always practice due diligence when protecting your privacy online.

Make Good Choices.

If supplying personal information is optional, do not disclose it. Never reveal more about yourself than absolutely necessary.

Beware of pay sites that hijack your modem and force you to pay a premium through your phone bill.

There are many sites that charge a fee, but boldly advertise, "NO CREDIT CARD NEEDED!!!!" These sites generally ask you to download a small program that re-directs your connection through a 900 number, where you pay by the minute. Called "900-dialers," they are perfectly legal, and can be handy for someone who does not have a credit card.

Modem hijacking occurs when a hijacker's website invites you to follow simple instructions to access their information. Once you accept the website's Terms and Conditions, a computer file accesses the communications software on your computer and sets up dial-up access on your modem to redial phone numbers that you didn't intend to call. These phone numbers are often located in foreign countries, resulting in long distance charges and/or connection fees being billed to the victim.

Tips to combat modem hijacking

  • Practice due diligence—carefully read the all disclaimers, terms and conditions, and any warnings within those terms and conditions, before downloading anything from the Web.
  • Take extreme caution when downloading or entering unknown websites.
  • Review your network and dial-up connections and remove any connections that you are not familiar with. Furthermore, verify the phone numbers that are being called. Consider using Google's reverse phone number look-up service.
  • If you have multiple login IDs on your computer (e.g. parents and children), consider applying restrictions based on those login IDs (e.g. deny children access to installing and downloading software without your permission).
  • If you have a high-speed Internet connection and a dial-up modem, disconnect the dial-up modem.