A presentation read at the 5the meeting of the REDIC Erasmus+ project.

1. Protect your
personal data
Prepared by Gabrielė Govoruchinaitė

2. STORE
A spokesperson at the ICO (Information
Commissioner’s Office, an independent authority set up to
uphold information rights in the public interest) advises
that you “store any documents carrying your personal
details, such as your passport, driving licence, bank
statements and utility bills in a safe place”.

3. SHRED
Shred or destroy personal items you are throwing
away, such as bills, receipts or bank statements, that show
your name, address or other personal details.

4. SEND SAFELY
If you have to post personal documents, ask the post
office for advice on the most secure method.

5. CHANGE PASSWORDS
Use different passwords and PINs for different accounts
and take extra care when using public computers to access your
personal information.

6. DON'T SHARE
Always think about who you are giving your
information to. Be cautious about providing any personal
details to unsolicited callers by phone, fax, post, email or in
person, unless you are sure they person is who they say
they are. If you are suspicious, ring the organisation back
on an advertised number or visit their website.

7. STOP SPYWARE
“Buy a good anti-virus, firewall and anti-spam
software package to protect your computer against viruses
and any spyware software which can be used to obtain
personal details.” says our expert.

8. PROTECT YOUR TEXTS
An app called TigerText allows text-message senders
to set a time limit from one minute to 30 days after which
the text disappears from the company’s servers on which it
is stored and therefore from the senders’ and recipients’
phones.

9. DESTROY DATA
Researchers at the University of Washington are
developing a technology called Vanish that makes
electronic data ‘self-destruct’ after a specified period of
time. Instead of relying on Google, Facebook or Hotmail to
delete the date on their servers, Vanish does the job.

10. GO OFFSHORE
Some companies, such as Connectinprivate.com,
offer ‘anonymous and non-traceable offshore browsing’ for
£5 a month. It’s done via a virtual private network, or VPN,
which connects to the internet on your behalf so web
services think you’re located in Canada, for example,
rather than London. The VPN knows where you are, but in
keeping with Canadian law, keeps no log of your activity.

11. UPDATE YOUR BROWSER
Microsoft plans to increase privacy options in the
upcoming version of its Web browser Internet Explorer 9
(IE9), including the ability to prevent tracking by third-
party websites.

12. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
