Safer Internet Day Encourage Positive Online Behaviour

Today is Safer Internet Day, this year’s date for the annual global campaign devoted to encouraging positive online behavior and promoting online safety awareness, as backed by online giants such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.
From providing education to taking action, Safer Internet Day is a strong reminder to everyone from the individual web-surfers to the small businesses, that there’s no time like today to get started on improving Internet security and safety.
Organizations especially should take the opportunity to stay on top of establishing a ‘Safer Internet’ at work or school. Since the Internet is a key utility for so many businesses in today’s day and age, it has also become a growing target for all sorts of malicious focus. With the looming threat of data theft attempts and service disruption facing every connected business, small or large, news reports of damage from companies who have not scaled their Internet security measures to the appropriate extent are all too common.
In the past month only, HSBC’s online banking services were targeted by hackers, the US Department of Justice leaked thousands of private employee credentials, and the New York Times covered the plight of a small toy company subjected to a ransomware attack, alarmingly demonstrating that small businesses were most definitely not escaping the notice of online crooks.
Beyond educating employees on reinforcing their password strength and being mindful of suspicious online things like phishing emails, the task of keeping entire businesses vigilant and careful of where and what is being done on the company network is very daunting. Without any network management tools, it’s nigh impossible to micromanage every user’s connection towards the intended productivity and away from threats of compromised websites or tricky social engineering. But with Internet filtering solutions like BrowseControl, streamlined protection in the form of harmful link blocking or suspicious activity filtering can greatly simplify the task of keeping workplace Internet usage safer from online threats.
The same set of centralized management tools can also prevent unwanted downloads or stop certain applications from running, reducing the threats of unauthorized programs afflicting workplace computers. With effective filtering management made simple by comprehensive databases of unsafe or unsecured webpages, BrowseControl turns an organization’s ‘Safer Internet’ approach into almost a one-click matter.
This year’s Safer Internet Day theme is Play your part for a better Internet. There’s no better time to plan your next steps towards new and improved Internet security initiatives, or to start finding the tools to make your Internet security initiatives an easily accessible reality. Because if your business or organization is Internet-connected, a safer and more secure network means better Internet – which means better day-to-day operation and better peace of mind.
By Andy Ma