At the April meeting of the Stewartry U3A, the first to be held in the Parish Church, Castle Douglas, Constable Simon Kennedy talked to members on the importance of Computer Security and Safety.
Most members now regularly use computers for communicating and browsing, ordering goods and in some cases for online banking. Simon highlighted the staggering growth in social media and the use made of it not only by young people but by companies, political parties and many other organisations.
Simon stressed the need to be aware of the risks involved when providing personal data online, ordering goods and transferring money. Personal data is stored by organisations and on social media sites and can be used for many purposes; identity theft is a major risk. He said to look out for phishing and inadvertently giving personal data to unauthorised persons and how difficult it is to avoid receiving spam mail. It is essential to avoid clicking onto anything that is suspicious and that attachments to suspicious emails should never be opened as they may contain viruses. However it is possible for viruses to be in emails themselves and the installation of virus protection software was important.
Simon also pointed out that all computer users leave a digital footprint even if they think that they have deleted data and their browsing record from their computer. The information is held in the computer hard drive and by the service provider.
He concluded by saying that the most important thing was to use security settings and always confirm that a site is genuine before logging onto it.
John McQuistan thanked Simon for a most helpful and instructive talk