[March 02, 2012] Legal & General Reveals Increased Risk from Digital Criminals Tweet LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, Mar 2, 2012 (Marketwire via COMTEX) -- Legal & General's Digital Criminal 2012: CyberSafety report(i) reveals attitudes to social networking is putting social media users at risk of falling victim to increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals. According to research conducted for Legal & General's home insurance business, 91% of Brits who use social media at least once a week are asked to connect online with someone they've never met and 51% accept these requests which are effectively from strangers. To highlight some of the key findings from the Report, we've created a series of infographics (images and key facts), and a video. Also, to help you stay safe online, Legal & General have the following 'virtual housekeeping' tips: -- Be secure -- Use firewalls, anti-spyware and anti-virus software -- Use strong passwords, which are eight characters or more, and contain a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols -- Use different passwords for each account -- Don't use your email address as a log on name -- Clean up your online footprint -- Google yourself to find out what information is posted about you online -- Delete old profiles, such as Friends Reunited, Bebo and old dating profiles that are unused -- Check out what is stored on you for marketing purposes on websites such as 192.com, 123.com and others -- Check your privacy -- Check out each social networking site's privacy policy -- Set your account's privacy controls to 'private' and be wary of the 'friends of friends' permission settings - think about how far this widens your network -- Check which social networking sites have access to your private data -- Be wary of strangers -- Don't accept friend or connect requests from people who you've never met -- Limit what you publish -- Don't reveal your date of birth or gender -- Don't reveal where you live or post telephone numbers -- Don't talk about your holiday plans, weekend plans or new purchases You should also ensure you have suitable home contents insurance in place should the worst happen and you are a victim of burglary. The Digital Criminal 2012: CyberSafety report is available to download or alternatively, find out more about Legal & General's home insurance or get a home insurance quote. (i) Consumer research for Legal & General's Digital Criminal 2012: CyberSafety report was conducted with 2,005 UK adults who use social media at least once a week, between 16 and 18 January 2012. Legal & General Insurance Limited. Registered in England No. 00423930. Registered Office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. We are members of the Association of British Insurers. SOURCE: Legal & General Media contact details: Legal & General Robert Smith 0121 633 6080 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]