Help for Cable customers
Broadband and Internet :
Internet Security
How to protect yourself online
- Be careful about your personal information and passwords. Be very cautious about entering your password and user name. Make sure the site you are logging into is one you use and trust. For a safer experience try using Virgin Media Security?. If you want to learn about how Virgin Media Security can help, read our article: What exactly is Virgin Media Security?
- Don't be over anxious, stay informed. Don't let fears stop you from enjoying the Internet, but make sure you are aware of the risks. Just like driving your car or getting on a train - you can't imagine life without these, but you need to know what the risks are.
- Be aware of spammers. Virgin Media uses automatic spam controls as do some email programs. Some spam may get through filters, however, so do be vigilant. If it's not from someone you know, or regarding something you have requested, it may be spam. Read more in our article: What is spam?
- Use a strong password. Make sure you use passwords that are not obvious so they can't be easily guessed. The best ones use a mixture of letters and numbers. Also, don't make life easy for hackers by using the same password for all the sites you use. Some notes about Virgin Media Passwords:
- They must be at least 6 characters long.
- They must be no more than 10 characters long.
- The first character of the password must be a letter (a-z).
- The password can contain letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9), but no symbols. We recommend you use a mixture of letters and numbers for added security (for example, n3wyork12). You may want to have a prompt in mind for your password, to help you remember it - for example, favourite place, place of birth, pet's name.
- The password is case sensitive, that is you must always retype it exactly as you enter it here. So, for example, lower case "n" is different to upper case "N"
- Learn how to tell if a site is secure. When you’re paying for something you should make sure the site you are on is secure. You can see this by checking that there is a padlock on the browser and the web address begins with 'https' rather than 'http'.
- Be scam aware. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers are inventive and can be very professional-sounding. Fake lotteries, lucrative jobs, great prizes, even fake dating sites are all examples of scams. For further information you can read our article on How to avoid getting scammed on the Internet.
- Use Privacy Manager. Privacy Manager tools such as Virgin Media Security Privacy Manager spot when your personal data is being sent over the Internet and will alert you.
- Internet cafes. Make sure you always log out when you've been shopping, banking or checking your email online. Be especially careful in Internet cafes. They can be notoriously unsafe, so cut down use of your credit card or banking to a minimum.
- Online banking. Most high street banks have an Internet service and this offers great convenience. However, make sure you keep your logon details safe and follow our tips for banking safely online. For more information you can read our article on How to safely use online banking.
- Don't get phished! Phishers (pronounced 'fishers') create fake websites that pretend to be a legitimate company. They generally try and get you to enter your passwords or credit card information and steal your identity. To learn more about phishing and Identity theft you can read the articles; What is Phishing and What exactly is identity theft and how can you protect yourself?
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