Stay Safe Online

Tuesday 9th February is Safer Internet Day – a global event designed to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.  But staying safe online isn’t just about children and young people – it is vitally important for businesses too.

There are regular headlines about businesses large and small being targeted and threatened by hackers.  From Apple to Ebay, Talk Talk to Lincolnshire Council, companies and organisations are being attacked every day, with vital pieces of private data being put at risk.

Don’t think just because you are a small company you are safe either.  Smaller companies are often even easier to attack, as they don’t always take protection seriously or invest in it.

So here are some of our top tips for staying safe online:

  • Install anti-virus protection on all systems and ensure it is kept up to date.  Check it is set to run both regular and real time scans on your equipment so that any documents are checked as soon as they arrive and any threats are picked up quickly.  Confirm that your Firewall is on to stop hijackers getting to your PC.
  • Use a WebAdvisor or SecureSearch tool.  This will alert you before you visit a dangerous webpage.  It checks every page on a website before you even click on it to make sure it is not infected and your personal information will be safe.  Using a simple traffic light system it will warn you that you are about to visit a site which appears to be unsafe, allowing you to stop before it could be too late.
  • Use your common sense.  Where possible, limit your use of external media like USBs which are easy to misplace.  If an email does not look right, don’t open it.  Spammers are sophisticated and will use well-known names like Tesco, Microsoft or Paypal and often use scare tactics like saying your account is not secure.  But look closely and you will see that logos are missing or not quite correct.  It is safest to just delete the message and ignore it or contact the sender by alternative means like picking up the phone if you are concerned.  Safer really is better than sorry in this case.

If worrying about internet security feels like just another thing you don’t have time to think about then our team of highly skilled VAs are here to help.


From admin to accounting, business development to blogging, email marketing to Excel and telephone answering to Twitter we love to take on the jobs you don’t have time to do, don’t have the skills to do or simply don’t want to do. 

Please get in touch on 01483 332220 or email us at office@getaheadva.com to find out how we can help.  We pride ourselves on being the staff you don’t see but the difference you do.

Find out more about our services or call 01483 332 220 to discuss in more detail.