Patient Account Safety Information

Top tips for staying safe online

It is very important to take care when you’re shopping online. Here are the simple steps you can follow to keep your online identity and personal information safe:

1. Create a strong password by using a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. Avoid using personal information such as your hometown, date of birth or any easy to remember combinations such as ‘1234’ which could make your password easy to crack.
2. Use a different password for each of your online accounts to limit the risk should the security of one be breached.
3. If you struggle to remember all your passwords, keep a list that’s stored in a safe and secure place, away from your computer. You can alternatively use a password management service to keep track.
4. Try not to store passwords digitally on an easy to access device such as a laptop or mobile phone.
5. Change your passwords every 3 months.
6. Ensure that you don’t use the ‘remember password’ option in your browser. If someone were to gain access to your computer, they could easily access any accounts which your browser ‘remembers’.
7. Ensure your firewall, antivirus and antispyware software are installed and up-to-date on your computer.
8. Watch out for ‘phishing’ emails and never respond to an email which requests your account information or password as we will never ask you for this information.
9. If using Wifi ensure it is password protected and hide your wifi name (SSID) to ensure your internet connection is secure and avoid logging on using an unsecure wifi hotspot such as in a public place or at work.
10. Ensure you sign out of all online services when you have finished using them.
11. Be careful with the personal information (hometown, birthday, pet’s name etc) you share on social media sites as this could be used to try and breach your internet security. Check your privacy settings to make sure only people who know you can see your personal information.