Safety, Security and Cybersecurity

Froyle is lucky enough to have very few incidents.

You can find details here about our Neighbourhood Watch Group as well as an article below on how to best protect yourself from scams and cybercrime.

Cybercrime and Other Scams

The following is advice given by the representatives of the Hampshire Police cyber and fraud teams. Hopefully we already do many if not all of these things but just in case…

  • Take 5 to think about what you are being asked to do in any unsolicited contact whether by email or phone – the scammers are trying to get you to panic and take immediate action without thinking and doing proper checks
    • Contact your family or friends for advice if you receive anything suspicious to seek their opinion about what they think before taking any action requested;
    • Double check any unexpected call from a family member or friend asking for help (especially financial) before responding – we inadvertently make a lot of information about ourselves, our family and our friends available on social media which scammers access and use to make their storyline more credible and believable. In particular you should not mention your birthday on social media even if that means you lose out on birthday wishes! Finally be aware that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now create a facial image of the person asking for help to try and convince you of the message’s authenticity;
    • Report any suspicious text or email to the relevant authorities (relevant addresses are at the end of this email);
    • Don’t share information about your location, travel plans etc on social media as this can be used to target an unoccupied house;
    • You can block the sender of unwanted emails and divert them to spam or junk, please check with your email provider on how to do this as it can vary, but should be very easy to do.
  • Passwords
    • Do not use the same password for your email account(s), online registrations etc. Your email password is the MOST IMPORTANT password you have and it should never be the same as any of your other passwords. Email should also be secured using Two step verification (see below) If someone gets access to your email password, then they can reset other passwords (as any new passwords will often need verification via your email)
    • If you are advised that your email may have been included in a cyber attack then change the password on that app etc immediately – there is more information on how to find out if your account has been included in a cyber attack ‘pwned’ and what to do if that has happened at the end of this article;
    • Two step verification should be used wherever possible. This is generally a one time 4-6 digit code with limited time validity sent to your mobile device by the initiator which you then input to confirm your identity after you have logged on using your user name and password. This ‘two step’ verification was described as the equivalent of your front door, which is kept locked and only opened by you to trusted visitors, whereas the password you use is merely your ‘garden gate’ that is easily opened and thus not very secure;
    • Use strong passwords e.g. any three random words or a strong password suggested by your mobile device and save these in a safe place – possibly in the password vault on your mobile device which is set up securely for this purpose;
    • Alternatively write your passwords in a book and keep this in a safe place –  yes, I thought this was wrong too, but if kept out of sight it was actually described as a secure solution to remember one off passwords and the sites they were used on as opportunistic burglars will not spend time looking around the house for such books as they want to be in and out quickly. (This is not the same as putting Post It notes on your computer or desk which is definitely a no no!).
  • Suspicious emails (especially from a bank or other financial institution)
    • These are becoming more sophisticated e.g. with text checked through Artificial Intelligence (AI) to remove poor grammar which used to make such things as bogus letters from a bank easy to spot;
    • If you have any suspicions about the sender or a link that they are asking you to click on then hover over the sender name or any embedded link with your mouse but don’t click on it! This will reveal the real email address and is a good way of checking if it is legitimate. If not from a legitimate sender then just report and delete it
    • Don’t call any number provided in the email and contact your bank directly using a ‘safe’ number to check the email authenticity.
  • Useful contacts to check and report possible cyber crime
    • If you want to check if your email appears in compromised data via a data breach on a website: https://haveibeenpwned.com – this also suggests steps to be taken to protect yourself;
    • Address/code to forward SPAM SMS/Text Messages: 7726 ;
    • Address to forward Phishing Emails i.e. emails that are not from the organisation they purport to be: report@phishing.gov.uk. These addresses will then be taken down/blocked by the government;
    • If you are concerned that your personal information may have been stolen and you’re at risk of ‘Identity Theft’, registration with this site for a small fee will help to stop your details being used fraudulently e.g. to purchase something by purporting to be you – CIFAS Protective Registration: https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr;
    • If you wish to create a personal cyber action plan – National Cyber Security Centre, Free Cyber Action Plan:  https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware/actionplan;
    • Cyber crime is massively underreported so please do report any incident to: Action Fraud 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk – reporting these emails and texts may prevent another person from being targeted by the same phishing email or spam text;
    • You can contact the Fraud Team of your bank using a single number 159 rather than looking up the long number on the back of your bank card.
  • Hampshire Police material (also attached)

Finally consider signing up to Hampshire Alerts (https://www.hampshirealert.co.uk/). These are used by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police to share useful information on crime prevention, fraud and other local issues.