Do I REALLY Need to Worry About My Password? (Spoiler Alert: Yes!)

Passwords have become such a regular part of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget about the importance of making sure they’re secure. We generally only think about password security when we’ve gotten a notice that one of our accounts has been compromised, or when we’ve forgotten our current password and have to make a new one. Rather than seeing them as a main line of defense against prying eyes, it’s easy to get into the habit of just being annoyed that we need them in the first place. 

This month, we’re taking a fresh look at password security, and the particular ways that survivors of domestic violence can use password security to protect their privacy and increase their safety. Check out our new resource “Passwords: Simple Ways to Increase Your Security” to learn more!

Twitter Announces New Safety Features In Latest Effort To Protect Users

Most people who have spent time on Twitter have seen the harassment that can take place within the platform - users taking advantage of the ability to remain anonymous and using it to intimidate, threaten, dox, and otherwise abuse people in a very personal and targeted fashion. In an effort to combat the often rampant abuse on its platform, Twitter announced four new safety features this month. The changes come in large part from the guidance they’ve received from the Twitter Trust and Safety Council (of which NNEDV is a member) and feedback from victims of harassment and abuse on the platform.

• In the past, even when someone was permanently banned from Twitter for their abusive behavior, it was relatively easy for them to create a new account and continue their harassment. Twitter is now taking steps to identify those people and stop them from being able to create new accounts.

• The creation of a safe-search mode that will remove Tweets from your search results that contain harmful content, and Tweets that are created by accounts you have blocked or muted. You can turn safe-search mode off and on so that you can still find the abusive content if you want or need to (to monitor an abuser's behavior, collect evidence, or make a report to Twitter, for example).

• Abusive, confrontational replies that are created by new accounts without many followers, and that are directed at a person who doesn’t follow the account, will be pushed to the bottom of conversations and housed in a section called “less relevant replies.” The replies will still be viewable by those who want to see them, but won’t interrupt productive, civil conversations.

If an account holder has blocked you, but is continuing to mention you in abusive or harassing Tweets, you will now be able to report those Tweets.

We’re pleased to see Twitter take these steps to make their platform a safer place for survivors of harassment and abuse, and we look forward to seeing continued advances in promoting civility and safety online.

For more information on how to increase your safety and privacy on Twitter, be sure to check out our guide to Safety & Privacy on Twitter for survivors of harassment and abuse. It provides tips and guidance for increasing privacy on the social network, and for how to respond to others who misuse the platform.

Safer Internet Day: So What's the Deal with HTTPS?

While browsing online, you may (or may not) have noticed that some web addresses start with http:// and some they start with https://. So what’s the difference and why does that extra “s” matter so much for online safety and privacy? With tomorrow being Safer Internet Day, we thought it'd be a great time to explain.

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts the data that’s sent between your browser and the webpages you visit. When you see https:// at the beginning of the address, it means that the page you are visiting is secure. It tells you that it isn’t a fake version of what you were looking for, and that information you enter on that page is kept private.

For instance, Facebook uses HTTPS by default, so every time you go to log into your Facebook account, you should see that the login page is https://www.facebook.com. As long as you see that “s”, you can rest assured knowing that the username and password you enter will be kept secure and private. But if you see that instead it says http://www.facebook.com, it means someone has set up a fake version and is trying to steal your login information and gain access to your account.

For survivors who are especially concerned for their privacy and are carefully trying to ensure no one gets access to their accounts, this is an important tip to remember. In addition, there are a number of things you can do to help make sure the pages you are visiting are secure:

• Most browsers now will show an icon of a deadbolt lock when you are on a site that is secured with HTTPS.

• When you use the newest versions of Chrome or Firefox to browse the internet, you’ll receive a warning if you are trying to access a webpage that isn’t properly secured.

• The browser extension HTTPS Everywhere can be added to your Firefox, Chrome or Opera browser and will automatically switch thousands of websites you visit from HTTP to HTTPS.

But remember that nothing is perfect when it comes to online security. HTTPS has its vulnerabilities - but using it is much better than browsing the web unencrypted. Most importantly, on Safer Internet Day and every day, it’s critical to remember that online security is a complex picture. HTTPS is just one of many tools available to increase security. For more tips and information on increasing your online safety and privacy, especially if you are a survivor of abuse, visit our Toolkit for Survivors on Technology Safety & Privacy.