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Safer Internet Day 2012 takes place on Tuesday, 7th February. This year's theme is "Connecting generations and educating each other". The aim of Safer Internet Day is to raise awareness of the issues that children can face when using the Internet and the simple steps they and their parents or guardians should take to help them keep safe and enjoy their Internet experience.
For more information on the European SID event and national activities being organised by our Safer Internet Ireland partner "Webwise" » click here.

With so many people being made unemployed due to the economic crisis many who have never experienced being out of work are desperate to find a new job.

Unfortunately criminals on the Internet are exploiting this admirable desire by sending out e-mails offering jobs with attractive earning possibilities. Be aware that these are often trying to trick people into unwittingly participating in money laundering schemes often referred to as money mules.

While there are countless genuine job opportunities on the Internet - you have to go and find them on company websites or well known online recruitment services.

Be suspicious of jobs that miraculously get e-mailed to you! (Even if this appears to come from a known contact, their computer may be infected with what is known as a "spambot" which allows criminals to send e-mails through the infected computer so it appears to come from that computer's owner.)

Tips:

Check out thoroughly any unsolicited “job opportunities” you receive by e-mail.
Genuine companies will have business contact details that can be cross-referenced from sources not supplied to you by the sender of the e-mail (e.g. telephone directory).
The e-mails often use links to websites to support their claims, even if it appears to be a well known company - check that it really is their site.
Is the phone number given in the e-mail or website different? You can always call the main company number given in a phone book and ask for the person who supposedly sent the email. (Don’t be surprised when they say “nobody of that name works here”!).
Genuine companies are probably going to interview you for a job where you represent them, so alarm bells should ring if a job is given too easily.
Never give your bank or credit card PINs nor give logon number, password or PIN for your Internet banking access, these are NEVER needed by a company to transfer money to you.
Never sign vague “employment contracts” with a company that you can not properly verify and then send it by fax or scanned document returned by e-mail. You may simply be giving your signature to criminals to forge your identity on fraudulent transactions.

The office for Internet Safety have released their Annual Report of the Safer Internet Ireland 2 Project. It is available to download from their website » here.

The full text of the Annual Report of the ISPAI Hotline.ie Service is available » here. See also the publications section for press releases, etc.

Thanks to an anonymous report submitted to Hotline.ie of a suspiciously named file which was being shared on a P2P network, a school teacher was arrested yesterday by Bulgarian police for possession and distribution of child pornography.

The report was received on the morning of April 4th. The Hotline.ie Analyst was able to quickly find the content on the reported P2P network and determined that it was probably illegal under Irish law. As part of this case, a sharing IP address was traced to Bulgaria and the Irish Hotline transmitted the technical information to the Bulgarian Hotline.

All the information collected by the two Hotlines helped the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit to trace the illegal activity to an Internet connection in the city of Plovdiv. The police subsequently identified the user as a 34 year-old teacher taking classes of 12 to 15 year-old pupils.

On 12 May, the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit arrested the teacher and during the search in his home a large quantity of child pornography was discovered and confiscated as evidence.

This case shows how effective international cooperation between INHOPE Hotlines, Police and ISPs can be in tackling online distribution of child sexual abuse content.

ECPAT’s International Conference on Child Online Safety puts Taiwan centre stage in the worldwide fight against the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. Taking place in Taipei on the 21st and 22nd April. Paul Durrant, CEO of the ISPAI, joins speakers from around the globe to improve counter-measures against the exploitation of children. View the press release » here.

The Office for Internet Safety have put together this helpful leaflet with information and resources on internet safety practices regarding children.

Click on the link below to view a PDF version.
» click here to view.