How Not To Get Hacked: Websites and Wifi
About this video
This video shows how to stay safe on websites and wifi. It explains the lock symbol in the address bar, warns about fake websites that copy real ones, and explains why public wifi is risky unless websites use encrypted connections.
You'll be able to
- use the lock symbol and the 'not secure' warning in the address bar to judge if a website is safe.
- check a URL to spot a fake website.
- explain why public wifi is risky and how encryption protects my data.
Key words
- address bar
- The box at the top of a web browser that shows the web address (URL) of the page you are on.
- URL
- The web address of a website, which you can check to make sure you are on the real site.
- public wifi
- A wifi network anyone can join, like free wifi in a cafe or airport.
- encrypted connection
- A connection that scrambles your data so people spying on the network cannot read it.
- not secure
- A browser warning that the site is not using encryption, so your data is out in the open.
Transcript
Being safe online starts at the top. Up here is the address bar. First, look for the lock. If you see the lock, then your information is secure. If there's no lock, that means your data is out in the open and definitely not safe. There are lots of fake websites on the internet.
Check the URL to make sure this is a real version of the website you want. Sometimes a website might look like what you want, but it's a fake. Be careful when you're on wifi that you don't trust. Like free wifi in a cafe or in an airport. When you connect to public wifi, anyone in the area might be able to monitor what you are doing on the internet.
The good news is when you're using public networks like this, individual websites can use encrypted connections to protect your traffic from anyone else that might be spying on the network. If you look at the address bar up in the browser and it says not secure, that means the site isn't using encryption and every bit of data you send is out in the open and not safe.
Video © Khan Academy, used under CC BY-NC-SA. Watch on Khan Academy. Puzzicle is not affiliated with Khan Academy.