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Posts tagged "safety"

Get Your Car Seats Inspected During Child Passenger Safety Week

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 12 years old. Deaths and injuries can be prevented by the proper use of car seats, booster seats, and seat belts.

Child Passenger Safety Week, from September 16 to 22, is a good opportunity to make sure that your family and the families you know are properly using vehicle restraints. Visit www.safercar.gov/therightseat for guidelines and how-to videos on car seat and seat belt use and installation. You can also find car seat ease-of-use ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

For even more help, find a child car seat inspection station near you. Certified technicians will inspect your child car seat - in most cases, free of charge - and show you how to correctly install and use it.

How can I protect my Identity on the web, and who can i trust?

Asked by an anonymous Tumblr user.

Scammers, hackers, and identity thieves are looking to steal your personal information and money. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

  • Use security software that updates automatically. This will make sure your protected against the latest threats.
  • Treat your personal information like cash. Every time you are asked for your personal information, think about whether you can really trust the request
  • Check out companies to find out who you’re really dealing with. If you see an ad or an offer that looks good to you, take a moment to check out the company behind it.
  • Give personal information over encrypted websites only. To determine if a website is encrypted, look for https at the beginning of the web address (the “s” is for secure).
  • Protect your passwords. Create strong passwords and keep them in a secure place, out of plain sight.
  • Back up your files. Copy important files onto a removable disc or an external hard drive, and store it in a safe place.

Learn more about how to keep your information safe online

Making Water Safe to Drink in an Emergency

In an emergency, your water supply may become contaminated. Use only water that has been properly disinfected for drinking, cooking, or brushing your teeth.

If you don’t have bottled water and cannot boil water, then you can use a chemical treatment to kill most disease-causing organisms. Find out how to disinfect water with chlorine, iodine, or calcium hypochlorite.

How to Protect Your Home from Wildfires

Summer heat can bring wildfires. If you live in an area where they are common, there are steps you can take to minimize damage.

The best thing you can do is use fire resistant building materials. If this isn’t possible, be sure to remove flammable materials, such as leaves, from your roof and store gasoline away from occupied buildings.

Get more tips for protecting your home from wildfires.

Hotel Internet Networks Could Install Malware on Your Computer

Travelers abroad are at risk for malicious software being installed on their computers through internet networks at hotels, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

In most instances, a pop up window appears and asks the traveler to update a well known computer program. Once clicked, malicious software is installed on the laptop.

The FBI recommends to those traveling abroad that they should take extra precaution before updating their computer programs. Try and perform program updates before you leave home, instead of from the hotel. If your computer is attacked, contact your local FBI office and report it on IC3.gov.

Learn more about these kinds of malware attacks.