Internet Safety

If You Need Immediate Help

If you’re looking for immediate help or individual assistance or legal representation, see the list of possible resources below. Unfortunately, CSAJ cannot provide direct assistance or legal representation, but we work with advocates and attorneys who may be able to help:

Device and Internet Safety

It is important to note that incorporating these tips and strategies into your safety plan can help minimize risk, that someone could be using many different tactics to monitor, stalk or harass and these strategies may not work for every person.

Computer and phone activity can be monitored through software such as keystroke loggers and stalkerware.  There are different ways a computers or devices can be infected with monitoring software. Computer and Phone monitoring software can monitor for websites visited, calls and messages made, keystrokes typed and more. Use this guide to learn more about Computer and Phone Surveillance.

It is also important to note that monitoring of devices can be done without software. Oftentimes, people suspect that it’s stalkerware, but it might be a variety of other things because it’s quite easy to find information about people in lots of different ways, especially if the person is an former intimate partner.

Be mindful if someone is monitoring your browsing history, they will be able to see the websites you have visited including this one. If safe to do so, use a computer or device that an abuser has not had access to, such as one at a library, a friend’s house, or an Internet cafe. Here are other ways to help increase online privacy and safety.   

If an abusive partner has or had access to your online accounts, they may be able to access your emails, your cloud, social media and more. To make your password more secure, consider changing it often and choose a password that would be difficult for someone that knows you well to guess. Use this resource on password security to learn more.

If an abusive person knows how to read your computer’s history of cache file (automatically saved web pages and graphics), they may be able to see information you have viewed on the Internet. There is no way to delete all “footprints” of your internet and computer activity. Consider which sites you visit on the device, if it is not safe to stop using the device, be strategic about which sites you visit on the monitored or infected device.

If your computer and internet activity is being monitored, abruptly changing your passwords or deleting your internet history might make the person monitoring you suspicious. Depending on your need, you may want to continue to use your computer for daily tasks such as reading the news. More sensitive device use, such as asking for help or planning to move, might be better saved for a device, an abuser has not had access to.

To learn more about way to maintain privacy and safety on your device and online, visit techsafety.org.