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Plan for safety

Cover tracks online

When you search for information and advice online, your internet activity, including the sites you visit, is stored in your device’s history. It’s challenging to avoid being tracked completely, but you can take steps to protect your privacy if you are concerned about others discovering which sites you’ve visited.

Quick exit from our website

If you need to leave our site quickly to keep your browsing private, use the "QUICK EXIT" button found at the top of every page. Clicking this button will redirect you to Google, ensuring you can leave our website swiftly and discreetly.

Smart browsing on computers

When using a desktop or laptop, it's a good idea to keep an unrelated document or another website open in a different tab or window. This way, if someone unexpectedly enters the room, you can switch tabs or windows to hide your activity without raising suspicion.

Web browsing

Email

If you receive threatening or harassing emails, consider printing and saving these as evidence of abuse. Emails you send are stored in the “Sent Items” folder. Unfinished emails are saved in the “Drafts” folder. If you respond to an email, the original message is typically included in your reply. Should you want to keep this private, print the email for your records and then delete it from your account.

When you delete an email, it’s not immediately removed from your email system. Instead, it is moved to a folder commonly labeled as “Deleted Items” or “Bin”. To permanently remove the email, you must empty this folder. Right-click on the email within the Deleted Items or Bin folder and select “delete” or “Delete forever” to ensure it’s fully erased. This action varies slightly depending on the email program but achieves the same result of completely removing the email from your account.

Social media

Remember that some actions you take to increase your security or privacy might alert an abuser, and they might escalate their abusive behaviour.

Click on the social media profiles below to learn more about how to make them more secure.

Forums

When participating in forums such as the Women’s Aid’s Survivor’s Forum, always ensure to log out after each session. This prevents anyone else from accessing your account using your credentials. Similarly, for any other forums you use, make it a habit to log out at the end of your browsing to secure your personal information.

General Security

If your computer does not require a password to access, it can be especially easy for someone else to track your activities or access your personal information. If safety is a concern, consider accessing sensitive information from a secure location like a local library, a friend’s house, or your workplace.