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SERVICES AND ESB ELECTRIC IRELAND
Oct/Nov 2011 www.esb.ie/em
CONNECTED WORLD: Keeping Children Safe Online
IS Security
NOW THAT THE kids are back in school and the summer holidays are over, we thought it relevant to devote an article to keeping kids safe online. Children present unique risks when they use a computer, not only do you have to keep them safe, you also have to protect the data on your computer.
By taking some simple steps, you can dramatically reduce the risks and threats to both your child and to your information.
Children present additional challenges because of their natural characteristics: innocence, curiosity, desire for independence and fear of punishment. You need to consider these characteristics when determining how to protect your data and the child.
You may think that because the child is only playing a game or researching a school project, that they can’t cause any harm. But what if, when saving their work, the child overwrites one of your files or programs? Or what if they unintentionally visit a malicious web page that infects your computer with a virus?
Online predators present another threat, particularly to children. Because the nature of the internet is so anonymous, it is easy for people to misrepresent themselves and manipulate or trick other users. Adults fall victim to these ploys, but children, who are typically more open and trusting, are easier targets. Another growing problem is cyber bullying.
The tips below outline some of the steps you can take to limit your child’s exposure and keep your information safe:
- Try to keep your computer in a high-traffic area. This will allow you to easily monitor some of their computer activity. It is also worth remembering that wireless networking can provide internet access to your child through their SmartPhone or other internet aware device. The mobile nature of these devices means that you may not be able to monitor all of their activity by keeping the computer in a high traffic area.
- Make sure your child knows the boundaries of what they are allowed to do on the computer. These boundaries should be appropriate to the child’s age, knowledge and maturity.
- You should talk to children about the dangers of the internet so that they recognise suspicious behaviour. Discuss the risks of sharing certain types of information (eg age, contact details, etc) and the benefits to only sharing information with people they know. The goal isn’t to make them afraid; it is to make them aware.
- Let your child know that they can approach you with any questions or concerns about behaviours or problems they may have encountered on the computer.
- Be aware of what your child is doing on the computer, including which websites they are visiting. If they are using email, instant messaging or chat rooms, try to get a sense of who they are corresponding with and whether they actually know them.
- Most operating systems give you the option of creating a different user account for each user. If you’re worried that your child may accidentally access, modify, and/or delete your files, you can give them a separate account and decrease the amount of access and number of privileges they have.
- Avoid letting your browser remember passwords and other personal information.
- As always it is vitally important that you keep your virus definitions up to date.
- Set parental controls within your browser or install a specific application to limit what and where your child can visit on the internet.
For additional information see the sites below or contact IS Security. GetNetWise - http://kids.getnetwise.org/ StaySafeOnline - http://www.staysafeonline.org/
ESB Electric Ireland’s Energy Services sponsors National Retrofit conference
AS THE government prepares to phase out SEAI grants for retrofitting houses, a report recently released outlines new ways to finance home energy efficiency upgrades. It was launched at the annual retrofit conference in Croke Park, Dublin on the theme of ’Bringing Retrofit to Market’. The report, from the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), proposes ways in which the market could step in, to ensure that ambitious government targets to upgrade a million buildings by 2020 may still be met, with significant benefits to the Irish economy.
The conference, organised by the IIEA with the support of the SEAI, was addressed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte TD.
The event was sponsored by ESB Electric Ireland, Allied Irish Banks and Saint-Gobain Construction Products.
Déaglán Ó Dónaill, Energy Services ESB Electric Ireland, told the conference that Electric Ireland was strongly committed to the Better Energy Programme and explained how we were already offering home retrofits directly to home-owners through its Home Energy Services team.
Irish women’s hockey keeps top-six ranking with 4-1 Italian win!
Monchengladbach, Germany 20th – 28th August 2011
DESPITE A tough start to the week, Ireland’s women, sponsored by ESB Electric Ireland, regrouped and secured two excellent wins at the classification stages to secure sixth spot recently in Europe.
Ireland’s women were first up when they took on hosts, and world number threes, Germany and despite going 1-0 down in the first three minutes Ireland managed to show some composure but with no real goal chances up front the Germans left the field with their first 3 points in the bag.
Ireland’s second match saw a below par performance punished 3-0 by the lower-ranked Belgians. A more confident looking Irish side took to the pitch against England (world number fives) and took an early lead as they played with more rhythm and structure but a strong English side managed to pull themselves back after half time slotting home 3 goals to close it out 3-1.
So, Ireland entered the classification stages with no points to carry forward and the risk of being relegated to the B division in Europe. A must-win against Azerbaijan was the first hurdle one, which they duly cleared with a 3-1 score line, but despite the victory there was no rest and they still had to go out and do the business against Italy to ensure they did not face relegation.
Ireland came out of the traps early putting in three goals within a five minute period before half-time to get them off to the best possible start and Ireland continued to keep control of the game before the final whistle blew at 4-1 ensuring Ireland retained their A division status for 2013.
Congratulations to the Coach Gene Muller, Manager Sally Ann Fanagan, Captain Alex Speers and all the squad and assistant coaching staff for ensuring Ireland remained in the top tier of European Hockey.
Watch It: For great hockey coverage on the EuroHockey Nations Championships go to
All that glistens
Finance, Life, page 37
ESB Online Store
By Mary Milne
AFTER A SLUGISH summer for the ESB Electric Ireland Online store, the autumn winds have brought about a shift in activity for the store. In the last two weeks alone, 37 Chimney Balloons have been purchased, the recent heavy winds obviously a big factor in this. The ‘Warm Home’ category is seeing increasing activity and purchases as customers get ready for the winter.
We have some new and interesting products coming online soon, all designed to protect you and your home in the event of a repeat of the extreme weather we experienced last year. Trace Heating, which was probably not heard of here in Ireland before but is widely used in countries that have frequent cold weather conditions, is an electric cable that gives out a low heat and is strapped to your water pipes to prevent them freezing in conjunction with our Armaflex pipe insulation kits. It is expected to become one of the biggest sellers this year for our store. ESB Electric Ireland Store is excited to have sourced this product for our customers. Extensive research and product analysis has been carried out to ensure the Online Store have sourced one of the best and safest versions of this product. This product helps us to service our customer’s needs and allows us to offer innovative products at affordable prices. This product offers us the opportunity to allow us to help ease winter fears for our customers. The Trace Heating product is made by Tyco Controls, which isa trusted world leader in frost protection.
Other interesting products that we have selected to help our customers ease their winter worries include some smaller products such as: track shoe wear for the snow, small bags of salt in a bucket for your driveway, draught excluders for doors, windows and letterboxes.
Please remember to keep checking in with us as we will be constantly be reviewing and adding to our products on the Online Store coming up to Christmas, we have sourced some very interesting gift ideas for young and old at competitive prices to help you this Christmas.
Thank you all for your continued support of the ESB Electric Ireland Store and don’t forget to tell family and friends about it.
