During this pandemic our governments have told us to stay safe and stay inside, but what about staying safe online? It’s fair to say we’re probably spending a lot more time online recently. I mean, what else is there to do if you can’t leave the house? Whether you’re video chatting with friends, mindlessly scrolling through social media, or managing your volunteers from home, it’s important to stay vigilant online.

So what does this mean generally?

In short: be careful what new programmes/applications you use.
Do a little bit of research before you download and give personal details to a new app. Ask friends and family if they use it, consult trusted online sources and decide whether it can be trusted. 

Remember: even apps that seem to be trustworthy can fall victim to security breaches themselves.
House Party seemed to be taking the online video chatting market by storm until rumours of data surfaced. Although these rumours turned out to be false, their reputation as a safe app was ruined. Furthermore, Zoom, an application used for video chatting/conferencing was actually subjected to a data breach. The CEO of Zoom held his hands up in apology but it doesn’t reverse the damage done. 

If the phrase ‘too good to be true’ comes to mind, it probably is. 
A growing number of people are falling victims to social media scams. Fraudsters posing as good Samaritans hosting giveaways on Twitter are some of the the people most likely to trick you. A few examples can be seen in this article from Refinery. 

The ultimate way to stay safe

Passwords. Passwords are key. Having a variety of passwords for everything you use may seem tough – who has the memory capacity for that?! – but it could save you a lot of trouble. Besides, there are ways to keep track of all your passwords, whether it be a password-protected note on your phone, an app that keeps track of all your passwords, or going old school and writing them down somewhere.

So what does it mean for volunteer management?

Here at TeamKinetic we work hard to make sure all data is secure and we adhere to GDPR regulations. You may have seen our new COVID-19 community task dashboard for volunteering. With this, a new set of challenges arose: how could we give the personal data (like contact details and addresses) of people in need of help to volunteers without breaching their privacy?

Measures were taken to ensure that personal data was only given to volunteers after they’d been assigned a volunteering role, such as shopping for someone else or a simple phone conversation. If someone is not assigned to a task, they do not see the data and therefore ensuring the security of all involved. 

First of all, ‘Private Data’ can only be seen by site admins. This can be used to easily sort tasks in your own way.

‘Data Shown to Assigned Volunteers’ does exactly what it says in the title! However, it is important to note that this data is only shown to volunteers after they’ve been accepted on a task. This ensures that no private data is given to the public unnecessarily.

Finally, ‘Public Data’ is shown to all registered volunteers looking at the community task dashboard. It shows everything prospective volunteers will need to know, e.g. the time, date, and task. Furthermore, you can add boosted security measures here too, such as requiring criminal checks and approved ID.

How TeamKinetic Can Help

We will always try and provide you with relevant news through our social media channels, especially in situations like this. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

If you want to help your community and require a safe, online method of volunteer management, you can use our system completely free of charge for the duration of the pandemic by going to our website and starting a free trial. 

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us via phone: 0161 914 5757 or email: info@teamkinetic.co.uk

We also have a few other blogs about volunteer management during COVID-19, you can read them by clicking the titles below.