To celebrate Internet Safety Day 2025 on Tuesday, we asked our digital champion Nina to tell us about how she has supported people in Stockport to stay safe online.

Password Managers

I help people to stay safe online all the time, so many stories come to mind! The main one is helping people to change their passwords to something more secure, to learn about password managers, and then actually use them! It’s a simple action but really important. People are nervous of password managers, they don’t understand what they are, but they make life much easier. Says Nina.

Personalised Support

The 1-1 support comes in because someone can ask a digital champion all their questions there and then and the champion can tailor their support to that person.

One couple who came to our classes had the same shared password for every account, and they would have cheerfully told me what it was – I had to say “stop, I don’t want to know!” I supported them to use much more secure passwords of 12 characters and to understand why they shouldn’t share them. Nina continued.

Finding managable ways to stay safe online gives people the confidence to choose more secure ways to protect themselves. Working at a person’s pace using vocabulary they understand means that they lose that fear of having a long complex password.

I think you need that 1-1 support to be able to show someone, and help them to practice in real life so they really understand. It’s not the same reading instructions. Nina told us.

Other technologies to stay safe.

There are some really practical simple things that you need to demonstrate other ways people can use technology on their devices to protect themselves. Some learners might have set up biometrics for instance, but they’ve only done it for one finger. Nina told us that some might say “oh this thing is rubbish it never works” but when she and fellow champions set up a thumb or more fingers, it works much better and faster, then they love it! “

Thanks Nina for sharing what you do to help people to be that bit safer online.