Neil Parish MP – ‘Accidental’ Porn Viewing

This week, House of Commons MP Neil Parish has been accused of watching adult content whilst at work in the chamber. Only Neil Parish himself can tell us whether it’s an accident or not – but is it technologically possible to accidentally view inappropriate websites?

Every user of the internet has likely, at some point or another, opened a website that they didn’t intend to visit. Usually, it’s an innocuous mistake, you visit the wrong company, you meant to go on one shopping site rather than another or you simply accidently click the search result above or below the one you wanted. Maybe you’re scrolling a website on your tablet and phone and you inadvertently click on an ad. These are all fairly common place unsurprisingly with the amount of hours spent on the internet globally each day with over half of the world’s population connected to the Internet.

However, careful web browsing can avoid many of these mistakes – and of course, as I’m sure most people do, using your device or browsing the Internet for non-work related purposes is best left until you’re at home!

How can I protect myself?

• Only use the Internet at work for work-related purposes – after all, you’re being paid to do a job, not look at funny cat videos!
• Only open attachments from trusted senders.
• Don’t download files from the Internet unless they are from a reputable company.
• Avoid opening attachments in group chats using apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
• Avoid typing in web addresses directly and use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo so you can verify the web address and description before visiting.
• Only download apps from reputable app stores such as Google Play and Apple App Store.
• Ensure your devices have the latest updates from their manufacturer – these can be set to automatically download and install in your device’s ‘Settings’ application.
• Install a reputable anti-malware solution from a high reputation provider such as Malwarebytes.

Take a look at our video explainer below as we explore the possible causes.