Safety

Safety Tips

Here we share a few tips on how you can stay safe on Minecraft, Discord and the internet in general.

You should generally never accept a friend request from someone you don't know.
On Discord, if a user that looks familiar sends a friend request to you but you do not share a mutual server with them or the four numbers behind their username don't match the four numbers of the real user in the mutual server, they are impersonating to deceit you.

Protect your personal information. Once it is public, it is public forever. Do not share information that can identify you. If you share any personal details, pictures, or videos, make absolutely sure it is something you are comfortable with the whole world to see, manipulate, and judge. It is important that you do not share something to someone that can be used against you.

Do not click links from an unfamiliar user or any link to a domain name you do not recognize (google the domain name, and make sure it is reputable). A user can get your IP by having you visit a website where they get the information your browser sends to the website. On some websites, the user can make hyperlinks not display the real link location (for example, this hyperlink, https://google.com, sends you to bing.com). Right-click and copy the link location instead of directly clicking the hyperlink. If your IP is leaked and you believe someone may DDoS attack your IP, restart your modem or router, and check if your IP changes at https://whatismyipaddress.com. You can also ask your ISP for a new IP.
Do not enter any login details or other information on websites that promises cheats or rewards to your account, they will steal your account. Be sure you are on the right domain name of a service like Discord (google the domain name, and make sure it is reputable) before entering your login details to make sure it isn’t a look-alike, fake website trying to steal your account.

Be careful of connecting to a Minecraft server, especially if someone asks you to join a Minecraft server that they own or that isn’t well established. Those running the Minecraft server will obtain your IP when you connect to it. You want to make sure they are someone you can trust to keep your IP private and secure.

Do not download, run or extract any program or compressed file from a file-sharing website or an unfamiliar website (google the domain name, and make sure it is reputable). Avoid installing third-party clients and mods from non-reputable authors and websites to avoid installing malware. If a user wants you to download a program, extract a file, or turn off any antivirus program, do not do it under any circumstance. Herobrine staff will never tell you to download anything. Installing malware can lead to loss of data and accounts, leaking of private information, extortion, and logging of your keyboard, microphone and web camera.

You should take all threats seriously, but also assess how realistic the threat is to avoid doing something you do not want to do. The best thing to do is to stop the interaction, not listen to their demands, report them to Discord (https://dis.gd/request). The person threatening you may use small pieces of information that they have about you to scare you, assess how accurate this information is and what they realistically can do with it. For example, they may have your IP and, therefore, your general location, but no further information about you. They may also have information on you or your accounts through an online data breach.
Lookup your email at https://monitor.firefox.com/ to check if any of your accounts are exposed.