Internet Security 101

Remember Halle Berry in the movie "Sword Fish" (ok guys don't loose the plot here and drift off into a daydream of the scene of her lying European style by the pool... Come back to reality! Breathe, yes, breathe, ok well done). Then there was also Sandra Bullock in the “The Net”... Guys! Focus!

These shows depicted the Internet as a dangerous and scary place where one's whole life can be destroyed at a hacker's whim...

Whilst some of this is indeed possible I console myself with the fact that although I think I am special – I am not special enough to become a target for any real serious hacker... But thats just me, maybe you are an undercover operative for the National Security Agency and you only drink Martinni's , shaken not stirred, then your security is beyond the scope of this article!

For use mere mortal some common sense and a few security tools can thwart 90% of potential problems.

I want to give you some practical steps to keep in mind for your own online Internet security:

1) If it sounds too good to be true - it is!

What I mean by this is if you get an email from some attorney that happens to be winding up an estate for a dead guy who shares your surname and has no heirs but can wangle you half the loot - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If you get an email telling you that you have just won the UK lottery - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If there is an email from your bank, and when you click on the link, if the site you are taken to is not www."yourbanksnormalurl".co.za - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If you get an email from your bank and the reply address goes to some strange domain name – ITS A SCAM!!

Most of the scams above are called phishing. It is an attempt to lure pivate information from you for illegal use.

2) When surfing and something pops up telling you that your computer is infected and it will "help" you fix it (and the software does not match your version of anti virus installed ) - IT'S A SCAM!!!

3) If you get an email with something to install and you have never heard from the person before - IT'S A SCAM!!!

You wouldn't give anyone your ATM pin, or keys to your house if you have never met them before, so just don't do it on the web. Remember what you were told as a kid - don't talk to strangers - this spills over to chat rooms and emails too!!!

4) To protect yourself from the other virii , malware, and trojens install an anti-virus and use a host based firewall.

NB: Always READ the error message or instructions whilst interacting with your computer - for the most part they are there to help you.

BTFD

(ByteBoy Thought for the Day)

Anti-Virus is like vaccine -you might never need it but when you do you'll wish you had it!

Note: the above is recommended for home/private users , for companies and other networks ...security is a lot more entailed, depending on budgets and business needs.

As always all comments and questions are welcome..

BE SAFE OUT THERE !!!

ByteBoy Out!