While the internet is an incredible innovation that offers a convenient way to do things like shop, communicate with friends, and even pay your bills, it is also riddled with viruses and other types of malware, as well as thieves that are out to steal your personal information. Anyone that uses the internet should know how to avoid these types of threats.
Computer Viruses
There was a time when viruses were distributed almost exclusively through email attachments. While that is still a very common way that viruses are spread, there are even more ways nowadays. Some viruses can be contracted by simply visiting a website that is hosted on a virus infected server. Harmful code may be downloaded by your web browser upon visiting such as site that is then saved to your computer. For this reason, you should always be cautious about clicking links to websites that you are not familiar with.
Phishing
Phishing is a malicious and often times criminal practice of tricking web surfers into divulging personal information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and more. Most phishing attempts are made via email, by sending fraudulent emails made to look like they are sent from legitimate sources, requesting personal information. It is important to keep in mind that no financial institution is going to ask you to submit your personal information back to them, by email or by any other means. They already have this information on file, and it is usually against their policy to ask you to furnish that information anyway. Often fraudulent emails will contain links that take the unsuspecting web surfer to an imposter site that is set up to look exactly like a legitimate site to gain the trust of the victim. The user is then prompted to login with their sensitive information and it is then stolen by the criminals. PayPal customers are a big target for this type of scam. Always check the address bar to make sure you’re actually on the site that you appear to be.
Online Shopping Precautions
The convenience of shopping online is definitely a luxury, but there is substantial risk associated with it. However, with a bit of caution the risk can be eliminated. First of all, only shop from sites that you trust. If you’re unsure about the reputation of any particular website, do a quick Google search to see what people are saying about it. If there is anything fraudulent about the site, you’ll likely find out about it. Also, as mentioned earlier, be sure to check the address bar while you’re on the site and make sure that the website address matches the site that you are on.
If you decide to make a purchase, be sure that the checkout page is secure. In many browsers this is indicated by a padlock symbol somewhere at the bottom of the window. You can also tell by looking in the address bar. A secure page’s address will begin with https:// as opposed to http://. This indicates that any information you transmit through that page will be encrypted so that it can’t be intercepted by a third party (such as a hacker).
Using all of the above information will vastly improve your chances of remaining unscathed by viruses and other malicious threats online, but in order to fully protect yourself, youíll need high quality security software. You can get antivirus and antispyware products separately, or you can purchase and entire security suite that will give you all-inclusive protection. Do your research online to find which security software is best for you.
Tags: browser, computer virus, internet safety, online shopping, phishing
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 4:14 am and is filed under Tips & Suggestions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.