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Getting online can be a scary endeavor. If you are not careful, you can be a victim of a Digital Drive-by, digital mugging, digital home invasion, or digital peeping tom. Let me define:
Digital Drive-by – The Unintentional installation of unwanted software:
You are innocently surfing your favorite Social Networking site; Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the like or searching for some useful free software. You’re cruising along, following links just like any other day and … WHAM … a screen pops up that looks a legit program running on your computer that says, “… have determined that you have 47 viruses on your computer and if you click the box below we will clean it up for you”. You think “what the heck? Oh, Ok.” and you click the button Then something is installed and run showing you that they have “cleaned up” your PC. “Cool.” You think.
Then your system starts slowing down. You find that you are having trouble getting everyday tasks to run. It always seems like the system is always busy.
Digital mugging – Also known as Phishing:
You get an email that says something like this. “Hi, we are your bank. We have updated our systems and need you to login to re-validate your account. Here is a convenient link to the site. Just click it and you’ll be all set.” You do because it’s from your bank. It has the right graphics, it looks professional and you do not want to mess up your accounts. When you click the link, you get your bank login page but when you sign in it says you messed up something and has you sign in again. This time it works. Whew. That was a close one.
Soon you check your bank balance and find funds missing, your bank calls you with the “did you authorize…” and only then do you realize you have been mugged, digitally.
When you clicked on the link it took you to a fake page that looked just like your banks page. It captured your account login, which you rarely mess up, and then sent you to the real bank page. Now, not only do you have to hassle with the bank you have to file reports with the police and fight to keep your identity YOURS.
Digital Home Invasion – Giving access to your computer or computer network, unintentionally:
You are online, minding your own business. You see no indications that anything is wrong until your system starts acting funky; slow, high CPU utilization, or your hard drive spinning all of the time. Huh. Something is wrong. However, all of the searching has revealed nothing. Then a geeky friend asks; “What firewall are you using?” To which you say, “What’s a firewall?” not good; not good at all.
Firewalls protect our computers and networks from intrusion. Hackers can, and will, design a program that looks legit to open a port (door) into and out from your computer. Once they have this door opened, they have free access to use your computer for what ever they choose. Denial of Services Attacks, hacking other computers (banks, governments, what have you). More bad news… all of these attacks now are be traced back to YOU and YOUR computer.
Digital Peeping-Tom – Not all toolbars and add-ons are for your benefit:
You are tooling around and come across a link that points to a nifty program or game. You click the link, being careful that it actually takes you where it says. You find the program and download it. All seems good. As you are going through the install you see it has a pre-checked box that says “install handy-dandy toolbar, it’s really cool”. You don’t think anything about it and finish the install. The next time you open Internet Explorer you see the “handy-dandy toolbar”. It has a search box on it so you use it instead of Bing or Google. Hey it just saved you typing it in the main bar. Cool. The page that it bring up is not Bing or Google but something else. It has ads on the sides but does bring you the result you were looking for plus some you didn’t think of. What you don’t know is now the “handy-dandy toolbar” is sending what you type back to the hacker who developed it. By tracking what you type and where you go he is able to steal valuable data about you; stealing your money , bank info, usernames and passwords.
Hence:
Get an Antivirus, a Spyware removal tool, an Adware removal tool.
You need software that is not a target for hackers. Try not to use Internet Explorer!
Boothe Services recommends:
DO NOT Connect to file sharing sites
DO NOT Connect to adult sites
DO NOT Install TOOLBARS – Unless you know they are safe, IE you know the creator of the Toolbar.
DO NOT USE AOL Instant Messenger.
Keep away from anything that even hints at watching what you are doing or opens unrequested connections.
Digital Drive-by – The Unintentional installation of unwanted software:
You are innocently surfing your favorite Social Networking site; Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the like or searching for some useful free software. You’re cruising along, following links just like any other day and … WHAM … a screen pops up that looks a legit program running on your computer that says, “… have determined that you have 47 viruses on your computer and if you click the box below we will clean it up for you”. You think “what the heck? Oh, Ok.” and you click the button Then something is installed and run showing you that they have “cleaned up” your PC. “Cool.” You think.
Then your system starts slowing down. You find that you are having trouble getting everyday tasks to run. It always seems like the system is always busy.
Digital mugging – Also known as Phishing:
You get an email that says something like this. “Hi, we are your bank. We have updated our systems and need you to login to re-validate your account. Here is a convenient link to the site. Just click it and you’ll be all set.” You do because it’s from your bank. It has the right graphics, it looks professional and you do not want to mess up your accounts. When you click the link, you get your bank login page but when you sign in it says you messed up something and has you sign in again. This time it works. Whew. That was a close one.
Soon you check your bank balance and find funds missing, your bank calls you with the “did you authorize…” and only then do you realize you have been mugged, digitally.
When you clicked on the link it took you to a fake page that looked just like your banks page. It captured your account login, which you rarely mess up, and then sent you to the real bank page. Now, not only do you have to hassle with the bank you have to file reports with the police and fight to keep your identity YOURS.
Digital Home Invasion – Giving access to your computer or computer network, unintentionally:
You are online, minding your own business. You see no indications that anything is wrong until your system starts acting funky; slow, high CPU utilization, or your hard drive spinning all of the time. Huh. Something is wrong. However, all of the searching has revealed nothing. Then a geeky friend asks; “What firewall are you using?” To which you say, “What’s a firewall?” not good; not good at all.
Firewalls protect our computers and networks from intrusion. Hackers can, and will, design a program that looks legit to open a port (door) into and out from your computer. Once they have this door opened, they have free access to use your computer for what ever they choose. Denial of Services Attacks, hacking other computers (banks, governments, what have you). More bad news… all of these attacks now are be traced back to YOU and YOUR computer.
Digital Peeping-Tom – Not all toolbars and add-ons are for your benefit:
You are tooling around and come across a link that points to a nifty program or game. You click the link, being careful that it actually takes you where it says. You find the program and download it. All seems good. As you are going through the install you see it has a pre-checked box that says “install handy-dandy toolbar, it’s really cool”. You don’t think anything about it and finish the install. The next time you open Internet Explorer you see the “handy-dandy toolbar”. It has a search box on it so you use it instead of Bing or Google. Hey it just saved you typing it in the main bar. Cool. The page that it bring up is not Bing or Google but something else. It has ads on the sides but does bring you the result you were looking for plus some you didn’t think of. What you don’t know is now the “handy-dandy toolbar” is sending what you type back to the hacker who developed it. By tracking what you type and where you go he is able to steal valuable data about you; stealing your money , bank info, usernames and passwords.
Hence:
Get an Antivirus, a Spyware removal tool, an Adware removal tool.
You need software that is not a target for hackers. Try not to use Internet Explorer!
Boothe Services recommends:
DO NOT Connect to file sharing sites
DO NOT Connect to adult sites
DO NOT Install TOOLBARS – Unless you know they are safe, IE you know the creator of the Toolbar.
DO NOT USE AOL Instant Messenger.
Keep away from anything that even hints at watching what you are doing or opens unrequested connections.
- Download these programs. Just get the FREE versions:
Keep Yourself Safe:
Microsoft Security Essentials - Firewall & Antivirus (Very good reviews)
Comodo Internet Security - Firewall and Antivirus (Very good reviews)
SpyBot- Search and Destroy (Tutorial) (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
AdAware (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
ZoneAlarm
AVG
Internet Explorer Replacements:
Google Chrome (Web Browser) (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)Firefox[/link] (Web Browser)
Crazybrowser (Web Browser)
Instant Messager:
Trillian (Instant Messanger)
Set them to update automatically
Always run ZoneAlarm and AVG
Turn on Resident SDHelper and Resident TeaTimer in Spybot
Run Spybot & AdAware weekly.
Trillian replaces AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC instant messengers.
