Internet Security
Security on the internet falls mainly into two related categories:
- Preventing your computer from becoming infected;
- Preventing your financial details from falling into the wrong hands.
Computer Infections
There is a lot of nasty software on the internet. Sadly, the only foolproof way to prevent your computer becoming infected is never to use the internet and never to install any software!
Although there’s no absolute guarantee that you won’t get struck by lightning in this way, there are several online equivalents of playing golf in a thunderstorm, which you can easily avoid:
- Never open an email attachment from anyone you do not know and trust. This is by far the most common method of infecting a computer. If an attachment has the suffix .exe, delete it unless you know exactly what it is. The moral is: if you doubt it, delete it.
- Install a firewall on your computer. Internet service providers will usually include a firewall, but having another does no harm.
- Anti–virus software is both more expensive and less effective than a firewall, but it is a good idea to have it. If you install it you must keep it up to date.
- Never open an email attachment, even from someone you know, without first downloading it to your hard drive and running a virus check on it. As long as you don’t open it, it won’t do any harm.
- Stay away from pornographic or otherwise suspicious websites. If you really must visit them, do it at work. You’ll probably get sacked, but at least your own computer won’t become infected. Actually, go to an internet café.
- Get into the habit of deleting emails unread from people or organisations you do not know and trust.
- If you use a Windows operating system, which are the targets of the vast majority of virus attacks, accept and install all authentic Windows security updates.
- Don’t use Internet Explorer; it is full of security holes. Use a safer browser instead.
- Create external copies of all your important documents frequently, in case your computer does get seriously infected and crashes.
- Install anti–spyware software, and run it regularly.
Security Software
We recommend AVG anti–virus software, which is free for private, non–commercial users.
Two reliable, free anti–spyware programs which we can recommend are:
- SpyBot Search & Destroy, which can be downloaded from www.safer–networking.org;
- Lavasoft’s AdAware, which can be downloaded from www.lavasoft.com.
Some programs which are claimed to be anti–spyware are either useless or actually sources of spyware. Check out www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti–spyware.htm.
Financial Fraud
All reputable online shops use software that encrypts credit card numbers before they are sent over the internet, and keeps them encrypted on the shop’s server.
It is much safer to give your credit card details to a properly secure online shop than over the telephone or to a waiter in a restaurant who takes your card away to process it.
Nevertheless, there are several ways to avoid problems:
- As in a bricks–and–mortar shop, only give your credit card number when you are actually buying something.
- An email asking you to hand over bank account or credit card details is always a fraud.
- Never hand over any personal financial details by email (or any sensitive information, for that matter; email is a very insecure means of communication). Always use a form on a secure website.
- Again, get into the habit of deleting emails unread from people or organisations you do not know and trust, just in case you find yourself tempted by that get–rich–quick scheme!
- Do not click on links in emails; they may not take you to the website you anticipate. Instead, hover over the link to check that a website’s address looks authentic, then type it into your browser.
- Give out financial details only on websites with a secure and encrypted internet connection. There are two signs to look out for:
- A web address beginning with ‘https’ instead of ‘http’:
- A picture of an unopened padlock, usually near the bottom of your browser window but sometimes also in the address bar at the top of the window, depending on the browser you are using:
- A web address beginning with ‘https’ instead of ‘http’: