TechDish: NCSAM Week 4

Posted on: Fri, 10/23/2009 - 08:33 — us104_techdish

This week's episode content is again courtesy of the National Cyber Security Alliance. Check out more by visiting their website, www.staysafeonline.org.

It's a three-in-one episode on today's TechDish! Yes, that's right, we've jam-packed three episodes into one big ole fat one. Beefy! Without further adieu, let's get to it.

Know Who You're Dealing With

Phishing—Bait or Prey?

"Phishers" send spam or pop-up messages claiming to be from a well-known business or organization (eg. Amazon, PayPal, your bank, your ISP, etc.)—but beware, they are indeed NOT from said business or organization! They will usually be asking you to update or validate your account information, and may sometimes sound very threatening.

Above all else, do NOT respond to these emails—you will be putting your personal information at risk! Instead, report these emails to spam@uce.gov. Also report these to the business or organization the email is impersonating. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems.

Free Software—Worth It?

We all love the word "Free" and it can be very hard to turn down something someone is trying to give to you at no cost. However, beware of software that comes as "Free", as it itself can contain, or may contain bundled software that contains, spyware, malware, and/or viruses. (Limewire is a perfect example of this).

If you really want free software, Brian and I love Giveaway of the Day, which offers a new software title every day for FREE! This is verified and tested software that is easy to install (and uninstall!) and is a good website to keep in your bookmarks.

Email Attachments—Are They Legitimate?

We all send email attachments, all the time. Whether you're sharing photos with relatives and friends or sending documents back and forth, email attachments are one of the easiest ways to get a file from one computer to another. But be careful when opening up attachments from someone you don't know or don't trust! Email attachments can be viruses, or infected by viruses, which could harm your computer and ruin your day/week/month/year/life.

Security Tools are Your First Line of Defense

Antivirus Software

We've talked extensively on TechDish about How to Avoid Virus Infection. But we cannot stress the importance of this enough. All users should have antivirus software running on their computers, and it should be up-to-date.

Did You Know? Most antivirus software will have a feature included that scans your email attachments for viruses. Also, most webmail providers (most notably, Google Mail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail) provide on-access scanning of attachments before allowing a download to keep you safe. Slick!

Firewalls, Anti-Spyware and Anti-Malware

The biggest thing that needs to be stressed is this: if you use this software, keep it up to date and run active scans for the ultimate in protection.

Back Up Your Important Data

We've got some great information on Data Backups here. The best rule to follow? If you can't afford to lose it, back it up!