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On the following pages you will find information on protecting yourself, your family and your computer whilst you use the Internet. Contrary to belief of what you read in the news, the Internet is a safe place to be as long as you think about the following.
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NEVER let your children use the Internet, especially and chat-room unsupervised |
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NEVER give your details out in a chat-room |
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You'll find as long as you're careful, that the Internet is actually a safer and more convenient place to shop than the high street. The fact you hear about massive credit card frauds in the news is simply because usually a lot of users are affected. If you look at the fraud figures for the high street and compare them, you will actually find Internet fraud counts for a lot less than the high street. You are actually more at risk in giving a credit card at a restaurant or petrol station. |
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Ensure your computer is protected and up to date by using the following steps |
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Windows Users MUST have their PC protected by antivirus, a firewall and all current Windows Updates. |
If you feel out of your depth, or you don't know enough about computers to do the following, we can do this remotely for you once you have your Broadband connection. Please call us and we will talk to you through preparing your PC for us to Update and secure from here. We don't need to visit you to do this.
No one should be too paranoid, but an informed user is a safe user. Spyware has recently begun cascading into the computer market at an astonishing rate. Surprisingly there are a lot of misconceptions about what spyware really is and how dangerous it can be.
Fact #1: Spyware and Adware are fundamentally different- This is important and often made confusing by the media and privacy advocates. Many people have the common misconception that spy software is made by advertisers to profile their shopping and surfing habits. This is a false and potentially dangerous assumption.
This misconception probably stems from the fall of two companies- Radiate and Conducent. Both of these companies attempted to sell banner space inside of freeware applications and to share this revenue with software authors in exchange for letting them distribute and selling space inside the freeware. This seemed to be a fair deal but what they didn't disclose to software authors and didn't tell consumers is that they were secretly profiling and logging surfing habits and sending this information back to their servers for analysis.
Conducent and Radiate are no longer functioning, or at least they don't seem to be, but they left the legacy of adware paranoia with them. Adware may have spyware-like features, it may profile shopping habits, it is usually annoying, has the potential to be a security threat but it is nowhere near the security threat that real spyware can be. In short most Adware is not trying to capture your sëcret chats, e-mails or passwörds. It usually is trying to entice you to buy something by showing ads, throwing out pop-up windows, profiling your surfing habits or gathering broad and general information about you.
Fact #2: Spy software creates dangerous security holes- The latest "rage" among spyware vendors is the ability to let the spy remotely connect to the target's computers. We have identified several spyware programs opening a default port on the system and using a hard-coded or default, easy to guess or easy to brute force password. We have analyzed and carried out simulated attacks in this scenario. Hackers can use a simple port scanning tool to scan entire networks and easily penetrate affected machines.
People who have certain remote spyware programs installed on their machines are literally sitting ducks. Ironically, in the case of shared-machine spousal spying, the spy has actually opened themselves up to severe security threats because they operate on the same machine as the victim. The very same spyware that was supposed to protect their children by monitoring their activity is leaving them vulnerable to outside attacks.
Fact #3: Spyware is often illegal- The use of Spyware or key recorders is illegal in some countries. If you are thinking about spying on people's computers then think again. It may carry stiff lëgal penalties, up to and including prison time. In the U.S. installing a keylogger or spyware on someone's machine without their permission carries severe lëgal penalties
Unfortunately there are virtually no laws currently restricting an employer from monitoring computers in the workplace for citizens of the United States. The good news is there is pending legislation to tighten these rules focusing on requiring notification of employees if their computer activity is being monitored. As of today this disclosure is not required.
Recently The Utah state legislature passed a bill, the Utah Spyware Control Act, outlawing certain activities in which most spyware engages. This includes, without first seeking permission from the owner of the computer, reporting online behavior, sending information about a user to third parties and creating pop-up advertisements based on the context of a web site a person is visiting. Currently this bill is being challenged by WhenU, a large adware vendor, on the grounds of limiting frëe speech.
Fact #4: Spyware is common- We know what you might be thinking; spy software seems rather "James Bondish" and beyond the reach of average users. This is not so. It is mass-marketed, cheap and very easy to acquire. You can find spyware for sale through Internet auctions, via e-mails (often sp@m), and all over the Web. You can even get spyware for frëe if you know where to look.
Fact #5: Spyware is easy to install- There are no special technical skills needed to install these programs. A teenager can do it and according to reports received by ourselves and other anti-spyware vendors they sometimes do. Spy software companies have made it very easy for just about anyone to start spying. We have documented cases of children installing spyware on their parent's machines to circumvent parental control software.