Thanks for voting!By Rob Weaver, Head of ING DIRECT’s IT Security
Third in a series on protecting yourself online. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Online security isn’t just about the online user. It’s also about the desktop, laptop or handheld that they’re using. There’s plenty you can do to ensure your hardware stays safe from malware and other risks.
First things first, set yourself up with an additional user profile for everyday web surfing. This way your access is limited – and so is a potential hacker’s. The administrator profile should only be utilized when servicing your machine. Another thought, give the kids individual accounts on your PC. It’ll make them feel super important and minimize the havoc they can wreak…curious minds. Don’t be afraid to tell anyone else who uses your computer about safe practices. Speak up or they could be clicking on pop-ups (maybe surfing unsavory sites) and all your evasive tactics will have been done in vain.
Have you paid good money and installed anti-virus and anti-spyware/adware software? Set them to auto-update. You’ll be getting your money’s worth and they will help protect against online banking fraud and ID theft . Make sure you keep online applications up to date, too. Programs commonly used when surfing the Internet can be harnessed by fraudsters to compromise your information. Most vendors will periodically issue ‘patches’, or self fixes, to combat recent loopholes in their coding. Go one step further. Register your software with the vendor; you’re ensuring you receive up-to-the-minute notification of any new patches. Once you’ve done that, go to The Security Zone at ING DIRECT and get Rapport from Trusteer – it works on top of anti-virus software to protect you from even more online threats.
Are you a PC security guru? Share your expertise with friends and family. If everyone secured their PCs properly, there’d be less opportunity for online information breaches. And cyberspace would be a safer place.
Up Next: Online Security: Now what?
Tags: Adware, Anti-Virus, Cyber, Hackers, Online, Security, Spyware
Loading ...
I totally agree on having different accounts for different purpose. We have different account for myself and my wife who surfers internet and visits site which are virus prone. That way I limit the exposure to my desktop. Also make sure not to use cookies in any of our financial websites. Once the hackers hijack your computer, they copy the cookies and get access to your computer easily. Actually there are many website selling cookie information to hackers to get access to financial website. I have seen that happen with our customers in my work place.
One more thing, store all your personal folders in a totally seperate folder away from Windows My document folders. Because when the system crashes, you can easily recover them. Finally always keep a back up in an external harddrive and update it perioidically.
Do check my website for my security and identity theft information at http://moneyreallymatters.com/content/identity-theft