How to Keep Online Criminals Away From Your Computer
The web is also a web of criminal activity. Criminals have many opportunities to attack ordinary web users and these criminals can be difficult to detect. Hackers put malwares, which can infiltrate PCs to steal personal information.
So it is now more important than ever to protect your computer and yourself from vicious hackers who may use your information for identity fraud. Here are a few things you can do:
Protect the Browser
Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most commonly targeted browsers because of their popularity. Always try to use current versions, and download security updates as they become available. And you may need up-to-date security software as well to try to block any attacks, especially if you have a Windows PC. Or use a more obscure browser like Chrome from Google which has some security advances that make attacks more difficult.
Get Adobe Updates
Older versions of Adobe are vulnerable to attacks from hackers. To update Reader, open the application and then select "Help" and "Check for Updates" from the menu bar. If you are a Windows user, you can choose to get future updates automatically without additional prompts by clicking "Edit" and "Preferences," then choosing "Updater" from the list and selecting "Automatically install updates." For Mac users, you can arrange updates using a similar procedure, though a password will be needed each time an update is installed.
Windows PC users can also identify vulnerable or out-of-date software using Secunia PSI, a free tool that scans machines and alerts users to potential problems.
Beware of Malicious Ads
The practice is known as malvertising, where advertisements are slipped into web sites you trust. One popular swindle involves an alert that a virus was found on the computer. This is followed by urgent messages to buy software to remove it. This really is just a ploy to get credit card numbers and $40 or $50 because often there really isn't a virus in your computer. Scareware accounts for half of all malware delivered in ads, up fivefold from a year ago, Google said.
When this happens, immediately close the pop-up or kill the browser. Then check your PC with trusted security software or Microsoft's free Malicious Software Removal Tool Or you can use K9 Web Protection, which is free from Blue Coat Systems. K9 can be configured to look only for security threats like malware, spyware and phishing attacks – and to bark each time it stops one.
Poisoned Search Results
Online criminals manipulate search engines into placing malicious sites toward the top of results pages for popular keywords. More than half of malicious sites that embed hot keywords try to distribute scareware to the computers of visitors.
Google and search engines like Microsoft's Bing are working to detect malicious sites and remove them from their indexes.
Antisocial Media
Hackers now use e-mail, instant messaging, blog comments and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to induce people to visit their sites. Make sure you accept "friend" requests only from people you know, and always guard your passwords. Phishers are trying to steal login information so they can go into your accounts, impersonate you to try to scam others out of money and gather personal information about you and your friends.
Beware of the Koobface worm! It usually comes with a video of some kind and asks you to download a fake multimedia-player codec to view the video. If you do so, your PC is infected with malware that turns it into a zombie (making it part of a botnet, or group of computers, that can spew spam and malware across the Internet).