INTERNET SECURITY!
What You Need To Know
Common types of security hazards
People on the internet are commonly fooled into believing that no matter what they have a anti-virus that will defend against everything. Unfortunately, hacker's have a variety of other ways for disrupting your computer and gaining access to private files. Here is a few examples of security hazards:
Using unsecure sites to transfer data E.G. banks with no HTTP/S
Giving another person access to your account
Installing unsafe programs
Running files you have found on the internet that haven't been verified as *SAFE*
Cookies!
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user's web browser while the user is browsing that website. Every time the user loads the website, the browser sends the cookie back to the server to notify the website of the user's previous activity.
Worms!
A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program.
Viruses
A computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates by inserting copies of itself (possibly modified) into other computer programs, data files, or the boot sector of the hard drive; when this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected"
Spyware!
Spyware is software that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, or that asserts control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge.
Spam!
Electronic spamming is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages (spam), especially advertising, indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: blog spam, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile service messaging spam, internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam , social spam, television advertising and a variety of other forms of spam..
Phishing!
Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, banks, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure unsuspecting public.
Common ways to secure your computer
People believe that having an antivirus software installed and active will protect them, but in truth there are a variety bag of ways that hackers and external sources can access your computer. If you wish to protect your private files, such as pictures or personal data, then you will need to take precautions. the precaution list varies from regularly disabling any cookies that websites keep on you, all the way up to running frequent full-computer scans.