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Friday, November 21 2008 

A word about security

The latest report by the FTC states that identity theft is the #1 complaint when it comes to online transcations. Why? Because it appears that consumers give their personal information, including bank account and social security number to practically anyone who asks!

Basic guidelines to protect yourself from identity theft:

  • Never give your banking information or social security number via email to anyone. Your bank, or an online auction site will not ask you to confirm via email.
  • Emails informing you that your bank has temporarly blocked your account until you “verify” your details via email are fakes.
  • Don’t save your personal information on your computer if anyone can just fire it up without a password.

You don’t walk around in “real life” with your wallet open in your hand and invite everyone to help themselves. The same applies online. Common sense works great in cyberspace:)

Some basic good practices that everyone should follow:

  • Keep anti-virus software updated
  • Remove temporary files once a month
  • Uninstall programs only through the unistall programs window
  • Don’t delete a file when you don’t know what it is (could be a system file)
  • Don’t forward virus warnings to everyone
  • Check the links below for hoaxes before sending panic messages to friends
  • Send emails to multiple recipients only when they are all bcc’ed, not spread their email addresses in the To: or Cc: fields
  • Check for security updates and install them
  • Update the browser and email program if it’s more than 2 year’s old
  • Don’t bang the mouse on the desk when the internet is too slow
  • Buy a surge protector
  • Read YubaNet.com every day ;)

Useful stuff:

Own-A-Geek, onsite service by YubaNet for your computer and peripherals

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html Symantec’s (Norton) hoax center.

http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp McAfee’s dedicated hoax page.

http://www.Vmyths.com/ This site also has a good collection of urban myths (US Postal Service to start charging for email etc)