subject: Internet Security Myths [print this page] Most of us are worried about internet security and may wish to be confident that our data as well as any financial transaction we conduct online is free of any security threat. It can become quite bothersome and frustrating when any malware or virus enters our system and plays havoc with it.
However, it's also an undeniable fact that people carry certain myths about internet security too and this article is an attempt to bust many of them so that people are more careful and take necessary steps to protect our computers from getting attacked.
The first one deals with the impression that it's only teens and some unemployed youth with lot of time available that indulge in hacking or placing malware. The fact is the cyber crime is an organized activity carried out by pros who have a lot to gain financially. They make use of any valuable private information to transact on that consumer's behalf and defraud him.
The following deals with the antivirus program. While a great antivirus program pays to, we should keep in mind that cyber criminals will always be one step ahead and will find ways to find loopholes in any program. It is thus required to look beyond antivirus programs and have more security measures being a backup should the program become ineffective.
The next one is due to the rather outdated theory that so long as we keep free of dangerous sites and are careful about not opening attachments on email without checking properly, you should be safe. This has stopped being valid as many webpages are nicely camouflaged and even experts cannot write out pages who have malware hidden inside them. You thus desire a good antivirus program along with antispyware plus a strong firewall to ensure one's body is safe.
The last one pertains to taking no action till we all know that there is something which moved wrong and counting on the system to let us know. Well this too is fraught with danger as when we act, maybe it's too late. The prudent action to take is to regularly perform a check on the healthiness of the system. This can be done through installing updates, making software upgrades and steering clear of dubious sites.
Besides the above, normal precautions such as viewing or downloading unknown attachments, clearing temporary files regularly, following defragmentation and disk tidy up procedures will make sure the system remains in good shape.
