5 Myths about Internet Safety
“Internet Safety” the term has been getting vague with the increasing virus outbreaks nowdays. PC Magazine once conducted a survey in which they asked the participants to rate their broadband ISP services and the results were astonishing. Most of users didn’t completely understand the seriousness of potential threats or how to protect their PCs. Here are the top 5 Myths about safe surfing over internet.
Myth 1 – I don’t keep important things on my PC, so I don’t have to worry about security. Your PC can be infected over internet
Long time ago,this was partially true… but the hybrid worms and viruses of today like Blaster, hidrag and others blindly spread across internet to thousands or millions of PCs in a matter of hours, without regard for who owns them, what is stored there, or the value of the information they hold for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc. Even if your computer is not attacked directly, it can be used as a zombie to launch a denial-of-service or other attack on a network or to send spam or pornography to other PCs without being traced. Therefore, your civic responsibility is to protect your PC so that others are protected.
Myth 2 – I can protect my PC if I disconnect from the Internet or turn it off when I’m not using it.
Wrong. You are a target, If you connect to the Internet at all. You could download a virus when you connect to internet and it may not be activated immediately, not until you read your email offline days after. Viruses nowadays spread wildly through USB/Pen drives, pirated cd’s or torrents or file from networks. But now you can protect your business from internet threats with the top web security software
Myth 3 – I can protect myself from viruses by not opening suspicious e-mail attachments. Some viruses simply get activated by reading or previewing an e-mail
Wrong again. The next virus you get may come from your best friend’s or boss’ computer if his e-mail address book was compromised for simulating an attack. Hybrid worms can enter through the Web browser through loopholes and it is possible to activate some viruses simply by reading or previewing an e-mail. You simply must have a PC-based antivirus package or a firewall.
Myth 4 – I have a Macintosh (or a Linux-based system), not a Windows system, so I don’t have to worry about being attacked.
It is true that most attacks target Microsoft Windows–based PCs, but there have been attacks against Mac OS and Linux systems as well. Some experts have predicted that the Mac virus problem will get worse, because Mac OS X uses a version of Unix. And although these systems have some useful security features, they can still be attacked.
Myth 5 – My system came with an Anti-virus package, so I’m protected.
Not quite. Firstly, if you haven’t activated your antivirus to scan incoming web traffic automatically, you don’t have a good Anti-virus and malware protection software. Secondly, new threats appear daily, so an antivirus package is only as good as its last update so its a must to activate the auto-update features to keep your guard up against the latest threats. Thirdly, an antivirus package can’t protect you from every threat. Malwares, spywares are running in the wild out there and every now and then malicious code penetrate weak systems. You need a combination of solutions, including, at minimum, antivirus, a personal firewall ,an anti spyware/malware package and a plan for keeping your operating system and software up to date with security patches.
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Myth 6: The cause of the security problem is from the people who write malware.
Wrong. The root of the security problem is the operating system. If Linux was as ubiquitous as Windows is now it would be attacked as often. It would certainly be compromised more as a result too. But that’s where the comparison ends. Linux is simply a much better OS security wise the Windows will ever be. It can’t stop people from doing stupid things but doing stupid things is not what’s costing us 14bl a year. It’s an antiquated operating system from a provider who doesn’t seem to care how much misery their wares cause.
Thank you for such a good post. You show some really important myths here.
Myth 4 is not a myth. All of the active malware threats “out there” on the current Internet target Windows. When I say all, I really mean it to a vanishingly small percentage accuracy. In order for this article (and most like it), wherever the term “PC” appears it should really read “Windows PC”.
Furthermore, on Linux, there is a very simple means available to people where they will never get malware. Just adopt a policy of “always install new software via using the package manager” and stick to it. Guaranteed no malware. The package managers allow free access to more than 20,000 online packages, all of them vetted to contain no malware … and the system has an impeccable record in that it has been in use for many years, for many millions of Linux users, with not one single reported case ever of a system getting malware through the package manager.
@Mark
I work IT on a University and I assure you malware for Macs exists. In the last 4 months we’ve seen more Macs compromised than Windows, despite the fact only 20% of the computers active on our network are Macs. The most notable we see is this DNS changer malware, probably similar to this (or this, I can’t tell)
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan_osx_dnschanger.shtml
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[...] http://www.hungry-hackers.com/2009/03/5-myt…; “Myth 2 – I can protect my PC if I disconnect from the Internet or turn it off when I’m not using it.” [...]
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What Is A Trojan Horse Computer Virus…
Intriguing idea, but I don’t know if I believe you one hundred percent….
@Jim Wells
Mark wrote Linux not Macintosh. Open your eyes.
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