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Dotcom Defense

How to Stay Secure Online

By Siobhan MacDermott

Considering our days are busy enough between our jobs, homes, kids, husbands or boyfriends, the last thing we need are unwanted cyber "guests." These visitors come in the form of worms, spyware, viruses and a host of other threats lumped into the classification of "malware." Just as we've learned to handle our careers and personal lives, perhaps we can arm ourselves with the knowledge to combat malware that jeopardizes our personal and professional peace and privacy.

Web Safety Tips

1. Suspect Spam
You may have received or heard of heartwarming emails from Nigerian princes desperately seeking help in their freedom struggle, or an email from your bank asking for your account and social security numbers and so on. It's important to recognize scam emails. Legitimate companies never request user names, passwords, credit card numbers or social security by email. If you are troubled by your account, get in touch with the company directly--and always assume the prince is really a frog.

2. Arm Yourself With a Virtual Black Belt in Security
Deceitful emails and scam websites can contain malicious software that harm your computer or track your Web activities without your knowledge. While you may have a security program installed on your computer, it may not be effective unless it is up to date with the latest in threat assessments. It is important to install and update security software frequently. Using link scanning technologies is helpful in keeping secure. Also, make sure an Internet security suite is installed on your computer and is kept up to date.

3. Be a Woman of Mystery
Your password should not be easy to guess. Consider a scene where a woman wants to crack into her boyfriend or husband's voicemail and knows what the password is going to be because he is so predictable. Guess what--that's exactly how some cyber-criminals think about your password--predictable.

Create passwords that use upper and lower case letters, numbers, special characters and are longer than six characters. It's wise to create nonsensical, random passwords that do not relate to your life--in other words, don't use your favorite pet or your phone number. Last but not least, use different passwords for separate accounts and change them regularly.

With all these security steps, your Internet experience will be the safe zone you need not only to freely communicate with friends and family, but also keep your computer and important documents shielded against spyware, worms and viruses.

Siobhan MacDermott heads Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at AVG Technologies, a global security solutions industry protecting more than 80 million computer users against malware.

Infolink:
www.avg.com