Know What Online Safety Means to You
You hear it all the time – “Online Security” and “Staying safe on-line” – but what does it mean beyond the headline? Well, the truth is that the answer is varied and complex. For companies, it means huge budgets, teams of dedicated professionals, and high-tech security devices to protect their (and in many cases your own) data. For individuals it can mean anything from running the latest spyware hunters, advanced and intensive anti-virus, or even alternative operating systems to simply keeping your computer updated and knowing what to avoid.
Where you are in this spectrum is a decision that only you can make, but there are some things you can do to ensure that you are staying safe no matter where you are. Below is a list of several things that are important for even the most security-minded among us do well to remember and practice. Sometimes we’re even the ones who need to be reminded of these basics the most!
- Know your anti-virus solution. While it’s still critical to have anti-virus on your computer, it is now more important than ever to be familiar with your particular anti-virus. Anti-virus programs range in cost, effectiveness, and features. The purposes of this post is not to analyze or evaluate these different solutions (there is already a plethora of articles on the Internet evaluating all of these factors) but to stress the importance of knowing what your program looks like. One of the most common (and effective) infection methods today is to present you with a fake anti-virus console. These “Fake AV” programs typically present themselves as your anti-virus (or sometimes a “better” AV program) claiming to have found a number of infections on your system and offering to clean them for you if you install them. They sometimes only hope to charge you to download their program, but others will infect your computer and refuse to return control until you pay them. Some of these fake programs are so highly polished that they look as good (or better!) than real anti-virus solutions. Make sure you know what the interface of your AV looks like so that you can spot fakes!
- Patch it like it’s a quilt! This may seem obvious – updates are good, right? They also happen so often these days that they can interrupt your work flow. Whether it’s your browser (Firefox, Chrome, IE, etc.), your operating systems (Windows, Mac, Ubuntu, so on), or regular applications like Adobe or Java, the correct answer to “Would you like to apply these updates?” is always yes! And the most appropriate time to do them is right away. This may seem reactionary, but it’s important to remember that there is a thriving market for unpatched vulnerabilities. By the time a vendor (Microsoft, Adobe, Mozilla, etc.) has issued the patch that you’re being nagged about the weakness or flaw that it fixes has probably been known about by the bad guys for weeks (or in some cases months) before. It interrupts your e-mail, surfing, and even work sometimes but it’s a negligible interruption when compared to the impact of a real infection or attack.
Senior Information Security Engineer