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A guide to internet security
Internet security is something which most
internet users are aware of, but don’t understand, or know how to
protect themselves. We have compiled this useful guide to assist you to
protect yourself, your family, and your computer. Viruses
A virus is a computer program which has been
designed to spread from one computer to another and interfere with the
computers normal operation. The consequences of your computer becoming
infected can cause it to continuously crash or fail to operate correctly
in some way, you can loose all data on the computer, and this list goes
on. PhishingPhishing is an illegal attempt to obtain
sensitive information by deception. Often the information that is
targeted is log on details for online banking, or your credit card
details. The fraudster will set-up a website that looks exactly the same
as the website for one of the big high street banks. They will then send
a mass email out to thousands of people pretending to be from that bank,
asking them to go to their fake website (by clicking on a link contained
within the email). Once the unsuspecting victim has arrived at the
website they are prompted to either log in or enter their credit card
details, and once this is done the fraudster then has access to their
online banking or credit card details. Wireless securityIf you connect to the internet wirelessly from your home, there is a chance that someone else could steal your broadband connection without your knowledge. This is an illegal activity but there is a simple way to stop it. You must ensure you encrypt your wireless router (see your user manual for details). You must then input the password in to your computer or laptop to ensure you can still log on to your network, anyone without the password can not log on. It is estimated that 50% of residential wireless networks in the UK are not secure, and the owners of 80% of those networks don’t even know there is a risk. Recommended softwareThere are a lot of top software providers out there, but there also a log of software providers to be weary of. Stick to the big name brands and you can't go wrong, here are some of our recommendations: |
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