Battling the Dark Side of the Internet (Part 1)

Viruses. Spyware. Adware. Trojan horses. Worms. Malicious code. Spam. Phishing. Luke Skywalker battled the dark side of the force. Our battle is with the dark side of the internet. And just by keeping a few things in mind, you can protect yourself from 99.9 percent of the problems out there. Of course, it goes without saying, you just simply need to have some kind of virus protection program on your computer as a starting point. (Yes. There are some who still operate without one.) If money's a problem, let it be a problem no more. Here are some free virus protection programs (which I am using both of them at home on my wife's computer and on my daughter's) and they both are more than adequate. Click the following links to download: AVG Anti-virus Free Edition or Avast Home Edition. Beyond virus protection, let me talk about the whole area of "phishing" for a moment. No, I didn't spell it wrong. (And it's not something that takes place on a lake from a boat with a rod and hook.) Phishing, as the Symantec website defines it, is the "illegal activity to [try and] trick people into divulging sensitive information, such as bank and credit card accounts." And most often the way it happens is through email. For example, I bank at Bank of America. And so in my email box one day (hypothetically speaking) I see a note that says there's a problem with my bank account and to help fix the problem I need to enter my user name and password, etc. And beyond that it says in the email that it's from my bank - Bank of America! So, of course, I click the link, input my codes and problem fixed, right? Not quite. I just gave free access to my money to an online crook. (There's not much money for him to take, but that's beside the point.) So what's the best way to combat the "phishing" attack? Well, first of all, common sense goes along way. (Ya think?) Never, never, never respond to a request in your email for user names or passwords or bank account numbers or credit card information, etc., and even if it looks like a legitimate request. That's part of the ruse. The crooks actually steal logos, wording, etc., from bank and credit card websites and even add incredibly emotional appeals all in an effort to make their emails look legit. And so you just need to be privy to it and not fall into their trap. A second thing to keep in mind, and beyond your email box, is the fact that you can visit a site on the web, let's just say, and you're going to purchase something, and you go to input your credit card information, and voila! - they got you again! The crooks have set up a masked site to capture your codes that way. I believe that many of the virus protection programs now have phishing filters that verify whether or not a website is a legitimate one or not. But still you need to be vigilant especially when you're away from the more common and trafficked websites. The bottom line is you can't be too careful online with your sensitive information. (Watch for "Battling the Dark Side of the Internet - Part 2" to come soon.)