A recent round of PayPal phishing schemes brings up the importance of staying diligent and alert when responding to email. To sharpen your phishing sensors, PayPal offers a Fight Phishing Challenge . Common Crafts explains Phishing Scams in Plain English. And Wombat Security Technologies offers an educational Anti-Phishing Phil game based work done at Carnegie-Mellon.
Your IP address is the logical identification (as opposed to a physical address) of your Internet-connected computer or router. It is a number formatted into 4 octets (or words) separated by periods, such as 184.238.14.180. Your IP address is shared with every website you visit, and frequently included in every email you send. But exactly how much can be learned from that IP address? Usually just your Internet Service Provider, and a general idea of where you are geographically. Your ISP, however, probably has records that tie you to your IP address. To learn more, read Bob Rankin on Does My IP Address Reveal My Location?.
According to an Information Week survey of 4500 computer security professionals, 22% of security breaches were done with “guessed passwords.” This means that the number one thing you can do to improve your security is to use passwords that can not be guessed. For starters, never use any word that appears in your account data, and never use a word that appears in a dictionary. For more password do’s and dont’s, read George Shaffer’s Password Basics).
Tired of shelling out the big bucks for computer security? Seth Rosenblatt, a technology blogger at CNET’s Download.com, lists his pick of free, top-rated security programs in his Security Starter Kit. His recommendations include Comodo Firewall Pro and AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3, is a partnership between the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. They accept online Internet crime complaints, offer tips on how to protect yourself, and explain ongoing illegal Internet schemes. For example, the Nigerian Letter is also known as “419″ because that’s the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that it violates. “Beware when asked to assist in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
OnGuardOnline.gov is a federal website with practical tips on securing your computer and guarding against Internet fraud. Information is delivered with videos, tutorials, and games designed to test and expand your knowledge. Topics include laptop security, social networking, malware, identity theft and much more.
Computer scientists at Carnegie-Mellon University have found using games to educate users about phishing scams is more effective than expecting us to read security manuals. As part of their research, they developed Anti-Phishing Phil, an interactive game that explains how to spot phishing cues in emails, and when to use search engines to find legitimate sites.
The best defense against spoof (fake or phishing) emails is to be educated and informed about how to spot them. eBay has a good tutorial on how to protect yourself, as does Stop-Phishing.com from the University of Indiana. Number one tip: when visiting a site in response to an email that asks for some web action, do not click on the link in the email. Instead, navigate to the company site independently, either by looking it up in a search engine, or getting the URL off a billing statement.
The NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, online safety resource for kids, teens, parents, educators, and law enforcement. Created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, NetSmartz uses video and downloadable, printable activity cards to teach Internet safety to kids of all ages.
Securing a wireless home network consists of several steps. First change the default password (which you can find online at http://www.routerpasswords.com/ ), then change the router’s default name, then add encryption. For a step-by-step illustrated guide, read CNET’s How to Secure Your Home Network.
