- Use intrusion protection software. It may protect against future virus. Trojans may kill antivirus programs.
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Use an antivirus program with live update and good anti spy and anti trojan settings.
No antivirus program can be updated 7/24. Therefore combine with online scanning. There are a lot of links in our link collection. You may make your own alert system by combining RSS feeds from different sources. - Use a router with a firewall and an operating system with a good firewall.
- Use secure payment. Never send information about your account or credit card in an email.
- Serious companies do not ask for such information via emails. If they ask, they instruct you to open a new window in your browser or even better close all your open windows. Then ask you to log into a secure page and give the information. But it may still be fraud, so know what you are doing. More and more pages from criminals are professional.
- Do not send senstive information via email, unless you know everything about phising, spoof etc. Use a secure email service for sensitive information. An example of how an email may look safe. Paste the reply email link into your browser. If it shows something like this: javascript:parent.addSender("PayPal Security Service <account@paypal.com>") it is a phisher. The "To" field, if you reply, will show: "PayPal Security Service <account@paypal.com>"
- Pharming is the new word. "Unlike phishing attacks that try to con you into believing the e-mail's message,
you don't have to be gullible to become a victim of a pharming attack. Pharming - which mostly exists now in the
worries of security experts - directs you to fake Web pages that harvest your information,
even when you type in the right address. Solution: Be cautious about the information you give about yourself while online. If you have any doubt about the legitimacy of the Web site, just don't use it. Make sure your Web browser is kept up to date since, as this threat grows from unlikely to possible, the folks who create the browsers will update them to help foil these attacks".
Source: Bill Husted, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Read more articles about pharming in our link collection. - Never open an email with attachment from unknown sender og sender that is not on your (safe) secure list. Be aware of MS Unsafe File List if you use Internet Explorer 6.
- Never click on a hyperlink (from unknown sender) in an email.
- Be careful about your passwords. Use a strong version with more than 7 letters combined with numbers etc., and change it regularly.
- Learn to distinguish personal from automated (and mass distributed) emails, even if you have signed up for the email.
- Your credit/debit card information must be updated. How would you handle an email with that subject title? Do you think your bank, or payment service would contact you that way? If he does, find a new one. This is pharming.
- Look up for boomerangs and richochets. Spammers are learning to capture remote computers and turn them into secret spam machines. Not only will you continue to get junk e-mails, it's likely that your computer also will be sending spam out in your name. This is the latest trends in spamming. Be subspect if you get an email from a reliable company if you do not await it. It may be a richochet. Solution for your company, use online contact forms via a secure server.
- If an offer is too good to be true, it nearly always is.
- Read (or participate) in discussions on WeBLOGS about security, like WilderSecurity forum.
- Be aware of cloning of reliable sites that is fraud. Check before you order and pay.
- Doublecheck if you are in doubt. Update yourself regularly on fraud and security.
- Use a dynamic IP and change passwords when the router has been truned off for a time. If possible, increase the security settings in your firewall, antivirusprogram and browser before you change the password. Afterwards, you may restore the default (or user specified) settings. Turn on the router, restart your computer, stop unnecessary processes, run a hackercheck and go directly to the site where you shall change the password.
- If you use a search engine and search for an ecommerce site, there is no guarantee that the business does not hide criminal activity. Searchengines does not check the site for fraud. Google is perhaps best, via their "safe search" option. Directories made by people may be better.
- AD pages that are checked for quality via affiliate providers like most of the banner links on this site is better than other links. A trained eye, understands redirection from an affiliate provider to an ecommerce site. So there are at least one advantage with AD driven portals.
- RSS and related readers are relatively new solutions that compute with webbrowsers. Use readers / aggregators from reliable providers. Webbrowsers are mature and relatively secure if used correctly.
- Security in networks require specialists. Note that attacks may come from inside the network via internal software. Be aware of OEM software. It may be infected. If possible use one connection to the internet. Use software that monitors and blocks that connection for unfriendly intrusion and hacking.
- System critical operations should not be run on computeres connected to the internet (or another network).
- This was general hints. If you have better special options, use them. Simplify the list at your own responsibility.
Some useful links if you use PapPal.