Despite the increasing sophistication of anti-phishing and spam e-mail filters, there is one rather old-fashioned tool still required to maximize the effectiveness of these tools. An informed human brain is still required to avoid losing valuable information to online thieves.
Imitators
Since the early days of computer crime involving the harvesting of credit card and social security numbers, the online criminal has become increasingly clever at imitating secure payment processing and financial sites. To combat this, many processes from photo identification to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption have been developed in an attempt to keep peoples' personal data protected.
It has been proven since the beginning of human civilization that making a law against an activity will not prevent people from doing it anyway. The only real aid for the consumer against these unwarranted attempts of thievery by international law and treaty is that it does allow punishments for those caught.
Common Sense
There is not a "common sense" manual that can be issued to every new person surfing the internet. With this in mind, there are many websites dedicated to making every effort possible to show and teach people about what to look for. Most companies make an effort to inform their users about any communication supposedly from them and point out obvious features that would help insure the message was genuine. This does not help those who are in a hurry to surf or just don't want to take the time to read all that extra information on a site. While one may be tempted to let them suffer the consequences of their inattention, what happens is that it encourages the scammers to continue what they are doing.
The first, most basic level of internet security still starts right home. You need to familiarize yourself with the security protocols of any financial or payment website you frequent and be persistently vigilant about ANY email or instant message received for variations that could prove a scam in the works.
Backups
Some basic routines can be implemented by the user to aid in securing their computer. A routine backup of important information helps recover damaged files as well as providing a "paper trail" in case a user history needs to be studied to pinpoint an attack. Since there is an ongoing effort by software companies to fix any discovered breaches and vulnerabilities in their programs, it is highly recommended to keep updated with the latest versions.
It has been shown that most computer users consider their home computer to be a secure and trusted piece of equipment. This can be very dangerous because once one successful illegal entrance is made, it can often access other, seemingly unrelated, parts of that system and produce even more security holes. Constant vigilance and scanning with the best available anti-virus and anti-spyware software is just the beginning of an overall informed approach to safeguarding one's digital information.
Don't Become Phish Bait
The threat of computer crime is not going to go away. It is therefore up to the users to educate themselves about this ever present problem. There are many systems in place to help diminish the occurrence of cybercrime but they still cannot protect you if you insist on leaving your doors and windows unlocked when you take off to surf the world wide web.
Ron Barrett is the owner of Ron's Computer Service, your online help desk for computer related problems. His 'Bits and Bytes: Decoding the Digital World' newsletter is published on a regular basis. Subscribe by visiting his website.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_Barrett
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Not-to-Become-a-Phishing-Accessory&id=877363
Print this page
