Keep Everything Clear of the Doors - get safe online
Security, whether it is for your home or systems you have to be very careful!
Ed Gibson, Chief Cyber Security Advisor from Microsoft has articulated very nice article that will talk more about these aspects, we have had a brief meeting with Ed when I was at Microsoft TVP during SQLBits conference.
You’ve seen it, read it, heard it so many times you’ve
blocked it out … routine, mundane. . . but instinctively you take the necessary
precautions. And the idiots who think they can beat the doors for gosh sakes .
. . some make it, most don’t… when will they learn. Even though, I suspect the
next time you hear this spoken over the intercom in the Underground, or read the
warning label on the inside of the carriage you’ll take just that extra second
to really make sure everything is clear of the doors. “Why?”, you ask.
“Because you’ve just read this!” No different than the many times you’ve looked
at your watch, and then someone else asks you what time it is; you can’t
remember, so you look again.
Unremarkably, the same applies when it comes to being more
safe online. This past year you bought a brand new state of the art, 2g of RAM,
600g hard drive that will hold more stuff than you or I could ever fill up in a
lifetime. It’s loaded with free anti-spam, anti-virus software and everything
is going very well, so well in fact that you don’t update your software (Windows
Vista has ‘updates’ turned on by default, so unless you mess with it, you’re
okay ), run a periodic anti-malware scan, and the wireless is working fine so
need to check that. You’ve read about the Government’s GetSafeOnline.org
campaign (www.GetSafeOnline.org) that e-Bay, Microsoft, HSBC, Home
office, SOCA, and others participate in, you’ve seen the constant news articles
about loss or theft of data from the largest of companies and government
agencies (and if you’re a victim of HMRC ‘datagate’, you have every right to be
angry) but hey, you’ve not been affected . . . why do anything. Victims of
online crime… not me, happens only to those people who go to the ‘wrong sites’ .
. .who tried to make it thru the doors for gosh sakes, they should have known
better.
Not so fast Mr ItAin’tGonnaHappenToMe. That ‘other person’
is going to be you if you don’t take a few moments to make sure your operating
system and software are up to date, that your firewall is turned on (both are
already done for you if you are operating Windows Vista) your anti-spam and
anti-virus software are installed and updated (don’t forget to renew your
subscription to the anti-malware software if it is about to expire). Organized
criminals are ‘green’, ‘socially conscious agnostics’, they want what is best
for you – NOT!! Just like machines, THEY DON’T CARE who you are, where you grew
up, what kind of accent you have, whether you’re beautiful (or like me, a face
made for radio); they operate without regard to your sex or religious
affiliations – I call them “THE EQUALIZERS”. They want what is yours – from
your bank account, your identity, or even a bit of your bandwidth – oh yes, they
can quite happily use your computer while you do and you may not ever know.
As we approach the Holidays, don’t let the Grinch of
Christmas Past ruin your holidays online. Possibly, ‘just because you read
this’, you will take a moment and run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool , will
visit www.GetSafeOnline.org , or possibly even give the most
important cyber gift of all – a trip to the wild side, www.WindowsMarketplace.com (click on Security Downloads) for
free anti-malware. It will take you a few minutes; but a few minutes now might
just save you months of hassle down the road. Do you really want to be calling
your credit card companies, bank, credit agency, DVLA, DWP, on New Years Eve.
Or worse, worry whether someone will be showing up at your doorstep because you
couldn’t be bothered to spend a measly 10 minutes with your kids to talk to them
about social networking sites (oh yea, they just told their friends on their
Facebook site when you were going to be away). . . and you didn’t tell them how
to prevent outsiders from accessing their pages. Nor did you tell them in no
uncertain terms that even when they close their site everything they put on the
Internet IS THERE FOREVER. Oh yes, some make it thru the doors, most don’t . .
.when will THEY learn.