Internet Security

1. Internet Security

2. What you need to know about Internet security • Do you have a computer? Whether it is connected to the internet or not, you and your computer can be at risk from a number of dangers. • Some people mistakenly think that if they are not connected to the Internet, they are not at risk, this is not true, but if your computer is connected to the internet you are at greater risk.

3. What sort of dangers are there to your computer? • What sort of dangers are there to your computer? Viruses, Trojans and Malware can infect your computer and stop it from working properly. Some of these threats can also steal information from your computer.

4. What sort of threats are there to you? • What sort of threats are there to you? Scams, Dodgy sites and Phishing: these can lead to Identity Fraud their main aim is to defraud you and other people.

5. What is a virus? • It is a malicious program that installs itself on your computer and runs, even though you have not requested it or permitted it to do this. • It infects files on your computer and can replicate itself so that even if you find and delete the original file, it may have infected another file and may be running elsewhere on your computer. • You may not even know you have a virus until it causes damage.

6. What is a Trojan? • It is a different kind of a malicious program that installs itself on your computer because it can disguise itself as a useful program. You have no idea that inside it carries harmful code. • A Trojan cannot replicate itself in the same way that a virus can. • Some Trojans can get information about which keys you hit when you are in certain websites. This information is sent back to the criminals who made them. There are different types of Trojans, each one attacks in a different way.

7. What is a Malware? • It is a piece of software that installs itself on your computer and shows up as warnings that you are infected with a large number of viruses that are stealing the information on your computer. • It then tries to get you to buy their anti- virus to get rid of them. • In fact your machine is infected by the malware itself and if you attempt to buy it, the designers will steal your credit card details as well as selling you a completely useless piece of software.

8. Prevention is much better than cure • If your computer gets one of these infections, it can be very difficult to cure it, you may also suffer damage in the process such as loosing sensitive personal and financial details to fraudsters, buying fake software to cure non- existent problems and loosing important files from your computer. Prevention is definitely better than cure:

9. Protect yourself from Viruses • Everyone should have a good Anti-Virus Software ( which disinfects the files) installed on their computer. Here are some well-known and well respected ones: • Norton • MacAfee • Trend • Sophos • There are more. • You must update it regularly

10. Protect yourself from Malware • Have a good Anti-Malware product on your computer try MalwareBytes from www.MalwareBytes.org • Windows update will send out Malicious Software Removal Tool

11. Do not click link on websites just because they tell you to! • The BBC WEBWISE website sums it up this way: • “Never under any circumstances install anti-virus software in response to a pop-up, and never pay for such a program. There are dozens of fake anti-virus programs that pretend to find malware on your PC and - after you have paid up - pretend to remove it. Also, never do business with a company that phones you out of the blue and says it can solve a problem with your PC” • http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/virus-protection

12. Keep your software up to date • Most software issues regular updates and notifies you about it. Update the software when you receive the notification • Your Windows Operating system should be sending you regular updates