{"id":5727,"date":"2013-05-24T10:16:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T14:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=5727"},"modified":"2013-05-24T10:34:37","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T14:34:37","slug":"security-does-not-begin-with-s-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/security-does-not-begin-with-s-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SECURITY does not begin with S"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Security<\/a>You might think that security begins with an \u201cS\u201d as in Security Software, but I\u2019m here to tell you that it begins with \u201cY\u201d as in YOU.<\/p>\n

You may have read one of the many articles appearing seemingly daily in the news about some big corporation or another being \u201chacked\u201d by an individual miscreant or a\u00a0cabal\u00a0of criminals. And you\u2019re probably in the majority who believe that hackers are sinister, invisible scumbags who live in filthy, musty basements and who crouch over their souped-up laptops hacking into computers to steal money or information in order to live the good-life without working.<\/p>\n

And you probably also believe that the brand-name (and expensive) security suites like Norton offer better protection than the humble, free anti-virus programs that are still available (but slowly disappearing). You might think that the price you pay is directly\u00a0proportionate\u00a0to the protection you receive.<\/p>\n

What You Believe May Hurt You<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you believe any of the above you\u2019re wrong. Dead wrong. And being wrong when you\u2019re talking about your personal information and your security on the Web it could cost you \u2013 your money and your identity.<\/p>\n

While tech sites and bloggers spent weeks, even months, gutting Google over its new privacy policy. And many of these same\u00a0sensationalists\u00a0(sensationalism sells much better than the truth), spent months and months writing about the dangers of “tracking cookies” (and still harp on and on about them) making readers afraid and getting their undies all in a bunch. In the meantime, thousands of people\u2019s\u2019 personal information and money were being stolen. It\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0surprise me if some of these victims\u00a0aren’t\u00a0the same people who passionately worried tracking cookies as the second-coming of\u00a0Attila\u00a0the Hun and took their eyes off the real threats they face every day on the\u00a0Internet.<\/p>\n

You see if you allow yourself to be duped by so-called experts, whose main concerned is drawing readers to their Websites or blogs, you’ll take your eye off the real threats. As I write this, there are at least a hundred people having their bank accounts drained or their credit card numbers stolen. \u00a0And I\u2019ll bet you a million dollars that their bank accounts\u00a0were not\u00a0drained or their credit card numbers stolen because of tracking cookies.<\/p>\n

How Companies Really Get \u201cHacked\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hackers don\u2019t normally waste time trying to guess passwords and break into computers. It\u2019s easier just to trick people into giving away passwords\u2026or if you\u2019re a hacker and you\u2019re lucky enough, get your hands on one of the many unsecured government laps government employees leave lying around (yes, they really do).<\/p>\n

Sometimes having an antivirus or \u201cInternet security suite\u201d installed gives people a false sense of security. One thing no software program can do is protect people from themselves. \u00a0I read an article recently about a hacker who did a lot of profiling. He befriended people who worked for companies he wanted to hack. It\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0very hard. A lot of executives go out for a few drinks after work \u2014 how do you think the term \u201chappy hour\u201d got so popular? \u2013and he would strike up a conversation and find out what they liked and\u00a0didn’t\u00a0like. One executive really liked to play the game Angry Birds. The hacker and the exec exchanged email addresses (you can be sure the hackers was a disposable email address or it\u00a0wasn’t a\u00a0real address at all). Later on the hacker sent the exec an email announcing a new version of Angry Birds\u2026 \u201cClick here to download it!\u201d. Of course the exec downloaded it and it was a password-stealing\u00a0Trojan. You can guess the rest.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d expect that the company would have had good security software installed and they would have kept it updated. Perhaps they did \u2014 but sometimes things slip by. The point is \u2013 hackers don\u2019t need to use password cracking tools and packet sniffers to hack a computer or a computer network. It\u2019s easier to use trickery to get your passwords and gain access to your money and your personal information.<\/p>\n

So while the flap continues over Google\u2019s privacy policy and while millions race to download tracking-cookie-killers, the hackers and the criminals are happy that many people are thus distracted. They can pilfer freely \u2014 stealing funds from individual\u2019s bank accounts and gathering passwords to online accounts while people are up in arms over seeing furniture ads for a week after searching one time for furniture,\u00a0have their attention diverted away from the truly\u00a0dangerous stuff.<\/p>\n

If it upsets you to see ads for products\u00a0you’ve\u00a0previously searched for, you\u2019re not alone. But it\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0really bother me \u2013 I\u2019m worried about much more nefarious things. If\u00a0you’re\u00a0smart you won\u2019t let the fear mongers divert your attention from some really pernicious things.<\/p>\n

Your First Line of Defense: You!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having now repaired hundreds and hundreds of PCs while working with our\u00a0Cloudeight Direct Computer Care<\/a>\u00a0service, I can tell you, for a fact, that having a good antivirus and antispyware program on your computer and keeping them updated, while vitally important, is not enough. Just in the last five days alone, \u00a0I’ve\u00a0repaired two computers \u2013 one with Norton 360 (and updated with the latest definitions) and one with Norton Internet Security 2012 (and updated) that were infected with malware or spyware. One of them (the one with Norton 360) had over 117 instances of malware and one Trojan on it. \u00a0 And while\u00a0I’m\u00a0no fan of Norton (it really\u00a0isn’t\u00a0very good), it should have done a better job of protecting these users.<\/p>\n

Then point is not to take jabs at Norton but to make a point. You can\u2019t \u00a0count on your security software to protect you from everything. You have to use your common sense. I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0have to ask these computer owners how they became infected. I know. They were clicking links in emails they\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0have clicked, and they were downloading software (games and so forth) from sites they\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0have trusted.\u00a0You’d\u00a0think with Norton\u2019s \u201creputation-based\u201d site rating tool, these two people would have been warned about downloading from those sites, but they were not.<\/p>\n

Of course you need good antivirus\/security software. But you\u00a0don’t\u00a0have to spend a dime to get it. Microsoft Security Essentials and BitDefender both make great free antivirus programs.\u00a0We’re\u00a0not sure about AVAST anymore \u2013 with all the garbage\u00a0they’ve\u00a0been adding \u2014 and AVG has already gone over the top and become a mini-Norton.<\/p>\n

You\u00a0don’t\u00a0need a third-party firewall \u2013 leave the Windows firewall turned on. Anyone who tells you that you need a third-party firewall to protect you from hackers or to prevent your identity from being stolen is lying. There are a lot of people out there pushing 3rd-party firewalls because they make money by pushing 3rd-party firewalls, and really, it\u2019s all about the money. It\u2019s all about your money \u2014 getting your money, any way they can.<\/p>\n

A good password manager is as important as having an antivirus in the age of the Cloud. If you\u00a0don’t\u00a0have one and\u00a0you’re most likely using weak passwords, or\u00a0you’re\u00a0using the same password for every site. If that is so, then it\u2019s only a matter of time before\u00a0you’re\u00a0going to pay the price for that.\u00a0Don’t\u00a0wait until something bad happens to you – get a good password manager now and use it. Use it to generate and save complex passwords. \u00a0Lastpass is a great password manager and the free version works very, very well. You can learn more\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But above all, when\u00a0you’re\u00a0on the Internet make sure you take the best security money can\u2019t buy along with you \u2013 your common sense. You common sense has worked great in your life off the Web \u2013 and it will work well for you on the Web. But so many very smart people seem to think the Web is different \u2013 that everyone is dying to give them something for nothing. A free download isn\u2019t the same as freeware. No one is going to give you a free iPad if you help Apple test one. No\u00a0you’re\u00a0not the 10,000th visitor to a Website and no, you haven\u2019t won $25,000. Use your head. Use your common sense. You\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0fall for these schemes in your\u00a0everyday\u00a0life,\u00a0don’t\u00a0fall for them on the Internet either.<\/p>\n

Security does not start with an \u201cS\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s start with YOU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might think that security begins with an \u201cS\u201d as in Security Software, but I\u2019m here to tell you that it begins with \u201cY\u201d as in YOU. You may have read one of the many articles appearing seemingly daily in the news about some big corporation or another being \u201chacked\u201d by an individual miscreant or a\u00a0cabal\u00a0of criminals. And\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1655,1656,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5727"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5729,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727\/revisions\/5729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}