Here's a couple of extra tips that I've used for years.
#1 spam. When you come by a site, or program that insists on your e-mail address. No matter what, don't give them your main addresses. Have a 'spam honeypot' web mail address, just for this. If it's needed, you can hop on, get what ever's needed then get off. I also use this on (then) the USENet, and it's listed publicly.
#2 Lastpass. I totally agree 100%. However, we do a lot of businesses with companies that have to have files uploaded. Do you know that every single one has fixed the web sites so you cannot save login/passwords though Firefox and IE? I've told my employer, that's the stupidest thing to do. For that makes people want to re-use passwords, and make them rediciously easy to remember.
"1-2-3-4-5? That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage."
Thanks however, to Lastpass, that isn't a problem anymore.
I'm going to share this article around. It's great to use, even in linux.
- Kc
In any given week, I get dozens of requests for help. The #1 question of 2011? It’s no contest:
“How do I protect myself online?”
These days I’m getting that question in equal numbers from PC and Mac owners who are concerned about the best way to avoid being sucker-punched by social engineering attacks.
Many people think that security begins and ends with antivirus software. I disagree. Should you run antivirus software? As I’ve said before, if you don’t know the answer to that question, then the answer is yes.
So let’s stipulate that you’re running a well-supported, up-to-date security program—whether you use a PC or a Mac. What else do you need to do? In this post, I share the five steps I teach to friends, family members, and clients who want to avoid malware, scareware, phishing sites, and other online scams.
If you’ve been paying attention to the current threat landscape, much of the advice in this post will be familiar, even obvious. A lot of it is just common sense, but some is unconventional wisdom. Yes, of course you should expect to be attacked if you download porn or pirated software. But just staying out of bad online neighborhoods isn’t sufficient anymore.
These days, threats can come from unexpected places: Google (and Bing) search results, compromised websites, deceptive ads, seemingly innocent downloads. You don’t have to be doing anything out of the ordinary to inadvertently stumble across one of these potential threats.
If I had to summarize my guidance in a single sound bite, it would go something like this: Pay attention to your surroundings, and don’t be stupid.
Let’s break that down.
Step 1: Don’t panic.
To borrow from a classic Monty Python sketch, the two … no, three chief weapons of online criminals are “fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency.” Their goal is to appear when you don’t expect them and convince you to act hastily. Online criminals often play on fear (your PC or Mac is infected with malware!) or simple social engineering (try these smileys! oh, and you need this codec—fake, of course—to play an enticing video clip).
The antidote to Monty Python, of course, is Douglas Adams, for whom “Don’t panic” was the secret of successful intergalactic hitchhiking.
When in doubt, stop. Think. Ask for help. If you’re truly worried, pull the plug on your Internet connection temporarily until you can call a knowledgeable friend or drag the machine in to a specialist for a thorough diagnosis.
You should, of course, have a regular backup routine. Mechanical failures (a crashed hard drive or a dropped notebook) can be even more devastating than a malware attack. With Windows 7, you can use the built-in backup program to save an image backup on an external hard drive; you can do the same thing on a Mac using Time Machine. Restoring a full backup is easy, especially if the alternative is spending hours trying to track down a well-hidden infection.
And don’t be paranoid. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard from otherwise smart people who break out all sorts of terrible tools—registry cleaners and system optimizers being the worst offenders—at the first sign of trouble. Those snake-oil programs, in my experience, tend to make the problem worse.
