SANTA MONICA, CA. – Are you at risk of losing your privacy? Answer the following three simple questions: Do you shop or bank online? Do you use an ?always on? high-speed Internet connection? Do you connect to the Internet from your home computer? If you answered ?yes? to any of these questions ? then you are at risk.
Your computer needs to have the appropriate protections and you must take extra steps to secure your computer and protect your privacy. Why is this so critical?
A recent study on Internet security sponsored by America Online and the National Security Alliance found that while most people thought their computers were secure upwards of 80 percent contained monitoring software known as ?Spyware.?
Spyware allows companies to download information from your computer without you even knowing it. Spyware represents a direct threat to online privacy and security. But you can put a stop to it.
Doug Partridge and Kevin Ryan, computer security experts, identify the eight key actions they say people should take to protect online privacy:
1. Use a Personal Firewall. In addition to using an Anti-Virus program, a personal firewall is mandatory as it will block unwanted connection attempts. Sygate?s Personal Firewall is a top-quality firewall and it?s free for personal use.
2. Use a Spyware removal program. You can?t rely on your Anti-Virus program to find and remove all instances of Spyware. Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is free for personal use. Recommendation: run a full scan at least once a week.
3. Change to a More Secure Internet Browser. Due to the numerous security exploits targeted specifically at Internet Explorer, consider using another web browser. An excellent free alternative is ?Firefox? from Mozilla. Not only is it more secure, you get a built-in pop-up blocker and Google search tool.
4. Never provide personal or financial information to a non-secure website. A ?secure? website is indicated by ?HTTPS? in the address bar, and a small padlock icon in the lower right-hand corner of your browser window.
5. Never provide confidential or financial information in response to an email request. Legitimate companies will never ask for personal or financial information over an insecure medium like email. Attempts to trick people into revealing personal and financial information through impersonated email messages is known as ?Phishing.? Some of these messages look very official and may come what appears to be a bona fide bank or company. Beware! When unsure if an email message is genuine it?s best to telephone the company in question. Phishing email messages may be reported to
