Internet Safety Checklist
| Are you... | |
| Wearing your cyber_condom? | | Anti-Virus | Are its definition current? Do you run online scans regularly? | | Firewall | Is it working? | | Windows update | Are you set for auto-updating? | | Passwords & login | Are you logged onto your computer as the administrator. Are your passwords guessable? | | Crudware | Are your Spy and crudware defenses up? | More & resources |
| A Spam_Magnet? | Is your E-mail addy showing on your passport and/or on your profile? Do you give it up to websites that ask for it? Do you forward E-mail or allow others to forward to you? Click here if you answered yes to any of the above |
| "Phish_Bait"? | Do you reply to spam? Do you ever reply to E-mail from businesses you do business with requesting sensitive information such as passwords or account numbers? Do you make online purchases with your primary credit card or bank acount? Click here if you answered yes to any of the above |
All of the above have the option for automatic self updating. You should use it. You can set it to do its updating in the wee hours. If you can't tie up a phone line, pick a day of the week and make updating a regular routine. Most virus and crudware infections can be prevented. You wouldn't drive your car without checking the oil, would you?
If you are logging onto your computer and surfing as the "administrator", you are asking for trouble. Create user accounts with limited permissions (such as no downloading and installing). Using these accounts to surf with will protect you from stepping on a land-mined site. They will also prevent accidental or intentional disabling of your anti-virus or firewall. Consider also that the administrator will give your user account name to each and every spy cookie that sneaks in. Only use your Administrator account for installing programs you definitely want and maintaining your computer.
Passwords should not be easy. Do your passwords look like this:
Login: My Name Password: My pets name
or
Login: Screw-u-hacker Password: k{&xil195_tt
You should change them regularly
Hide That Addy. In simple: If your Addy is showing on your passport or in your comunity profile, you are asking for it.
Don't Feed the Spiders! Spam Spiders are programs that crawl the web looking for pages that contain e-mail addy's. They gorge on people that like to put their addy in posts. Replying to a post via e-mail also will include your E-mail addy. Forwarding e-mail to a post is a seven course meal for them. We disallow the practice in all of our communities. If it is worth replying to or posting, it is worth the time to go to the community and post it.
Is It worth It? You find a great site and it demands your E-mail to view it. The cost is having a buttload of spam. If you really feel compelled to view these pages, take the time to create a "junk" or "Spam" account and use it soley for that purpose. Never give up your primary E-mail Addy.
Human Harvesters Programmers have gotten smarter. They have designed excellent anti-virus programs that make it really tough for spammers to use a virus to harvest E-mail Addys. Luckily for spammers, the average user hasn't gotten much smarter and does quite nicely as a mechanism for harvesting addys. All he needs to do is create or rip off some cute little poem or prayer with a request to forward it to others, E-mail it to a few already on the list and voilla! Next thing he knows, it finds its way back to him with a load of new addys in the header. Never forward anything or allow anyone to forward to you. If it is worth re-sending, it is worth the time it takes to copy paste it in a new E-mail.
Don't be a Sucker Learn to spot a scam. Most are the same ones that have been around seedier dives for a long time. The internet provides a large hunting ground for these cyber piranha. They don't even need you to hand them your money. Thanks to ACH and other means of electronic payment, once they have your information, they can help themselves. Keep these ideas in your head when handling correspondence from anyone, even if it is on what appears to be company letterhead.
No legitimate company will ever ask you to verify your password or account information via E-mail
Never click any link within an e-mail or reply to any E-mail from any company, even one you do business with. Call them or go directly to their site from a link you have saved to favorites or obtain the correct link by calling them.
Never log on to an unfamiliar site. If you are requested to log on, X out of the log in window, go to a site you know is legit, such as a community home page for passport, and log in there. Once you are logged in, you remain logged in as long as that window is open and any request to log in after that is a phish to steal your password.
Nobody, not even the prince of Nigerea is going to give you a cut of a large sum of money to funnel it into you country, nor are you going to get a whopping return playing "Angel investor" or by anonymously supplying downpayments to qualify persons or businesses for loans. The list of scams is endless. Common trademarks are confidentiallity and urgency. Ussually they appeal to one's greed.
Any time you give up your credit card number, bank PIN or password to make an online purchase, you are opening your wallet. Do you carry all of your money with you when you go shopping at the mall or go out drinking? Open a second checking account that you keep very little in or obtain a credit card with a low limit specifically for making internet purchases.
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