Hidden Dangers When Browsing Online

As you probably know most malware threats happen when unsuspecting victims open e-mail attachments or visit attack web sites which force feed malware into your computer without you even knowing about it. In a second we will look at ways you can minimise the likelihood of a malware attack, but first let’s look at some more facts.

Most consumers have taken precautionary steps by adding anti-viral software and only opening e-mail attachments after they have been accurately scanned for viruses. These simple steps are sufficient to protect your PC from the mass of impending infections that flood the Net every day, but with the growing popularity of social networking sites like Twitter, new risks to your PC’s security have emerged.

Social networking websites like Twitter are regularly created around networks of friends or business connections but as more and more computer users tweet and re-tweet your list of acquaintances increases exponentially in a tiny space of time. Many computer users have their guard down when it comes to re-tweeting and clicking on links in their wall, and this has been capitalised on by malicious hackers who abuse the trust and spread their viral attacks without warning.

So, what can you do about this? Here are a few tips.

* View all links as possibly unsafe. Just since it looks as though your pal has posted something to your wall does not make it legitimate. Make sure the context is fitting and that it sounds like something a friend of yours would say. If you are in doubt contact them through another route to check it out. * Do not rely on Twitter. Twitter states that it stands all content for malware; this does not mean that they can eliminate every suspicious event. The shortened or URLs used on twitter can be easily redirected to malicious sites and Twitter cannot protect you against this. * Keep your browser up-to-date. By using an up-to-date browser you are assured that the necessary security patches have been installed. These patches present you added protection on social bookmarking sites. * Install anti-spyware security. Keeping your anti spyware software up-to-date maximises your protection so you should make sure that updates are installed automatically. Most software producers recommend this course of action and updates will occur at least every day. * Keep your software up-to-date. Reader software like Adobe and Adobe flash are commonly used to interpret data from various websites. Malware producers try to prompt users to download updates and in doing so unleash worms and Trojans that can potentially destroy your PC. Never download updates in this way. Always keep your product is up-to-date by downloading directly from the software producers sites. * Keep Windows up-to-date. As you in all probability know, Windows produces updates on a regular basis and most of these are to update the security of the operating system. Make sure your Windows updates are automatically updated. * Don’t be sure about the social network e-mails. In no way assume that an e-mail from Twitter or Facebook or any other social network site are safe. Hackers use sophisticated spoofing methods to mask their true purpose and links enclosed in these e-mails are possibly lethal. Always go to the social network site itself to check whether the content of the e-mail is legitimate.

Although all this may appear to be a issue of common sense, if you have ever had to engage a data recovery service to bring your system back up to speed, you will appreciate that prevention is far better than cure.

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