How Secure Are You Online?

The Internet frees up the flow of information and yet also gives cyber criminals easy access to the gullible. Arming himself with a firewall, anti-virus software and a firm resolve not to open ‘unsafe’ attachments, the average user still gets feelings of unease.

After all, Internet transactions are becoming more and more common and necessary — yet still fraught with risk. Imagine if someone were to be able to siphon off all your money from your account to another’s. Or use your credit card. Perhaps that person might figure out how to snoop on your hard drive and find incriminating photos you don’t want people seeing on the Internet.

Yet there are ways for the average user to still keep safe on the Internet while not having to rack his brains or, God forbid, get a certification in security.

Passphrases, not passwords

Security guru Steve Riley once gave me this tip: use passphrases instead of passwords. What did he mean? He meant that instead of trying to remember (usually unsuccessfully) complicated passwords of assorted numerals and letters, you could instead use sentences. For instance, instead of using ‘#9h33c*’, you could use the longer phrase ‘IfedmycatMilton’, which is not only easy to remember but trickier for hackers to figure out. Those supposed ‘randomised’ passwords can be cracked with proper ciphers so long as they know the length of your password but sentences aren’t as easy.

Besides passphrases, you could also consider using storage mechanisms that will store your passwords so you don’t have to keep looking at pieces of paper. I knew someone who could not remember her ATM PIN and wrote it around a photograph in her wallet. It didn’t take a genius of a thief to figure it out and clean out the contents of her bank account. There are plenty of secure, reliable password managers that only just rely on you to remember one password to help access all your others. It is far more intuitive and safer than having just one password for all your accounts because you tend to forget.

It’s common in companies to see some poor sod who puts his password on a sticky note on his PC because he can’t remember it. In companies where the overworked techies have to continually switch passwords and manage various machines, perhaps far more intuitive means would assist. Security devices such as the ones that banks use are not foolproof either. Users need to understand that sometimes a little precaution is better than none.

Be ye not stupid

What a lot of people don’t understand is that security is more than just software. You can spend a ton of money and still find all that effort gone to waste because of a simple act of sheer stupidity.

Email is one of the easiest means for anonymous predators. The common sense most people seem to be able to use offline seems to be missing online for some. If a complete stranger walked up to you and offered you a million bucks for free, wouldn’t you be suspicious? Yet plenty of people seem to be falling for that old Nigerian scam where someone will offer you a fortune to help them get a fortune. Why would a complete stranger trust you with a huge amount of money without there being a catch?

I personally knew someone who fell for the trap, who not only lost thousands of ringgit but was stranded in a foreign country. It’s simple – if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It’s not brain science. Besides dubious email offers, people don’t do enough background checks. Google and Bing are your best friends here. All it takes is to search up a subject of a suspicious email and you’ll find out if it’s legitimate.

Here is where human selfishness comes in. Instead of asking other people or doing research, victims of scams often convince themselves the offer is too good to share with other people.

A friend has a mother whose PC is constantly riddled with viruses because she cannot resist opening every single attachment she gets in her email. “But what if it’s important?” Here is someone who probably shouldn’t be allowed to use email in the first place.

There was also this recent case where hackers broke into FB accounts or emails and pretended to be stranded overseas, asking friends to send them money. In cases like that, a healthy dose of suspicion is the best protection for your bank account.

Free isn’t always bad

Free anti-virus software gets a lot of flak but one of the better antivirus solutions, Microsoft Security Essentials, comes to you free from Microsoft. Microsoft Windows now come with built-in firewalls and far more security checks, not to mention frequent security updates. That’s why it makes sense for you to buy your Windows Operating Systems and not resort to pirated versions. Original software comes with better security features so you don’t need to buy additional software to do the job newer versions of Windows can.

Security companies are also now bundling programs that allow you to install one piece of software on more than one machine. Much more cost-effective rather than buying a single copy for each machine. Of course you end up paying for updates once the subscriptions expire but how else would the companies fund their R&D? The bottom line is: use your own common sense. Use trusted solutions and if you’re not sure, make sure you ask. There are countless Web forums online or other resources for you to find out what you need to make your home PC more secure.

Remember that it is not so much the tools that matter as much as the effort. If you want to keep using the Internet and you intend to use services such as online banking and shopping, then be careful. Securing your computer and your online activities is far easier than it should be. But all the precautions and software will be useless if you let some man in Nigeria convince you to wire him thousands of ringgit.

And please for the love of all things holy, don’t carry your ATM pin around in your wallet.