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Security at your fingertips |
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Written by Phyllis Mwashengu
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Saturday, 01 December 2007 |
The modern world is a world of advanced technology. The ubiquity
of the worldwide web and the global expansion of broadband connectivity
and wireless applications have created a new world, changing forever the
way that we work.
Last week, I was as stunned as everyone else to learn of the UK
government's recent admission that Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs
authority had "misplaced" and perhaps even lost 2 CDs containing the
personal and financial details of some 25 million families who were in receipt
of Child Benefit. It is said that the person or persons in charge of this
operation at the Revenue and Customs had simply burned the information onto the
CDs and popped them into the ordinary post to be sent off to another
department. Yes, imagine the spectacle; we are treated to these Laurel
and Hardy antics at a time of heightened security and in an age where identity
theft is one of the fastest growing crimes worldwide.
It is to be hoped that with all the media attention on the scourge that is
identity theft, and with real life anecdotes from friends and family on the
reality of bank accounts raided, or credit taken out in our names by unknown
persons, we would be more vigilant. But do we fully appreciate the
opportunities and challenges that modern technology represents? It is easy
to assume that we do, but why then do we continue to send sensitive information
by traditional and unsecure methods? Why is it that the office manger still
says "send this fax to the sales department and kindly remind them to send it back?"
In order for us to embrace technology we ought to be extra careful in the way
that we handle it. My training is in computer security in general and I should
like to share with you a list of free security utility programs that will
protect your personal computers from the unwanted attentions of the outside
world.
Please note that some of these downloadable software programs are periodical
trials as compared to some full version ones being sold at a price.
The first class of security software programs is known as spy-catchers or by
their traditional name -anti-spyware. These function to protect a computer from
unwanted programs mostly spywares such as key-loggers (i.e. hideous
malicious programs that record (log) each and every keystroke the user makes
as she strikes on the keyboard and then sends the information back to the
key-logger installer who now has available to him your account numbers, passwords,
address and other personal information ). Also in this class of malware
(harmful software) is adware, familiar to all of us as the irritating and
unwanted barrage of adverts that pop-up unwanted when one is browsing the
internet.
Top spy-catchers
Spyware Terminator 2.0
Spybot Search & Destroy v1.4
AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition
Ad-Aware 2007,FREE
Windows Defender
Valuable and top spy-catcher
PC
Tools Spyware Doctor £15
But before you even get there, ensure you are running an up to date browser.
The latest browsers come with a modicum of protection that will take care of a
large number of these problems without you even knowing they exist. The latest
versions are Firefox 2 and Internet
Explorer 7. Don't be caught off-guard, it could be painful.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 December 2007 )
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