Safeguarding Your Information Resources

September 8th, 2009 by Alisha Myers

Corrupted computer data is not only agonizing to repair but also expensive to fix. It’s important that we protect ourselves from spyware, worms, viruses, and other malware. It’s crucial that we keep up-to-date on the latest news and discussion on computer viruses. A recent New York Times article describes how computer contamination can be lurking on the web in addition to the viruses some think may be their only threat.

Time to Be Afraid of the Web?

By Eduardo Porter

Internet users used to comfort themselves by thinking that to become victims of the pirates of the Web, they had to frequent the online porn circuit or respond to an e-mail from the widowed wife of the former central bank governor of Nigeria. The idea was that one had to do something naughty to get caught in the wrongdoers’ net, or at least go for a late-night stroll in the rough end of town.

But the conceit has become untenable. Two years ago, engineers at Google reported that about 10 percent of millions of Web pages they analyzed engaged in “drive-by downloads” of malware. Google today has about 330,000 Web sites listed as malicious, up from about 150,000 a year ago.

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What do you think? Are you concerned that your personal information can be swiped without your permission?

Read OIT Information Security Tips and Tools for more information about protecting yourself from cybercrime. Keep yourself updated on virus, spyware and adware alerts from Sophos and other sources reported by our Malware Alerts.

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3 Responses

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The safest thing I do is stay away from MSN browser,run Firefox.

1    Ken Reno September 14, 2009 6:49 pm

Or even better … use Opera 10.

2    Paulmann October 07, 2009 5:47 am

I guess there is no difference in what browser you use for serfing, the matter is where your surf. My list of websites that I usually visit contains about 15-20 items. I absolutely confident in a quality of those websites and dont worry about my PC safety.

3    ITblogger October 14, 2009 12:25 pm

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