As mentioned in an earlier posting regarding e-commerce, I am a skeptic when it comes to online transactions. I keep thinking, "Is it really safe to pay over the internet?" This concern is not unfound for- there have been tales of many people who had been scammed over the internet, not just over online transactions, identity thefts, but even unknowingly downloading viruses can occur. Which leads us to wonder, how secure is the internet?
Here's a video that doesn't explain how internet security works exactly (at least I felt the video didn't live up to its title) but does briefly mention some of the things we have to get in order to make surfing on the internet a safer place.
So basically the underlying message of the video is, you need plenty softwares- anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spyware products (etc) to protect your computer. =/
There are several softwares which "swear" to protect you from viruses, and some of the popular internet security programs which people use would inclue AVG, Norton anti-virus, and Norman. These gatekeepers scan and block out websites that could potentially harm us (or are spamming us) and 'strongly advise' us against downloading files which it has found to be potential threats. Of course, as mentioned in class, there are skeptics out there who believe that this is all a conspiracy, that companies making the anti-virus softwares are also the ones who are releasing all the worms/virus/spam and other harmful stuffs onto the internet just so that more people would buy their products. My dad is one of them. One of the earlier anti-virus programs we use is Norton anti-virus. We don't use that anymore because he is convinced that they are the ones releasing the virus.
I think it sounds possible (if you think in a business sort of way), but it's kind of sad to think like that too! It's like saying you can't even trust the police because they are corrupted and will do the opposite of protecting you. But with regards to "which is a better software", I guess that really is quite relative. Just googling that, you will come up with a very mixed review on each software.
On top of getting anti-virus/spyware/malware programs, the video clearly states that having a firewall is also very important. Frankly speaking, I never really knew what a firewall was. Ok, wait, I KNOW what a firewall is, but I never really knew how it worked. If you're like me (clueless), then here's a pretty detailed website to read up on: http://www.howstuffworks.com/firewall.htm.
It is devastating to be a victim of virus/malware/trojans and the damage is not limited to our computers crashing or our privacy is compromised. It is certainly not a joking matter when identity theft occurs too. While there is no sure way (or software, for that matter) that can assure our safety on the internet, we should do all we can to protect ourselves online.
I think other ways we can protect ourselves over the internet that we cannot rely on just programss and softwares would include being cautious about what information we put up about ourselves on the internet, being cautious (and not so trusting) towards emails that come from unknown sources, and even being alert on threats updates (like what is the latest virus or scam happening on the internet) to prevent them from happening to you.
Com 125, Class A =]