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For companies that make money using the internet, it's been a rough month.
Bot nets. Hackers. Security breaches. They've all been in the news recently. I wouldn't want to be the one trying to convince people the web is safe.
That's 'cos it isn't, but it's also not the den of thieves that many people make it out to be, despite what the headlines say. So I'm not surprised that I've been asked a few questions, such as whether it's safe to use a credit card online, or if hackers can access home computers. The answer to the first question is yes, provided you don't do anything stupid. The answer to number two is no, unless you've done something stupid.
People get a little tense when I throw around the word, and suggest I say people are ignorant. But in this day and age, being ignorant is stupid. If you use a computer, you have to be on top of this stuff.
To start off, there are NOT legions of hackers breaking into home computers and stealing data. Why? Because locating and accessing a computer with anything useful on it is freakin' difficult. Oh, sure, they'd love to have your credit card details and any other private information they could get their hands on, but mining random computers in the hopes of finding a credit card or bank account number is unproductive as well as unprofitable.
Instead, the bad guys go after the big-ticket items such as servers that hold millions of credit card details.
Take the case of TJ Maxx. The company got into major trouble last year when it was revealed that hackers stole about 48 million customers' personal details. The credit card information taken wasn't from online sales, but from in-store purchases. It was the people who walked into a brick-and-mortar store and handed plastic to the clerk who got burned.
What was really embarrassing for the company was that they got robbed because of something stupid. The criminals got in through an unsecured wireless network. There was no hacking per se. Any one with a laptop could have accessed the system.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
You might as well leave the doors to the company unlocked and a sack of cash in the lobby.
Many of you are lining up for the same fate. Every time I turn on my wireless connection in Dubai, I manage to find a few wireless connections with no security. You're just asking for trouble. Just turn on your router's security system, or have etisalat do it for you, and most of your access problems are finished.
Where the real problems come from these days is from malware, such as key-loggers and bots. You pick up these little troublemakers, which do such things as record what you type and broadcast it to the bad guys or turn your computer into a spam-spouting nightmare, from websites. Don't get paranoid about these either.
You don't pick up malware from going to Google or Yahoo, you get them from cruising the red light districts of the internet. Even if you are determined to go there, you can buy software to prevent malware from getting on your system.
So use some sense, people. Make sure your wireless network is secure, spend some money on anti-virus software and stay away from questionable websites. Anything else is just stupid.
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