You've Won the Lottery!

Listen, if you are reading this blog right now - chances are that you use a computer. Am I right?

Well, one thing you should know about if you are a computer user is that in the computer security world the biggest security weakness is the human being. Thats right, its you. It just so happens that your firewall and secure passwords and whatever else you have going on, cannot protect you when you are on the computer clicking away like a maniac on links in emails, downloading things from god-knows-where, and filling out a mysterious log-in form that popped up on what you don't realize is a site that you were redirected to by malware. Unless you read security news daily like myself - you may not know these things.

Infact, when I lived with my parents my dad thought "cookies" were destroying the computer. Mind you, he barely evolved to the cordless phone (I love him <3) style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">1. If you receive an email from someone you don't know - just delete it. I'm serious. If it happens to be from a friend then ... oh well. God forbid you open the email and are tricked into believing that you have won the lottery (when you haven't entered) or that some random person needs to use your bank account to transfer money or that you are the next of kin and will inherit 8 million billion dollars. Its all lies. I'm a serial deleter. I don't even open that forwarded joke junk - it bothers me - don't send it, I don't want to read that stupid joke or see those adorable pictures. Don't know the sender? Don't read the email.

2. Do not click on links in emails. I cannot stress this enough. It has happened to me and it will happen to you. There is something about a little blue link that hypnotizes you and almost forces you to click on it...don't do it. Links are evil. Stop being lazy, look at the URL address and go to it directly.

3. Do not download random junk off the internet. Unless its a vulnerability patch, from a known vendors website - don't download it. Why? Because you may be installing malware on your computer. If you download things online without taking the right precautions, then you could have a very tricky situation on your hands. I will explain....

Listen, you may think "who cares about malware and viruses and all that other stuff" but what you may not understand is that malware and viruses can be used to steal your information. A hacker could be notified everytime you log onto your banking website and your information could get jacked, or you could have all your passwords saved on your computer - guess who will have that handy information now. Or you could use your credit card online - do you want someone to have your credit card numbers? The best scenario ever is when you get malware and viruses on your computer at work - lets hope your company doesn't suffer from a huge security breach because you wanted to see a video of Britney Spears naked.

If you are afraid that your computer is already hacked - then I would suggest that you completely reinstall your computer, change all your passwords to something strong (not any words from the dictionary - read about how to create a strong password online), and last but not least - don't open email from people you don't know, only go to trusted websites, stop downloading junk, and no clicking on links in emails. You could be more hardcore about it, but these are just some basics. =)