How Secure are You?

There is no such thing as a completely secure computer, or IT network. The number of threats we face from pranksters, all the way to organised crime is growing all the time. In fact, the threats themselves are increasing in both seriousness and sophistication.

It’s not just a matter of viruses, trojans or worms that might come attached to an email and then infect your machine. If you are on the internet, then you are open to attacks of many different kinds, from hackers trying to gain direct access to your computer, malicious web sites tricking you into parting with money, tricks to get personal details such as credit card information or passwords, software slipped onto your PC that will do any number of things without detection — the list is always growing. As computers, software and the internet become more feature-rich and complex, the number of ways in which attacks can occur also inevitably increases. Everybody needs to be vigilant, particularly where online transactions involving banking or online shopping are concerned.

The original web pages that people surfed early in the 90s consisted only of text formatted with HTML together with images, tables and the like. Not much risk was involved. But things are now much more complex. You have embedded videos, JavaScript menus, PHP code and many more rich and interactive features. With this level of complexity also come programming errors and loopholes. At the best, these problems cause difficulties with the straightforward operation of a site. At the worst, they enable an attacker to take over a site, grab personal information or infiltrate hidden software onto your PC.

The language used in security circles describes computer systems as having some kind of vulnerability that is then exploited by an attacker. However, the most important vulnerability is human gullibility and lack of understanding. Conversely, the most important form of defence is a reasonable understanding of security issues combined with care and vigilance.

If you received an email from some unknown source, telling you to click on a link to “See Britney Spears naked”, would you click on that link? Most people nowadays know the danger involved and that clicking on such a link is likely to lead to computer infection of some kind. Unfortunately, there are still some who do not.

But what if the email at least appeared to be from a known source, and one that you knew had your email address. What if it appeared to be from your own bank, and included all the right graphics, logos and everything? You may be much more likely to click on the link in order to reset your PIN or password, as suggested. What if the link led you to a web page, apparently with the correct URL, that looked exactly like your bank’s correct page, complete with Verisign security certificate logo (the little lock in the bottom right of the window frame).

Would you then enter your existing user name and password, thereby allowing the attacker to empty your bank account, or purchase goods online and send them to Africa? Such attacks are more rare than offers of naked Britneys, but the attackers are getting this sophisticated, and making increasing efforts to make money from such attacks. They continue to do so only because previous and less sophisticated attacks have proved successful. People have clicked on the links, entered personal information, and lost money as a result.

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