Cyber Safety Tips

Cyber safety is the safe and responsible use of ‘Information and Communication Technology.’ Our everyday lives depend heavily upon digital devices and Internet; Communications (Emails, Cellphones), Entertainment (Mp3, Digital Cable), Transportation (Car engine system, Airplane navigation), Shopping (Online stores, Credit cards), Medicine (Equipment, Medical records) and the list goes on. Have you ever stopped to wonder, how much of your daily life relies on your device and the Internet? How much of your personal information is stored on a device or on a system?

Cyber Security involves the protection of user’s information, by preventing, detecting and responding to attacks.

What are the risks?

Viruses can erase your entire system. Someone (Hackers) can break into your system and alter files, use your computer to attack others or steal your credit card information and make unauthorized purchases. Unfortunately, there is no 100% guarantee that even with the best precautions some of these things won’t happen to you, but you can take steps to minimize the risk.

What can you do?

The first step in protecting yourself is to recognize and become familiar with some the terminology associated with attacks.

Virus:

This type of malicious code requires you to actually perform an action before it infects your computer. This action could be opening an email attachment or going to a particular web page.

Worms:

Worms propagate without user intervention. They typically start by exploiting software vulnerability (a flaw that allows the software’s intended security policy to be violated). Once the device has been infected with it, the worm will attempt to find and infect other computers. Similar to a virus, worms can propagate via email, web sites, or network-based software. The automated propagation of worms distinguish them from a virus.

Trojan Horse:

A Trojan horse programme is software that claims to be one thing whilst infecting your computer, by performing something different behind the scenes. For example, a programme that claims to speed up your computer may actually be sending confidential information to a remote intruder.

Hacker, attacker or intruder:

These terms are applied to people who seek to exploit a weakness in the software and the computer system for their own gain. Although their intentions may be fairly benign and motivated solely by curiosity; their actions are typically in violation of the intended use of the system they are exploiting. The results can range from mere mischief (creating a virus with no intention of its negative impact) to malicious activity (stealing or altering information).