Listen to your instincts when it comes to the Web

Listen to your instincts when it comes to the web

Lee Ives from Security-FAQs talk about Internet Security in January Edition of The Hacker News Magazine.

When you are on the web the best thing that you can do is to go with your instincts. In real life, when we walk around, we usually go with our gut to make sure that we stay out of danger. If something does not seem right we usually "sense" it for lack of a better term. This is not something that is new. This is how we survived in the wilderness all of those many years ago. We made sure that we stayed safe by following our instincts and doing the right thing. All of these years later and that same advice still holds up to be true.

But like we said in the previous paragraph, you have to worry about following your instincts when you are on the web as well. There are many different kinds of pitfalls that you can encounter when you are on the web. It doesn't matter whether it is meeting the wrong type of person or it is downloading the wrong type of file. The dangers that you face on the web can go beyond virtual and can easily become something that you deal with in real life.

There are several different types of malware that float around the internet on a daily basis. They just sit out there waiting for either you to discover them or for you to make a mistake and get caught downloading them. But do not make the mistake and think that all of the malwares out there are the same. No, they are all different. The ones that you can really avoid with the help of your gut are the ones that are delivered through social manipulation.

People think that hackers are people who do not like to interact with others. That is only a stereotype and is not true at all. Most of the attacks that you see on the web are initiated by social interaction. While yes, most of the social interaction of these attacks is through the web it does not always stay that way. Some of these attacks are schemes to try and get you to give up money or information. This means that they will try and actually talk to you through the use of web cams or through the use of talk software such as Skype. If you are in the same area they will actually try to meet with you. This is called social hacking and it is something that is practiced all of the time. As a matter of fact, one of the most well known hackers of all time, Kevin Mitnick, biggest strength was his ability to social hack.

But social hacks are not the only ones that you can avoid through the use of your gut. You can also avoid tech based hacks as well. You can do this by listening to your inner self when it comes to what links to click on and what files to download. If you are unsure about a click, then most of the time you should not do it. This is especially true if you are on a web site that you have never visited before. But even well known web sites can give you this feeling as well. If you are on a site like Facebook and the link that you see seems weird then do not click it. Listen to your gut and avoid all of the problems that not listening can bring.

You do not have to be a computer genius to do a little computer security. Most of the problems that you run across can be avoided entirely by just doing a simple little thing like following your instincts.