Is It Safe?: Protecting Your Computer, Your Business, and

Protecting Your Computer, Your Business, and Yourself Online

by Michael Miller

Que Publishing 2008 355 strana

ISBN 0789737825

Stanje : Odlično!

Is it safe?

You listen a lot to talk radio, and have been hearing ads for services that promise to protect you from the threat of identity theft. You're pretty sure that a friend of a friend had her identity stolen a while back, and you're worried that someone could steal your Social Security number, bank account information, and other important data.

Is it safe?

Your company deals with a large customer base via its website. Behind the scenes, you have several key databases that store both customer and employee information. You've been reading about a rash of data thefts at similar companies, and your company's management team wants to know what you're doing to address threats to your electronic data.

Is it safe?

It's holiday time, and you've been doing your shopping online. You've found some great deals at a number of online retailers, and even identified some eBay auction items that would make great gifts. But you're concerned about giving out your credit card number online, and not sure how you feel about the whole online auction thing.

Is it safe?

You receive a ton of email messages every day. Some are legitimate messages from friends and colleagues, but a lot of it is unwanted spam. And then there's this one message, from someone promising that he can reduce your credit card debt, or maybe guaranteeing you a high-paying income from a work-from-home business. You're interested in these offers, but are concerned about their legitimacy.

Is it safe?

Last week you watched one of those "To Catch a Predator" shows, where a middle-aged pervert was entrapped trying to arrange a tryst with an underaged computer user. And just yesterday, your local paper ran an article about sex offenders preying on children via MySpace and Face-book. You want your children to benefit from the Internet, and use it to communicate with their friends, but you're worried about cyberstalkers and online predators.

Is it safe?

Your computer hasn't been acting right lately. Someone at work thinks you might have a computer virus, or maybe your teenaged son has downloaded some spyware while downloading MP3 files. You're worried about all the nasty technological gunk that can infest your computer, especially given the websites your kids visit.

Is it safe?

A few days ago you had trouble getting to one of your favorite websites; the whole site was out of commission for several hours. One of your friends thinks the site may have the victim of an attack by computer hackers; in fact, you're worried about your own computer being attacked, especially now that you have a broadband Internet connection and wireless home network.

Is it safe?

There are lots of potential threats on the Internet, ranging from spam and email scams to computer attack and identity theft. With so many threats out there, it's easy to get paranoid about what can happen to you, your computer, your family, and your business when you go online. It's natural to think about all these potential risks and wonder to yourself, is it safe?

That's why I've written this book— Is It Safe? Protecting Your Computer, Your Business, and Yourself Online. I wanted to evaluate all the potential threats, let you know which ones you should and shouldn't worry about, and show you ways to minimize your risk. The Internet, after all, needn't be a scary place.

And here's the good news: For most threats, the risk is much lower than you might think. For example, despite all the sensational stories about online predators and sex offenders, the actual risk is not only low, it's lower than it used to be. And even though you hear a lot about online credit card theft, you stand a greater chance of having your credit card stolen in a local restaurant than you do on the Internet.

That's not to say, however, that your risk for any of these things is zero. Any given computer user can be a victim of any of these threats; the Internet is not and will never be 100% safe.

For that reason, you need to know what the threats are, what your individual risk is for each threat, and how to deal with the issue should you fall victim. The risk of something happening might be low, but if you're a victim, it's a major problem.

So when it comes to identity theft or email fraud or spyware or computer hackers, is it safe? The answer is, it all depends— but you can definitely make it safer. That's what this book is about.