Get Safe Online ‘08
The First time I ever worked with Steve was on GSOL the first year it ran. It’s become an annual event, and I hope that no-one who regularly reads this blog needs to be told too much about on-line safety. It’s pretty simple stuff.
- Keep your machine patched
- Use Anti-virus Software
- Use a firewall
- Be careful what you click on.
The BBC had a story that Spammers only get one response for every 12 Million mails … and as part of GSOL we have a poster up with the top 5 email scams
- Fake lottery wins
- Fake requests for payment details
- Updating On-line service details
- Notice of an inheritance
- Foreign aid / Charity payments
The BBC had another story about IDs being sold.
So, do your bit and spread the message to those less IT savvy than yourself. Don’t scare the life out of them, just make them aware of what a scam looks like. You know you didn’t even enter the lottery that mail says you’ve won, and you know if you gave your mail address to a lottery. You know that your bank would address you by name and tell you to go to their main site and follow a setup of step if they really needed you to do something and so on. That kind of thing, and send them to https://getsafeonline.org
By the way… I think a lot of things are said to be in the name of “protecting children” are actually humbug, but I heard a good story at tech.ed in Barcelona that one security person got his young son to create a fake on-line persona – he was a 70 year old man with a wooden leg, or something like that. “So Dad …” the son asked “does that mean other people on the internet aren’t who they seem to be ?” . Far more effective than “Don’t talk to Strangers” which is what I grew up with.